Chương 69: OverStamina

"Why? Scared to touch it?" I ask.

"It's a mysterious orb filled with stars. Of course I'm scared to touch it." His eyes narrow at me.

"But you still want to?"

"Of course I do! Imagine what kind of secrets it holds!" He gazes at the orb in wonder. Chuckling, I turn back to the system screen and scroll up. [Accept(9) / Bank / Consolidate] With the rest of the chests in the encampments being inert, there's no way to stack more rewards. Might as well accept it now. Pressing accept, another message appears. [You have earned 1 (Gold Crate)] [Accept / Bank] As usual, the quality of the crate matches the number of rewards. I press accept.

My hand shoots out, grabbing the black cloth that appears in the air. Curious, I unravel it. It's… underwear. Identify Living Being [Durable underwear] Mana exits my skin and combs over the surface, searching for any formations. Nothing. It's just underwear. Brax stands with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you get that from the system?"

"Yeah, I got a handful of rewards for walking into the room."

"Is it enchanted?"

"I don't think so."

"Oh, well, uh… good for you." He gives a sympathetic smile. Sighing, I put it in my pocket. System, time. [3. 21 cycles until next phase] So that's about… eight days. If I'm economical with my time, I can complete sixteen missions before I'm out of time. Though, the system only posted the time limit, not how long they would actually take. My gaze pulls down to my rumbling stomach. I should probably eat first. For some strange reason, losing my lunch earlier made me hungry.

"You probably shouldn't." I say, just as Brax reaches out to touch the orb.

"What? Why?"

"That's how the system is going to send me across the universe." Before he can speak, I gesture for him to follow.

"Let's eat, we can talk on the way." He follows me as we walk back through the way we came. We pass through the hallway, the throne room, and the staircase until we're blocked by stone. The wall Brax created stands in our way, preventing us from moving further. Three awkwardly placed holes dot the center of the wall. Remnants from my efforts to get through. Brax winces.

"Sorry." I shrug.

"It was good practice for Stone Pillar." Brax raises his arm and closes his eyes. In less than a second, he opens them again and flexes the arm. The stone wall grinds smoothly out of the way, sinking back into the side of the stairwell. I whistle and clap.

"Wow, good job!" He smiles and bows.

"I worked hard to get to this point." We continue, stepping around the cylindrical chunks of stone that I made. Staggard's remains come into view. Brax looks away, sparing himself the sight. I do the opposite. The messy, crushed head is a morbid sight. Usually, it would make me vomit, the strong feelings about it rushing out. But the command I placed is absolute. Now, it's just another corpse. I should probably throw a blanket over it or something. We walk past, exiting into the maze of the castle.

With the power of high wisdom, we effortlessly retrace our steps to the kitchen. On the way, I explain how the orb works and what I'll be doing. He nods as I speak, constantly in awe at the system's ability to transport people. I mirror that feeling. As we walk through the closer corridors, I spend some time moving the corpses of guardsmen littering the hallway. It would be depressing to spend the next eight days stepping around them every time we go to the kitchen.

Entering the modern kitchen, I walk around and familiarize myself with everything. Gas grill, just like the one in my backyard at home. I push away the dragging feeling from the sombre memory. Although much larger, the fridge and freezer aren't too different from the ones in my kitchen at home. After checking out a few of the items inside, I grab the thing that looks closest to steaks. I tear the packaging off, noting that the meat seems a bit off-color.

After inspecting the surface, I shrug and toss five onto a pan. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it They're probably not rotten and just from a species I'm not aware of. Speaking of, why is the kitchen a replica from Earth, but all the food is from somewhere else? Reaching under the counter, I turn the gas on and light the flame. Once I hear sizzling, I leave them and search through the spices.

Without any reference, I pick one that looks like pepper and hold it under my nose, taking a big whiff. The smell hits like a truck, lighting up my sinuses and making my head fly back. I groan and rub my nose, coughing as my eye starts to water. Brax chuckles from the side, sitting on the table.

"Perception hitting you hard?"

"Ugh" I turn, rubbing my nose viciously.

"How do you know?"

"I went through the same thing. Engraving requires some substantial perception." He swings his legs without a care.

"So if I have a thousand perception and walk into the same room as something spicy, will it be like this?" A chill races down my spine. Surely, that isn't the case. He waves me off.

"Nah, you'll get used to it. With experience, you'll be able to control it. It's unconscious, so don't worry about it too much." With the new knowledge, I carefully select all of the spices that smell good and collect them. I pass by the fridge and grab something that I hope is butter. The weight of the bracers makes itself known, sending aches down my arms after a full day of wearing them. I need to hurry up and increase my strength.

"Yo, how do you like your steak cooked?" I ask as I set everything down. Brax raises an eyebrow.

"Uh, on the pan?"

"No, I mean, how long do you want it cooked?"

"Until it's not raw?" I shake my head sadly.

"Oh, my poor, uncultured friend. Medium rare it is." I'm sure he'll like it that way. It's the best way to have a steak.

"Rare!?" His eyes shine.

"Is the steak enchanted too!?"

"Bahaha!" I bend over and laugh loudly. He gives me a flat look as I get it all out.

"What? What's so funny?" Wiping a tear, I gather myself.

"No, it's nothing. Why don't you find us some plates?" Eyes narrowed, he does as I ask and searches through the cabinets. I spread spices and sear the meat while adding a thin layer of butter. Thanks to my perception, the intoxicating aroma fills my lungs with every breath. Brax lays two plates on the metal table.

"Don't tell me you're going to eat four steaks by yourself."

"Alright. I won't tell you." He sighs as I chuckle, picking up the pans and laying the steaks out.

"Dang. Forget being a shoemaker, you should've been a cook." He leans in and smells the steam.

"What? Shoemaker?"

"Your name. Kevin Shoeman. You made shoes, right?" Brax answers my confusion with his own.

"Wha-. How doe-" I stutter. His conclusion brings my brain to a grinding halt. … We both stare at each other.

"Just eat your damn food." I sigh. Thankfully, I get to use a fork and knife instead of some screwed-up alien equivalent. I grab a pitcher of milk as I sit. The first bite is pure bliss. The dull meat and bread from the previous sections of the dungeon barely had any flavor, making the difference that much more impactful.

"Oh, oh my lord." Brax moans, slouching on the stool under him. Safe to say Brax likes it too. The pieces I cut go down quickly. Too quickly. I'm still moving based on my previous Earth habits. I change my approach, cutting the steak into huge quarters and ripping into them. After the second steak, my stomach feels full. I don't stop. Instead of that uncomfortable sensation in my stomach getting worse, stamina builds in its place. The ache in my arms lessens slightly. My posture straightens. Energy fills my body.

Steaks dissolve as I shovel them down my throat. The energy overflows, begging to be released. System, stamina. [Stamina: 1705(1786)] What the heck!? I re-read the number, but it doesn't change. Overstamina. Didn't know that was possible. I smile and jump from the stool, throwing a few shadow punches. A giggle spills from my mouth, which quickly turns into laughter.

"What's going on with you?" Brax looks at me, concern written on his face.

"New skill." I say simply. Nodding in understanding, he turns back to his meal. The next few minutes pass with me running circles around the kitchen while Brax watches me like I'm insane. I don't care. This feels amazing. Eventually, the high wears off after some physical activity and returns to normal. The kind of normal you feel after getting an amazing night of sleep. System, show me new logs. [Stamina Stomach(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)] As I expected, it's there. This might become one of my favorite skills.

After Danger Sense, of course. When Brax finishes, we both walk our way back through the castle, returning to the throne room. He pats his stomach and walks past the throne.

"Phew! This has been a long day. I'm going to sleep now."

"Wait!" I say, making him stop and turn.

"Can you help me before you go?"

"Ugh… Fine." He groans, walking back.

"What is it?" I reach down and pull the longbowman's bow from the ground, whipping the quiver over my shoulder. The quiver is surprisingly well made, holding the massive arrows in a vice grip.

"I need help making holsters for all my weapons."

"All your weapons? Aren't your gauntlets enough?" I shrug.

"Can't be too prepared." He sighs and slumps.

"Can't you do it yourself?"

"No." I say decisively.

"I need your delicate, dexterous little engraving fingers." His eyes narrow.

"There's no need for all that enunciation." He kneels down, joining me. To start, I take off my leather chest piece and lay it on the ground. I gather all the things I want to carry. The quiver, which already has a sash. The fireball staff. The royal guardsman's axe. And the longbowman's longbow. It quickly becomes apparent that neither Brax nor I have any experience in leatherworking. Brax shuffles off and returns with a thread and needle.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Archer's room." I shrug. Using the straps from the royal guardsman's heavy-set armor, we are able to weave on a collection of different-sized loops. Well, Brax did most of the work, but I applied moral support. After putting on the chest piece again, we add a few more tweaks to make everything perfect.

"Don't you want a different piece of armor?" Brax asks. He's got a good point. The blackened piece of leather has been with me ever since the beginning of the open-world section. And I have taken a LOT of different attacks. The poor thing has been through hell and back. Still, it's likely better than anything else. And wearing plate mail is not an option. I simply don't like it. It doesn't move well. Once the changes are done, I place each weapon one by one in their designated places.

I can feel the weight, but it's nothing on my physique. If anything, it's my arms that feel it the most. One bracer alone exceeds the weight of the three other weapons combined. Once set, I walk alongside Brax as we travel to the exfiltration room. He tries to dip into the mage's quarters, but I stop him.

"Come on, don't you want to see me off? I might die!" I speak with exaggeration and deep movements.

"Ugh! Fine!" Droopy-eyed Brax follows me, both of us standing around the crystal ball.

"Alright, system. I'm ready! Take me to my first mission!" Seconds pass, but nothing happens. Uh, system?