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He hadn’t received any healing from Gilbert. Not yet, at least. And Bloody Lifesteal didn’t help further than needed, leaving scars and aches.

If he asked Gilbert to help cut the bullet out and heal him up, Gilbert would probably do it. But Zarian kept letting that request slide into the background. He was very good at ignoring his own pain.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The blurriness in his vision passed quickly. Looking around, he didn’t find Ariana.

He saw Bianca and Hannah laying close, their bedrolls right next to each other. Bianca was curled up while sucking on her thumb.

Hannah slept perfectly on her back, one loose fist on her chest. Her other hand was on Bianca’s head.

She must’ve soothed the younger woman before falling asleep.

Gilbert was on the other side of Zarian, sleeping on his side. He was snoring like a rumbling truck. The rest of the group was so tired that Gilbert’s snores couldn’t disturb them.

Rising to a seat, Zarian found Naomi sitting up on her bedroll in the far corner. She had sacks filled with dried goods piled behind her back and had a good view of the entire room and the doorway.

She was also fast asleep.

“She tried to keep watch,” Foodie said from her step ladder near the stove. She cracked eggs into a bowl and whisked it with a mix of chopped meat and veggies. “But she was too tired to stay up for long. Not after all that you’d done. And not when you ate my food.”

Foodie poured the eggs into a hot pan.

Zarian’s mouth watered from the sizzling sound and delicious smells. He noticed other ingredients stacked on the kitchen island. They were going to have a hearty breakfast.

“Did you lace the food with anything?” Zarian asked casually, unbothered. Para the Parasite Cloak was keeping constant security. She was acting passively now, so things must be fine.

“Other than my magic?” Foodie asked. “No, I don’t like poisoning anyone I want to feed. It’s a bad habit for a cook. Instead, I used a skill for your benefit.”

“Really?” Zarian asked.

“You arrived two days ago and leveled up all the way to 24. That is very, very fast. So fast, your vitality hasn’t caught up to your level yet. You would’ve lost out without me. My food should help with that.”

Zarian sat up straighter, surprised. He didn’t know leveling up too fast came with consequences.

Foodie descended from the step ladder and went to grab something from the kitchen island. When she returned to the stove, a troubling thought came to Zarian’s mind.

“We slept for over twenty-four hours, didn’t we?” he asked.

He didn’t feel safe in the sanctuary anymore.

Foodie pointed over to the door with a big kitchen knife. Zarian had to crawl forward and off his bedroll to see.

Rivulets of dark blood had dried on the steps. In the corner outside of the sanctuary, all the way against the wall, Zarian saw a pile of bodies.

Foodie had killed a bunch of corrupted goblins while Zarian and the others were asleep.

Without waking them up.

Holy fucking shit.

“Why?” Zarian asked, amazed by all Foodie had done for them.

Hadn’t she said she was evil? Even if only a little? She’d done so much while having no obligations toward five human Outsiders.

Foodie hesitated, her big, broad ears tilting all the way up. Then she looked over her shoulder and at Zarian. Her eyes seemed to stare into his soul.

“I liked the way you reacted when you ate my food. It was nice to see. So I don’t care if Mother will punish me. I won’t let you die to weak goblins.” Foodie went back to cooking.

Zarian watched her for a while as he thought over her words.

Foodie was a particular character, and kind of magnetic in her own way. Zarian felt something toward her. Admiration? Respect? Appreciation?

Whatever it was, Zarian was very, very well rested and able to think. He could see that he’d taken a lot of risks up to this point.

They’d trusted a total stranger – a goblin – to not only serve them drink and food but take care of them while they rested. And Foodie had done that for two days.

Zarian wanted to make the most out of this.

“Vitality? Is it life energy?” Zarian asked.

“Vitality is a layer between aura and life energy. Life energy protects your soul and keeps it tethered to your body. It can also help with your body, but it’s not that efficient for that. Life energy usually shrinks with time unless you adventure up the levels and reach ascension. Or there’s magic involved.”

So that’s why Bloody Lifesteal is uncommon instead of being higher. It’s an enormous waste of energy when I’m using it for physical healing.

That confirmed his earlier observations of why he didn’t get healed all the way. Bloody Lifesteal was better for securing life. Actual healing affected vitality, which affected the body.

Zarian felt a little cheated by his only self-preservation skill. Then again, if he thought about it from an offensive perspective, it was badass he could drain the energy that kept a person’s soul in their body.

Also, what the heck was ascension?

Foodie carried on as she cooked. “Vitality is the energy that helps you endure the rigors of adventures, keeps you fit and on the move, and helps you stay awake on long stretches of restless work, and quickens your healing even without a healer if given enough time to rest. Some adventurers call it your constitution, endurance, or health. It’s all of those things. It grows with levels, but it grows the most if you earn your levels from hard experiences.”

Zarian nodded along with the explanation. Vitality’s design was an interesting game mechanic. There were no obvious stats for what sounded like health points. It was more organic and invisible.

It also sounded like he needed to be careful with how he power-leveled himself and the others. If they had too easy of a time, they would die easier in high level fights.

“Is it possible to sense vitality?” Zarian asked.

“Certain classes, skills, and traits can,” Foodie explained. “I can sense vitality since it’s part of my class as a Strong Cook Prodigy. I can also sense your aura. But that’s not part of my class. That’s a trait I learned from my father.”

“What’s aura?”

“The sum of your stats.” Foodie threw what looked like bacon into a pan. An even louder sizzle filled the kitchen. “The more stats you have, the more aura you have. With aura, you can empower many of your skills or use it for spells, enchantments, and more. You have a large amount of aura at your level, wizard.”

“Thanks, Foodie, and also I apologize if my questions are dull and basic. Can you tell me more about the basic profile info?”

“Your apology is unnecessary.” Foodie stopped what she was doing. She turned to give him an expressionless stare that made Zarian freeze.

Then, slowly, she went back to cooking. Zarian relaxed as Foodie spoke: “You are an Outsider, and an honored one at that. I’ve never read or heard about an Honored Outsider before. Yet, here you are in Shadowfell territory, so even if you are a newbie, I think it will be wise to help. Now listen closely so I don’t repeat myself.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Your class is based on paths one can follow as they adventure and ascend the worlds. There are many paths, but it is up to your actions and achievements to make the most of your class.

“Traits are based on you, sometimes the result of classes, and sometimes the results of extreme changes or logical progression. All traits, even those that seem negative like a debuff, exist because they are tailored to you.

“Skills can sometimes be tailored to you or tailored to the class. While traits are more permanent and hard to evolve, skills are more dynamic and level up just so they can advance and improve. Not all skills are equal. Some are higher quality than others. Some can advance into higher qualities if they don’t start that way. This is important to keep in mind, because a skill that seems weak and simple can grow and advance to be strong later on.”

“Yes, I see, thank you.” Zarian imagined his skills were powerful and high in quality.

The others had skills that might not be powerful now but could grow into something stronger later, like Hannah’s Basic Enchantment or Gilbert’s Basic Healing.

Another example was Searing Flash, Bianca’s skill, which wasn’t basic. That thing was a strong skill, higher in quality than what the others started with. That could mean Bianca had a hidden talent inside her.

Naomi seemed to be in the middle, and it was hard to judge her since she had a class that granted her a unique skill like Mind Spike. Naomi had made herself powerful through aggression and attitude.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

She’d taken Zarian’s help first, springing her up in levels. So Zarian couldn’t judge if Naomi was talented or she was an extreme workhorse who made herself talented. Nonetheless, she was an interesting case just like the others.

Seeing them grow and advance will be interesting, Zarian thought with a smile.

After enough time passed from what was last said, Foodie carried on: “As for stats. Willpower is for concentration, defense of mind, defense of spirit, applying your mental and spiritual will, and more. Strength is for brawn, hitting power, toughness, and more. Agility is for speed, dexterity, quickness of mind, grace, and more. Wonder is for luck, faith, perception of the unnatural, great hidden power, increasing aura potency, and many more things. Then there is Mysticism, your favored stat, I imagine. Mysticism is for control of magic, magical ingenuity, regenerating aura, and plenty more.”

Foodie let out a soft, scratchy sigh. “The nature of stats are regardless of how certain abilities or enchantments scale with them or how certain classes prefer certain stats. Each stat has greater depth than you can imagine as a newbie.”

Zarian nodded. “Yeah, well, I can work with the basics for now. This confirms a lot. All of those stats sound important, but classes are built on minimizing waste and maximizing potential.”

“This is sometimes true. But all stats must rise eventually. Unless you can overcome weaknesses created by ignoring certain stats for too long.”

“Okay, alright, I think I’ll wait on the others before we continue,” Zarian said. “Again, thank you.”

“Okay.” Foodie continued cooking.

Zarian smiled, enjoying the serenity despite everything that had happened. Foodie had explained so much he was still chewing on it all. And there was still more!

The wealth of information was great to hear until Zarian realized he and the others hadn’t mentioned their names. That was rude of them, wasn’t it? Thankfully, everyone else was finally starting to rouse from sleep.

Naomi jolted awake and jumped to her feet.

Bianca and Hannah slowly shifted into consciousness, with Bianca letting out a few soft sobs. Hannah froze up, eyes wide, searching for danger like any frightened person.

Gilbert grumbled at first before he stood to his tall height and looked ready for a fight. He wasn’t too eager to fight, based on the fear in his eyes, but he prepared anyway.

Zarian took his time to observe them. More so now than before. These people would be working alongside him for a while, and he wanted to know all of their physical details by heart.

Naomi was black with brown eyes and black hair like him. She was very in shape, eye-catching even. Her expressions and attitude came across as dangerous and cold, however. Sometimes even merciless.

Gilbert and Bianca were both white with a tan and straw-yellow hair. However, Gilbert had the classic blue-eyed look, while Bianca had yellowish amber eyes. Gilbert was a big man with a small-town charm. Bianca was a natural beauty with a Latina flair.

Lastly, there was Hannah, pale white, brown-eyed with brunette hair, and the oldest and most meek-looking woman of the group. She came across as more mature while also reserved at times, but there was something bold hidden inside of her.

“Everyone,” Zarian called, “tell Foodie your name and thank her for the food and her hospitality.”

Zarian went first. Despite some reluctance, the others followed his example. Greetings completed, he caught them up on what Foodie had told him so far. He wanted to keep his people engaged and to not think heavily about the horrors they’d faced.

Of course, there was no hiding how vulnerable they had been while they slept. They saw the goblin corpses piled in the corner outside of the kitchen.

Naomi’s dark skin became a few shades lighter on her face, her surprise clear. Gilbert and Hannah had a similar look, if not paler.

“You’re so nice, Foodie,” Bianca said, pushing past the grim wake up call. “You’re the first nice person we’ve met here.”

The goblin’s ears went up and down. Then she slowly turned to Bianca and said, “If that’s what you think, then I won’t tell you otherwise.”

Is she really aligned with evil? Zarian wondered. But she said she’s not that evil, so maybe it’s because she lives in an evil territory that she’s evil aligned.

Her class, Strong Cook Prodigy, didn’t evoke the idea of evil alignment. Zarian was curious, but the moral alignment thing was not the most pressing question now.

Their time was limited, wasn’t it? There was no way Foodie could slaughter the other goblins without facing consequences from her mother, right? Zarian had nearly overlooked the danger because of the wealth of information Foodie provided.

“What should I ask next?” Zarian murmured.

There were too many questions. Zarian took some time to sort through them all in his head, and everyone was polite enough to wait. By the time he had his leading questions, breakfast was served.

Everyone gathered at the table again. Foodie stood off to the side, little hands on her hips. She watched them like a curious green-skinned cat.

They had scrambled eggs on toasted bread covered in light herbs and seasoning. They had fat chunky bacon strips that had been cooked into a fine but chewy crisp. They had bowls of oats with berry-like fruits Zarian had never seen before. They also had pitchers of cold milk and a sweet smelling juice.

Of course, there was more water since sleeping for so long would leave them dehydrated.

“What’s the payment for this feast?” Zarian asked.

“I want to know your plans before you leave. Then I would like to test your wizardry, Zarian,” Foodie requested.

Everyone looked worried at hearing that except for Zarian, who smiled. His admiration of Foodie went up.

“Alright, that works for me. Let’s eat,” Zarian said.

The breakfast was a delight. This time around, everyone ate a little slower. They savored the meal like it could be their last.

Bianca only sobbed once. Gilbert’s large frame leaned over his food like he wanted to hug it. Naomi and Hannah were more reserved, but they couldn’t hide their enjoyment that much.

Zarian felt like he was having a feast fit for a king as he finished his eggs-on-toast, chomped down a piece of juicy bacon, then followed it up with a hearty swig of delicious and pulpy juice. With every swallow, Zarian felt like he was way greater than the man he was before Foodie’s kitchen.

The System even acknowledged it.

Zarian stopped eating. So did the others. They all burst into telling each other how much they’d grown.

Everyone was talking over each other until Naomi slapped her hand on the table. Zarian spoke first once they hushed down. Then they went one by one from there.

Zarian had grown the least, with a total of 18 new points. Naomi had grown the most, with 26 new points. Bianca, Hannah, and Gilbert had each gained 20 new points.

“Good, I figured that would happen,” Foodie said. “You’ve come from outside the Star System, plunged directly into danger. Somehow, you’ve defeated enemies with significant higher levels and more time here. And you’ve had my food to help you grow. Your vitality will still need more time to settle in. But your stats and aura can easily keep up if you’re going to push at the pace you’re going now.”

“Will this happen each time we go out for hard quests and adventures, then come back to rest?” Zarian asked eagerly.

Foodie snorted softly. “With me, it can. A strong cook is essential for that type of growth. You’ll need to eat the meat of powerful and unique monsters, however. And have vegetables and spices from rare magical places.”

Foodie nodded to her own words, and the Outsiders nodded along as she spoke.

“I gave you my best stock that I’ve gathered when Mother lets me go on my runs. You’re very fortunate to have come at the time you did, since it was all fresh and workable with my abilities.”

“Thank you for that. Like, seriously, thank you,” Zarian said.

The others followed his example, Bianca especially. She looked like she wanted to throw a hug around Foodie even if it might get her killed.

Zarian moved on to his next question: “What is the Infinita Star System?”

The others settled down to listen as they sipped from mugs filled with juice, milk, or water. Zarian wanted his entire attention on Foodie’s explanation and didn’t bother to have anything in hand.

Foodie tilted her head to her left and then to her right. Once she straightened her head, she seemed to have an answer ready.

“It is the playground of the System, the seven Evil Gods, and seven Good Gods. It is a game of power. The strong rise, and depending on their alignment and factions, they earn favors, boons, achievements, treasures, stats, new abilities, and more.”

Foodie went over to a low hanging shelf, grabbed a dried root, and chewed on it. Once she swallowed, she continued.

“The weak live under the strong, and earn little to nothing. But anyone can rise if they push themselves, take risks, or find extreme fortune.”

Foodie munched through another root. She took her time to chew on her snack and her own thoughts before speaking again.

“We’re on one of the starter worlds right now. Ours is Corma, the World of Castles and Caverns. It is fit for those between Level 1 and Level 100. Above that, I’m not sure. Father didn’t leave many notes about the next world above. All I know is you must adventure and ascend as the best way to keep growing. Or you’ll stagnate and hit a limit.”

Zarian nodded along with the worldly info. It wasn’t complete, but it painted a decent picture on the basic level.

The Infinita Star System sounded like a widespread, multi-world game that distributed more power to the strong as long as they worked hard, took risks, or got lucky. Those who showed the most talent by leveling up would receive rewards from the System or the fourteen gods in charge. The weak could rise as well, but without great power or luck, they would fall easier than the strong.

Seven gods represented a good alignment. Seven gods represented an evil alignment, which no doubt included the Shadowfell Goddess. Then there were various smaller factions that came with a host of boons or issues.

Zarian imagined this would make for one hell of an MMO.

“What is good and evil in the Infinita Star System?” Zarian asked next.

Foodie answered: “Good is order. Evil is chaos. Good follows lots of rules or suffers. Evil doesn’t have many rules and suffers.” Foodie chewed on another piece of root. “I’m evil for being a goblin. I can gain more favors by acting under the will of one of the Evil Gods. We’re in the territory of Evil Goddess Shadowfell, who is considered the least evil of the Evil Gods.”

“Really?” Zarian asked.

Foodie nodded. “She’ll show mercy to the weak. And she’ll praise the strong. But her power is available to everyone who is on the side of evil. Sometimes you’ll earn her favor even when you’re neutral.”

Foodie looked up at the ceiling and said in a low voice, “Only a few can handle it, especially the Shadowfell Tears. It’s interesting that you were down in the Shadowfell pools when you arrived and hadn’t been corrupted. I figure it’s because of your origins as Outsiders, so the Star System protected you.”

Zarian hummed. The more he learned, the more he realized there were invisible forces that the System kept out of sight.

This entire magical fantasy universe was a far bigger and more complex game than just crawling through underground floors and facing down intensely insane goblins.

Also, the Shadowfell Goddess sounded interesting, if very careless. Maybe that was the reason she was an Evil Goddess. She didn’t care about how damaging her own tears could be.

She’s a messy girl.

It was kind of wild and fantastic to think about. Somewhere out there a woman could cry and turn creatures into more monstrous versions of themselves.

“I read she arrived as a baby twenty years ago,” Zarian said.

“It is now Mid Summer, 1532 of the Dark Era,” Foodie said. “Shadowfell arrived in the Early Autumn of 1512, some years after the Sixth Divine War of the Dark Era. Many Masters, Champions, Paragons, and even Heroes have perished. The throne of the Adventurer King remains empty to this day. Four gods died in the last war, and three gods took their place as expected.”

Foodie turned to look into the fire crackling in the oven. “Gods, heroes, kings, queens, these are replaced by adventurers who rise in the Infinita Star System. That’s what the books I’ve read say. But there’s one exception everyone knows of.”

“Shadowfell Goddess?” Zarian guessed.

“Yes, Shadowfell. She’s the only exception. She was a goddess as a baby. She’s our age, far younger than all the others, and far too different,” Foodie explained. “It is said she’s so powerful most gods fear her, Good and Evil. Well, except for one. But that one is best not mentioned by his direct name, lest you risk rousing from his slumber the First Destroyer, the First Evil King.”

Foodie waited, but nobody piped up. Not even Zarian. There was a lot to take in, even for a geek like him.

“Excuse me, I need some time to, uh, take this all in,” Gilbert piped up. “Sorry.”

“Same,” Hannah added. “This is a lot.”

“Let’s take a quick five, guys,” Zarian said, standing up from the table. He wandered around and looked closer at different parts of the kitchen. Naomi followed him like a shadow.

Time was not on their side. He might as well have a closer look at the magical kitchen while he could.