Chef in the Apocalypse

Seeing Leah so moved, Lianna felt her eyes tearing up. Jayce was used to people overreacting to his food, yet he didn’t quite expect this sort of reaction.

Instead of making it even more awkward, he decided to continue handing out plates to Tony and Lianna before digging into his own food. This was one of the best dishes he had made, made even more apparent by the huge stat boost he received.

[You have consumed Mongolian Beef (Panther). +15 Vitality +10 Strength for 4 hours]

Tony was scrutinizing the dish, looking at it from every angle. Last night he had not had the chance to make use of his palette as he was too enamored with the flavors and had eaten too fast.

This time he was determined to taste every flavor, savoring every last bit.

The next 10 minutes passed by in silence as everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts. Yet they were all experiencing the delicious meal, feeling their bodies fill with strength from the amazing stat boosts.

By the end everyone was satisfied.

Jayce did his usual cleaning of the utensils, his actions practiced and efficient before sending them into his inventory with a flick of his wrist.

"Thank you Jayce." Leah said after a while, not expanding on her reaction.

"No worries" He replied simply, sending a thumbs up.

She sat down in contentment, Lianna still by her side. "So, Lianna filled me in on how you got here. Does that mean you have the means to create another Teleportation array?"

Jayce shook his head in response, he knew this was going to be one of the first questions. "I lack the materials to make an array right now."

In the next moment he pulled a plain looking stone out of his inventory and threw it over to Leah. "Have you seen any of these stones around the vicinity?"

Leah caught it with ease. Her face suddenly flashed with recognition, yet in the next moment it was replaced with unease and worry. Jayce saw this, but waited for her to explain before he got any ideas.

"Yes... I’ve seen a stone like this before." She admitted. "It’s below the large tree, near where I was possessed by the Dryad."

Jayce nodded, it made sense why her reaction was so. Being sat atop a natural mana stone deposit would explain why the tree had grown so big, which also meant there was a chance that the other tree was also above one.

Normally Jayce would be ecstatic about finding a natural reserve of mana stones, however since they were under the tree and were both safeguarded by Dryad’s, he curbed his enthusiasm.

It could be possible that even stronger and more diabolical beings could be under the tree, the Draconic Panther Den was such an example.

"How many did you see?" Jayce asked seriously.

"I’m not sure, I’d say there were at least a few thousand at the entrance, possibly more inside. However, a lot of them were glowing unlike this stone." Leah scrunched her face, trying to remember as much information as possible.

She had been in the early stages of possession, so she had to think hard. Once the Dryad had succeeded, it had never brought her back to the cottage within the tree. Therefore she only had a hazy memory to go off.

"If everything is as you say, then as long as I get my hands on some of those stones I’ll be able to create some array’s." While the words brought good news, no one had a happy expression.

Just the mention of the cottage under the tree was enough to cause everyone’s mood to stagnate. Lianna’s hand reached for Leah’s, comforting her.

Leah smiled, thankful for the gesture. "It’s okay. I think that as long as we’re careful we should be able to avoid danger."

Jayce was pleasantly surprised at Leah’s fortitude. The woman had only just gotten rid of her parasite yesterday, yet she was already willing to head back to that place without hesitation so that her sister could return home.

Of course, if Jayce created a teleportation array they would be able to see each other quite regularly. So he could understand how she was able to switch gears so quickly.

"How much time do you need to recover?" Jayce asked with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes.

Leah’s expression shifted, not expecting this line of questioning. Her initial reaction would have been to assure Jayce that she was fine, however subconsciously knew that he would be able to tell if she was lying.

"A couple of weeks." She grit her teeth, feeling as if she was letting her sister and Jayce down.

Jayce had already used Analyze on Leah a few times after they had destroyed the Dryad. One of the reasons was because it had failed the first time, and the other was to check up on her condition to ensure there were no adverse affects from being possessed for so long.

He nodded, happy that she was at least telling the truth.

[Weak Soul - 50% decrease in stats while in this state]

[Time Remaning - 01 Weeks 06 Days 05 Hours 43 Minutes]

This wasn’t a result of the possession itself, it was actually from the brand that the Dryad had left. Because it was fully formed, it was actually a good result for there to not be any permanent damage to Leah’s mind and soul.

"Good!" He exclaimed, standing up and stretching. "I’ve been meaning to take a holiday for a while, you two rest up." Jayce sent a wink to Lianna before spinning on his heel and walking away.

Leah was about to call out to him, yet Lianna stopped her, shaking her head in response. "Don’t feel bad, Jayce is always this easygoing." She whispered.

Tony looked lost for a moment, wanting to follow his new master. However, Jayce’s next words stopped him.

"If you want to keep learning, come to my cottage every night after dusk."