“Nobody’s going to hunt you!” Alloha quickly covered. “I mean, you have a Skill, but you look like a young rissian so I don’t think anyone will turn you over to the Brokers for a bounty. Ogres are usually good to have around. Some farmers will feed them just to scare away goblins.”

“If anyone wants to try to capture me like an animal, I’ll fight them to the death,” I vowed.

“Feisty!” Torra said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, kid, as long as you’re with us, we won’t let that happen.”

“Okay, tell me about spiders,” I said. “We are going to be facing some tomorrow, right?”

“Depending how much ground we cover tomorrow we could reach the nest, sure,” Grant said.

“Well, they’re big,” Alloha answered me. “They have eight legs and eight eyes. Umm, they make nests out of spider silk? I’m not sure what else you need to know. I’ve never fought them.”

I showed the spider silk undershirt I was wearing by pulling down my shirt collar. “Like this, I know,” I said. “I bought some armor made from the stuff yesterday. I’m told it’s pretty strong for how light it is.”

“It is,” Alloha confirmed.

“They also have paralyzing venom in their bite,” Grant said. “It’s really valuable. We’ll show you how to harvest the venom sacks after we kill the spiders tomorrow. Without the money from selling those, plus whatever silk we can gather, this contract wouldn’t actually pay enough to be worth our time.”

“So whatever you do, don’t burn the spiders,” Torra said.

“Yeah, a little fire is okay,” Grant agreed, “but don’t burn the venom sacks, and especially don’t let fire burn down the nest. We should be able to get a few thousand Crosses just from the webbing, if we’re careful.”

Alloha grinned. “We’re gonna take it all to a tailor and get discounted spider silk undershirts made for the whole party! Anyway, when it comes to fighting them, the bigger ones are usually smarter, so it’s best to target them down first.”

Victoria silently emerged from the woods, a bowl and spoon in hand. Where she’d been off hiding since we arrived at the camp was a mystery. “Victoria!” Torra greeted her loudly. “So good to see you this evening. Did you emerge from your cave for some dinner?” Victoria glared at Torra rather than respond to his goading. She quietly approached his steaming pot and helped herself to a bowl before retreating to the corner of the clearing to eat by herself. “Well, if she’s started, I guess the rest of us might as well eat,” Torra announced.

“I’ll go tell Jay,” Grant said, getting up. He headed off into the woods, whistling loudly as he called Jay’s name.

Torra and Alloha both produced bowls of their own. I checked my bag and was pleased to find a polished wooden bowl with a small bundle of cutlery was included in the adventurer pack I’d purchased from the Brokers.

“Why’s Jay still wandering around the camp?” I asked the others.

“Checking for bandits,” Alloha answered matter-of-factly.

“Is there really a risk of getting attacked?” I asked.

Alloha just nodded at Torra to answer that question. He was in the middle of taking a bite of soup and had to swallow before answering. His bowl was much larger than mine, but considering he did most of the work of preparing the food and probably weighed twice as much as I did, I didn’t complain. “This is a known campsite,” he explained. “Bandits won’t prey on a group this big, but they might keep an eye on a good campsite in case a smaller group stops for the night. It’s dangerous outside the city walls.”

I filled my bowl with the soup. It was composed of flecks of the owl meat along with some chopped potatoes and water. The only thing else I’d seen Torra add was the glowing palm sweat from his Skill. It had boiled off the glowing part, leaving behind a milky white broth. I felt apprehensive, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, so I gave it a chance. It was fantastic. His Skill seemed to have thickened the liquid, as well as giving it a sort of oniony-garlicky taste that complemented the ingredients remarkably well. It wasn’t just glowing palms sweat, it was a perfect blend of spices! “Wow,” I said after my first bite, “this is great. Do you always flavor your meals with your Skill, Torra?”

“All the time,” Torra said. “I was an early bloomer. Didn’t have a lot to eat growing up. One of the first things I did with my Skill was using it in my food. Some nights, it was all I had to eat. It’s got a nice savory taste, but it changes a little depending on what I add it to.”

“So it’s almost like a food-based Skill,” I commented. “Neat.” I didn’t know what to say about his childhood. I couldn’t relate to not having enough to eat. That had never been a problem I’d faced growing up. What was I supposed to say to that? I ate a few more bites of the soup, pretending to be engrossed so I wouldn’t be expected to say more. The more I ate, the better it seemed to taste.

A pop-up appeared in my vision.

Buff gained. Marketh’s Mercy. Hunger decreased. Maximum HP +1% HP: 92/100 >>> HP: 93/101

A little icon of a glowing hand appeared along with the buff. “Torra!” I said. “I didn’t know your Skill grants a buff! That’s so cool.”

He blinked. “It does?”

“Yeah, you guys never… oh, right. Not everyone has Information Overlay. It’s a small buff. It just gets rid of your hunger and gives a 1% boost to HP.”

“Oh, yeah?” Alloha said. “I knew his food was filling, but I never realized it was part of his Skill. Thanks, Torra! It’s a good thing you’re the dedicated cook!”

“Don’t thank me,” Torra said, shaking his head. “Marketh is the one who—”

“Shut up about Marketh,” Victoria grumbled from her corner of the clearing. She got up to ladle in another serving of the soup. “You made the soup, Torra, not Marketh.”

Torra just rolled her eyes at the dramatic member of the party, not bothering to object. “Well, Vince provided the potatoes. They made for a nice change from the usual rations we eat on the trail.”

“I’ll keep us in potatoes for as long as I’m around,” I promised. “They don’t cost much MP to conjure. I’ve got some more recipes from back home we can try. For instance, we can boil and mash them, or cut them into slices and fry them in oil. I bet anything we try would taste great with some of your… juices. Do you have a better name for that glowing stuff your hands excrete?”

He winked at me. “You can think of it as Torra Nectar, if that helps you get it down.”

“Gross!” me and Alloha replied at the same time. The lot of us cracked up laughing. That was about when Grant and Jay returned. Torra retold his joke, which didn’t get as many laughs the second time, while we dished out the rest of the soup. They were pleased to hear that Torra’s Skill gave a slight buff to vitality, but it didn’t seem like it was powerful enough to have any real combat potential. That explained how it had gone unnoticed for so long.

“I was just telling Vince about all the monsters he needs to be aware of around here,” Alloha continued. “What were we on?” she asked me.

“I think you covered everything but pursuers.”

“Nasty creatures,” Jay commented.

“The worst,” Alloha agreed. “Pursuers are the most dangerous monster you’ll find around here. If you run into any, I guess you can use that static Brand you bought, but if that fails you gotta just stand your ground and fight. If they’re hungry, they won’t ever let you go.”

“Yeah, Ferrith and I ran into a pack,” I said. “They ate four ogres before we got away.”

“They got magic bones though,” Torra said.

“Worth a lot of money,” Grant added, nodding.

“Which you won’t be able to spend when they kill you,” Alloha finished. “Seriously, guys. Don’t act all tough. If we run into any, Vince is going to use that Brand of his and we’re running in the opposite direction.”

“Speak for yourself,” Grant boasted. “I’ll just fly away if we run into any.”

“Aye,” Jay said. “And you’ll be the only one to survive.”

“They’re more cursed than revenants,” Torra complained. “Can’t even eat their meat!” He glanced at me. “Well… ogres can usually eat anything. You try pursuer meat, Vince?”

“No! And I’m not going to. I’m not much of an ogre. I can’t even eat mud.”