In the end, Lana and Louise regretted a little asking for some homemade food. While the Mexican Chili that Jake made tasted awesome, it was too spicy… spicy enough to make them drink water after every spoon. During and after half an hour after lunch, they sweated bullets. As for Jake, he was showing a smile that said: mission accomplished.
"I told you… it was too much for newbies," Jake said, and then he proceeded to wash the dishes.
"Let me help with that," Louise said.
"No thanks, I like to do this myself," Jake said.
"Okay, sorry…" Louise forced a smile.
Jake seemed pretty serious about the cleaning. He checked all the plates, spoons, and forks several times. Suddenly, Lana burst into a laughter when she realized that Jake was essentially like a mother-in-law. He was quick to complain about others. He was rude most of the time and treated cooking and cleaning very seriously. Louise and Jake frowned when they saw her laughing, but soon she contained herself.
"Sorry… I just remembered something funny," Lana said.
"Yes… I can see the connection between fun and washing dishes," Jake furrowed his eyebrows.
"Thank you for the help, Jake," Louise said after she lowered her head. "I really appreciate it."
"There is no need for appreciation. Once this is over, I will send a bill to you guys' addresses," Jake said. "Well, I am going to finish another mission. I would appreciate it if you guys couldn't look at me while I am doing it."
"Wait, we need to talk about what we should need about that guy," Lana said.
"There is nothing to do. He threatened her in a virtual world. I am sure that can't be categorized as a crime," Jake shrugged. "The only option is to wait for him to forget about it. Unless he is someone who holds grudges."
"I have a feeling that he is, though," Lana said. "Does he live here?"
"Due to his job, he travels pretty much all over the year… he just rents rooms in hotels," Louise said.
"It seems this situation might last for a while…" Lana frowned.
"Well, I can't let that happen for the sake of my privacy," Jake said. "Perhaps a beating or two might solve the problem."
"We aren't inside the game, Jake. We can't solve this problem with violence," Lana said.
"Of course, we can. Violence only doesn't solve things when you don't use enough," Jake said.
Lana frowned, and Louise forced a smile since that was a joke… probably. Hopefully. Nevertheless, just talking about that while doing nothing wouldn't help them. They might as well talk about it inside the game. So, the girls went to the bedroom since the bed was big enough for them, and Jake logged in on his couch.
"We didn't have time to celebrate this time, but that mission sure was intense, huh," Lana said when they appeared in the town. "While I am always in the backline and barely suffer any damage, I found myself holding my breath several times."
"Speaking of the mission, what that skill can do?" Jake asked.
"Aura Healing? It heals by five points per minute, all allies in my vicinity," Lana replied. "It doesn't consume mana, so it is a pretty useful spell to have. The more allies we have, the better from now on."
"I must disagree with that," Jake said.
"Well, we cleared the first two missions, so I guess it is time for the Deadly Forest," Louise said. "After the power-up from the previous mission, clearing the dungeon shouldn't be too hard."
Jake wondered if the game should be really played like that. Clear all the missions of an area, get stronger and then move on to the next… even tabletop RPGs had more freedom than that. Still, Jake couldn't deny that following the current flow, the difficulty of the missions felt just right.
Regardless, the group headed toward where Luke was since he was back, and then they sold the old items and a few others that had some value. Jake's coins were piling up nicely, but he had no idea what he should buy. He already had plenty of equipment to master.
"You don't know what to buy anymore, Champ?" Luke asked. "The katana still can be useful to you for a while, but I have some offers for you."
"I want a weapon that will grant me a skill like Lesser Vampirism, but that restores stamina," Jake replied.
"Ah… that will take a while," Luke replied. "Stamina and mana greatly increase the offensive power of players, after all. You look like someone stung, but these two rings here will definitely help you in the long run."
Ring of Strength
Strong Arms (0%), master this item to obtain the skill permanently.
Durability: 05/05
Strong Arms: it passively increases your strength by one point per level.
Ring of Speed
Quick Legs (0%), master this item to obtain the skill permanently.
Durability: 05/05
Quick Legs: it passively increases your speed by one point per level.
Those items sure looked good, but Jake still hesitated in buying them. He wanted the skill to drain stamina as soon as possible, after all. However, given that Lana bought Thor's Blessing and even Louise obtained Fire Wall previously, and now she just bought a staff that granted her the spell Cold Breeze. While it that spell didn't cause much damage, it could slow down the enemies with the power of ice. Thanks to all that, he felt that they were catching up in terms of utility to the party.
"They cost ten thousand coins each," Luke said.
"I suppose I will buy them," Jake said.
While their effects were weak, it didn't change the fact that at each level up, Jake gained two status points from them, one was fixed, and the other was free.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel