"Ah… Ahhh? Sis Yueee!"
Startled by the sudden appearance of someone near her, Mei Mei dropped the ladle that she was using, and along with that toppled the whole pot.
Something that looked like a broth spilled from within.
However, it did not smell like a broth or even something edible. It even had burnt stuff inside it.
Shen Yue blinked in surprise. She knitted her brows together and stared at the mystery item.
"How did you manage to burn something when cooking a broth and especially when there is so much liquid left?"
"Ah! Sis Yue! This is all your fault! You distracted me!" Mei Mei clutched her head, looking at her nth failure.
Her heart ached. So many wasted ingredients. She really did not want to accept it but it looked like… the cooking skill… she had to give up.
"Hmmm. You should give up on cooking."
What the heck? Mei Mei looked up to see an old man standing in front of them, and voicing out her thoughts loudly.
She understood her limitations but to be pointed out like this… Her cheeks heated up in shame.
That too for some reason the entire hall seemed to be staring at her?
Only then did she realize that the person standing in front of her was actually the cooking trainer of the hall.
She had seen a lot of players trying to talk to the same old man, begging for quests or pointers.
Not giving them any face, the man had completely ignored all of them. Only his apprentices interacted with everyone, imparting the cooking skill for a fee.
The trainer himself did not bother, but to criticize her apparently the man made a personal visit. He had come over all on his own to talk to them.
However… alas… it was only to ask her to quit.
"I have never seen anyone this bad. You should just go ahead and give up."
He said it again! Mei Mei was completely speechless and became even more flustered.
Shen Yue couldn't simply watch it anymore and decided to intervene. "Cough. Cough. Maybe we can try some other skill?"
She felt bad to see her looking so glum.
She had clearly failed again and again, but the truth was that she also did not give up and continued working hard which was an admirable quality.
Otherwise, with her brother's backing alone, there was no need for her to work so hard.
"Don't worry about it. Shall we try learning other skills?"
"Not so fast, pretty young miss. I only said that your friend here doesn't have any talent. You, on the other hand, are incredibly talented."
"I can just tell how gorgeous… ahem… I mean how amazingly talented you are."
"Haa? What now?" Shen Yue blurted out.
She did not know if it was her imagination but the old man for some reason had the same expression as the knight she had met with outside.
"Sis Yue, that's great." Mei Mei also said in encouragement, though her voice was clearly muffled.
"Ahh… that…" Shen Yue had no idea what was going on.
She looked at the old man and cautiously asked. "Then can I learn the cooking skill? I also want to try making something?"
"Sure. Sure. This old man will personally teach you, dear."
"Dear…?" Shen Yue's eyes widened and before she could understand what just happened, a series of notifications flooded her system interface.
[Ding: You have acquired the trade skill Cooking]
[Ding: Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Beginner Level]
[Ding: Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level]
[Ding. Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Intermediate Level]
[Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Mashed Potatoes]
[Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Charred Chicken Leg]
[Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Grilled Devil Boar]
…
…
…
As Shen Yue glanced at the list of about 30 recipes that she had somehow obtained, the old revealed a big grin and groomed his beard.
"Are you satisfied with the recipes dear? Stick with me and you will have no regrets. I will make you a great cooking master in no time."
"Ahh…"
Shen Yue did not know what was happening. Were NPCs always this friendly?
Moreover, she had clearly read that it took a lot of ingredients and attempts to level up lifestyle skills like cooking, smithing, and stitching.
But she leveled up just like that?
She stared at the old man smiling at her somewhat creepily and then at Mei Mei who was smiling at her even more creepily?
"Sis! What happened? What recipes did you get?"
Shen Yue did not know what she was dealing with but she could tell that something was definitely out of sorts.
"Umm… Mei Mei… I think we should leave this place." She hurriedly typed in their private party chat.
"What happened?" Mei Mei was surprised.
"This person just gave me a lot of recipes and also upgraded my cooking skill directly to intermediate level?"
"What! Are you serious?"
Shen Yue nodded.
Mei Mei opened her mouth wide and was about to ask something, but then she covered her mouth with her palm and asked in the private chat instead.
"This is impossible, sis Yue. I have never heard of anything like this on the forums." She then remembered the one person who could answer their doubts and tried asking him.
"Brother? Do you know anything about this?"
"Hello brother?"
However, she didn't get any reply. She looked at Shen Yue helplessly as she was also clueless about what was happening.
The two could clearly see that the old man was still grinning widely, making them more uneasy.
What the hell was going on?
But suddenly, Mei Mei's expression changed and she hurriedly typed in the chat.
"Sis Yue, wait. This is not a bad thing. If that person is handing out everything to you, why not ask for more? He He He"
"Ah… but…"
"No buts… let's get as much free stuff as possible. Maybe this trainer is willing to give you things for free, others maybe too?"
Shen Yue gulped. She was not totally clueless. She had a small inkling that this special treatment had something to do with the charm attribute.
What made her hesitate was… were there only good side effects to this charm attribute?
If they really used this 'special treatment' to the full extent that they could, would they be going overboard and face some sort of bad side effects?
She remembered Liam specifically telling them again and again to keep a low profile, just do small quests and not step outside as this game was very dangerous.
She had a feeling that doing this was probably going against his advice. This was why she hesitated.
At the same time, she also couldn't resist the allure of fast leveling everything…
With Mei Mei standing by her side and further egging her on with big grinning eyes, she gulped and ended up caving in. "Alright, let's do it."
"Yay! We are going to earn lots of money! Sis Yue, do you know how much these items sell for in the auction house?!"
"I am guessing a lot of people buy these extra items?
"He He. You have no idea. Currently, there is an item called 'Fire Resistance Potion' that is being sold in the auction house."
"Forget players, big guilds are fighting with each other to get their hands on that potion. It is a complete riot."
"Ah? Is that so?"
"Yes. Yes. I even heard that someone leaked the name of the person who made that potion and now all the top guilds are lining up to recruit that person."
"We can also become very famous and get a lot of money if we make that potion. Quick. Quick. Let's go and talk to the alchemy trainer."
"Un. Let's try our best."
Meanwhile… in the northern parts of the kingdom…
Wind whooshed past the mecha gnome valley which was rather unusually quiet, despite the huge number of gnomes present there.
Hiding in a corner of this valley, Liam saw that a few messages had popped up from his sister and Shen Yue but he currently ignored them as he had no other option.
Also because they were in the city, he knew that they were safe so he focused on the situation in front of him.
The impossible situation that he was in…