Cat With a Raygun

Previously when Joe would cast Harvest the spell would take time driving the energy into the body of the crab or deer he was casting it on until it presumably located the parts it was going to bring out and laid the groundwork for the transformations or creation of other materials like the butcher paper. This time it was a different experience from the start.

When the spell began Joe got a pop up window that opened without any prompting.

Advanced interface options available. Please choose your harvest.

A window that looked like a graphic interface appeared in his view. It had different categories of body parts such as meat, bones, skin, antlers, sinews, etc. At the bottom of the window was a line that said Harvest Points available: 24/24 It seemed that each product he could get from the deer had a harvest value, with greater values the more processed a product was.

The deer skin was 1 point, three steaks was 1 point, and each sausage was 1 point. Assuming his current harvest points was the spell level times his intelligence, he hadn't always gotten a full compliment out of each casting. He saw he could intentionally get an identical dagger, but the cost was 20 harvest points. For 2 points he could get a package of deer jerky. Joe also noticed a Random option, which would likely make it the same as before, just with the larger total harvest of the new spell level. Joe made his choices and the spell proceeded as usual.

Results of Harvest spell:

3 deer steaks (raw)

half kilo smoked deer jerky

1 deer skin

1 bone knife

“Look, I can choose what I get now!” Joe excitedly exclaimed while holding up the second sheathed knife.

“Is that what made it take longer?” asked Sally.

“Yeah. Once I get used to it I think it won't take extra time. Of course, when I do the wolves I have no idea what options I'll have. I don't supposed we will want wolf meat, would we?”

“Don't think I'd be a fan,” replied Jack. Sally nodded in agreement.

Like before Joe got CWEST experience for the new dagger.

When his mana replenished enough to cast it again he was given his options. He chose to ignore the meat options. He had some leftover harvest points, but still didn't feel like getting any meat from it.

Results of Harvest spell:

Wolf pelt

Wolf claw necklace

T- You made a decorative item with your magic!

You have received CWEST experience for making a necklace with your Harvest spell.

The necklace, like the bone knife from the deer also cost 20 points. He could have gotten another bone knife from the wolf, but he wanted the necklace out of the first one. The other two could provide the more practical knives. And that's what he did after he regained enough mana to harvest the other two wolves, gaining the experience for the knives like before.

When they began to gather everything together Jack called Joe over to him.

“Here, we're going to load you up with as much as you can carry. The journey back to town laden like that will be physically taxing on you. Your stamina will drain without actively spending it on anything. That's what you want before your skills are all picked. It will eventually unlock the Endurance skill, which is another Vitality-based skill. You're going to need to improve your Vitality before Lester can start training your Toughness.”

They loaded up several packages of deer meat into one of the skins and pulled it together like a hobo pack for Joe to carry slung over a shoulder. He had to bear the weight while holding the tough skin together to keep it from falling open, which would be an exertion. Sounded perfect for what Jack described.

Less than ten minutes into the journey back to town and Joe could identify the precise moment he no longer had stamina to feed to his exertions. He was successfully holding the makeshift pack together, it was tough, but he could do it. Suddenly all strength left his body. He nearly fell, but he did drop the bundle, spilling wrapped packages of meat all over. Jack laughed loudly.

“Yep, that's what happens. As you practice with your stamina you'll get a better feel for when it's low and you'll be able to stop before you loose control of your muscles like that.” Jack helped gather the fallen supplies and carried them himself the rest of the way along with the supplies he had already split with Sally.

After arriving at The Rusty Cup Sally and Jack put their loads on the tables and told Ferric about the wolves and Joe's healing magic. Since it was early enough in the day they also decided to go put in a little mining before evening.

“These knives are quite something. The Harvest spell is rare even among the rarity of mages, so I had no idea this was possible, especially at such a low level for the spell,” Ferric told Joe.

“Yeah, it was odd, according to how the spell works now, I shouldn't have been able to get that first knife when the spell was still level 1. I guess that's only a possibility when I choose the random option that used to be the default. I also got an interesting message from the CGS when I first cast the level 2 version. It seems like I can actively choose what I harvest only because of the difference between the normal Guidebooks and my new interface. It called it 'advanced.'”

Ferric looked deep in thought for a moment, “Hmm, interesting. I wonder if it's possible to teach others how to use your interface rather than the traditional Guidebooks. Anyway, I need your help with something before my sister gets here. The amount of meat you brought is more than the chest I was going to use for the preservation spell, so I'll need you to hold open the door of one of the unused cabins while I move the wardrobe out and then the door here as well.”

As they were busy with that task Joe asked what the chest or wardrobe had to do with the spell.

“Well, the spell isn't cast on the meat itself. It's cast on a container. All food inside the container is preserved at the same state its currently in until it's removed from that container, or until 6 months have passed, which is her current limit for the spell. So long as we keep the meat in this wardrobe it will be fresh, and when we take it out it will be like no time passed since she cast the spell.”

After getting the wardrobe into the kitchen in The Rusty Cup Ferric filled it with all the meat. The jerky he left out and took a piece to chew on while offering another to Joe. Joe liked the taste, surprised that it wasn't just plain venison, it had actual seasoning.

“Okay, on the menu today we're going to use the rest of the crab meat in a stew, and we're going to make some more of this jerky the manual way. You're going to help me prepare the evening meals for the foreseeable future to get you several points of Vitality via the Cooking skill. We estimate getting to at least level 5 in the different skills we're planning for you will give you a huge boost to your survival. Now tell me, how many skills have you unlocked already?”

Wanting to keep his lack of a limit a secret Joe decided to only expose the skills that he can't hide. “Just one, the Mana Channeling skill. It's currently level 1.”

“Okay, we'll add Cooking, Endurance, and Stamina Growth for Vitality, Mining for Strength, Defense and Pain Tolerance for Toughness, and finally my sister would tell you to get Focus for your spellcasting. That's eight skills, leaving you four to choose on your own to line up with whatever profession you'd like, or to just take because you enjoy them.

“I won't lie, those Toughness skills aren't going to be fun to train, you'll likely want to quit before we even get to level 2 in them, but in the long run they will do you a world of good, regardless of what your future holds.”

Remembering months of agony as the cancer killed his old body Joe wasn't really deterred by Ferric's warning, and the determination showed on his face, noticed by Ferric.

“Oh, you think you're tough? You're just a cub still, but we'll see,” Ferric laughed. “Now, before we get to cooking, go run back and forth between here and your cabin as fast as you can until you run out of stamina. After we start cooking I don't want you leaving until the dishes are done so you're part of the whole process, but we can have you Inspect different things as your stamina regenerates to try to unlock the Stamina Growth skill, which is just like your Mana Channeling.”

He didn't end up unlocking Stamina Growth that evening, but he did unlock Cooking to level 1 giving him +1 Vitality. He also had a new screen in his CGS for recipes with a tab for Cooking that included smoked jerky and crab stew.

Cooking (Level 1). This skill is for preparing culinary dishes for yourself or others. Higher levels of this skill allow you to better improve the taste of the final product and to prepare the meals faster. To train this skill cook more food and learn more techniques and recipes.

Key Attribute: Vitality

Ferrite was more attractive than Joe expected for an orc woman. She was still casting her Preservation spell by the time Joe got his Cooking skill and recipes unlocked, so he took the opportunity to activate Read Aura to get a sense of the magic she was using. It was still subtle, but he could see the manachlorians building on the wardrobe as well as each individual piece of food inside. He knew there was a link between the food and the container, but he couldn't quite sense it with his current rank in the ability. He kept reactivating the ability as it ended to keep expending his mana to help build up his Mana Channeling skill, but of course it was too soon to see a new level in that.

Luckily Ferrite was able to keep her focus for the whole two hours and the Preservation was in place. Jack, Sally, and Lester arrived from the mines to enjoy the crab stew Joe made. Teril arrived as well. He was a short bald creature with grey skin like a boulder. Ferric said he was a mountain gnome. Lester, a halfling, wasn't much taller. Ferric told both Ferrite and Teril to come to Joe if they needed any manual labor done that wouldn't lead to its own skill so he could push his Endurance. Jack showed his ruined pants leg and told everyone to also seek out Joe if they needed any healing. Lester laughed and said the Joe will be practicing his healing spell on himself in a few days after he gets enough Vitality that they can start training his Toughness skills.

Before going to sleep Joe ran back and forth again to drain his Stamina. He had a couple more points since the Vitality boost from unlocking Cooking, so he ran a little longer than before, eventually tiring out enough to fall asleep soon after getting into bed.