Randal

Randal had gotten much better with directions after his encounter with <<Night>>. See he had actually gotten really badly lost and was helped by her get through a quest as well get out of the floor he was stuck in. 

Somehow he had managed to teleport to floor 3 by accident and had no idea how to get back, not even realising that he had teleported in the first place.

However, now that he knew how it felt, he could discern if he ever teleported again. Taking this lesson into account, Randal started practicing with maps and had by merit of trial and error figured out how to go where he needed to by using the HUD for ground to map comparisons.

By using his newfound sense of direction, Randal found his way to an area with a lot of players that were gathering at a particular location.

He overheard them talking about a good place to gather some materials so Randal decided to tag a long with them.

With a friendly demeanour, he made quick friends during the journey and they happily brought him there.

Celebrating in her victor, M’am Maggie spotted Randal and quickly came over, her speed once again nowhere near fitting for her size.

”Hello again! Do you have something for me?” She asked.

Without a word and an extremely stupid smile on his face, Randal took out his snack and presented it to her.

”Mhmm these look delicious!” With a quick hand she tasted some and gave her approval.

”Well done, I can now say that you are a cook through and through. With this you can open up your own shop. As a reward, I’ll also quietly give these 5 ingredients to you to play with. Don’t tell the rest of the kitchen hehe.” She laughed.

Randal listened to everything she said as they walked towards the exit. He was told that the hardest and most disheartening part would be the failures along the way and the effort he had to put into every day of his cooking life. Because  she said that even she would not be where she was without the years of practice and effort she put in.

With a final nugget of wisdom to send him on his way, she waved goodbye, proud to have made another student graduate.

His teacher was huddled over in one of the back rooms and only managed to find her after asking around with dish in hand. Randal has to explain to others that he wanted to get his dish evaluated and finally become an actual Chef.

When he entered the back room though, the atmosphere seem to change. He noticed other people sitting behind a bench and they looked like judges.

It was only after asking a bit more that he learned this was a cooking battle. M’am Maggie had been challenged by one of her former students for the rights to take over her shop, Randal supposed this might be a quest in the future for greater fame and glory, maybe to be become a great Chef or maybe as a form of kitchen smashing.

Randal had entered just as the Chef were putting on the final touches to their dishes. The first one to present was the former student and he scored 89.0 from the three judges sitting at the bench. However, when M’am Maggie presented her dish, the judges despite having eaten already started salivating from the smell, even Randal started getting hungry, shortly she received a 99.0 score and was decided the victor.

Randal was super happy that he managed to make his dish work! Even though it was a small success in the grand scale of things, it was a success nonetheless. Some players noticed his viable happiness and came over to take a look.

Randal checked the remaining two ingredients that he haven’t had the chance to make yet and decided to keep them for when he showed his dish to M’am Maggie and officially was conferred the title of cook. He knew that using this skill, he could create his own shop and sell them for Col or Materials to further enhance his abilities and so he decided then once he was out here, he should go look for a place to do that.

Thought designing and producing ingredients on such a massive scale would seem tiring, Randal didn’t seem to mind, and happily went about his way to look for his teacher.

Name: Dodgy Vegetable Chips
Your Profession: N/a
Your Rank: N/a
Roll ID:  130118
Roll Result: CD: 10 LD 15
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: Evasion
Description: Looks to me like the vegetables seem to dodge your fingers when you try to get them, unlike the vegetables from the real world, these ones weren’t stuck in place.

Link: 

Randal was a very high octave person, he would never just chill around and do nothing unless he was seriously bothered or sad. And people would easily be able to tell if he were sad because he would wear it clearly not his expression, not one to hold his feelings close to his heart.

Randal looked around at the scare few players still here learning their profession and shared their sentiments in how frustrated they all looked as they tried and tried to make their own food and failed, truly the game was unforgiving.

In the real world, it would be appropriate to say that you would always succeed unless you burnt your food or mishandled the food and made it inedible but the game ran on luck and chance and based your chances on how much you’ve made so far. As a beginner, crafting was incredible difficult and Randal had experienced that first hand.

More than prepared, Randal began cooking.

Although his attempt was a failure, he didn’t give up and continued with the same ingredients.

Again, Randal wasn’t succesful, this time the ingredients under command of the system disappeared, so he got out another set, fixed them and prepared.

With a tap of the system, a blue light appeared and Randal was that he had succeeded.

Name: Embarrassing Tent Boots
Your Profession: N/a
Your Rank: N/a
Roll ID: N/a
Roll Result: N/a
Item Type: Light Armour
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: Evasion
Description: A pair of leather boots made of leather ripped from a tent which revealed some embarrassing scenes. When used, you can almost feel transitive embarrassment.
Post Link:

Welp...that’s the end of that then, Randal was very tired from the sprint back, he actually didn’t think they needed to because the monsters weren’t chasing them and honestly on his first Mission when he was ambushed by other basic mobs and managed to run away showed that the Monster wouldn’t leave their zones to chase players.

But Night seemed intent on clearing the forest before they stopped and she was the better player, so Randal kept running after her.

After they had stopped.

3 hours ago, NIGHT said:

"I hope that item's in good condition,"

“Yea it’s kinda patchy with some old dirt and grime from being out in the weather but to my untrained eyes, it’s pretty decent.”

After teaching town and reaching Sir Griswold’s smithy, Randal handed the items over and requested that he made Randal the light armour boots.

As Sir Griswold instructed me to come back in a few moments he turned and went to work on the leather.

Randal turned to face his benefactor and said with a bit of shyness.

”So erm, listen, I don’t really know what made you go out of your way to help me but I’m really grateful, once this Mission is done, I promise that I’ll become as strong as you and help you out on a quest next time. But until then, let’s be friends?” Randal stretches out his hand for a handshake with Night.

6 hours ago, NIGHT said:

"Just grab one and go,"

And so Randal did, remember that tent with the fire in it? Randal went back to that one and tugged at the leather tent, with a great big yank, he unveiled some sexy dark elves doing the nasty by the fire, who continued to scream and run away at the same time, drawing all the attention to them instead of the now destroyed tent and open flame..as the low forest breeze blew, the embers and sparks from the wooden fire drifted on nearby dry wood, which caught fire slowly and before anyone could retrieve the water to put it out, it had already sparked small flames in what looked like their nearby firewood shed.

Already on his way back he called out to Night, “They’re too busy to catch you, come on let’s run away”. He beckoned from the edge of the clearing to see if she would follow. If she did not turn around and run away in time, Randal would join the fray, anyway with her ability, Randal wondered if it would actually be faster to kill the 4 elves instead of running away but hey they didn’t drop anything anyway so what’s the point really.

So Randal began theorising what to make. He decided he should try to make a basic snack first, to begin small and then work his way up. So he began thinking about the kind snacks that he used to have back at home. And decided that vegetable chip snacks were the direction he wanted to go, so began asking around. Ensuring that at every step of the way he knew what he was doing.

Making the dish was going to involve some techniques that he had never done before. But it was fairly simple in theory, if this were real life, he was going to have to first slice the vegetables into the form that would be most appropriate to oven bake them, garnish with some oil before placing it them in batches to bake. Then he would have to make some garnish. Probably maybe figure out which combinations would make a good dip and he would have delicious and healthy-ish snack for the masses.

Randal would then go on to spend the hour after that watching apprentices go about making their preparation for their head chefs. This would involve retrieving the ingredients from the freezer or storage, washing the ingredients, and chopping them up into many different shapes and using many different knives to do so. So Randal went about familiarising himself with exactly how to chop ingredients such that the most ample flavour and texture could be achieved and learned that each type of cut would be used to accentuate different things so it would really depends on your dish at the end of the day.

He then noted the different types of knives that were used for different dishes, he did this even though it technically had no bearing because he was curious. And so Randal decided that with this amount of preparation he would begin cooking his dish in the next few minutes and such began to calm himself down.

Damn, every moment spent in this forest surprised Randal more and more each time. This time it was when Night just straight up walked into a whole bunch of enemies triggering all of them into attacking her, Randal knew she could do this because she was already pretty high level but the idea terrified Randal a little, he thought about how long it would take to whittle down all their healths..truly terrifying.

But noting Night’s glance Randal started towards the rest of the tents in an attempt to pull one down and aid Night when he could, so he examined all the tents in the area before he found a tent made out of some well sturdy sticks with the leather wrapped in knots to create a cosy home. Heat blew out from under the tent indicating there was a fire inside. With a little more examination he noted that there were still people inside and lurked away.

Randal wasn’t just looking for materials, the Smithy had definitely said that if he wanted to make his light armour, he was going to have to gather the leather that the dark elves use to build their tents... but the dark elves disintegrate into nothingness so how the heck is he going to collect the material from them.

30 minutes ago, NIGHT said:

"Why not hand him one of the items from inside the elven village? Just... uh, don't attack them, yeah?"

And that’s when it hit him, the village, if they just head back a little towards the village he would be able to just tear down one of their tents, they he didn’t need to loot their corpses.

Unfortunately he didn’t manage to spot any tents that would be appropriate to just pull out due to there either being too many Guards or too obvious to pull.

He kept thinking about what else he could do but could not think of anything feasible right now so he offered the idea up to Night.

While staring at her familiar, Randal said “Hey, listen so what if we just yanked the leather right from the tent, you think that would work?”

Randal would spend the next hour observing people who were using Maggie’s kitchen, exploring their tactics and habits as they went about they’re workload, he watched all manner of things in the kitchen and asked those he saw questions when they arose.

First, he would watch the cleaner wash the used plates and understand the importance of cleanliness in the kitchen. This would translate into a healthier work place and place to cook food because the people who would go on to ingest the food and if the work area was unclean then they might get sick or be ill, he had never heard of someone losing hp because of the food that they are but he knew that the game design was realistic and that what he learned here he might apply in the future. Even if Randal never ever had the aspirations to be a Chef in the first place, he was aware as someone who works with food how crucial it was to maintain hand hygiene and to wash his hands properly.

Failures are just the following steps to success. Randal wished that he could just instantly become a good cook but he knew that it was going to take him lots and lots and lots of experience just to get anywhere in this profession but he also knew that every single failure would be something to learn from, it was just like normal cooking except the degree of flexibility and the ease of preparation here is far more extensive and simple respectively, turning cooking into an even greater enjoyment if it didn’t sometimes fail.

But this time Randal wouldn’t give up, so he spent a few more moments trying to get his preparation and ingredients in order ambit unfortunately he failed again.

He decided that before he would start working on the next thing, he would first sit down and study what he could prepare with he had, he figured he needed a better idea and theory behind his methods before he would get a success.

Shock...pure unadulterated shock...when Randal would spend half an hour fighting a single monster, Night could kill in by letting it hit her..incredible..

With a shiny glimmer in his eye Randal brought himself slightly closer to Night and asked “So i’m glad you killed the monster but...did you get any loot? Cause the mob disintegrated and i can’t get any materials from it.”

”Should i maybe call more mobs over you think?” Randal asked, his admiration Night now just a little sky-high.

That’s also when he saw Night’s familiar, he hadn’t paid much attention it before but at this moment he felt the familiar staring at him with look of mockery. Randal thought he was going crazy but the longer he stared the more certain he was.

Randal decided to prove his worth by bravely going to the now empty area where the elf was guarding to see if there was anything left behind.

Randal had quickly withdrawn from the lake area and using his amazing sense of direction to make his back to the kitchen of M’am Maggie.

When he entered he already smelled food being made, clearly he was pretty slow in procuring food ingredients compared to a fully functioning business kitchen like hers. She probably had adventurers supplying her with ingredients all the time.

Not taking the feeling of missing out to heart, he approached the Iron Lady, and without a word she began teaching him how to cook.

Randal observed that Ms Maggie had incredibly nimble and deft hands which alternated between chopping onions to crushing garlic to preparing her workstation for the meal.

As part of his lesson, he was to cook up a! edible meal to prove he could do so but even before got started the first ingredient refused to cooperate and was deemed a failure.

Not disheartened by the realism and factuality of fishing in this game, Randal brought the rod back up and saw that the damn fish had gotten away with his bait. 

So Randal carefully placed another piece of bait by impaling the worm at the hook and then tying it down with some peeled vines he had on his person. Raising his rod high into the air again, Randal flung his rod towards the far left of the pond this time.

With some time on his hands, Randal began to meditate with one hand on the pole to stay alert, who knows how much time had passed but the art of keeping still and controlling your breathing meant that time was irrelevant. 

When Randal finally opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was that a fat rat had fallen asleep while stealing from his bucket of worms, figuring he also probably forgot to reel in any fishes, the rod was useless too.

With a swift strike, he jabbed the rat and could make his way back, and that he did.

5/5 Ingredients Found

It didn’t take him very long to find a suitable place to start fishing. He noted that the whole area around this part of the lack seemed devoid of any dangerous movement and so quietly put the bait on the hook and flung the rod as far as he could. 

And then the waiting game began, he knew that most of the fun in fishing was the talking to your friends while you did but he didn’t have any friends yet and could sit by himself.

Randal had heard that you could get a pet from somewhere on this floor but he would need to read up on it a little more in the guide.

Just at that moment, the tip of rod creaked forward and Randal quickly picked up his rod and started playing the fishing game. Reeling in the fish slowly and adjusting the tension as he went, unfortunately, the fish knew and managed to escape from Randal’s clutches. 

41 minutes ago, NIGHT said:

"Isn't killing monsters the core of the game, though?"

Well, she wasn’t wrong...”Don’t you think killing monsters is quite stress relieving too, I got a lot of pent up stress but hitting monsters right now kinda adds to it..” he added.

Randal also definitely didn’t have anything he could call skill. He barely knew how to fight outside, much less with a game system.

41 minutes ago, NIGHT said:

"I heard the village we came from stayed clear of their territory. They may be hostile if we advance any further."

Hmm, that’s also true, Randal realised that his new compatriot was very well observed and knowledgeable about the game.

So he came up with a plan, “I’m going to lure them out by making some noise or creating a din.” He informer Night before proceeding to pick up a rock and observing the Dark elves.

Spotting one that had strayed away from the village, after a quick examination he noted the elf wasn’t wearing much armor but was well equipped with a shiny saber , he threw the rock such that it landed near the elf.

Intrigued and wary, the elf brandished his weapon stealthily made his way over, that was when Randal jumped out from his hiding spot into the elf’s blindside and tackled him, Randal lost his footing a bit and just sort of brush roughly into the dark elf.

After a few moments across the clearing he had reached the outskirts of the lake and decided to venture a bit further in the area than before, in search of some fish.

So he quietly and without trouble made his way over to the side of the lake and admired the greenery as well as some small insects like butterflies and such going about their day.

Casually sorting through the dirt while on hands and knees, Randal slowly began picking up some bait that was living in the moist soil below, he was fairly comfortable in the dirt, knowing things that could hurt him usually have a red indicator.

He definitely contemplated using these worms in his dishes too but the way they wriggled in his hand made him feel icky and thought that with a fair amount of certainty, people wouldn’t eat them.

Though he did manage to gather quite a number of worms so his fishing would go smoothly.

Taking a moment to look around so as to avoid eye contact with Night after sharing something personal, he felt a little awkward. “I hope she waits too..”

A sweet sentiment in all too not-sweet reality. Even sweeter was when she said she would protect Randal, he didn’t really need the protection but the extra damage output would be greatly appreciated so he responded

”Haha, I’m actually quite sturdy in terms of defence, my damage only hits for 1 though, I’m confident I could run away if anything goes awry but kill monsters take way too much time.” This fact contributed greatly to how slow Randal was levelling up.

Randal and Night eventually came across the large tree in the forest and had barely noticed a low mist had consumed their legs, below the arching willow was a small village of dark elves.

Oh hey look, Randal thought to himself as he picked up some damp wood he could use for smoking meats. Not knowing that this wood was actually unsuitable at all and couldn’t be used.

So in conclusion, Randal ran slightly faster normally then in the other stance. After thinking about he figured that it’s probably because he didn’t have to focus so much on the rest of his body when he ran normally.

Feeling a little fitter than before, probably just a placebo effect from all that speed, he decided to job the rest of the way, looking around he had reached the end of the forest area and come across a beautiful plain, with sparse trees and a gentle breeze blowing, in the distance he could see another grouping of trees with a lake in the middle, that’s where he went during his first Mission and knew that somewhere over there was a good place to gather materials.

While he ran, he spotted some vines wrapped around a single tree in the clearing with little cases with beans in them, collecting the ingredients he was one step away from completing his task from Maggie.

4/5 Ingredients Found

Randal listened intently to the information that Night gave him, he knew that he had to take what players said in this game with a grain of salt because everyone here would want to be wary of other players...at least that’s what he thought based on what he knew about online forums from the real world.

So he nodded actively and gave Night his ear for the moment.

”I see, well let’s think positively, our 2 years spent here won’t be wasted, it’s still life experience right? Haha..” he laughed languidly.

”When I first got into the game I was really sad, I didn’t know what to do and just wasted my days away, that’s why I’m so Low-levelled even after so much time.”

”In the real world, I was a food Nutritionist for my main job and did other things on the side, I really miss my girlfriend...though I can’t be sure if she’s still waiting for me out there.”

”It took awhile for me to return to my positive attitude...” 

As Randal rambled on...he realised that he had already reached the outskirts of the forest.

Bending down he pocketed some mushrooms growing. Randal glanced at Night and explained “Hehe, I’m trying to be Chef here to at least try and remember some of the things I used to do...for some semblance of reality, we’re not going to fighting monsters once we’re out of here.”

Randal definitely thought that this lady seemed nice, considering he thought that she was here to make armour and has automatically volunteered to assist him. Randal also thought it was his duty to make it know his appreciation so with a quick “Thank you” to Night, he turned back to tuning into Sir Griswold.

“—and then you just need to go towards the big tree, fight the dark elves and bring back the special leather they curate and use to make their tents, with a bit of tanning, my wife Hanna and can turn the leather into a pretty durable material.”

...Okay so Randal may have on an extremely unlikely possibility missed out what directions were crucial to getting the materials, but he wasn’t going to let everyone in this room know that he wasn’t paying attention.

”Of course Sir Griswold, I am familiar with that tree, but do you mind just point me in the right direction?”

And so after getting a single point in one direction, Randal and <<Night>> started heading the location of the quest.

Along the way, Randal asked Night about herself, what she usually did, what she wanted to be here in the game, and what was waiting for her outside the game, in as many unobtrusive words as he could muster up.