Chapter 128: Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

We didn't actually nap right there in front of the barely restrained  army of ghosts. We weren't idiots. We rested for a minute to get some  strength back and let Jessie top us all off with some life energy and  then made the trek back to the hatchery where were were finally able to  collapse into a nice restful sleep. I really needed the rest after all  the craziness, and I couldn't wait for my head to stop throbbing.

Despite  it being light out, we'd all been underground so long we had no  legitimate clue what time it was. Nothing screwed up your internal clock  like delving into an underground city of darkness, and when we all woke  up the sun was just starting to set. Luckily we were not pretty far  from the crypt, not to mention specters were apparently wary of auras  much like goblins (understandably since they were literal spiritual  beings) and Zeke's presence acted as a passive deterrent to them trying  to come after us.

Even after a rest and a charge up from  Jessie though, my head still pounded. I was pretty sure I'd over done it  with my skill manipulation. I couldn't imagine how bad it would be if  I'd kept going and actually blacked out from using all my charges.  Still, we were back and fully stocked up on new mats and I just took the  time to lie back and just decompress. Even with Jessie being there to  pump us full of life energy, I'd noticed there was a mental component to  relaxation that just didn't recover without actual rest.

After  some time chilling though I got bored, and decided to get up and go  eat...breakfast? Dinner? A meal. Since my cooking skill was the highest I  decided to do the cooking myself, which had the added benefit of  meaning I could make whatever I wanted. I checked the storage room, or  at least the room of the hatchery where we were keeping our stuff, and  was pleased to see that Zeke had brought a bunch of food with  him...somewhere. I assumed he had a spatial artifact somewhere on his  person.

Still, that worked fine for me because since Zeke  never bothered to learn to cook he let me take supplies in exchange for  labor whenever I made food. It didn't count as helping me because he was  directly compensated. I grabbed a big crate of eggs, some ham, a few  bell peppers, a block of cheese as well as a spatula and a convenient  skillet I could use, and headed outside to cook in the twilight. The  clearing was big enough that I didn't bother worrying about animals  smelling the food so I didn't hesitate to get a fire started and begin  prepping.

I found a relatively flat rock and used boiling  cloud to steam clean the thing. I was recharged for the day and I didn't  flex it so it wasn't a strain, and once the rock was clean I drew a  knife I'd grabbed in the storage room and started chopping my  ingredients. The fire had been simple enough to get going given my  Might, the old stick rubbing trick was easy with super strength and I  let it crackle away as I started chopping.

I diced the  peppers, cut the cheese into cubes, and sliced the ham into thin strips  before cracking the eggs into the skillet and whisking them with a  knife. Once the eggs were all diced up I dumped the sliced veggies and  cheese in and held it over the fire. Instead of rushing it, I held the  skillet a bit higher over the flames and just...enjoyed myself. I loved  cooking, it always made me feel so at peace. It was just nice to enjoy  some time to myself and breathe for a bit.

As much as I  enjoyed time with my friends and cultivating it was easy to ignore the  slow build of tension and anxiety during the course of my adventures. I  got so used to being on edge that it felt like I wasn't on edge at all,  at least until I had a minute to slow down and really process what it  felt like to relax. That was most of the reason I got overwhelmed at  all, I got so excited fighting and training and looking for new loot I  didn't even realize I was burning out until I was beyond my limits.

I  scraped the eggs off the bottom of the skillet with the spatula and  smiled. Times like this were good for me. No one to impress, nothing to  fight, just me and my ingredients. Scrambled eggs were harder than most  people thought. You had to slow cook them or half the egg ended up  sticking to the bottom of the skillet, especially if you didn't use  butter. It was an exercise in patience, but one I didn't mind at all,  slowly pushing the cooked egg out of the way, letting the raw take its  place as it cooked all the way through, melting cheese and searing ham  and pepper alike.

The smell was amazing, and I closed my  eyes for a second to soak it in. Perception could be a hell of a gift  sometimes. I stayed there like that for a few minutes. Slow cooking the  eggs by keeping the skillet just far enough off the fire to make the  heat weaker. Finally I finished it, and I carried it inside to the  storage room to scoop it all onto a huge platter and then headed up the  raven room. I called everyone on the way, figuring if I was up everyone  else would be too.

I'd made about a dozen eggs, the  skillet had been pretty large, and there was enough eggs for everyone to  have some, albeit not a huge amount. It was mostly just a nice  breakfast to help everyone greet the day and give us some time to unwind  before we planned our next move. The smell of the eggs permeated the  whole building, and I laughed as I saw Callie stumble through the door,  sleepy and slightly confused.

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I'd  called for plates and forks when I told everyone about the food, and I  couldn't help but smile to see her grasping the plates blearily as she  looked around in confusion. She swallowed slightly before croaking.  "Food?" And I couldn't take it and dissolved into laughter. I set down  the skillet on a table and went over to get the plates, prying them from  her fingers and leading her to the table so I could make a plate for  her. I put the fork on top and pushed it over, wary of her as she began  to voraciously devour the eggs.

I  made my own plate and started eating while she did, though I ate  slower. I wasn't sure if Callie usually woke up too groggy to function  or if this was a factor of her exhaustion but honestly it was kind of  adorable. I just enjoyed seeing her kind of come to life as she at, her  eyes clearing and sharpening as she woke up more. Meanwhile I enjoyed my  own eggs immensely. The cheese was perfectly melted and the eggs were  incredibly fluffy, a testament to my cooking Skill rather than any  practice or anything.

Once  she finished she sighed and push the plate away, leaning over to kiss  my cheek. "Thanks babe, that was delicious as always."  She slumped back  in her chair, enjoying the quiet before everyone else showed up. Callie  was always more relaxed when it was just the two of us. The pressure of  being in charge was a subtle thing, but as I'd noticed when I woke up,  sometimes pressure could mount even when you weren't aware of it. I was  glad she felt safe enough with me to relax for at least a little while,  it was one of the few ways I could easily help her deal with her role.

As  I finished the last bite of delicious eggs, the mouth in my mask closed  back up and I pushed my own plate away. "Of course, glad you liked  them. So, what are we doing today? We still have to get those items  appraised or whatever. Hopefully Zeke can tell us what they are. No clue  how we're going to pay for that, but hey, maybe he'll agree to take one  of the objects as payment once he's finished." I figured more than  anything we all needed a day off, and this was a good way for us to take  that.

While  we were in a time crunch, Callie more than the rest of us needed to take  a break. Given her love of treasure I was sure the idea of spending a  day identifying and cataloguing the artifacts from the Necropolis were  going would be both fun for her and something that wouldn't weight too  heavily on her desire to push forward. It was a nice middle ground for  all of us, given the others probably wouldn't even care enough to be  involved.

As  expected she seemed thrilled at the chance to find out what we'd ended  up with after the raid in crypt. I knew she was planning to trade at  least some of the objects in question to other teams if possible, to try  to fill out our own list. Granted some of them might be a bit too  valuable for that to be cost effective, but I was certain there were  some passingly useful artifacts in the bunch that could reduce the  amount of work we had to do. Especially the things from the treasury,  the chances of some of the other being list items for teams besides ours  were pretty high given the specters insistence on collecting powerful  items.

If  they found other objects in their territory like the Corpse Grass the  treasury was where it would have ended up, and I refused to believe  there were so many treasures like that out in the wilderness that the  found a dozen artifacts that powerful and literally none of them were on  the lists for the hundreds of other teams that were out here with us.  Callie had made the smart call when she decided to collect the extra  stuff with the intention of trading it, because I didn't think I had  five or six more raids like the Necropolis in me, and sure as hell not  within a single week.

Zeke,  who had just come in when he smelled the eggs dropped into a chair next  to the table, scooping some of the eggs onto a plate. "What's this  about me and artifacts?" Callie excitedly filled him in on our idea. He  made a pensive noise as he ate, taking a moment to savor the eggs as he  chewed and stewed. "Hmmm. That's not...impossible. I'd be willing to  identify a few things in exchange for my pick of the resulting  artifacts. I get first right of refusal though. My Identification Skill  is substantially higher than anyone else you would find, and as such  more valuable."

I  rolled my eyes, pointing my fork at him as I countered his point. "I  call bullshit. We only need the Skill to be strong enough to identify G  ranked artifacts. Anything beyond that is just pointless excess, and  there are plenty of people in Rajak who could do that. It's not like  we're paying for prestige either since we aren't going to be telling  anyone you were the one who did it. We're getting the same information  regardless of who does the job."

He  smiled proudly at that and gave me a conciliatory nod. "Fair enough.  Fine, first right of refusal with a single veto. That's the best I can  do." I grudgingly agreed and he smiled. "Now, I'm going to finish the  rest of these eggs, great job by the way, and then we can get started."  With that decided he lost himself in his food again and I turned to  focus on the bag in the corner that contained our spatial box. Time to  finally see what we had on our hands.

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