Ezzie said.

I did as she’d said, and the haul was pretty nice: sixty pieces of copper ore and twelve leather straps. There were also some rarer materials: a couple of gemstones whose purpose was a mystery to us, as well ten pieces of tin ore. I smelted the tin down first, which raised my smithing to sixty-five and unlocked a new recipe: {Smelt Bronze Bar}.

{Smelt Bronze Bar}

Requirements: 1x {Copper Bar}, 1x {Tin Bar}

Produces: 2x {Bronze Bar}

Ezzie said.

I queued up the bronze and watched the forge go to work. Ten chunks of copper dropped out of a bin on one side of the room, while ten chunks of tin dropped out of another nearby bin. Conveyor belts fed both into the forge, which was already glowing with white-hot heat.

Twenty bronze bars filtered out of the apron beneath the forge, still glowing slightly, crackling and popping and steaming as they went. The conveyor dropped them into yet another bin—so many bins—and a bell chimed as each of the bars were deposited into the estate’s coffers.

I asked.

I said.

I checked my blacksmithing, which was up to seventy after finishing up with the bronze.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said. I shrugged back at the Constructor.

she said, huffing a little.

I said.

There was a weird note in her voice, almost like resignation.

Ezzie said. I should be the one strategizing. It also makes me wonder if my Pit Boys would have lasted longer if I’d just slowed down and tried to figure everything out.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I headed over to the pond, intent on cooking up some food before I started training for the day. The pond was a good bit larger than it had been before—maybe thrice its original size—and its crystal-clear waters were teeming with fish. I waded into the water and dipped my hands beneath the surface. I spat nearby, and a group of fish swam over.

Ezzie said.

I scratched the back of my head. I said. I went back to trying to catch fish.

I said.

Ezzie said, taken aback.

I snatched a fish out of the water and held it out, then tossed it back. Didn’t see any reason to hold onto them if I could just cook out of the pot. I dipped my hands beneath the water again and quickly snatched up another fish; it was a hell of a lot easier now that I’d had a little bit of practice.

Your Dexterity has increased by 1!

This point will be awarded when you reach level 7.

2/3 bonus points accrued.

Ezzie said.

I shrugged. At its core, this place wasn’t really all that different from the wild; it was all about scraping by and taking whatever advantage you could get. Let no stone go unturned and all that.

Ezzie said.

I said.

She sighed, a little morose.

I said.

Ezzie paused.

I said.

wanted to play and was cool with the risks, I feel like it’d be a ton of fun. But I don’t have any interest in forcing people to play. Just takes the shine off the whole experience, knowing that someone’s suffering for your benefit.>

I said.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I washed my face then waded out of the pond and headed over to the cooking pot. I pressed the red button, and the fire beneath it roared to life.

cook, or activate, or open, any of that stuff. All you need to do is mentally indicate that you want to use the cookpot.>

I thought open, and a blue control panel popped up atop the cook pot. I got a prompt, too:

Would you like to learn cooking as a secondary profession?

You may learn any number of secondary professions.

“Sure,” I said aloud.

You have learned Cooking!

I scrolled through the menu, my eyes practically popping out of their sockets at the detailed thumbnails of all the meals.

Ezzie said.

I said. I tapped on a perch and potato stew, since I didn’t have the materials for anything else. A prompt informed me that my cooking skill had increased to two.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said.

I said, squinting at the baffling set up.

I said.

I tore into the fish stew with the cookpot’s over-sized ladle as a utensil, and the food was immaculate; the fish was flaky and tender and it melted in my mouth before I could even chew it. The broth was good enough to drink, which of course I did. But the best part by far?

Just how much of the stew there actually was. Never in my life had I had more food than I could eat. Not once in twenty-something odd years. I ate until my stomach hurt, regretted it, then went back for more.