Chapter 53: Lunchtime

Although the items dropped from the treasure chest were a bit underwhelming, Xiao Jie was still quite satisfied with his haul this time.

At the very least, those piece-of-trash pieces of equipment could still be sold for some copper coins, not to mention that so many copper coins had dropped directly.

Besides, there was still that unidentified stone seal; who knew, it might turn out to be something good.

"Brother Feng, let's keep going. Let's finish off the last demon as well. I have a strong feeling that the method to unlock the Tian family estate probably lies with this Tian Daniun."

Out of the three demons, only one was left unengaged; logically speaking, they would be the ones fleeing now.

Xiao Jie, however, shook his head. "It's already noon. Let's head back to eat first, clean out our inventories, and besides, my arrows are spent. I need to buy some more."

Actually, he still had a dozen or so left, recovered from the bone-chewer. He had no idea what kind of principle governed this game's arrow retrieval mechanism; Xiao Jie had shot forty arrows at that giant rat, hitting it almost every single time, yet when looting the corpse, he had only managed to retrieve thirteen arrows. He urgently needed to stock up.

He had figured it out: while fighting minor mobs was fine, dealing with elite monsters required using a bow and arrow to remain safe.

The two made their way back to the village along the same path, arriving just in time for the lunch hour.

Casually preparing a cup of instant noodles for himself, Xiao Jie set about clearing out his inventory while waiting for the noodles to cook.

First, he sold off all the junk equipment in his bag. Of course, before selling, Xiao Jie carefully browsed through them; the gear he was currently wearing wasn't all that great either, and there was still room for upgrades.

In the end, he managed to assemble a full set of basic white-tier equipment:

Head: Old Man's Bamboo Hat.
Body: Leather Armor.
Hands: Cotton Bracers.
Legs: Farmer's Trousers.
Feet: Bobcat Leather Boots (Blue).
Back: Wanderer's Cloak.
Weapons: Goose-Quill Saber, Iron-Plated Shield, Hunting Bow, Crude Feathered Arrows.

Wearing such a set of gear actually made him look somewhat decent now.

The eight pieces of junk equipment sold for a total of 345 wen.

Six rat skins fetched another 132 wen.

Then there were the 289 wen found inside the chest.

Combined with the drops from the scarecrow, he calculated that his harvest for just a single morning had shockingly reached over 1,200 wen.

This was infinitely faster at making money than working a regular job.

Next up, he needed to replenish his supplies.

First was buying arrows. Considering how quickly arrows were depleted, he decided to purchase a larger quantity this time.

He glanced at the prices for the various types of arrows:

Crude Feathered Arrow: +1 piercing. 5 wen each.
Goose-Feathered Arrow: +2 piercing. 10 wen each.
Wolf-Tooth Arrow: +3 piercing. 20 wen each.

Xiao Jie decisively abandoned the idea of upgrading his arrows; paying such high prices for such a meager damage bonus was a terrible deal. Cheap goods would do just fine.

Xiao Jie directly topped his supply up to 100 feathered arrows. This stuff was a consumable, after all, and the more, the merrier.

That single purchase wiped out over 400 wen.

Having his weapons and shield repaired cost another 73 wen.

Fortunately, rat meat could serve as dog food, otherwise that would have been yet another expense.

A dog's health recovery relied entirely on eating, which consumed a massive amount of food during intense combat.

Right, he also needed to buy two Vitality Pills. He had consumed two of them to maintain distance while kiting the giant rat earlier, adding another 100 wen to the tally.

And speaking of food, the dog had its meals, but humans needed to eat too. He had to buy steamed buns... fighting monsters and leveling up noticeably increased stamina consumption, and the more stamina was depleted, the lower the satiety level dropped...

After doing the math, Xiao Jie realized that supplies alone would cost around 600 to 700 wen, wiping out the majority of his morning's earnings in the blink of an eye.

He looked at the mere 665 wen remaining in his pouch and scratched his head in frustration.

No, he couldn't just sit back and eat through his savings like this; he had to find a way to cut down on expenses. Right, he had happened to pick up a recipe that morning—he might as well learn the cooking profession. At least that way he could make his own food and save some money.

Finding the chef at the food stall, he expressed his desire to become an apprentice.

The chef wore a smug look on his face. "You want to learn cooking? I can't teach you for free. Hand over 500 wen as an apprenticeship fee, and I'll take you on as my pupil."

Xiao Jie decisively forked over the money.

"Hahaha, straightforward indeed! Very well, I'll teach you the basic techniques of cooking first.

First is roasting over fire. Natural ingredients call for the most primitive cooking methods. Roasting food over an open flame makes it much more flavorful; if you're a hunter, the beast meat you hunt can be prepared this way.

Of course, you can also boil it in water. While the taste is somewhat bland, it preserves the nutritional value of the food to the maximum extent—like bird eggs, which are much better boiled than eaten raw.

If you have wheat on hand, you can also use it to make steamed buns...

If you wish to learn more advanced culinary arts, that is also possible, but it will cost extra. My craft consists entirely of ancestral recipes, and I cannot impart them to you for nothing."

[System Prompt: You have learned the life skill [Novice Cooking], you have learned the cooking recipe: Roasted Meat, you have learned the cooking recipe: Boiled Bird Egg, you have learned the cooking recipe: Steamed Bun, the contents of your skill book have increased.]

Xiao Jie clicked on his skill book to check out his newly acquired abilities.

Not bad at all. Although it cost 500 wen, it at least came with three entry-level recipes, allowing him to prepare simple meals.

He used the recipe scroll directly, adding yet another formula to his repertoire.

Roasted Meat: Requires beast meat, cooking fire. Restores 20 points of satiety and increases your stamina recovery rate by 10% for 30 minutes.

Boiled Egg: Requires bird egg, cooking fire. Restores 10 points of satiety.

Steamed Bun: Requires wheat, pure water, cooking fire. Restores 10 points of satiety.

Country-Style Flatbread: Requires wheat, chives, bird eggs, cooking fire. Restores 30 points of satiety.

Currently, he only had the materials to make roasted meat. Preparing roasted meat required beast meat, and the flesh of any beast—such as deer or sheep—fit the requirement, naturally including rat meat as well.

The rat meat currently sitting in his bag would come in handy right now.

Xiao Jie used the fire from the food stall's stove and immediately began roasting.

Just as he was in the middle of cooking, I Desire Immortality walked in, having come to buy some food.

"Hey, Brother Feng, what are you doing? Roasting meat? You could just buy this stuff with money; why go through all this trouble?"

"Are you made of money?" Xiao Jie asked, roasting the meat with one hand while slurping on his instant noodles with the other.

"Around a million or so, I suppose. I plan to dump all my cash into the game, become a heavy-spenders whale, and maximize my gaming prowess. Besides, once I achieve immortality later on, money is just an external possession anyway."

Xiao Jie was speechless. "You think a mere million can make you a whale? Maybe in other games, but don't forget that in this game, a single copper coin is worth ten bucks. Your million can only be exchanged for a hundred thousand copper coins—just a hundred liang of silver.

Even though basic gear, food, and various props are cheap in the early stages, prices will rise as time goes on. The higher your level, the more expensive supplies become. How long can your million last?

Who knows, a single high-tier piece of equipment or a powerful skill might cost more than a hundred liang in the future.

That's why it's best to learn a profession that can break even. As your skill level increases, your money-making potential will grow accordingly, and good management can largely offset your consumption.

Otherwise, relying solely on the pittance of copper coins dropped by monsters, you'll struggle even to afford skill learning fees.

Take food, for instance. Eating steamed buns every single day already costs dozens to a hundred wen. When your level gets higher later on, your satiety cap will also increase, meaning you'll naturally need more food. A month of that will easily run into thousands of wen—drop by drop, it adds up to a huge sum of money."

I Desire Immortality was left speechless by the logic. "You're right, Brother Feng. Should I learn cooking too then?"

"No, let's each learn a different trade so we can help each other out later. I'll learn cooking, and the food I make will be enough for both of us. You can learn woodworking later to craft arrows, or alchemy to brew medicine, or blacksmithing, or something similar."

By the time he finished speaking, Xiao Jie had already roasted all the rat meat in his inventory.

He then went ahead and roasted the rat meat that I Desire Immortality had collected earlier as well.

[Rat Meat (Cooking Material)
Item Description: Meat from a giant rat. Can be used for cooking or fed to pets to restore a certain amount of health and increase their happiness slightly.]

[Roasted Meat (Food)
Usage: Restores 20 points of satiety, increases your stamina recovery rate by 10% for 30 minutes.
Item Description: Fragrant roasted meat. Can be used to recover stamina, increase satiety, or fed to pets to restore a certain amount of health and increase their happiness significantly.]

A simple bit of cooking had instantly turned the useless into something miraculous.

Xiao Jie had roasted all the rat meat belonging to both of them.

After thinking for a moment, he also headed over to the farmland to find the farmer and learned the two sub-skills [Harvest] and [Till].

Since they were basic labor skills, both could be learned for free without spending a single coin.

Later on, whenever he had free time, he could harvest wild wheat from the fields to make steamed buns to eat.

This single move saved him at least two to three hundred wen, and the savings would only compound the longer time went on. Furthermore, roasted meat as an advanced food came with a temporary buff, which could be considered an unexpected bonus.