"Alright then, somewhere around here should be fine..." Harold announced, prompting the carriage to pull over to the side, "We'll be making camp here, while I disassemble the carriage, Ariel, go clear out the vicinity of any high level monsters that may pose a threat. Saron, set up the tents, and Brian put up your traps, and if you happen to have some spare time afterwards, see if you can kill something for dinner as well. Since we managed to make it here earlier than expected, might as well enjoy a fresh meal for once" he then added.

"Ooh! I want to hunt and cook!" I blurted out as I raised my hand by reflex.

There is no way in hell I'm going to give up an opportunity to gain some EXP to someone else. Not that I'm stupid enough to go out there hunting by myself, but if someone watches my back, I'm pretty confident I can get in a few kills.

"Can a twerp like you even cook properly?" Brian ridiculed.

"Better than you can even dream off!" I proudly declared.

"Look boss, I don't trust her one bit. Last thing we need is some food poisoning prior to embarking into the mountains" Brian scoffed.

"Hmm... can you really cook?" Harold questioned with a hint of doubt.

"You don't trust me? I'll have you know that I have the [Cooking] skill!" I replied with dissatisfaction due to the lack of confidence.

Not that I'm actually going to reveal what my level is, but there is no harm revealing that I have the skill right?

"*sigh*, I guess we'll have to decide this with a quick vote. All those in favor of her cooking, raise your right hand, and all those in favor of Brian cooking raise your left" Harold announced.

Taking a look around, Tina and Ariel raised the right hand while Brian was the only one raising his left. Since neither Saron nor Harold raised any of their hands, I'm guessing they abstained from the vote?

"Eh? Elder sister too..." Brian called out somewhat pitifully.

"Well I guess that settles it, Ma-*ahem* Shiro will handle the preparations for dinner... Tina, you come along with her just in case, and be sure not to go too far, if you don't happen to find anything within 3 hours, head straight back to camp" Harold warned.

"Me too?" Tina asked seemingly caught a bit off guard.

"Might as well put you to some use" Herold answered back.

So Tina is going to be the one babysitting me? Not that I mind... oh right!

"Uhm... would it possible for me to borrow a bow?" I requested, hoping to simplify my hunting while at same time practice my ranged attack skills.

"Let's see... the Longbows we have on hand would be a bit too big for your frame, and the Shortbows would be a tad difficult... can you use a Crossbow?" Harold inquired.

"Yeah... I think I can..." I responded after checking that my [Crossbow Mastery] was at level 2.

"Alright, here you go" Harold said as he handed me a crossbow from his [Item Box].

"... And Tina, make sure you don't cause her any trouble" Harold proclaimed as he went on to his task of disassembling the carriage.

"So little faith..." Tina said while shrugging her shoulders.

Wait?! Who is supposed to be babysitting whom?!

*sigh*

"I guess let's not waste any time and go" I called out to Tina and headed into the forest.

"Sure thing, right behind you!" Tina replied enthusiastically.

After walking for a few minutes, I spotted something in the woods... taking a closer look, it was one of those 3 eared rabbits! They aren't really considered monsters, but more like typical animals. And while killing animals does give me some EXP, it's far below that of monsters. On top of that, they are generally pretty annoying to hunt since unlike monsters, they tend to just run away if they feel threatened. Considering the effort it takes to catch them, they aren't really worth it... nevertheless, it's a good chance to get some target practice!

Through the use of [Shadow Step], I drew in on the rabbit by shifting from the shadow of the closest tree to the next without making a single noise... Once there, I activated [Blend Stealth] to not give myself away as I wait for my cooldown to expire... after repeating this process a few times, soon enough, I was finally in what I would consider acceptable range... aiming the crossbow carefully, I activated [Sniping Shot] and let it loose!

"Squee!!" the rabbit squealed, before falling to its death.

Excited that I actually managed to catch my first prey so easily, I quickly ran up to it and triumphantly held it up by its ears in midair as I proudly marveled over my achievement! I mean, sure, it's not that big of a deal considering the difference in level, but getting it on my first try is freaking awesome in itself!

As I was happily smiling due to my successful catch, Tina came over to me...

"Are you planning on serving that for dinner?" Tina queried with a hint of doubt in her voice.

"Uhm... Yes..." I answered, losing some of my ecstasy from prior...

"I know you have a thing between you and Ariel and all, but can you be sure not put any of that in our plates? Well at the very least not in mine..." Tina requested.

"Ha? Why?" I inadvertently asked out of confusion.

"Don't you know?... Tri-eared rabbits are highly poisonous! While some monsters do eat them, as far as humans and beastkin go, eating them can be quite lethal" Tina informed.

Hearing that shocking bit of information, I spontaneously dropped the rabbit out of my hand, as my face turned almost completely pale from the reality of me possibly eating one of those on my first day filled my mind! It could have literally turned out to have been my first meal, and at same time my last... no wait! This is Tina we are talking about, she is probably playing one of her pranks again, right? You can't fool me! I activated my [Identify] skill, and looked over it carefully with the help of [Creationist: Analyze Everything] and [Cooking] as well...

*gulp*

A cold sweat drips down the back of my neck... yeah... bad... really, really bad... While my experience with [Cooking] is severely lacking, with my skill level at 4, I can at the very least tell this thing reeks of poison!

Well eating it is definitely out of the question now, but maybe I can use its blood to cover my blades for some extra poison damage?... Though if I think about it, that would probably mean I wouldn't be able to cook the monsters I catch now would I? Damn it! Why couldn't this be more like those video games where you can literally dip a monster in poison and still safely eat the meat it drops!... *sigh*

"Oh and what you did there was pretty interesting... considering how easily you used it during broad daylight, do you by any chance have a decent amount of Shadow or Darkness Affinity?" Tina asked out of the blue.

"Eh? Uhm... Something like that..." I vaguely answered, not wanting to delve into it any longer.

I quickly stored the rabbit into my [Item Box], and then resumed looking for something more... eatable...

"The affinity, the [Item Box] skill, leatherworking, and decent level Blacksmithing... you're a bundle of surprises aren't you?" Tina casually commented.

As I was hesitating on how to answer that, I noticed a monster in the distance... Talk about good timing!

"I think I found something up ahead!" I announced and sprinted forward.

Once I got in good enough range, I slowed down my pace and began slowly sneaking up on the monster... in no time, the monster appeared within my sight....

[Brutal Mountain Goat] Level 28

Oooh, now that looks like some good prey! I mean seriously, that's a pretty darn large goat... well, as the saying goes, all the better to eat you my dear~... or is it my goat? I questioned while tilting my head...

Anyways... let's put the silly puns aside and focus! This time around, I'm facing a far more formidable opponent, so wasting Stamina on using [Shadow Step] multiple times is simply too risky. And since it's not going to run away from me anyways, might as sneak up on it the old fashion way! And with that in mind, I slowly begin to close in on the goat one step at a time... it did not take long before I was finally in striking distance of my crossbow, activating [All-Observing-Eyes], I closely aim the crossbow at its weak spot... then with the help of [Power Shot] and [Sniping Shot], I blast the bolt straight at the goat!

"BAAAH!!" the goat screams out in pain, then turning around in my direction, it charges straight at me!

Your skill [RA][Charge] has become Level 3

Darn, there isn't ample time to finish the light spell since it's faster than I thought!... Calculating in its new speed, I quickly activate [Shadow Step]!

Melting into the shadows, I circle around and appear right behind the [Brutal Mountain Goat]! Then with no time to spare, I swiftly [Thrust] my Holy-Steel Katar right at its weak spot!

"Eh?" I pronounce in shock, as my katar stabs into dirt instead!

What the hell just happened?! I could have sworn I timed it correctly! Even with the [Charge], it feels as though...

"BAAAH!" the goat cries out yet again as it turns around and prepares for its second charge!

Crap, this is no time for idle thoughts! [Shadow Step] is on cooldown, so I need to come up with an alternative... Should I just dodge with a [Charge] of my own? Or should I try to break through it with my wind cutter?

"[Water Magic: Water Bolt]!" came a voice from the side, as a bolt of water flew out and hit the goat straight at the temple of the head!

You have acquired a new sub-skill [NA][Water Magic: Water Bolt] Level 1

My first attack magic! That said, I don't really appreciate the kill stealing you know?... give me back my delicious EXP!

"Why did you do that? I clearly had it!" I complained.

"Did you now? All I saw was that you were about to be run over..." Tina replied as she made her way towards me.

"Well I most definitely had it! I was about to shred it in half actually!" I pronounced with confidence.

"Is that so? Well then, next time I see you being run over by a monster, I'll be sure to leave it to you~!" Tina replied with a content smile.

"Yup! You can leave... it... to me?" I confidently replied, only to trail off at the end after getting this odd feeling that something was definitely off...

As much as I wanted to figure out what that odd feeling was, I simply couldn't due to the other more pressing thoughts that have been flooding my head... I mean... what in the world happened back there? Even now, I'm pretty confident my timing was definitely spot on... so then how was it that I messed up so badly?... It just somehow felt like when I used [Shadow Step], I for some reason ended up quite a bit further than I had originally anticipated... hmmm... Maybe it really was faster than I predicted? But again, it didn't feel that way... Ugh! This is so freaking annoying!

"Is something the matter?" Tina asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"No... it's nothing... I thought my [Shadow Step] felt a bit off somehow but it's probably just my imagination... anyways, let's head back" I replied absentmindedly as I put my thoughts behind me and loaded the goat within my [Item Box].

"Well if anything, I'm more surprised you even got it off in the first place... I mean, isn't that monster higher level than you? And you used it in broad daylight at that..." Tina commented in wonder.

"Hmm? Does that matter somehow?" I curiously inquired, hoping to finally get an answer to my troubles.

"What, you don't know?" Tina asked with a bewildered expression.

"Eh? Uhm... can you please tell me?" I timidly pleaded.

"So you don't know~?" Tina repeated with amusement written all over her face.

"That is why I'm asking!" I burst out in irritation.

Grrr... I hate it when people flaunt about knowing something I don't! Just freaking tell me already!

"So you really don't know! huhuhu-" Tina teased while laughing.

"Fine! If you don't want to tell me, I'll just go ask Harold!" I pouted in frustration.

"-huhu... Sorry about that, but it's nothing complex really... If I were to explain it simply, every existence be it you or me, or even that tree over there has something called a [Domain]. We are all masters of our own[Domain], and hold dominance within it. Have you ever noticed that when you use [Shadow Step] to attack from behind, you don't generally go in a straight line in-between their feet, but go around them instead?" Tina questioned.

Now that I think about it... something like that does happen...

"Yeah..." I confirmed with a nod.

"Well, the reason you see that happen is because you've entered within their [Domain]. This is also why you can't just [Shadow Step] with your weapon one centimeter away from their necks either. Because the closer you get into someone's [Domain], the more resistance you will have" Tina explained.

"I see... but I'm pretty sure I got pretty close when I used it before..." I muttered in doubt...

"So you know, just because you are the master of your own [Domain] doesn't exactly mean that your [Domain] is invincible. In the case of [Shadow Step], there could be multiple reasons why you got better results than you did this time around. For example, if your target is lower level than you are, its [Domain] will obviously be weaker and easier to penetrate. Then there is another factor to consider, your environment. If you use it during the night, indoors, or a place with high density of darkness attribute mana, your [Shadow Step] will also perform far better than normal.

But this also applies in reverse, if you use it on something that is higher level than you, in broad daylight, or at a place with high amounts of light attribute mana, you'll find yourself far more constrained.

And lastly, there is affinity. The higher you get your Shadow or Darkness affinity, the easier it is to break through someone's else's [Domain]" Tina explained.

Hmm... Now that I think about it, prior to today, I've always used [Shadow Step] either at night or indoors.... and it was always pretty much on targets lower level than me... Though there was that one incident with the [Wraith] who was way higher level, but that place was especially dark, and maybe since there were undead monsters in there, it could have been abundant in darkness attribute mana? *sigh* I really wish I could make a definite assessment of that fight, but unfortunately it's kind of a blur... Not only was I fully absorbed in the fight at the time, there was also the whole curse thing that was eating away at my [Mental]... So trying to remember something as minuscule as how many centimeters away I was after using [Shadow Step] just leaves me drawing blanks...

Well either way, this makes things quite a bit more complicated...

"Is there a place I can find out more information about what a [Domain] is and how it works?" I curiously inquired.

If it's considered common knowledge, then there is bound to be a place I can learn about it in detail right? Maybe also a few other things as well...

"Hmm... I guess if you attend a prestigious Academy or maybe visit the Royal Library?" Tina casually replied back as she placed a finger on her chin.

"Ha?! So it's not common knowledge at all!" I complained while gritting my teeth.

"Well it's considered common knowledge where I'm from~" Tina shamelessly retorted back.

So other than prying the information from the party or going through trial and error, I'm pretty much out of options ha?... Should I maybe reconsider my whole strategy of using [Shadow Step] for combat other than indoors or on night days? But if that's the case, then what kind of combat method should I adopt? I do have these bow skills I could use... and killing things from a safe distance is to my liking, even though that may not always be an option... and at end of the day that still doesn't solve my problem of dealing with monsters stronger than me... hmm...

Wait a second.... why the hell am I even thinking about fighting monsters higher level than me in the first place? I'm not under some grand quest to save the world or what not... The only thing I truly care about is getting to a high enough level to ensure my safety, and be strong enough that people will think twice about offending me... I reckon maybe Rank A? Either way, the biggest reason why I'm able to safely face monsters far stronger than me is due to my equipment, but as I level up, there is no way my gear is going to keep up with me forever... So fighting higher level monsters than me will become harder and harder as I go.

I mean realistically speaking, once I reach Rank A in strength, and forge myself a full set of mithril gear, that would probably be more than enough to fulfill my goal. Even if a Rank S monster does show up, I can just simply run away! Plus, it's not like Rank S monsters simply just drop out of thin air anyways... Oh crap! I need to be careful not trigger any flags like that! Just in case, I took a quick peek around my surroundings to make sure there were no Rank S monsters nearby... I mean, you never know...

"So by the way, what are you planning on cooking?" Tina asked out of the blue as we were heading back.

"Uhm... I guess simple things like meat skewers and maybe some soup?" I answered, still somewhat unsure...

"How boring..." Tine replied with dejection.

Hey, I'd like to cook something fancier too... but unfortunately at this point in time, my abilities are still quite lacking... Not to mention the meat in question is entry level Tier 3! Getting too carried away is pretty much asking to mess up. Of course, I could always cook it as non-stat food, but if I do that, I'd get far less EXP, which would be contrary to my intended goal...

On the way back, I tried to 'accidentally stumble upon' some more monsters, but unfortunately there were none that I could find nearby... Thus, I reluctantly made it back to camp without killing any more monsters... darn it!

I guess since it has come to this, let's work hard on maximizing my cooking EXP!

"So how was the hunt?" Harold asked when we got back.

"It went well, caught a [Brutal Mountain Goat]!" I bragged, despite it technically not being my achievement.

"Is that so, do you need any help?" Harold questioned.

Not only my kill EXP, you also want to steal my cooking EXP as well?! Not on my watch!

"I'm fine, though I could use some condiments to flavor the meat if you have any..." I requested.

"Hmm... I don't have too many, but I have some salt, a few herbs and spices" Harold informed.

Alright! Now I can actually give it some real flavor!

"Can I have some?" I pleaded.

"Sure... but don't use too much of it since they aren't exactly cheap" Harold replied and handed me a few small bags.

Now then, before I can actually start cooking it, I have to actually take it apart first. It's a good thing that the [Disassembling] skill isn't tied down by tiers like production skills, but rather how hard something is to extract. Which kind of makes sense if you think about it, since there isn't that much difference between a low level goat or a high level goat other than maybe their overall toughness. But in the face of my mithril katar, even the hardest parts are closer to butter... That said, there is another point I need to consider... would a higher [Disassembling] skill lead to higher quality score?

"Uhm... Harold, do you happen to have the [Disassembling] skill?" I inquired.

Might as well use this opportunity to get some skills if I can, even if they aren't combat related.

"I'm not as good at [Disassembling] as Brian, but it's decent enough. Do you need some help?" Harold offered.

"Sure, but only with the [Disassembling], I'll handle the cooking myself" I replied.

After spending about 20 minutes, we pretty much fully disassembled the entire goat with ease. All while getting my [Disassembling] skill to level 4! Of course, I also had Harold give me some pointers here and there to help expand on my knowledge, otherwise it probably would have taken half that time. Overall, it was a pretty quick process considering that in my world, I remember seeing a guy spending quite a few hours processing a deer of around similar size. Though I can't exactly say for sure if that person represented the average or not, so it's probably a moot point ha?

With the disassembling of the goat complete, I stored everything that was not eatable in my [Item Box] and moved over to the fire place. First, let me try preparing a few meat skewers for taste testing... while I do have my grudges, my pride simply won't allow me to serve inferior goods!

Taking some salt, garlic and a few other spices that I sampled prior, I covered the meat cubes the best that I could, and then roasted the meat on the fire for about 10 minutes... Now normally it's best to marinate them for a few hours or maybe even a day, but well, I don't exactly have that kind of luxury, at the very least not for the prototypes... Either way, I should be able to make up for some of those deficiencies with my skills...

Brutal Mountain Goat Meat Skewers

An average quality brutal mountain goat meat skewers. Used to sedate hunger and temporarily raise stats

+2 STR +1 AGI +3 VIT +24 Stamina for 24 hours

[Made by Shiro]

Quality 5.0002/10.0000

Hmmm... the quality score is pretty decent considering it was my first time dealing with this tier 3 meat... Unfortunately though, the stats don't seem to be that much better than my [Dire Wolf Meat Skewers]... does this mean that stats vary based on the type or level of the monster in question regardless of its tier? Maybe even a mixture of both? Yet another thing to add to my endless list of stuff to research... *sigh*

But more importantly... the moment of truth... *munch* *munch* *munch* ... hmm... it's not bad... though it could definitely be improved upon it here and there... I guess it really helps that [Cooking] seems to pretty much be the easiest of all the professions. Otherwise, there would be no way in hell that I would be able to make average quality tier 3 stuff so quickly without the help of class skills...

Since I can now make water appear whenever I want using magic, there is little reason to store up fresh water within my [Item Box] anymore... so with that in mind, I take the bones, some meat, and the water from my [Item Box] and place them in a pot, then after adding garlic and a few other mild condiments I set the pot to boil.

With the soup now set up to boil, I proceed to marinating the Meat Skewers, except more properly this time around. After about 3 hours, I was finally done with both the skewers and the soup.

Brutal Mountain Goat Meat Soup

An average quality soup using brutal mountain goat meat as stock. Used to sedate hunger and temporarily raise stats

+2 STR +1 AGI +3 VIT +24 Stamina for 24 hours

[Made by Shiro]

Quality 5.3352/10.0000

Brutal Mountain Goat Meat Skewers

An average quality brutal mountain goat meat skewers. Used to sedate hunger and temporarily raise stats

+2 STR +1 AGI +3 VIT +24 Stamina for 24 hours

[Made by Shiro]

Quality 5.8192/10.0000

Unfortunately since I didn't have the quality correction skills nor the experience, it made it quite difficult for me to get a quality score of 6... nevertheless, I still think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself... and since I managed to make 32 servings of meat skewers, I got to complete my class quest for cooking as well!

The downside though was the results with the soup... I hoped to get credit based on servings as well, but it seems it doesn't quite work that way. While I cooked what could probably be another 20 servings, the actual credit I got was only 5. I guess it's there to prevent someone from just making a bunch of diluted soup and making it count... Oh well...

"Alright, its ready!" I happily declared!

"Let's see what we got there" Harold responded and made his way over.

"I'll have some as well" Tina joined in.

"No thanks! I'll stick to the rations, if everyone ends up getting sick because of that twerp, at least someone will be there to defend us all" the stupid dogkin bitterly grouched.

"I appreciate the meal missy" Saron thanked.

From there, we finally begun to eat! The reactions? Overall fairly positive! Now I'm pretty sure they had far better stuff to eat in restaurants which served higher level monsters made by higher level chefs... I mean, just the thought of that heaven defying [Ignis Salmon] makes me drool... *drool*... oops... sorry about that... but I'm sure they haven't eaten something like this while traveling, especially considering the portion sizes. They can of course load food in their [Item Box], but even if they do that, food still gets cold and loses quality over time. Not to mention, if we are talking about simply from a cost perspective, a whole goat like this may easily go for 2 - 5 gold coins once it's fully cooked!

Though... now that I think about it... that isn't that much money to this party now is it?... So could it be that they are just being thoughtful? Or probably it's because I cook better than that stupid hateful dogkin. *snicker*

Speaking of storing stuff, just in case I stored about half of the skewers and soup into my [Item Box]. Since it will get colder once we get up the mountains, it's always good to have some warm food in those kinds of situations. I do have the wolf and fox skewers I saved up from prior, but unfortunately they have already gone cold...

Their sacrifice won't be in vain though, since I now have a better understanding of by how much the [Item Box] slows down time. That is of course if you can actually call it slowing down time in the first place... because for all I know, it could also just be storing it in an ideal environment which emulates a similar effect. Kind of like holding something in the fridge makes it seem like your slowing down time and preventing it from spoiling, but that isn't what's really going on... anyways, from my basic testing, I concluded the ratio of storing something for 10 days inside the [Item Box] is around the same as having it out in the real world for 1 hour. Though again, I'll have to do more experiments to get all the details on that front... I did try the usual methods that I read about like setting a leaf on fire and storing it and other such methods, but the results were all over the place...

And before anyone knew it, all the skewers and soup that I made was pretty much gone... well, all but the ones in my [Item Box]... Of course no one thought anything of it until...

"Hey! Where is my share?!?!" Ariel unhappily declared as she got back from clearing out the nearby areas.

Hmph! Like I'd go out of the way to cook for some wretched hero! Well... unless she wants something made from a Tri-eared rabbit... I'd gladly serve that! *evil grin*