Kael and Jessica helped the children throughout the morning by moving the big or heavy objects. By the time the sun was directly overhead, the majority of the first floor was empty and some of the girls had started to try to clean it. Kael quickly stopped them from wasting time, telling the girls that the building needed repairs and was just going to get dirty again.

Finishing off the first floor of the building seemed to be a good time to stop for lunch. Kael rounded up Jessica and the kids bringing them over to the pit. Having Jessica grab one side of the canvas, Kael grabbed the other. The two of them lifted it, and all of the dirt that was on top of it, up and off the pig.

The removal of the dirt and canvas revealed the steaming bundle of burlap wrapped pig. The smell of roasted meat wafted out of the pit and set off a string of bellies rumbling that sounded like a thunderstorm.

Smiling at the kids, Kael grabbed the burlap and hauled it out of the hole. Realizing he forgot to get plates, forks, or anything else he tried to send a kid off to buy some just to be denied. The kids did not use them normally and the smell of the food had almost put them into a frenzy.

Cutting open the burlap the freshly roasted pig was exposed. The wet burlap and the corn husks inside the pig helped to steam it, keeping it juicy, and stopping it from charring. Squatting down, Kael had just begun to cut it open he got a notification.

Congratulation, you have created a new object: Pit Roasted Pig. (Karma)

Mortal tier cooking production, initial sustenance of 45,000.

Item creation; 25 sustenance per serving.

Total servings available for creation, 1,800

Taste increased by 50% due to talents.

No sustenance wastage, remaining sustenance of 45,000(+50% bonus =67,500).

Chef’s choice, increase sustenance or servings?

Hearing the amount of sustenance Kael was so shocked he literally lost his balance and fell over on his ass. Embarrassed he apologized for slipping while the children all laughed at him.

Figuring he had enough servings to feed the city, he chose sustenance.

Current sustenance of 67,500, 25(+50% =37.5) sustenance per serving.

Converting 67,500 sustenance, remaining 1800 servings.

Feeding the Masses Karma event triggered...

Soul granted experience to the Chef profession as serving is consumed.

Karma may not trigger another mass feeding in the mortal tier.

Make persistent efforts!

Hearing the kids cheering and their yells about bringing food to their friends Kael snapped back to reality. Quickly doing some math, he was sure he had to be wrong. Thinking, Normally for cooking, I get a total experience equal to about the initial sustenance plus the 50% bonus material amount. That is before the second 50% bonus. That means if I can all 1,800 serving stuffed into someone’s mouth I will be a master chef today.

Standing up, Kael said, “Change of plans guys. After you eat we are going to call it a day here. I will bring the pig to your place. You guys can eat as much as you want, but you also have to give out portions of meat to anyone who asks. Even if the entire slums shows up. If you have any problem people show up Jessica will be there.”

Kael thought his change of plans would not go over well, but much to his surprise all of the kids supported him. Eating with the kids he was a little surprised to see 6 to 10-year-old kids stuff down 2 pounds of meat. The teenagers could stuff in about three pounds each as well.

When they were all finally done eating Kael took the pig to their building. Laying out the canvas and plopping the pig on it, he started chopping it up into 1 pound chunks. The kids handed it out to others as he cut it. Initially, he had planned on leaving after he was done with the cutting, but with the size of the pig it took him over four hours to cut it all up.

By the time he was done chopping the kids had moved on to handing out food to the adults coming home from work. Many of them took the meat with thanks and headed home to share it there. To stop people from being greedy the kids only gave out one slab of meat to each person.

Kael and Jessica ended up hanging out until about 7 pm. When all the meat was gone Kael had mixed emotions by the notification he got.

Congratulations, mass feeding event has come to an end.

Experience per serving 2.5 (+50% for extra sustenance =3.75)

1,485 servings consumed, 5569 experience granted to Chef Profession.

14.8 Karma earned. Make persistent efforts!

Happy and somewhat shocked by the experience and karma he got, he also wondered if there were really that many people who were saving some for later. Regardless, it launched him through rank 6 and rank 7, leaving him 69 experience into rank 8.

Calling it a day, Kael removed the teeth from the pig and used fire Qi to burn off the excess meat on the bones. Wrapping it all up in burlap he handed it over to Jessica. Telling her to go sell it for the kids so they would not be bullied or robbed.

Watching her take off the kids were a little apprehensive again. They had just eaten the best and tastiest meal of their lives but they had grown up getting ripped off. Seeing Jessica leave with the boar parts they hoped she would be back. They knew they would be beaten and robbed if they tried to sell it themselves so they all kept silent with just the tiniest bit of hope in their hearts.

Reading the atmosphere Kael decided to wait until Jessica came back to not create more anxiety for his future employees.

When Jessica returned she reported that the boar was rank 4. She was a little upset as she explained she could not sell all of the bones. The merchants only wanted the large ones and wouldn't even take the small ones for free. However, she got 25 silver for each of the two tusks. She was a bit depressed when she told Kael that altogether she got 174 silver for the beast.

Hearing her report Kael said, “No problem. It’s a bit under what I expected but I guess different cities have different merchants who specialize in different things. It is still a nice sum of money though.”

Looking over at the oldest child, Mark, he could see a bit of greed sparking in his eyes. Asking him, “So Mark, do you want to split the silver or do you want us to buy something for you?”

Mark quickly tried to hide his greedy look and said, “No need for you to buy stuff for us, we would rather just split the money.”

A little disappointed in the kid, Kael said, “Ok, let’s go inside to hand out the money. If you show that much silver on the street you will get brutally robbed tonight.”

Heading inside with the kids, Kael added 1 silver from his pocket to the money to make an even 175. Splitting it into 5 silver each he handed it out to the 35 children. Before leaving he Stressed to them to be very careful and to only spend it with a trusted shopkeep.

After leaving Kael walked with Jessica for about 5 blocks before stopping her. Telling her that they were going to sneak back to watch after the kids tonight, he turned down a different road before doubling back.

Sneaking up to the back of the building, the two sat down to cultivate while listening for any disturbances. About midnight they heard a muffled grunt that was abruptly silenced. Looking into each other's eyes, they both stood up and broke in through the boarded up windows.

The crashing noise of jumping through boarded up windows woke most of the children, while Kael’s shout of “Stop!” woke the rest. Looking through the dimly lit room Kael could see Mark holding a knife that was dripping blood. He was standing over the corpse of the young boy who got to eat meat for the first time in his life today.

Kael was so enraged by the senseless killing that his vision went red. When he regained his senses a moment later he was holding Mark, who was now dead, by the throat. Seeing that he had inadvertently snapped his neck in a moment of rage Kael was overwhelmed by emotion. Dropping the corpse he bent over and started throwing up.

Jessica quickly calmed the remaining children down while Kael was puking. When things were calm the children were surprisingly not mad at Kael for killing their friend. They were all street kids, they knew Mark had planned on killing them all for their money tonight.

With the blood and two corpses in the room, Kael suggested they stay at his building for the rest of the night where it was safer. After some convincing, the children agreed. The process of moving them over required Kael, Jessica, and five of the older boys to carry young children who were too sick to move.

Finally with all of the kids situated and falling asleep Kael took Jessica off to the side. Explaining to her that he was not going to be able to get any sleep because he was still enraged and that he was going to hunt. Asking her to stay and watch over the kids, she actually agreed pretty quickly.

Leaving the building Kael did not bother with the city gate. Finding a darker area around one of the walls he simply scaled it and leapt off the opposite side. The story about being enraged was just that, a story. Kael really just wanted to go hunt for those poor kids. Taking off into the forest in search of food, he was forced to go deeper and deeper. No matter where he could not seem to find anything to hunt.

Eventually finding a lake, he made some crude spears and fished up a good 20 fishes. Unfortunately, the fish were not enormous like the ones in the untouched areas he grew up in, but at 10 to 20 pounds each, they were all a good meal. After some consideration, Kael also decided to fill up half his ring with lake water.

Heading back to town he got there around 5 am, just in time to start cooking. Lighting up the firepit from before he used his crude spears to roast half of the fish. When dawn broke he went to wake up Jessica and the kids with breakfast. After eating the kids were happy and raring to get to work.

Reminding the kids to use the gloves, that they were there to stop them from hurting their hands, not keep warm, he gave them directions on what to do. After he gave the directions came negotiations. Coming to an agreement with them that he would make lunch and dinner but they had to clean out the second and third story of the building for him.

Talking to Jessica he asked her to go around to some carpenters and get an idea of what it would take to fix this place up. He also told her he needed her to run around and buy a bunch of stuff for him. His list included a normal carpentry hammer, a bag of nails, 125 boards that were 3 by 2 feet in size, and 25 boards that were 3 by 3 feet in size. He also wrote out a list of herbs and their quantities. Handing her the paper and a gold piece, he told her to buy a powder concocting cauldron as well as a mortar and pestle.

Jessica repeated everything back to Kael to be sure she got it all correct. The only thing he added was for the carpenters. Telling her that he wanted to gut the top floor, rebuild the second floor into dormitories, and revamp the first floor. Reminding her to be sure to mention it to get accurate prices. Accepting the additional information Jessica quickly fled out of fear Kael would think of something else to add on.

About 2 minutes after Jessica was gone, Kael cursed as he forgot to ask about food. Finding some of the little girls he gave them a silver and sent them to get bread to go with lunch.

Spending the rest of the morning, Kael hauled all of the large or heavy things out of the second and third stories of the building for the kids.

Jessica had returned on and off throughout the morning with various things that Kael wanted. She piled them all up in a semi-secure room on the bottom floor. At about 11 am when she thought she was done Kael found her again.

“Jessica, we seem to have forgotten something important. I need you to go to the mayor's office and get the deed for this place. If you have any problems come and let me know. It would be best if you went in uniform to add a bit of weight. I have feeling the clerk planned to rip us off.”

Jessica agreed with him. Saying she would get some of her friends to go with her to make it look better, she quickly took off.

With an hour left before he had to cook, Kael headed into the temporary storeroom. Lighting the powder cauldron to warm it up he started separating the herbs. He made a pile for the 5 sets of recovery powder and a pile of the 5 sets of minor body strengthening powder. Starting to grind them down and bake them, he went into full automation mode. 25 minutes later all 10 sets of herbs were refined.

Looking over his piles of powder, he had 150 doses of minor body strengthening powder and 200 doses of perfect recovery powder. Separating out 50 of the recovery powders for the sick kids, he mixed the remaining 300 powders into a huge heap. Storing 90% of the powders, he put the rest in a bag for lunchtime.

Going outside to his BBQ pit he kicked a bunch of wood in and lit it up. Knowing he had about 30 minutes for the fire to die down he went to go check on the sick kids.

Walking into the back of the first floor where the kids were camped out he found 8 children. 7 of the children were malnourished and collapsed on piles of fabric. One little girl was trying to nurse them back to health by force-feeding them small chunks of fish.

Walking over to the little girl, who was probably 6 or 7, Kael patted her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she looked over the concern was written across her face. Seeing how worried she was Kael said, “Don’t worry I’ll help you get them better.”

Seeing a little bit of hope show up in her eyes, Kael said, “I know you think they are dying, but they can be saved. You just have to know how to help them. The first thing we have to do is get more fluids in them. That water is too dirty though. Run out to the well and get fresh water ok?”

The little girl nodded, picked up her bucket, and ran off. Watching her run off Kael took out a ceramic box and loaded it with the 50 doses of recovery powder from his ring. Taking out one of his potion jugs he dumped 7 doses of powder into it. With nothing else to do, he started checking on the kids.

After giving them an inspection he did not find any wounds, infections, or any other signs of sickness. His conclusion was that the kids were basically dying from being too poor. Lack of food, lack of warmth, and extremely dirty living conditions had built up and taken their toll.

Not long after he finished his inspection the little girl came back with the bucket of water. Asking her to put it down on the ground, Kael immediately regretted his lack of directions. The bucket the little girl was using was one brought from their shanty home. To say it was dirty would be a gross understatement. Sighing, Kael asked, “Is this the bucket you guys normally use to get drinking water?”

Looking over at the little girl she seemed a little scared but eventually nodded to him. Knowing he had to rectify the situation he stopped to think of the most convincing way to explain hygiene to the girl.

“Well, thank you for the water,” he said, “but it is too dirty to drink. I know you guys are used to it, but you have to change the way you think. If you eat or drink something dirty, you are making the insides of your body dirty, understand?”

Seeing the girl nod again, he could tell she was saying she understood but she didn’t really understand. Trying a new track he said;

“Ok, well you know how all the rich people are always clean and wear clean clothes right? They are not like that just because they like being clean. The stay clean because it helps them stay healthy. That’s why they keep their houses clean too. If you keep your body clean you won’t get itchy or get rashes. If your house is clean you will have fewer bugs. If you keep your food and drink clean, then you won’t get sick as often. That make sense?”

Seeing the little girl nod, he continued. “Well, one way to make sure your water is clean is to boil it, but first we have to clean the sludge out of this bucket.”

Taking up a nearby rag Kael furiously scrubbed the gross bucket for a few minutes. Dumping out the sludge and going over it again, it was by no means clean, but it wasn’t disgusting anymore. Putting his hand into the bottom of the bucket he started to release water from his ring bit by bit. When it was full he used his fire qi until it was boiling.

Looking over at the girl, he said, “Now it’s clean.” Taking the jug with recovery powder in it, he carefully filled it with boiling water. Once it was full he closed it and shook it up. Standing up he handed the jug to the girl.

“Wait about 20 minutes for that to cool down, then feed each of them a cup of it. There is healing medicine in it that should help them. I’ll chop up some fish extra small for them after lunch. You can feed them a little fish while making them drink the medicine water. You should give them a cup of it every half hour or so until the entire jug is gone.”

Patting the girl on the head Kael left to go cook some fish. Arriving outside he set up his skewers again. This time he descaled the fish, then rubbed them down with some of his mixed powder. Determined to make his soon to be employees healthy he didn’t mind spending the extra bit of silver. I wonder why companies on earth are such bastards about cheap insurance? He thought while preparing the fish.

When they were done cooking the kids demolished all of them except the two Kael set aside for the sick kids. Those two he chopped the meat up until it was almost mush before giving it to the little girl.

After lunch, Kael and Jessica discussed the repairs. It was actually much cheaper than he had expected. The most reliable quote was 2 gold for materials and labour. The quote was for 10 days, however, so Kael sent Jessica back with two and a half gold. Asking her to have the guy swarm the place with labourers to get it done as soon as possible. As she was about to leave Kael stopped her again. Retrieving the deed from her before he forgot, he sent her back on her way.

Once Jessica took off Kael rounded up 15 of the kids who were busy cleaning. Taking them with him, he grabbed his cart and headed into town. A troop of dirty children following a clean child with a big cart caused quite a bit of stares. Sucking it up and ignoring the people, he went to go get all the clothes he had bought for the children earlier. After he and the kids loaded the cart with clothing he was almost done.

Handing one of the older boys 2 silvers, he asked him to take the other kids and go buy tonight's dinner for the 40+ kids. The child took the silvers with a seriousness like his life depended on it. With one last envious look at the cart of clothes, he marched off somewhere with the other 14 kids in tow.

On his way back to his building Kael swung by a large carpenter shop. Forking out 5 silvers he bought 10 wooden tubs. He precariously made two stacks of them on top of the clothes in the cart before tying them down. The only way he managed it all was due to the bottom of the tubs being smaller than the top, causing them to stack nicely.

Trudging off with a giant cart of crap behind him Kael thought to himself, I’ve become a nanny. However, it will be worth it. This city is a test run for the empire of the bun. Shit, did mom wear off on me? When did I become obsessed with steamed buns? How can I call my empire, Empire of the Bun? It doesn't have a cool sounding acronym.

Kael continued his internal monologue all the back to the building. Setting up the 10 tubs in two different rooms, he filled them with lake water while no one was around. Heating up 2 of them with fire qi until they were steamy, he went to go get some sick kids.

2 hours later Kael and the little girl had bathed all 7 of the sick children. Kael had wanted to give new clothes to all of them at once, but since they were just washed, he put them in some fresh linens and gave them warm blankets.

When he started giving the kids the clothing the little girl started crying out of happiness. Leaving her alone to take a bath and change, he decided to just get it over and done with. Stopping the kids from their work he handed them all 2 sets of clothing, shoes, and a blanket. Telling them they could change now but only after taking a bath.

After everyone was clean Kael burned their old clothes along with the heap of garbage out front. Most of the kids wanted to hang onto their old clothes but there was no way Kael would let them. Saying, "Those old rags were full of who knows what, I probably got body lice just carrying them."

The children were in high spirits after the bath and change of clothing. Managing to actually clear out the second and third floor before night completely fell. At the end of the night, Kael watched them all as they sat around and ate dinner. Hearing their laughter and seeing their smiles jabbed at his heart. I had it way to easy, he thought.