Ch.24 Gathering Ingredients in A Dark Forest

I flew off and entered the forest in front of me.

As it is called a forest, there are many trees and flowers blooming.

I don't know if they are the same species as the sparrow in Fairy Forest, but sparrows are perched on the branches and seagull-like birds are flying in the sky. The buzzing of wings that can be heard from time to time is probably the bees from that time.

Insects crawl on the ground and a small praying mantis brandishing a sword-attached hand greets me.

There's nothing particularly scary about it. There are no carnivorous plants with exposed teeth or pitcher plants that swallow people. I'm sure they exist in some other areas, though.

It was just a dense forest. It was a little dark because of the rain, and it really felt like a horror movie.

"If the sun had been out, the sunlight would have been shining in and it would have looked nice."

I muttered, gazing at the dark forest. I'll come back again on a sunny day.

This time, I visited the forest to search for ingredients.

Now that I have the means to deal with even the smallest of crises, I think it's about time to settle into a peaceful, slow life.

I want to cook. I want to make things.

I still have a lot to level up, so I'll continue hunting to secure ingredients and materials. I also want to do it with Sakidori Midori.

So, first of all, cooking. Before reincarnation, I didn't take cooking skills or any production-related jobs, so I'm looking forward to this. I just did battles. I died midway through, so I haven't been able to get a detailed strategy yet.

To be able to cook. I need to join the cooking guild. I might as well try to increase the rarity of the things I'll make.

Next, preparing the fire. If I'm going to do it outside, I need fire. I should have learned the magic of fire in the royal capital. I'll go later. I hope I'm good at it.

What, you say my planning is poor? Stop expecting me to be efficient. Even if it takes time, if I do things one step at a time, the results will be the same.

Also, I act on impulse, so things like this happen.

Next, cooking utensils. To be honest, I don't really need them since I can borrow tools from the guild and cook in the attached kitchen that anyone can use. But I'd like to have some for when I cook outside. I also need to think about how to store them.

Finally, securing the ingredients. I can't cook or eat air, afterall.

As for that, since I'm currently in the forest, I plan to secure some while I'm exploring.

"So, let's find some tasty looking mushrooms."

Looking down, I discovered many mushrooms growing among the flowers and plants.

Whether they are edible or not can be determined through appraisal, so even amateurs lile me can pick them without any risk. Even if I eat a poisonous mushroom, I can still revive.

"This and this are edible. That one... I shouldn't even touch it."

Nameko mushrooms, nameko mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms...

Basically, anything that isn't colorful is edible.

"What is this?"

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[Material Item: Pepper Mushroom]

★★☆☆☆

A mushroom that is half white and half black.

The white part contains salt, and the black part contains pepper.

Eating it raw is dangerous.

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This is THE fantasy ingredient. It's impossible in reality, but it's possible in a game.

The mushrooms, which were half black and half white, looked suspicious and I had no desire to eat them, but after examining them it appears they are edible.

The fact that it tastes like salt and pepper on its own is convenient and seems like it can be used in a variety of ways.

I also found some shimeji mushrooms, so I picked them up. There were the same mushrooms next to them.

Mushrooms that fit in my magic bag are left whole. Those that don't fit are broken up by hand and added.

"Let's go this way next."

From the main trail, I go straight into the forest and come to a natural rock wall, then I turn right.

The scenery remains the same, but the monsters who live there are different.

When it came straight at me, I didn't get any particular attack, but this-

"Fuh, I can see it... Ah, it just grazed me."

I dodged an attack from a treant, only to be narrowly hit by an attack from a different treant.

That alone takes away 10 of my MP that makes up your body. It's tough being naked. (TL : I guess naked as in her clothes is made out of her MP too?)

I retreated to the sky where the attacks could not reach me and checked for damage.

"It's already healed."

Thanks to the magic power recovery rate of 1 per second, the wound had already closed.

The Fairy Forest isn't very large. Since the treants are from the right side, I should give up going that direction for now. Their level is high.

Next, I headed left and descended. There were a lot of birds here. That sparrow... Is just a sparrow. It was just an ordinary sparrow.

I'm relieved that it's not that sparrow. Sparrows are complicated.

There was also a seagull-like bird flying in the sky when I entered the forest. It was a monster. But since it was a bird, it would probably be delicious if I grilled it.

"They're all gathered in a group, so I'll pretend not to see. I'm not seeing anything."

I turned my eyes away from the seagull monsters and continued on through the forest. I'd picked enough mushrooms, so I wanted some nuts. Preferably ones that would fit inside my bag.

"There isn't one... Oh, that one."

I found a mandarin orange tree. I appraised it and it was a indeed mandarin orange. It's rarity level is 2 stars. It's pretty average. I'll take it.

If I look closely, I can see that there are similar trees scattered a little further away.

I don't know if I'll use much of them, so I'll just pick the ones from this tree. Time never stops inside the magic bag, anyway.

I'm pretty sure they hadn't made anything that could stop time inside yet.

"It seems like this turned out pretty good"

What I picked was mushrooms and oranges, these are blessings of the forest. I bowed with my palms together.

"Now that I think about it, I couldn't find any wild vegetables."

It's one thing to find a conspicuous mushroom, but it's hard to find wild vegetables among all the flowers and plants.

It can't be helped if I don't notice. I'm not an expert on wild vegetables.

I continued straight to the left. There was some kind of fuzzy feeling in the air, so I decided that this was the entrance to the forest. There was no particular need to go out, so I turned back.

"The search is over."

There weren't that many ingredients, and the area wasn't that large. Aside from the forest, there was also the area around the small lake where my main body was, but there was nothing of note other than flowers.

Well then, the exploration is over. Let's head to the guild to cook.

◇◆◇

I flew with my bag packed with food slung over my shoulders, getting wet in the rain.

Bullet-like chunks of water hit my body, sending shivers down my spine every time they hit me.

When I checked my MP, it was a little low.

"Whoa?! It's gone down?!"

It wasn't even an attack spell. Hmm, maybe it was hitting hard like an attack spell and that's why it did damage? I'll slow down.

As expected, there would be no damage if I proceeded more slowly than before.

If I could feel the pain, I wonder if I could die from that rain bullet.

It took about ten minutes to arrive at the royal capital.

"First, I want to see if I have an aptitude for fire magic."

I go through the top of the Western Doors of the Mage's Guild.

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These are the mandarin oranges that the main character picked.

〘Material item: Mandarin orange〙

★★☆☆☆

Mandarins from the Fairy Forest.

It grows wild and has quite a wild taste.

You can feel the rough sweetness.

〘Item Respawn System〙

For the purposes of the game, if you cut down a tree, it will grow into a mature tree in three days, and if you take natural plants such as medicinal herbs, they will also grow back in three days.

It's an AI-like process. There are a lot of players, so they are trying their best to keep things going.

However, some plants may not be fully grown in that number of days, so proceed with caution.

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