Hundreds of glowing orange gems lined the stone walls of the dungeon, flickering faintly like embers. Warmth emanated from them, wrapping around me like a soft blanket as the smokey scent of the campfire outside permeated the air. I''d expected the dungeon to be dark and gloomy, but this was downright cozy.


    [New Quest: Defeat three monsters in whichever way makes you happy]


    That was rather open-ended. Almost like the system was giving me permission to feed the monsters instead of fight them...


    Either way, I wasn''t really keen on coming face to face with any more monsters, since I doubted I''d get lucky enough to find ones as kind as the slime. My gaze darted around the dungeon, which looked like an extension of the meadow, but nothing scary jumped out at me.


    The grassy plains stretched as far as I could see, with large trees and bushes speckling the otherwise flat landscape. If there were monsters here, they should be easy enough to spot at least. Maybe there was even some way I could track them? I turned to ask Dave, but the only thing behind me was a rocky dungeon wall.


    No door. No meadow. No sunlight.


    Just the dungeon and those glowing stones in the wall.


    My chest tightened as I ran my hands over the warm stone, trying to find a handle or a crack for the edge of the door, but there was nothing. I slammed my hand against the wall, wishing I''d stayed in the tutorial zone for a bit longer.


    "Now what am I supposed to do?"


    [Defeat three monsters]


    "Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time," I snapped at whatever system kept prompting me.


    I took a deep breath, inhaling the smokey scent that seemed to be everywhere. It settled my nerves, focusing me. If I had to defeat monsters to get out of here, then I needed to start cooking, because no monster deserved to eat that awful sandwich Dave called a lunch. They deserved treats, just like anyone else.


    Monster treats that would taste so good they''d forget all about little ol'' me.


    I opened my item box to grab a few things, but got distracted by menu names at the top that I didn''t remember being there before. One of them was titled [Cookbook].


    My eyes widened. Knowing recipes from this world would be really helpful. Maybe different monsters had different food preferences too. I tapped the word cookbook, assuming it would open a menu, but jumped back when an actual book came out of the screen, hovering in the air in front of me. The cover was a warm brown, like soft leather, embossed in gold with a crossed knife and fork.


    The cover opened on its own as the book flipped through a few blank pages, stopping on a recipe for grilled cheese. I snorted, glad I actually really liked grilled cheese since the system seemed to think it was my favorite thing ever now. But the "recipe" was basically just an ingredients list and didn''t contain any actual instructions.


    [Grilled Cheese: Bread, Cheese, Butter]


    Okay, but what kind of bread? What kind of cheese? Sure, it didn''t really matter for this recipe, but it would for others. I was a baker, not a cook who just threw things together and hoped they turned out. I needed specifics: ingredient measurements, bake time, temperature, and anything else they could give me.


    The embers in the walls glowed brighter as smoke curled around me, tickling my nose. Now that the campfire was gone, I wasn''t sure where the smoke was coming from, but my head felt too fuzzy to dwell on it.


    Did I really need all those things to cook? It felt like I could just toss everything on a pan and call it good...right?


    Before I second guessed myself, I took the pan and portable stove that I''d gotten with my starter gear out of my item box. The stove was barely large enough for a small pan, but that was fine as long as I could figure out how to turn it on. There were no buttons or switches that I could see, so I ran my fingers along the edges hoping to feel something unusual, but there was nothing.


    This dungeon cooking adventure wasn''t going to get very far if I didn''t have a heat source. I absently set the pan down on the stove so I could go through my menus for a hint, but an orange glow pulled my attention back. The stove had somehow activated.


    I pulled the pan off it and the orange glow faded, but when I set the pan down again, the glow immediately came back. Well that was useful, as long as I didn''t accidentally set the wrong thing on it. Just to test, I removed the pan and placed a clump of grass on the stove instead.


    Nothing happened. The grass didn''t even wilt or turn brown from the residual heat.


    I held my hand over the stove, but it didn''t actually feel warm. Maybe it was like a magical induction cooktop, where the heat went to the pots and pans instead of the stove itself! Now that would be really cool and a good safety measure.


    The slime nudged my leg, big eyes begging me to cook something tasty.


    "Okay, okay," I said with a laugh. "Give me a minute."


    The only ingredients in my item box were bread, cheese, and butter, none of which said what kinds they were, so I just pulled one of each out. The bread looked like basic white sandwich bread and the cheese was orange like cheddar. I cut them into slices, buttering the bread before putting it on the pan to cook.


    Then I layered some hopefully delicious cheese in the middle before adding another slice of bread. The butter sizzled nicely as the cheese started to melt, but it didn''t smell like anything. How strange.


    After a few minutes, I flipped the grilled cheese, excited about the golden brown color the bread had now. The slime slowly made its way onto my lap, getting closer and closer to the stove as the sandwich cooked. I held it back, not wanting the poor thing to get hurt, but felt just as excited to try this grilled cheese. If it actually tasted good, that opened up a whole world of options for taming monsters.


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    [Grilled Cheese Level 1 Acquired]


    [You cooked your very first dish! Hopefully it tastes good.]


    [+10 XP]


    Anticipation thrummed through me as I took a small bite of the sandwich, but an unmistakable cardboard taste filled my mouth that made me want to sob. It was just as awful as the last one. The slime ate the rest, cooing happily despite its terrible taste.


    "Are you mocking me, oh mysterious system?" I asked, feeling more than a little silly talking to thin air. "You had to know that wouldn''t taste good."


    [...]


    I glared at the message box that appeared. "Seriously? That''s all you''ve got? You''re the one who made me a culinary mage, so you should at least make the food taste good!"


    [Suggestion: look at your skills]


    My skills? I frowned, vaguely remembering a message about new skills being available when I was talking to Dave, but I hadn''t had time to look at them yet. I opened my menu, clicking on stats first.


    Culinary Mage: Level 1


    Agility: 1


    Charisma: 1


    Endurance: 1


    Intelligence: 1


    Mana: 1


    Strength: 1


    Available Stat Points: 5


    While those sounded useful, they didn''t really have anything to do with cooking. Unless mana meant magic, which was probably required for a culinary mage. Plus, charisma might help me win people and monsters over with my food easier. Since I was in a dungeon, I should probably add something to my strength too just in case. Or maybe agility to run away faster?


    "Hmmm...let''s put two points into mana and another two into charisma," I said, "then is it okay to save the last point?"


    [Yes, you may save as many points as you want]


    [Mana: 3]


    [Charisma: 3]


    My body glowed gold for a moment, as if accepting the new stats. I held my hand out in front of me, still amazed by this new world. I didn''t feel any different, but hopefully those increases would help my cooking. Now, what about those skills the system had mentioned?


    I tapped on the skills menu, which opened up two large tree-like structures with most of the words hidden behind locked symbols. The top of one said "culinary mage" and the other said "slime friend". I focused on the culinary mage skill tree, almost squealing with excitement as I read the top skill option.


    "Flavor boost??? Oh, hell yeah."


    [New Skill: Flavor Boost]


    [Flavor boost is a passive skill that will allow your cooking to have flavor as long as you have mana available]


    The skill glowed before opening up two more skill options: buff baking and heatproof hands. I only had one skill point left though and hadn''t even looked at the slime friend skills yet. The first one was titled slime care, which sounded useful, but I should probably focus on the culinary mage skills first since I was bound to run into other monsters besides slimes.


    "What''s the buff baking skill do?"


    [Buff baking is a skill that infuses one random buff to your food, temporarily increasing a stat, skill, or ability]


    Ohhh, that sounded handy. If I made food that other adventurers could use, they''d be more likely to help me with things. Maybe they''d even buy my food and I could make a little business out of it to keep me going until I got out of here. If all the skills were as powerful as these, I''d have to start leveling up as fast as possible.


    "Let''s go with buff baking, please," I told the ethereal system.


    [New Skill: Buff Baking]


    The skill glowed, opening even more skill options. Since I was out of points though, I closed the menu, eager to try both of these new skills out. I buttered two more slices of bread, placing them on the pan as I added cheese. The system had said the flavor boost skill was passive, which meant it should always be active as long as I had mana.


    As the grilled cheese started sizzling, a blue mana bar appeared at the top of my vision. It wasn''t a very large bar, but it was hopefully enough to make a few tasty grilled cheese.


    The slime bounced in my lap, just as eager to try the new food as I was. I flipped the sandwich, barely able to contain my excitement as it cooked, which was one of the only downsides to cooking. It took so long! Maybe there would be a skill to make things cook faster or instantly brown or something cool like that.


    The nutty scent of browned butter mixed with the wonderful scent of cheddar cheese. I inhaled deeply, overcome with emotion about how wonderful it was to smell food again. I had assumed the flavor boost would just affect the taste, but smell seemed like it was part of the experience too.


    Skills were amazing. I couldn''t wait to get more of them.


    [Grilled Cheese Level 1 Acquired]


    [+10 XP]


    I lifted the grilled cheese off the pan, almost burning my fingers it was so warm. I tossed the sandwich back and forth, blowing on my hands and wishing I''d taken that hot hands skill after all. The slime leaned back and forth, following the sandwich with its entire body, mouth open in case I dropped it.


    "Oh calm down," I said with a laugh as I split the sandwich in two, holding half out to the slime. "Let''s try it together."


    The slime gulped it down as I took my first bite. The warm, gooey cheese was mild, like a young cheddar cheese and a bit salty. The bread was soft and buttery with just a hint of a crispy bite from the golden brown exterior. I closed my eyes, savoring the taste as the warmth of this grilled cheese filled my body.


    It was perfect.


    Tears pricked my eyes as the comforting taste made me nostalgic for a home I couldn''t even remember. Such a weird feeling, but it passed quickly as I finished up my half of the grilled cheese.


    The slime was eyeing me expectantly. I hugged it close before preparing the next sandwich for us both. We''d be eating well from now on, no more tasteless garbage. This time I was going to use the buff baking skill and see what that did too.


    "Ummm...system? How do I use skills?"


    The flavor boost skill was passive, so I hadn''t actually needed to do anything to activate it, but I had a feeling buff baking was different.


    [Speak the skill name to activate it. The more intense you sound, the better your outcome.]


    I raised an eyebrow at the message. "Is that a joke or are you serious?"


    [Deadly serious]


    That still kind of sounded like sarcasm, but I''d do it just in case. I took a deep breath, straightening my back as I focused on the sandwich.


    "Buff baking!"


    Heat burned my cheeks as I loudly called out the name. At least there was nobody around to hear me say it, but it still felt so awkward. I ran a hand over my eyes, wishing I knew if the system was messing with me or not before flipping the grilled cheese. Once it finished cooking, a new message popped up.


    [Healing Grilled Cheese Level 1 Acquired]


    [+15 XP]


    Healing food? I hadn''t even considered that since it hadn''t been on my stat page. As if summoned by my thoughts, a green bar appeared at the top of my vision next to the blue mana bar, which wasn''t as full as it was before.


    Maybe this dungeon wouldn''t be the end of me after all if I could heal any wounds I might get with food. I could cook, I had skills, so now I just had to keep working hard to level them up so I could get out of here.


    100th floor, here I come.