B4 Ch 40: Tier 3 Class (Patreon)

Time lost meaning to Arthur as he slowly moved through the workstations, one by one. From there, he moved to butchering and then to entrees. None of the stations were easy, and all had their individual challenges and hidden traps to avoid.

A few times more, he caught other signs of scourge rot on the food that he was working on. But also, while he was at the butchering table, he encountered new animals and fish – some that had poisonous parts to avoid.

For that, the chef gave him additional material in a scroll to study. Mostly, however, Arthur focused on his ever-advancing Butchering skill to tell him what parts would be safe to eat and what wouldn’t. The combination of gut instinct and experience his high leveled skills gave him was becoming increasingly invaluable.

Trying to pass the entree station had him studying a recipe book that was not so different from the one he had used at Barlow’s. Only this book had ways to help him increase his cooking intuition, too. Each recipe had portions that were flat out missing. A few of them had ingredients listed in proportions that either were so under or over that they would ruin the entire dish.

Also, he encountered unfamiliar terms here and there that he had to puzzle out, despite his Language Proficiency skills. He suspected those had been made up by the recipe writers to confuse people who were not supposed to have the book.

However, every time he successfully navigated through one of the hang ups or outright traps, he would receive a bonus of a few levels in that particular skill.

But that wasn’t all.

While at the workstations he was forced to cook using wildly different methods, from roasting several dishes in stoves that all required different – but precise – timing – to frying food in hot oil, and even to cooking on an open flame while managing the temperature so that it didn’t char the food.

He must have messed up one time without knowing how or why, because suddenly he found himself pulled from the entree workstation and sent to the dishwasher’s sink. There, he was faced with pots and pans that had piled up nearly to the ceiling.

At first, Arthur was frustrated, but soon he realized this, too, was an opportunity to advance his skills. He’d been a dishwasher for years in various kitchens and already had his General Dishwashing skill at a fairly high level 23.

But now, keeping in mind what Marion had told him about his Catching skill, Arthur fully concentrated on his task. To his surprise, he immediately gained a new skill in Scrubbing. And it was one that he quickly started to level, as well as his current Dishwashing Skill.

It might be silly, a grown man focusing on leveling a Scrubbing skill, but he didn’t care. He was going to take everything that the dark heart would give him.

Besides, finding new and interesting ways to clean pots and pans that had been sitting too long and had food practically glued to the bottom also helped his Tidying skill. That was one of the first skills he’d acquired as a boy, and now it started to shoot up the levels too.

By the time the last of the pots and pans were dealt with, and he cleaned out the sink for good measure, his Scrubbing was up to a respectable level 25, Dishwashing was at 38, and Tidying up to a staggering level 47.

He was reassigned to the entree station and began working with renewed vigor. As he did, he took special care to clean up after himself while concentrating on his Tidying skill. He wanted it to cross over level 50.

The station that threatened his completion of the challenge was Confectionery and Bakery. Arthur had never excelled at desserts, and no matter how high he got his Baking and Cooking skills, he could never make caramel without burning the sugar. While he could produce functional cakes and cookies, decorating them to perfection required an artist’s touch, which he lacked. His were ‘good enough’ without that extra something-something that made them extraordinary.

He didn’t have an artist’s soul – not like Brixaby with his blacksmith artistry skills.

However, even if he didn’t have a natural talent for desserts and his chocolate work was more ‘functional’ than ‘inspired’, he was determined to brute force his way through it. By the time his Confectionery and Baking skills reached the mid-thirties in rank, he let those skills carry him through.

He’d been working on the stations for... how long had he been here? Certainly more than a few hours. It might even have been days at this point.

Nothing changed in the kitchen: no staff changeover other than when Arthur took over a new workstation. The orders kept coming. Yet he didn’t feel the fatigue he knew he should have been experiencing. Not even mental fatigue. He didn’t start making careless mistakes, and not once did his knife slip while cutting.

The dark heart was providing him with as much time as he needed to complete the challenge. Considering how much he was leveling, he wasn’t in a hurry to end the process.

He still couldn’t help but worry about how Brixaby and the others were faring in their challenges. Were they also working in their versions of kitchens?

No… no, that would be silly.

Arthur shook his head and dismissed the thought, then continued to create small, delicate tarts to an acceptable standard.

Mindful of his time at the dishwashing station, he took a few minutes after he was done to clean up the mess.

This time he was rewarded with a new skill.

 New skill gained: Kitchen Organization. (Cooking Class)

 

Due to your card’s bonus traits, skill grind, and unique practice location, you automatically start this skill at level 10.

 

Starting at level ten? That was quite the jump. Was it because of his endless skill grind ability, something the heart was doing, or—

That thought was cut off a moment later as he received another notice.

New Skill Level: Tidying: Level 50

Congratulations! For reaching this milestone you have been awarded the following:

+2 Wisdom

He smiled to himself, and, on a whim, started some heavy meat dishes. Those would require a lot of processing of fresh carcasses that had come in. His Butchering skill was so close to level 50 that he could practically taste it.

It took him roughly another hour, which was so quick that it was almost unheard of. Yet, in his challenge it felt natural.

By combining Butchering and Cooking, he was able to level those two skills up together side by side.

New Skill Level: Butchering Level 50

Congratulations! For reaching this milestone you have been awarded the following:

+1 Strength

+1 Dexterity

 

New Skill Level: Cooking Level 50

Congratulations! For reaching this milestone you have been awarded the following:

+2 Dexterity

+2 Intelligence

The real surprise came with the next announcement.

Alert: Class upgrade! (Cooking Class)

Cooking class has upgraded to tier three!

You have not only the knowledge and a passion to not only learn the fundamental skills of your craft, but have shown a willingness to truly master your skills and push the boundaries of your art.

 

All new skills within this class start at level 10, and experience is gained 25% faster in addition to existing card’s bonuses.

 

Bonuses to attributes are now permanent and no longer need to be equipped to be active.

+5 Perception

+ 5 Dexterity (additional 3 when using kitchen tools)

+4 Intelligence
+3 Wisdom

+1 Luck

 

But it was the next notification that truly took him aback. 

Any skill over level 50 in the cooking class may now be enhanced by magical aspects.

 

Arthur blinked at the notification. “But,” he said, speaking aloud, “My Master of Skills card doesn’t allow for magic-based skills. So, what does that mean?”

As usual, there was no answer.

Could it be that he didn’t know his Master of Skills card as well as he thought he did? That was both a frightening and reassuring thought.

Then he thought about his Nice Shot card and the fact that his Knife Work skill was up to level 50. Now that had some possibilities to it…

But before he could truly mull that over, he realized that the kitchen around him had gone quiet. Looking around, he saw that the world was starting to dissolve around him from the outside in, like a version of tunnel vision. Arthur took an involuntary step back as the world grew dark and close, like he was the only thing left which was solid.

And before he could worry about what he would be facing next, the world where he’d spent an endless dinner service was gone. Abruptly, he found himself sitting at the base of Brixaby’s neck.

His dragon twisted hard under him, half-barrel rolling in the air in shock. Arthur yelled and had to lean hard on his Dragon Riding skill and newly enhanced strength attributes to keep from being flung off.

“Brix!”

Brixaby righted himself almost instantly, nearly throwing Arthur off the other side.

But he wasn’t the only one who had sharply reacted. Their whole group had been thrown into confusion.

Above them, Joy yelled, “Finally! I’m out of those horrid hallways!”

Meanwhile, Sams seemed to have briefly lost altitude and was quickly flapping his large wings to stay up in the air. He’d come perilously close to falling straight down on Cressida and Joy.

“We’re back!” Horatio yelled. Then, “How long were we gone?”

A little dazed, Arthur looked around. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling he’d just reentered a memory of something that had happened a few days ago. But no, the challenge was fake and this… this was real.

They were still descending into the pit of the dark heart.

Oh no, he’d taken so long in his challenge… had he somehow held up the rest of the retinue, or let too many adventurers into the heart ahead of them?

Arthur glanced up and saw that there was still a crowd of people descending the circular pathways. In fact, it looked like they hadn’t advanced at all from the last time he’d seen them.

It was as if no time had passed at all.

What was more, it seemed the sheriffs had finally started to restore basic order in the pushing, shoving group, along with some conscientious adventurers. One of Jon’s Lightening Cats caught a young man who’d been wobbling close to the edge.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s own retinue was still yelling back and forth to one another with Marion and Soledad adding their voices.

“Joy, dear,” he heard Cressida say, “Did you get a card too—”

“Cressida!” Arthur cut her off and pointed upward to the descending crowd, meaningfully. “You don’t want your voice to travel.”

She gave him a sharp look but then nodded, looking chagrined.

Arthur glanced down. The dark heart lay just as deep under them as before, as if they hadn’t traveled at all. It had to be an illusion.

“Keep sinking,” he told Brixaby. “Nice and steady.”

Brixaby nodded though he seemed unusually twitchy and kept staring closely into the deeper shadows. It was almost as if he expected something to leap out at him… though he seemed to be looking forward to the fight.

What had gone on in his challenge?

Arthur intended to find out soon, and only hoped that his dragon had benefited as much as he had.

Brixaby sank lower and lower within the pit, the other dragons back-winging after him. Still, it appeared they were getting no closer to the pulsing center of the dark heart.

Then, suddenly, Arthur found himself somewhere else entirely.

He stood in the middle of a green field of ankle high grass with hills surrounding him. A cloudy blue sky arched overhead. Though it was just as bright as midday, there was no way anyone could mistake it for being outside. The sun was entirely different: It had been replaced by a pulsing dark heart.

And this time, Arthur had arrived with the rest of his retinue.