Chapter 55 - Uncultivated Cook

They managed to push two more Cultivation levels that day, before they both were silently laying on the floor. Neither was going to admit to the other that they couldn’t carry on of course, but they could both sense each other’s souls.

Max looked up at his upper corner. He had only 200 Stamina points left. Concentrated Cultivation seemed to drain him faster than a full day of adventure. Max wondered if pumping up his Constitution would be a good idea. If he had to suddenly protect the camp from another attack, he could be drained pretty low. Smart use of potions could help with that, but those were valuable and scarce.

Max sighed contently as one does after a day of hard work and emptied the rest of his water jug. Christie had checked up on him and been gracious enough to refill it for him.

When they got out of the stout little bunker, Max noticed It was late in the evening. The faint light of the sun was gone by this point. It was a subtle difference when compared to the bleakness of day, but one that Max had learned to appreciate having lived on Alpha Ludus for some time now. The heavy purple clouds hung above head as ever. There was a certain beauty to them.

Max gave one last glance back at the bunker.

“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” Maverick groaned. “Seriously you don’t suggest we have another go at it?”

“Our lives are at stake,” Max simply said.

“Your life maybe,” Maverick said.

Max didn’t say anything, but the surge of will he sent at Maverick through their soulbond was like a wolf snapping its jaws.

“Fine,” Maverick huffed. “So you want to go and pop another set of pills then?”

“I—”

“Oh, Max!” Elena’s voice called. “You came out of your cave finally?”

Maybe an hour or two of break will let us focus better.

Maverick was more than fine with that thought. He was already drifting to unconsciousness. Max internally told him that he’d need the gun to Cultivate with him later. Maverick clearly had still heard Max, but had decided not to answer. Max bristled at Maverick, but he was already drifting away.

Max turned to Elena.

“Hey, Elena. Yeah, we really needed a break.”

Max turned to go towards Sid’s kitchen and Elena took a few steps to walk next to him.

“You’ve been doing this Cultivation thing?”

“Yeah,” Max said. “It’s really been wringing the juice out of me.”

“You’re working so hard. Did something happen?”

“Yeah,” Max said. He just realized he would need to tell people about his situation. He could be putting everyone at risk. “I think it’s better to tell in those Joshua’s little ceremonies.”

Elena let out a little laugh. “Didn’t think you’d ever be one to suggest having those.”

Max forced a smile out. It didn’t fool Elena who regarded him. “So it’s something totally serious then?”

“It’s a big deal, yeah,” Max muttered. “But we’ll get to that. Tell me something nice instead.”

“Mike got up,” Elena said brightly. That was good news indeed.

“Nice!” Max said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk with him much, but he seems like a good guy.”

“He’s pretty gruff,” Elena said. “I didn’t like him much earlier. Talk about bad judgment. But then again I was a total mess early, wasn’t I?

“You’ve come a long way,” Max said.

Elena smiled at that.

“Any idea what level Mike is?” Max asked. “I think he could use some of those pills I gave you.”

“I don’t know. I don’t keep track of these things,” Elena said. “But he already left to scout and hunt. Said a few short words about having rested enough and needing to catch up.”

“I like that attitude,” Max said. They walked past a few friendly faces they had seen around and Max and Elena waved a hand at them.

“I know you do,” Elena said, giving him a strange smile. “I haven’t hit level 15 yet, but I have been studying up on those pills.”

“Oh?” Max said, suddenly more alert. “What did you learn?”

“Don’t get too excited. I won’t be able to make them. But I’ve taken a good look at their structure and I have an idea of what kind of ingredients could have gone in. It's all guesswork at this point, but totally better than nothing right?”

“Bummer,” Max said. “But that’d be too much.”

“Studying them gave me something though.”

“Gave you what exactly?” Max asked.

“It’s just a bunch of question marks in the system message,” Elena said. “Kind of annoying really. I got pretty excited at first.”

“Damn, that could be something very good!” Max said, suddenly feeling less tired.

He gushed on about his story of learning about Mana manipulation and unlocking similar things and urged Elena to get to level 15 as soon as possible. Elena wa

“Hey Max! Hey Elena!” Joshua waved a hand. He was standing around Sid’s kitchen and talking to Sid and the other cooks.

“Hey guys,” Max said. “How’s the cooking going, Sid?”

“It’s all great bro,” the teenager said. “Just got finished with some soup for the wounded. Dude, all these pots, pans and what's that thing?”

“A cauldron?” Joshua said.

“Yeah chief-bro. A cauldron. Max, all this stuff is amazing. I can make so many more foods now, and I’ve leveled up a lot of times. I’m 16 already.

Max, Elena and Joshua all stopped in their tracks and stared at Sid.

“Sixteen?!” They all exclaimed in a chorus.

“How?” Elena asked.

“That is amazing Sid,” Joshua said, clapping the boy on the shoulder.

Max produced his purple sack of Cultivation pills. Max wasn’t sure how Cultivation worked with non-combat specialists, but if it would improve the quality of food for the whole camp, it was worth a few more pills.

“Here, Sid,” Max said. “Do you have anything I can put these in?”

Joshua picked up a little stone box with a lid and offered it to Max. Max poured a handful of pills inside the container.

“What are these?” Sid asked and picked one of the pills up for inspection. “Spices? Holy shit bro, did you find us spices?”

Sid was mildly disappointed to learn the pills weren’t a spice. Max gave him the cliffnotes on Cultivation.

“Yeah, I knew about all that,” Sid said. “Had the jellyfish show up on me and explain some of it.”

“Great,” Max said. “What level Cultivator are you?”

“Bro, I haven’t had time for that. I’m too busy cooking three meals a day for like a hundred and fifty people. And now with all these ladles and… cauldrons, I got all these recipes I can try.

Max was a little shocked to hear that someone would disregard Cultivating so completely, but then again, did Sid really need to do that right now?

Maybe. It was difficult to predict what kind of benefits Cultivating might accrue. Sure Sid was able to cook pretty well by now, but who was to say he couldn't infuse his foods with Spiritual Energy, making them more filling, or maybe even produce recipes of foods that could help others cultivate.

“I think you should take some time to get a few Cultivation levels on you,” Max said.

“I mean, you’re wise and all bro, but I really don’t have the energy for it after cooking all day. You know what I mean?”

“Take a day off, Sid,” Joshua said. “You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks chief-bro, but it ain’t that simple,” Sid said. “Cindy and Peter are cool. They’re like level 10 and they got the cook class too now. But those three over there working with the roots? I can’t leave them on their own, or we’ll have stubby-fingered cooks and finger soup for lunch, if you get what I mean.”

They had a laugh at that and Sid blushed a bit. The three apprentice cooks gave a few apologetic shy looks in their direction before going back to cutting the roots.

“We will work it out somehow,” Joshua said. “We have a lot of panther meat now. Make a big batch of food so all you cooks can take a day off.”

“Taking a day off to sit and meditate doesn’t sound like my kind of holiday, bro,” Sid said. Then he took a quick glance at Max. “But I’ll do what I gotta do.”

“You don’t have to do it all day every day,” Max said.

“Oh, like you’ve been doing?” Elena smirked.

“Yeah, but I got a thing,” Max said.

“What thing, bro?”

“Yeah, Max,” Joshua said. “What is this thing?”

“I’ll tell you about it soon,” Max said. “We need to have one of those little gatherings of yours, Joshua.”

“Well, then,” Joshua said. “Let's grab something to eat and gather folk around. I’m sure they’ll be interested in hearing what you have to say.”

“I’m sure they will be,” Max muttered.