"Which way did you go this morning, Cookie?" Raven glanced around the clearing they had used the night before.

"Let me see..." Cookie gingerly walked around the remains of the campfire. "You were sleeping there, which means I slept here. So..." She turned and pointed into the trees. "It was that way."

"Are you going to lead the way?" Tony asked when no one moved or said anything after a few seconds. "You're the one that knows where to go."

"Oh." Cookie looked at the faces of her group. "What if we run into another nasty critter?"

"You're. The. Tank." Tony replied in an exasperated tone. "You should lead the way."

"Raven, sweetie. What does 'Tank' mean again?" Cookie stepped over beside the elf.

"Uh..." Raven stammered.

"Oh, my gosh." Tony grumbled. "It means you're the front line." Cookie gave him a confused look, and he continued explaining. "You're the one with the most health and defense."

"The most health? I don't know if I would say I'm healthy." Cookie glanced at each person. "Art looks the toughest to me."

"Me?" Lucas pointed a finger at himself.

"No, Cookie. It's you. You're the only one here with actual armor." Tony pressed further.

"It's fine. I'll take the lead. I don't care." Raven walked across the clearing to where Cookie had pointed. "Cookie, tell me-"

"No way, you're the healer!" Tony grabbed the sleeve of the Elf's cloak. "You should be in the back, keeping us alive. You might be the weakest one here."

Raven yanked her arm and freed the sleeve from the kobold. "I am not weak."

"I- You know what I mean!" Tony huffed. "I'd rather-"

"Stop, just stop! I'll lead the way." Cookie sighed, unsheathing her sword as she stepped ahead of the Elf and Kobold. "If Tony says I'm the best to go first, then I will, but please help if a nasty critter jumps on me."

"Of course, Cookie! I'll heal you before a certain lizard." Raven glared at the kobold before following Cookie into the trees and underbrush.

"If I'm about to die, you better heal me!" Tony yelled, stomping after the two.

Lucas watched the three leave the clearing. "Okay then."

The Draconian ran to catch up to the rest of the party. He was behind Tony, who was following Raven, with Cookie in the front. The Elf and Kobold bickered occasionally, only to be hushed by Cookie so she could listen and think. They moved in relative silence, only the sounds of their footsteps, the crack of an occasional twig, and rustle of bushes they pushed past. Sometimes everyone would come to a stop as Cookie bent down to pick a mushroom or a few berries.

After a good twenty minutes of walking, they came to another stop. This time Cookie simply stood, not bending down to grab anything. "Do you hear that?"

The others listened, agreeing that they heard running water.

"I think this is the area where I ran into that humongous spider." Cookie's grip tightened on her sword.

"I don't see any." Raven glanced around, following Cookie.

"You should probably equip your shield so you can block attacks." Tony nearly bumped into the Elf as the line came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh, that's right!" Cookie got her shield out of her backpack, getting it secured to her left hand. "I forgot I had that, thanks." Now even more equipped, she continued on.

"Hey guys... Don't bump into the trees." Lucas stated after a few minutes, his gaze drawn to the gigantic spiders attached to the upper trunks and branches.

"Huh, why not?" Tony glanced back at his friend, then followed the other's gaze up into the trees above. "O-Oh." He gulped. "Can we move faster?"

Raven looked back to the two men staring up at the trees. "What are you two doing?" One look upwards and she understood, stepping forward to press into Cookie from behind. "Cookie, could you go a little faster? We need to get out of the trees. Like, now."

Cookie took a glance back to her group, Lucas and Raven looking at her with worried expressions while Tony continued staring upwards. "Sure, sweetie. I know we're all in a hurry for some food, but we need..." She trailed off, looking up to the treetops to see that each tree had at least two or three spiders in it. "Oh!" she gasped, breaking out into a jog towards the sound of water.

"Cookie!" Raven said in a hushed tone, hurrying after her.

Lucas watched the women scurry off, still behind the kobold that was walking slowly, staring up at the spiders. "Stop staring and move!" He pushed at the kobold's shoulders. Tony finally turned his attention away, the two of them running to catch up. They only caught up with the other half of their party at the edge of a river, now out of the tree line. The water was crystal clear as it gently flowed over colorful rocks in the riverbed.

"That was awful." Tony sunk down onto his knees, panting for breath. Everyone else was also catching their breath, glancing back at the trees they had left behind. "Let's never go in there again."

"I agree. There are too many nasty spiders back there." Cookie said.

Raven nodded in agreement. "One spider is fine, but that was a lot."

"Yeah, we had enough trouble with only one. I should've checked what level they were." Lucas was half tempted to go back and use his magnifying glass to find out. "We're here, at least."

"I don't see any fish here." Tony peered down into the river. "Could be that fish don't appear in the water. Some games do that, where the water is empty, and a fish appears on the hook at some point."

"Fish or no fish, we can top off our water." Cookie pulled out her waterskin from her bag, then kneeled down at the edge of the river. She took a drink from her container before dipping it into the water to fill it up. "Moving water is safe water."

The rest of the party followed suit, taking a drink from their stored water supplies, then refilling it right after. They rested a few minutes to catch their breath from all the running, and while they did so, they noticed someone on the other side of the river. It was a canine beastman, his fluffy gray tail and floppy ears bouncing as he jogged, fishing pole in hand. The party agreed to follow the direction the dog-man had gone. It took several minutes of walking to find where he had gone.

They came up to a large pond in an even bigger clearing. There were people scattered around the edges of the pond, most of them fishing. This was also the source of the river. Even with clear water, it was impossible to see the bottom of the pond.

"Safe bet to say I can fish here." Tony dropped his backpack down to pull out his fishing rod and a wiggling worm.

"I think I saw someone reel in a fish." Lucas used a hand to shield his eyes from the sun to look over the pond. "Anyway, let's get set up. We need to get a fire going while Tony fishes."

Everyone went to work, Tony fishing while the rest got firewood and fire-starter material. They checked the trees nearby, and thankfully saw no spiders living in them. Within ten minutes, they had a small fire going a few feet behind the kobold. Cookie declined Raven's offer for help, heading off into the tree line to forage for food. Lucas set up his cooking gear, getting the rack over the fire and his pot and pan onto the rack to heat up. Raven was further back, leaning against a tree with her quill and book.

"I think I finally got one!" Tony exclaimed, the fishing line growing taut as the tip of the pole was pulled down. He quickly began reeling it in, pulling his rod left and right to fight the resisting fish. Lucas and Raven both looked up from what they were doing to see the kobold reeling in his very first fish. After a good 30 seconds of reeling, he finally pulled in his catch.

Raven burst out into laughter. "All that effort, and that is what you reeled in?"

"At least you caught something, right?" Lucas offered.

Tony grumbled, giving a glare to the still laughing elf before turning to his sorry excuse for a fish. It was a measly few inches, and would hardly count as a snack. "Laugh it up! I just got better bait, so I can catch an even better fish!" He gave one last dirty look to the elf, who was finally calming down, then to the fish before angrily casting it back into the pond.

Cookie returned fifteen minutes later, a smile on her face. "I found some good things this time!" She gave a small wave to Raven, who had gone back to drawing, as she went to sit beside Lucas.

The Draconian was all prepared. The pot and pan were hot and ready to go,and a pile of sticks and branches were on standby. His chef's knife waited atop a cutting board, which sat on his closed bedroll, along with a few ingredients and herbs. Even though it was a video game, it felt wrong to leave these things on the grass and dirt. He had everything he needed, except ingredients, to cook. "What did you find?"

"Even better things than this morning!" Cookie beamed, moving her bag into her lap. She fumbled around with it for a moment, getting the hang of using the backpack system once more. "Look!" She pulled out a handful of brown mushrooms, most small with a few big ones. Cookie set them down on the canvas topping of the bedroll. Then she went to her bag once more. "I got those, and..." She produced a few wild carrots, then a handful of berries. "These too!" Cookie added the ingredients to the others. "I could take a look around some more, but it's hard to find anything."

Lucas shook his head. "No, no. This is more than I expected, thanks!" He turned to look over the ingredients Cookie had brought. Along with these, he also had some salt, pepper, a few herbs, an onion, a lemon, and olive oil that he was able to get from the Culinary Hall. It wasn't a lot to work with, but it was better than last night. "This is enough to get started. Hopefully Tony can reel in a fish soon."

"Aw. You haven't gotten anything yet, sweetie?" Cookie stood up and went to the water's edge to sit down beside the kobold.

"Technically, I caught one already, but..." Tony glanced over to Cookie, then turned his attention back to his rod. "It was too small. Not worth frying up."

The sound of laughter erupted behind the kobold. "Oh, Cookie, you missed it! He gave us a big show on his first catch, then pulled in the tiniest fish!" Raven called over to the two, having to suppress her laughter to speak properly.

"Don't tease the poor guy, Raven." Cookie patted the shoulder of the grumbling kobold. She turned and gently shook her head at the elf, then turned back to Tony. "Fishing isn't easy. It takes a lot of patience. You don't know when you'll get a bite, or what you'll get when you finally do get one." She continued to pat and rub the kobold's shoulder. "Don't you worry, I'm sure you'll get a nice big one before too long." Cookie said quietly to Tony.

Meanwhile, Lucas was already busy with the meal. The preparation didn't take long. All the ingredients looked clean and ready to go, even though the carrots and mushrooms had just been picked and not washed. One perk of cooking in a game, he supposed. He had gotten an idea earlier, and put it to the test. The Identifying Magnifier was pulled out and held to his face, looking down at his ingredients that now had names above them. "Cremini and Portobello, like I thought." Upon closer inspection, he saw that below each name there was a number. Sixty over sixty, twenty over thirty, fifty over fifty-five, and so on.

He grabbed a Cremini and held it closer, reading the fraction, but still having no clue what it meant. The Draconian pulled his bag over and dropped the mushroom inside, tapping and holding the new icon of the Cremini for information to pop up. It listed off the item's name, stated it was edible, gave some flavor text about the mushroom, and on the bottom right corner was the word 'durability' with the same numbers he had seen before. "These don't last forever?" Lucas sighed as he talked to himself. "Another bit of realism we get to deal with." He got the mushroom back from his inventory and went back to preparing the food. The carrots, mushrooms, and a few cloves of garlic were placed upon the cutting board. With his knife in hand and in position on the board, he readied himself for the cooking skill he had.

"Quick hand." Lucas whispered. The edge of his knife glowed blue, his hand moving at near inhuman speeds to cut up the ingredients on the board. In under thirty seconds, he had the carrots cut into thick slices, the garlic minced, and the mushrooms, large and small, sliced up. The few large mushrooms were cut into thick pieces, while the plentiful small ones were cut a few times to produce little pieces. "Dang, forgot about the onions." He murmured, not being too hard on himself. Lucas had all the space on the cutting board with what he had done, but now his skill would be on cooldown for a few minutes. "Oh well."

"Yes!" Tony yelled, causing Lucas to jump from the sudden outburst. He leapt to his feet and took a few steps back, slowly reeling in the rod. The line was much more taut this time around, the tip of the rod bending down a good deal. "This is it, a big ass fish!"

"Language!" Cookie said in a hushed tone, hurrying to the kobold's side. "It seems like a big one, though." She moved behind Tony, hands on his shoulders. "Show that fish who's boss!"

"I will literally die if you pull in another tiny fish." Raven smirked, stifling a chuckle.

"You wish. I'm going to make you regret laughing earlier. This will be the best fish ever!" Tony grunted as he reeled. This fish was putting up a big fight. It pulled left, right, and center in its attempt to swim away.

Lucas had deposited everything he had cut up so far into the pot with some butter and a sprig of thyme, but his attention shifted to the fish being reeled in. With Cookie's help supporting him, Tony reeled in whenever the fish let up. After a minute of fighting with the unknown fish, the kobold let out a triumphant laugh as the fish breached the water. It landed on the grass and flopped about; the line being reeled in to get it away from the water's edge. "Look at it, it's huge!" Tony let out another laugh, this one on the verge of being maniacal.

"Oh, my!" Cookie gawked at the fish that was easily over a foot long. The fish in question had coloration that was a blend of dark umber on its back that changed to green on its side, turning to a white on the underbelly. "That looks like a bass to me!"

"A Largemouth Bass, to be specific." Lucas added, the magnifying glass being held up to his face once more.

"Ha, a bass on my second try. Let's go!" Tony reeled the line in until the fish was hanging from his pole, occasionally wiggling about.

"About time." Raven called out from her spot in the shade. "Now catch a few more so we don't have to worry about dinner."

"You know what? I will! I'll catch so many fish, we'll be fed for weeks!" Tony proclaimed. "You think you can cook this bad boy up?" He asked as he walked over to the campfire, the fish lightly swinging around in front of the Draconian.

Lucas easily got a firm hold of the fish with his clawed hands. "I haven't filleted a fish in a while, but I should be good." He held the fish still while Tony pulled the hook free of its mouth. "This looks big enough for us to have a decent meal."

"Do you fish and then cook what you catch?" Tony reeled in the line. "I used to fish a lot with my grandpa, and my grandma or mom would cook it up for us."

Lucas shook his head, setting the wiggling fish onto the cutting board. "No." He grabbed his meat cleaver, an item he had picked up earlier that had cost a lot, and promptly chopped off the fish's head. "I've only fished a few times. Can't say I liked it, but I was an impatient kid."

"Oh." Tony glanced at the now headless fish as Lucas began cutting the fish open, not seeing any trace of blood. "To each their own." He looked away when he saw guts spilling free. "So, you like cooking then?"

"I would say so. He didn't even flinch!" Cookie eyed up Lucas' work, glancing into the pot of simmering food. "And this smells pretty good."

"Yeah, I enjoy cooking." Lucas's muzzle turned to a soft smile. "I've enjoyed cooking ever since I was a kid. One Mother's Day, my dad had me help him make breakfast as a surprise for my mom." He scraped the fish guts aside, pausing as he wasn't sure what to do with it. "I had a lot of fun doing it. We did it the next year, and by the third year I was doing it on my own."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Cookie sat down beside the campfire to watch Lucas work. "My husband was never good at cooking, but I wasn't that great either!" She laughed. "I always preferred baking."

"Ugh... Don't say that. I could go for a cookie so bad right now." Tony groaned.

"If I had the right ingredients, I could make a pan brownie. I've never done it before, but I've read a recipe." Lucas's voice trailed off. He had been prodding at the fish guts with his knife, trying to think of how to dispose of it, or if it had any uses. Before he could come up with an idea, the entrails of the fish grew pixelated, breaking off and floating into the air to fade away. "That was... weird."

"Easy clean up?" Tony offered.

"Hm? Did I miss something?" Cookie asked, looking at the two scaled men.

"The fish guts. They just disappeared." Lucas scrapped his knife around the now clean spot, checking to make sure it hadn't turned invisible. "I wonder if that has to do with durability."

"Durability?" Cookie repeated, looking quite confused.

"What are you talking about, Art?" Tony planted the bottom of his pole on the ground.

"It's something I figured out when I was preparing the food." Lucas poured olive oil into the hot pan, then returned to preparing the fish. "You can use the magnifying glass to see item names and durability." He glanced up at Cookie and Tony. "I'm guessing what we just saw was the durability hitting zero."

"So... You 'damaged' the guts, and the health of it hit zero and poofed?" Tony asked.

"Maybe?" Lucas shook his head. "I'm thinking health, or at least when regarding food, time is a factor too." He carefully placed the fillets into the hot oil, skin side down, causing the oil to bubble. "All the food I have has durability, some with higher numbers than others."

"What does that mean? I don't understand all this game-talk." Cookie questioned, still looking confused as she glanced over to Raven, who was looking her way.

"I think it means food spoils. Well, instead of spoiling it... Poofs." Lucas sighed, grabbing the half of the onion he hadn't chopped up yet. "I should've checked the fish's durability before killing it. I couldn't see the number for it so far away."

"I can't catch a bunch of fish for us to stockpile?" Tony asked, sounding quite disappointed.

"I'm not sure, but it couldn't hurt for you to catch a few more. Maybe the fish will last a day or more, or I could see if there are any ways of preserving it for longer." Lucas aimed his knife at the onion half. "Quick hand." He quickly minced up the onion, then lifted the cutting board to scrap it into the pot.

"Wow, that was fast!" Cookie exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

"Was that a skill?" Tony gave his friend a quizzical look.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I hadn't shown you. It's a cooking skill I have." Lucas replied, turning to the fish being fried up. "Don't you have a fishing skill to help you fish?"

Tony's expression melted away, looking off into the distance. "Uh..."

Raven began laughing. "Oh, wow! You caught two fish and didn't even use a skill?"

"H-Hey!" Tony quickly glared at the Elf. "I-I might have forgotten, but I caught those fish without any help from the game. I'm just that good!" He turned and went back to the pond's edge. "I'll catch even more now!" The kobold called out, plopping down onto the grass and pulling out his journal. "What fishing skill did I get?" He mumbled to himself, flipping through the pages.

"Do it then." Raven said, going back to her book.

"Those two are certainly encourageable." Cookie glanced at the Elf and Kobold.

"They’re fine." Lucas used his knife and serving spoon to turn over each fish fillet. "I probably should have gotten some more cooking utensils instead of a cleaver. Then again, the Culinary Hall's stocks weren't great to begin with."

"Do you want any help with the cooking, sweetie? I'm not great at cooking, but I can follow directions and help!" Cookie offered, scooting closer to the Draconian.

Lucas accepted the offer, letting Cookie stir the pot every few minutes so the food wouldn't burn. The group remained fairly quiet, Tony and Raven keeping to themselves while Lucas and Cookie tended to the food. The fish's body he had set aside had poofed at some point when he wasn’t looking. Lucas reasoned that with the head and flesh gone, its durability must have hit zero.

Before long, the cooking was all done. Each fish fillet was moved to its own plate, topped with a squeeze of lemon juice, and with sauteed mushrooms and carrots for the side. It was finished with a bit of salt and pepper from two small wooden bowls, both of which were thankfully already ground up. This wasn't the best dish he had ever made, but given the circumstances, it wasn't bad. It was certainly better than what he had scraped together the night before. He took the pot and pan off the cooking rack and set them aside; the fire had grown small by this point. "Foods ready!"