Frostbitten Wayfarer

“Great,” Lou said, walking over to a counter near the large wooden barrels. He grabbed a brown box from below and placed it on the counter, and then pulled out another large metal box, and placed it on the floor next to the counter.

Lou pressed a button on the box he placed on the floor, and it began to expand and warp in shape. A massive bowl that came up to Zoe’s waist rested just off the ground, supported by two sturdy metal beams below it, while another beam rose above the bowl and supported a massive sphere of metal that hung from some chains.

“This,” Lou pointed at the box he placed on the counter. “Is a box of apples.” He reached into the box and grabbed a couple of apples in each hand, then dropped them in the large bowl.

“I’m going to have you fill this bowl with apples up to around here.” He gestured at just about three quarters of the way up the massive bowl.

“And then you pull this lever over here,” he pulled on a small lever hanging off the sturdy beam holding up the massive steel ball.

When he did, the ball plummeted into the bowl with a muffled crash, the chain almost silent as it was ripped through the hole in the steel beam. The smell of apples buffeted her sense of smell with a sweet, somewhat acidic scent.

And then he pushed the lever back, and the chain pulled the steel ball back up, leaving behind a dry paste of crushed apples on the bottom of the bowl.

Lou grabbed a bucket and a bench scraper from under the counter and placed the bucket next to the bowl. He reached around to the other side and pulled another lever. The bowl lifted, balancing on a steel rod beneath it, and Lou tipped the bowl over, scraping out the apple paste from the bottom of it into the bucket.

He returned the bowl upright and pushed the lever back, the bowl returning to rest on the steel beams beneath it. Lou put the scraper down on the counter then pointed at the steel ball, a slight purple tinge now visible where he was pointing. “When the ball is filled up, come get me and we’ll move on to the next step. Any questions?”

Zoe looked at the bucket on the floor, and then back at the massive steel bowl. “Is that bucket going to be enough for all the apple paste stuff?”

Lou laughed, “No, definitely not. Just grab a new bucket whenever it fills up and leave them off to the side. Careful not to lose too much of it to the floor.”

“Okay, I think I can handle that then.” Zoe said, looking at the massive steel ball and feeling a little overwhelmed if she was being honest. But it seemed straightforward enough, she’d be able to make it work.

“Great, I’ll leave you to this then. It should take you about an hour to fill it up.” Lou said, returning to the other side of the kitchen and helping the rest of the staff.

Zoe started grabbing apples from the box on the counter and moving them to the bowl. She wondered why they didn’t just add a tap or something to the box. If Penny could teleport, whoever made this box could have added a button that just dumped the contents out of it.

It took her about five minutes to fill the bowl up, and she took a moment to look at the mass of apples. Something about industrial cooking always made her feel so giddy for some reason. The sheer quantities of food that were thrown around just felt so awesome, in the most literal sense of the word. These apples weighed more than Zoe, and they were just about to be crushed by a probably magically enhanced wrecking ball.

She pulled the lever, mana rushing out of her to fuel the contraption. The ball dropped into the bowl, descending almost as far as it did when there were only a few apples in the bowl. Zoe was in awe at the sheer power the machine threw around just for cider making, and shocked at how quiet the whole process was.. A muffled thud as the apples were crushed, and then it was done.

The smell was intense, and Zoe wasn’t sure she’d smell anything else again for a while. It was pleasant but incredibly potent, everything else from the kitchen drowned out by a sickening sweetness and a slight acidic twinge that prickled the back of her nose.

Zoe pushed the lever back, and the ball was dragged back up by the chains. She looked in the bowl, and saw the walls covered in a thick brown sludge. She groaned. With just the two apples, the paste looked easy to scrape out. But with as many as she loaded into the bowl, this was going to be messy and far from quick.

She pulled on the lever to raise the bowl, and tipped it over the bucket on the floor. Bits of the sludge dripped from the walls, splattering on the other side. She reached in and started to scrape the sludge off, trying to work her way from the outside in to avoid getting her clothes too messed up.

It took even longer to clean the bowl out than it did to load the bowl with apples in the first place. At first, it felt like it would only take a minute at most. Each pass with the scraper taking off large sections of the sludge, leaving behind nothing more than a few streaks on the steel bowl.

But as she made her way inwards, the sludge became denser and denser, sticking to the bowl when she tried scraping it. By the time she was at the very bottom, the apple sludge was compressed so much it may as well have been hardwood that was glued to the bowl.

After another ten minutes of scraping and hammering away at the sludge she managed to get the bowl cleaned out enough for another round of smashing. The bucket of apple pomace was filled to the brim, so she tried to pick it up and move it but found it was too heavy.

Instead, she wiggled the bucket across the floor, leaning it to and fro until it was out of her way. Then she replaced the bucket with a fresh, empty one and returned the bowl to its starting state. She took a look at the steel ball to see her progress.

The purple glow was covering almost a quarter of the ball, so she repeated the whole process over again a few times while she listened in on the kitchen.

It seemed that there were two cooks, a prep cook and a dishwasher who also helped out with the prep. Servers would come through the swinging doors and hand a paper to Lou, who would then call out an order.

The prep cook worked on a separate counter, making sure the buckets of vegetables were filled or grabbing extra supplies from a basement that was in the back corner. The dishwasher would cast a spell that washed over the dirty dishes whenever they piled up too high and returned the cleaned dishes to the shelves where they belonged.

The two cooks slaved over the stoves, making a lot of grilled meats with mixed vegetables. But there was also a large pot of stew bubbling away that they would fill bowls with on occasion. Lou would hop in every so often, giving the cooks directions or advice that the cooks seemed to appreciate.

By the time the steel ball was filled with a dull purple glow, Zoe was drenched in sweat. Her blue pants and shirt were covered in sticky apple paste. She sighed and checked on her pools.

Health: 200/200

Stamina: 174/200

Mana: 466/500

Zoe leaned back and took a deep breath, everything around her reeking of apples. It was pleasant at first, but the slight acidic smell was grating on her at this point. She rubbed her nose and walked up to Lou.

“I’ve got the ball filled I think, what’s next?” She asked.

“Oh, great. Next up is draining the ball and spicing the juice. I’ll show you how it works,” He walked over to the counter Zoe had been working at and reached under to grab a strange looking metal tap that was about two feet long.

Lou rammed the tap into the ball and the two pieces seemed to fuse into one. Then he summoned a large pot and a small box filled with sticks of what looked like cinnamon.

“Place two of these sticks in the pot and then just turn this dial here to fill up the pot,” he pointed at the dial on the tap. “Don’t worry about overfilling, as long as you have the tap aimed at the pot it will stop automatically when the pot is filled.”

“Once the pot is filled, pull this lever here and do not let go until the lever retracts automatically. It will drain about one hundred mana from you each time so make sure you have that before you pull it. You do have at least one hundred mana, yes?” He asked her.

“Yeah, I’ve got enough mana for that.” Zoe answered.

“Good. When the lever retracts, you’ll pour the juice from this pot into this storage funnel.” Lou said, summoning a large metal funnel with a wide base, placing it on the counter next to the pot. “When you’ve gotten through all of the juice, come grab me and I’ll give you your pay.”

“That’s it? That’s the whole process of making cider?” Zoe asked.

“More or less. I’ll pour it from the funnel into an empty barrel later tonight and then let it ferment for a while.” Lou answered.

“That’s so easy, I always thought brewing cider would be a lot more work.” Zoe said.

Lou laughed, “Well, the hard part is making sure the fermentation goes well. But it’s just rotting apples at the end of the day, it’s not golem animating.”

“I guess so. I’ll get started on this then, thanks.” Zoe said.

“Yup, thanks for the help today.” Lou returned to his normal station, making sure the kitchen was running smooth.

Zoe took two of the cinnamon sticks and placed them in the pot, then turned the dial. When the pot filled, the juice reached the tip of the tap and she heard a dull thud from the base of it where it attached to the ball.

She reached for the lever on the pot and pulled on it, finding it a little heavier than she expected. Zoe expected a surge of mana to rush out of her when she did, but it was more of a trickle. The lever began to warm as she held on to it, and the smell of apple juice intensified.. This time with a hint of cinnamon in the background.

She fell into meditation as the mana was drained from her, replenishing each point back quicker than it was pulled from her. Something she felt quite proud of, but didn’t have a clue whether that should be impressive or not.

Almost twenty minutes later, the lever yanked her hand back and she squeaked in surprise. Lou looked over and smiled at the sight.

Zoe made sure the funnel was upright, and tilted the pot so the warmed apple juice would pour into it. The stream of juice vanishing as soon as it reached the funnel.

When she got to the bottom of the pot, the cinnamon sticks fell out and made their way into the storage funnel as well. She got a little nervous, but Lou didn’t say to take the sticks out, so she hoped it would be fine.

She checked on the steel ball, and saw that the purple glow had receded from about half of it, so she added two more cinnamon sticks to the pot and repeated the process all over again.

Halfway through this batch, her meditation was broken.

*DING* You have unlocked the Cooking skill.

[Cooking]

Become more adept at preparing food.

Zoe smiled, feeling a little giddy. She had hoped that taking a job for a restaurant would get her a skill, and it paid off. Not only was she getting three silver for this, but she was getting paid to learn new skills. It was a win win for her.

She wondered what other skills she might be able to get from taking odd jobs. Cooking was an obvious one, but maybe there would be one for cleaning? She thought that hunting or tracking might be good ones if she wanted to try her hand at that again, but didn’t feel comfortable going alone yet.

Maybe she could get a fishing job? Were there places to fish around here anyway? The river was quite a ways away and not safe for her, and she didn’t remember anything closer when she was looking through her book.

What tasks would be governed by skills anyway, she wondered. Was talking considered a skill? Bartering, debating? Could she get a skill for digging holes, or dancing?

She’d be willing to try anything that seemed safe at this point, just in the hopes that she could learn new skills. If it didn’t work at least she could make some money along the way.

Her hand was ripped back as the lever retracted, and she squeaked in surprise again. She felt a little embarrassed that it happened both times, and she could feel her face flushing.

She tipped the pot over, pouring the contents into the funnel then made her way over to Lou who was already looking at her with a big smile on his face.

“It can be a little shocking at first, huh?” He asked.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting it to be so violent.” She answered.

“There are better ones available but this works and I get a good laugh out of it so I keep it around.” He laughed.

“So that’s it then, right? I’m all done here?” She asked.

“You sure are,” he summoned three silver coins and handed them to her. “Come back next month and I’ll let you try a bit of it if you like too.”

“Really? Awesome. I’d love to, thanks!” Zoe said.

Lou smiled, “Least I can do for all the hard work you put in today. Thanks again.”

“Yeah, thank you too.” Zoe nodded her head and turned to the door.

“You can grab a meal if you’re hungry, on the house.” He called out, turning to a server who approached him and taking their slip of paper.

Zoe’s stomach grumbled at the thought of food. It had been a few hours since lunch and a free dinner sounded delightful to her.