Logging back in after school I return to the scientist's lab. Maddy won't be on for at least nine hours in game so I will spend this time cultivating the gem and searching through the books while my mana restores. Several tiring hours pass like this and I decide to look around more of the lab and the kinds of experiments that they have. I found the mana potions by chance and maybe I will find some other interesting potions.

I open a large cupboard and find a huge amount of vials. Each vial filled with bright colored fluid.

'What are all of these?'

I grab a vial of light grey liquid, pop open the top and smell it.

"EWWW!" I quickly place the cork back into the vial after smelling a scent not unlike horse dung and horse radish.

I put the vial back where i took it and investigate further into the cupboard. 'hmm, what is this?' I reach down and pick up a small box with a hinge on the back allowing the top to be opened. I flip open the top of the box and gaze upon the dark powdery substance held within. I inhale the air inside the box and take in the rich aroma. 'It's coffee.'

'Why is there coffee? Well I guess nothing should surprise me in this world, maybe I will try to make this in the near future. Maddy said she won't drink caffeine, but this is in a game so it's effects should be limited to the game.'

I close the lid of the box and place it on my work bench before I return to the cupboard.

The rest of the bottom level of the drawer is filled with a large assortment of dried herbs and powders, not that I can make heads or tails of what any of it is. Well I found coffee so I don't really care about the rest of this, the chance of it being poison is not low so I should drink random things.

After another hour of searching the bookshelves I decide to take a break and eat something.

____

I log back in after eating my cereal and see Maddy has logged in and begun searching the book cases again.

'I will do something nice for Maddy and hope she cheers up after a long day of drama rehearsal!'

I greet Maddy but right away head for my workbench and set up a system to brew the coffee. 'I need something to act as filter paper.'

I continue my search and Maddy gives me a few strange looks.

"There it is!" I shout out in excitement and grab the last of the materials I require, including measuring utensils to measure out the amount of coffee.

With my shout Maddy becomes curious and begins walking towards me.

"What are you doing over here?" Maddy gives me a curious look and I decide to reveal my gift.

"Here it is!" I point the box towards her and open it up, revealing the beautiful brown roasted coffee grounds. "I got this coffee for you~."

'While i didn't necessarily find the coffee for her I do intend to give it to her so that should be fine.'

Maddy's face initially brightens but then gives me a cold look. "I am not going to drink coffee or take in any caffeine and you know that."

"Ah well that's true, but I knew you would say that, and I have a counter argument. This coffee is in the game and it's effect will not last outside of the game, but should still have an effect inside the game. There should be no harm to drinking this and you shouldn't be able to become addicted to the caffeine."

"Oh, thank you for thinking it through." Maddy gives me a small smile before graciously accepting the box of coffee.

"Will you make some of that for me?" I ask expectingly as I have never tasted coffee Maddy has made before.

"Nooo~ This is my coffee." Maddy denies me in a whiny voice which I interpret as non serious.

I make a pouting face and set up a table to drink the coffee at, comfort is important to the experience.

Maddy has a focused expression while working with the unfamiliar instruments to produce the coffee, though I do note that she produces enough for four people easily. An excited expression spreads across my face as I place some of the food Malek saved for us on the table and sit down. After a few minutes Maddy brings two cups filled with a steaming dark liquid and places one in front of me and another across the table while she sits down.

Before we can begin drinking the smaller shadowbirds return down the stairs with some resources.

"We thought you would be running low on supplies so we brought a few things. We don't drink it, but we often saw the scientists drinking milk from one of the larger beasts above ground."

One of the shadowbirds walks over and places a jar of milk in front of us. While it may not be processed we can still use it for coffee.

Maddy immediately grabs the milk and gently pours it into the coffee, turning it from a dark brown to a creamy brown. Following her lead I also grab the jar and pour some of it into my container of coffee. While proper cups were not available we had clear glass beakers that we could drink from.

We sip our coffee while occasionally nibbling at our dried breads that were stored in the magical bag given to me by Malek.

Maddy and I both smile at each other before we return to searching the lab.