1??????????????Soul Bound
1.2????????????Taking Control
1.2.1??????????An Icy Welcome
1.2.1.20???????Thirty pieces of silver
A few stalls further down, ChocolateTrain was running her Troll Meat Challenge. A board had been erected listing the top three contenders so far, in each category. She noticed Columbina’s name at the top of the “tasty” list.
Hmm. What could she do that others couldn’t? Use necromancy? Bad idea. Use healing to bring it back to life? Worse idea. Instant freeze it with liquid nitrogen? She could slice it thinly, but it wouldn’t help with the taste. Pressure cook it? She didn’t have the equipment, and she wasn’t going to assemble a team of CoThEx mages to cook a steak. Buff herself and pray? Again, that was so overkill it would be like bringing a tank to a sword duel. Not in the correct spirit of the competition. Marinade it? Wouldn’t be finished before the volleyball. Throw it to the fish? That wouldn’t help. Though, hang on, water shaping. Would that affect water inside stuff?
Kafana: “Mary-Lynn, want to try a joint entry? I think I might have an idea.”
Mary-Lynn shrugged. “Sure, though I already tried when we first killed the trolls.”
Kafana: “I want to use Cook’s Sight on it while you try ingredient improvement, try to work out what the magic is doing on the cellular level.”
She got a sample from ChocolateTrain and they moved to one of the fires behind the stall that were set aside for the contestants. She also got out a small piece of beef.
Kafana: “Wait until my signal then try ingredient improvement upon the beef, concentrating on making it less tough.”
She put on her ring and touched the beef with her pendant, trying to feel the blood and cells inside it like when she’d healed patients at the Sanctum. It was hard, with the target being dead, and she felt her shadow mana being drawn upon like the sort of chill breeze that pierces straight through clothing. There, she could feel something now. She sang a low slow beat, directing her thoughts to Rac. Yes, scarcely any decay yet, just processes come to a stop, like a machine whose plug has been pulled out of the socket. She layered in her Cook’s Sight, analysing the beef for its properties, pushing her mind in closer to try to sense a fingernail sized section, then smaller again, don’t let her eyes be the limiting factor, reach with her magic. She closed her eyes, and shrank her focus down to just a pair of muscle fibers.
Kafana: “Ok, do it.”
She sensed a change in the material connecting the fibers together. That must be the collagen. She memorised the feel and concentrated on a single fiber. The amount of water and fat inside the fiber was increasing. She felt for the water with her ring to see if she could affect it. Maybe? She didn’t have the skill or control to do that, she’d have to level something up first.
Kafana: “Good, that’s enough. Now I’ll switch to the troll. Again, wait for the signal.”
Putting herself in synch with the troll sample came easier this time. She knew what to expect. She examined the differences. The muscle fibers were much thicker and seemed coated in something. They were also spread further apart, in a veritable sea of collagen that had something else floating in it, that didn’t seem entirely dead. Magical repair boats? Whatever they were, they seemed to be connected with the troll’s regeneration ability. She imagined a boat captain scratching his head and muttering: “Sorry guv, I don’t even know where to start, repairing this mess. Your spark plugs are shot and the steering is knackered; it’s a junk-yard case and no mistake.”
Kafana: “Try improving it.”
As she watched, a little of the collagen turned into gelatin. The changed patch was swarmed by the repair boats and was quickly turned back into collagen. Water tried to get into the muscle fibers themselves, but was repelled by the coating.
Kafana: “Ok, enough. One final experiment. Can you cut me a thin slice from the troll meat?”
She got out a Dewar from her storage, and used her insulated gauntlet to pour some nitrogen into the metal bowl she used for the purpose. With a pair of tongs she took the slice and concentrated upon it while freezing it. The repair boats gave up the ghost and sank. She dipped it into warm water and, a minute later, asked Mary-Lynn to try improving it once more. This time the changed collagen remained changed.
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[Skill “Necromancy” has reached level 2.]
[Skill “Cook’s Sight” has reached level 6.]
[Skill “Improve Ingredient Quality” has reached level 6.]
[Skill “Mage Sight” has reached level 9.]
[Skill “Cook” has reached level 12.]
She explained what she’d observed.
Mary-Lynn: “I don’t think we’ve time to make anything tasty. Let’s go for creative.”
She picked up the tiny fragment of improved troll flesh, seared it in the fire, and added it to a dish of garlic bread she’d prepared earlier. Kafana produced a pretty plate, which Mary-Lynn carefully arranged the creation upon, then they ceremoniously carried it back to ChocolateTrain for the taste test.
Mary-Lynn declared with dignity: “We call it ‘Troll Surprise’.”
ChocolateTrain sniffed it, gave it a nibble, then scoffed half of it.
ChocolateTrain: “This is troll??”
Kafana winked at Mary-Lynn: “This does indeed contain troll meat.”
ChocolateTrain looked impressed, then suspicious. “Just how much troll meat does it contain?”
Kafana held up a pair of fingers, very close together: “About that much.”
Mary-Lynn: “And that’s the surprise!”
ChocolateTrain threw them out of her stall, and only missed hitting them with the remains of their entry because the two of them were staggering around with laughter so much.
Kafana: “Think we won?”
Dino picked up the discarded entry and shared it out between the monks. “Your solution was very creative, Ms Mary-Lynn. But I think Ms ChocolateTrain was looking for cooking creativity, not rule creativity.”
Her next encounter was not so light hearted. Stejnegeri was a tall red-bearded adventurer wearing leaf green scale armour that the eye couldn’t quite focus upon, and a deep but mellifluous voice.
Stejnegeri: “May I have a brief word with you in private chat, Twice-Born? I come bearing an offer from Cruel Vengeance.”
Kafana sighed. “If you must.”
[Will you accept a chat from Stejnegeri?]
{Sys, yes, but don’t put him on any access lists, I don’t want random strangers to know when I’m online.}
Stejnegeri: {Thank you Kafana, I’ll be brief. We have tracked your victory over The Immortals with interest, and approve. We also note that you have ended up with all the money and goods they muled over to Covob. If you are willing to hand them over to Cruel Vengeance, we will pay you handsomely.}
Kafana: {You want to pay money for money?}
Stejnegeri: {We are offering to give you arlife money in return for you giving us in-game money. A lot of it. Enough to buy yourself a large mansion in a major city with 20 staff and the means to maintain it for the rest of your life without ever having to work again. Enough to pay for top level medical care, travel around the world and help a dozen of your friends out of their immediate financial woes.}
Kafana: {That’s a lot to think about. Why not log into The Burrow and talk to Wellington?}
Stejnegeri: {We are not interested in a small part of it. We’d need at least 85% of what The Immortals brought over, if we’re to get ahead of Storm Power and those who will make a deal with The Crew. You, for the next few hours, are in the unique position of being able to sell all of it to us, with no reference to Wellington or anyone else.}
Damn. That bow she’d given to Columbina was worth enough to get Bahrudin seen to by a top doctor? A bar of mithril sitting in the basement of the Watch Tower, just 1s and 0s, was enough to solve Tarik’s woes, or permanently save Jasic’s farm? And all she’d need to do was screw over her old university friends. Damn the man to hell, for putting her in the position of having to decide. She wasn’t going to be happy with herself either way. She felt like punching him, but restrained herself.
Mary-Lynn: “Kafana? Are you ok? Did he do something to you? You’ve been just standing there.”
Kafana: “I’m fine. He just wanted to offer me some silver.”
Mary-Lynn: “How much?”
Kafana muttered: “about 30 pieces, I think.”