Frostbitten Wayfarer

“So, when are you leaving?" Emma asked as the pair walked down the street.

“Tomorrow morning, probably. If I can get everything I need, anyway.” Zoe answered.

“Tomorrow morning? That’s so soon." Emma said.

“Yeah, I hadn’t really thought about it much to be honest, but all I have left is stocking up on food and then I’m done, so no point in sitting around waiting for nothing, I guess.” Zoe explained.

“How long are you gonna be gone for?" Emma asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s a couple weeks out I heard, so with Alacrity and running almost non stop it might still take a week. Maybe less?” Zoe questioned.

“Running non stop for a week sounds rough, though.” Emma said.

“Mhm. I’ll see how it goes. I don’t wanna spend a tonne of time travelling, but maybe the journey will be fun too. But anyway it’ll be quite a trip, so I don’t think I’ll be back for a while to be honest. I’ll see if there’s some kind of mail system though and send you letters.” Zoe said.

“Mmm, you better. I’ll miss you, Zoe.” Emma hugged her.

“I’ll miss you too. And Joe. And Oliver. But I don’t really wanna just stick around in Flester forever. You sure you don’t wanna come join me?” Zoe asked.

“You know I’ve gotta look after Oliver. And if I’m being honest, I like it in town anyway. It’s comfy here. Maybe someday in the future but not anytime soon, probably.” Emma frowned.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll definitely come back as often as I can anyway and we can catch up at least.” Zoe said.

“You better. If you don’t I’m gonna come down there and drag you back myself.” Emma laughed.

“I will,” Zoe promised.

“So what kinda food are you gonna get anyway?” Emma asked.

“I dunno. It’s different when you’re buying in bulk, y’know? When I first got my bracelet I thought of going to that sandwich shop I like, but when I got there and they asked what I wanted… I felt like asking for like thirty sandwiches was probably not super accepted.” Zoe laughed.

Emma laughed with her. “Yeah, they probably would have given you a funny look. So what’s the plan then?”

“I think I might just buy ingredients and cook stuff myself, probably? That sounds like the easiest solution.” Zoe said.

“Yeah, maybe. We should totally stop by a bunch of different restaurants and get takeout though.” Emma suggested. “For a treat!”

Zoe smiled. “Yeah, I like it. Alright, so that’s the plan then. Lots of raw ingredients and then a few prepared dishes.”

The two walked around town checking every restaurant they walked past to see if they did takeout. Quite a few did, and quite a few were ones Zoe had already visited in the past while she was working on her seasonal master feats.

Zoe managed to grab four rice dishes, six portions of fried ryz and three venison steak dishes from The Rotted Apple. For a particularly fanciful treat, the pair stopped by one of the nicer looking restaurants Emma’d seen and grabbed three meal sets that they sold. They came on large silver platters and wouldn’t tell her what came in them other than that it was ‘seasonal’, whatever that meant. She decided to leave the dishes to be a surprise and stuffed them into her bracelet.

“Awww, I wanted to see them though.” Emma whined.

Zoe laughed. “But just think about me out on Moaning Point. I just climbed up some challenge I’ve been working on and decide that it’s time to celebrate. I pull out this fancy silver platter that cost me five damn silver for one meal and it’s just like, the most basic burger you’ve ever seen.”

Emma laughed. “Hopefully they’re not just burgers. For five silver they better be the best meal you’ve ever had.”

“I dunno if they’ll be better than the school’s was though.” Zoe said.

“Hmmm,” Emma pondered. “Those were pretty good. I wonder why they were so good?”

“I dunno. Maybe they just had some people who really liked cooking? Or worked with some school or something?" Zoe suggested.

Emma shrugged. “Whatever it was I’m glad we got to take advantage of it.”

Zoe agreed, and they got back to wandering around town. With her current premade meals added to the sandwiches she’d accumulated since buying her bracelet she had forty meals ready to go. That would be enough to last her a while even if she ended up being lazy, so it was time to buy some raw ingredients.

Emma’s workplace — more of a building for finding groups really, sold plenty of meat and so the two first headed over there. It was a pretty painless process and Zoe managed to stock up on plenty of meat from some of the hunters who were around. About a hundred portions of venison, if her estimation was right.

Good enough to last her quite a while, and the next step was something that neither of the girls had much of an idea about. Vegetables. They both enjoyed vegetables in their diet quite a lot, but buying them in bulk was not something either of them had ever done.

“Maybe we just ask a restaurant where they get their veg from?” Emma asked.

“Joe might know, too.” Zoe suggested.

“Oo yeah, good idea. Lets go ask him.” Emma said.

Joe was standing behind the bar chatting with a younger man when they walked in. The younger man was a dark green level seventeen to Zoe’s identify. The lowest green she’d seen yet.

“Are you sure?” The younger man asked.

Joe laughed. “Of course. It’s no skin off my back. You got a cleaning skill at least?”

The younger man nodded his head. “Absolutely. I can clean, point me where you want and I’ll clean it.”

Joe smiled. “Don’t worry too much about it.” He looked over to Zoe and Emma. “Oh! Hello you two.”

“Hey Joe,” Zoe said.

“Hi!” Emma smiled.

“What are you two up to?" Joe asked.

“I’m stocking up on supplies and all I’ve got left now is a bunch of vegetables. You happen to know somewhere I can buy vegetables in bulk?” Zoe asked.

Joe thought for a moment. “Usually farmers set up shops in one of the marketplaces around town. You could check there, see if somebody’s selling stuff you need.”

“Oh, good idea. Thanks Joe!" Zoe said.

“Yeah no problem. You heading out soon then?” Joe asked.

“Tomorrow morning! She’s planning on leaving tomorrow, Joe. Can you believe that?" Emma whined.

Joe laughed. “Yeah that sounds like her.”

“Yeah but she could’ve told us earlier.” Emma shook her head.

Joe smiled. “She’ll be back, I’m sure. With questions. So many questions.”

Emma laughed. “Maybe she’ll have answers this time. Can you imagine that?"

Joe shook his head.

“Hey! That’s rude. I’ve got a good reason for asking so many questions I’ll have you know.” Zoe pouted.

“So this is goodbye then?" Joe asked.

Zoe nodded her head. “Kinda, I guess. I’ll be staying here tonight though so I’ll say bye in the morning when I leave.”

Joe turned to the younger man who was still sitting at the bar. “Hear that? You’ve got a room freeing up tomorrow now.”

He nodded his head at Joe nervously.

“Well anyway I’ll leave you to whatever you’re up to. I’ve got veggies to go buy. Thanks again Joe.” Zoe said as she got up to leave.

“Yeah no problem.” Joe responded.

Zoe and Emma wandered around town to one of the nearby markets, Zoe had seen them before but didn’t pay much attention to them. Sometimes she’d grab some food from one of the stalls or admire some of the jewellery and clothes they offered, but she never took the time to really walk through and appreciate what they were.

The one they stopped at was near where Barlahai was hosted. There were a bunch of tents and tables set up with people advertising every product under the sun. Families with bags and clothes for sale, small kitchens making street food and even shops full or fresh, colourful produce.

They walked up to one of the produce stalls and poked around. There were many things that Zoe recognized — Ifosa, Furni, Lio and other leafy greens. There were tubular vegetables that looked like cucumbers if cucumbers were blue and grew in bunches like bananas. Lots of potatoes, and other root vegetables.

“Hey, is this all you have?” Zoe asked the tall woman who was managing the shop.

“No we’ve got twelve bags of mixed produce on hand right now.” The woman answered.

“Awesome,” Zoe said and paused to think for a moment.

She had a bunch of clothes, camping and climbing supplies and a tonne of food in her storage item right now. It didn’t tell her how full it was — a feature she definitely would pay extra for if she could at this point, but she could at least tell if each segment was full thanks to the thermal control separating them.

Which itself added another layer of complication into the mix. She liked her current mix of two cold, one warm, one unmanaged. But while she still hadn’t filled up one of the cold segments, she imagined that all the food she purchased must be getting it quite close.

And in a similar line, her unmanaged bag full of clothes, supplies and weapons was also almost full if she had to guess. That would leave her with a little over one cold bag, a full warm bag and a little bit of unmanaged storage to stick things in.

Was the warm bag really worth keeping at this point, then? It was nice to be able to move some food over to so she could have a warm meal instead of having to warm it up herself. But the flip side was it made it much less comfortable for normal supplies. Heating her carabiners and rope, or books wasn’t something she was interested in.

The warm bag didn’t get very hot anyway so it would be fine, she thought. But something about heating her books just made her uncomfortable. If she changed the warm bag to unmanaged, she’d have more storage for random stuff but lose the convenience of warm meals.

Though at the same time, most of what she had in her cold storage at this point wasn’t prepared meals but raw ingredients she’d have to cook herself anyway. Was it worth keeping a warm bag just for the odd meal she might end up eating from her storage?

She supposed it didn’t matter at the moment, two cold bags was definitely necessary if she wanted long term food storage, and the unmanaged bag wasn’t filled just yet so she had a bit of time to think about it.

“She’s trying to stock up on veggies for a while. How much do you think she’d need for like a hundred portions?” Emma asked while Zoe was lost in thought.

The woman shrugged. “A third of a bag of mixed produce should last you. She’s got thermal control at least right?”

“Oh, sorry. Yeah I do. I’ll take a third of a bag then, please. How much would that be?" Zoe asked.

“One silver for a third of mixed. Do you have any preferences?" The woman asked.

Zoe shook her head. “No, a good mix is fine.”

The woman held her hand out. Zoe grabbed it and tried to push a silver coin from her bracelet to the woman.

*Ding* Trade initiated

Contents of one third bag for one [Silver Coin]

*Ding* Trade accepted

“Thank you very much,” The woman said to her.

“Yeah, thank you too.” Zoe said.

“So that’s it then, huh?” Emma asked as the two walked away.

“Hmm?" Zoe questioned.

“You’re all done here now. Got everything you need, just off to Moaning Point now?" Emma asked.

“Yeah. I still wanna grab another class first though. I can switch them out if I take one now right?” Zoe asked.

“Mhm. Never done it myself but I’ve heard you can just focus on your class selection and pick a new one. Just not for your first choice.” Emma explained.

“Do you lose all your progress, then? If I take a class and get a bunch of levels like I did with Seasoned Frost, do I lose them all if I pick another instead?" Zoe asked.

“Probably. Never done it myself but if you didn’t lose your levels I think it would be a lot more common.” Emma suggested.

“Makes sense, I guess.” Zoe said.

It complicated things for her a little bit. She hadn’t actually ever really focused on levelling up her class yet. The first eight levels were a couple of days and then getting to twenty-two was instant after she finally picked her first class.

She had no idea what level she would end up getting to once she took her next class. Twenty-three? Fifty? There was no way for her to know. And that meant that taking a random class just to play with it was probably not a great idea. She’d have to start with one she was probably going to be satisfied with, and if she only got a couple levels then she could try out some other classes.

“So you’re off to Joe’s inn for tonight then?” Emma asked.

“Yeah.” Zoe said.

“Come by my place tomorrow to say goodbye at least.” Emma hugged her.

“I will. I won’t be able to stay long though.” Zoe said.

“I know.” Emma said.

“See you tomorrow morning then?” Zoe asked.

“See you tomorrow morning!” Emma said and turned to head back home.

It was a strange feeling watching her leave. Zoe had planned this for a while now, gathering money and supplies, researching everything she needed to know. She knew it was coming, but saying goodbye made it seem so final. So real.

She was going to be leaving the safety of town for the first time in years. Leaving the people she’d grown to care about. And it was finally hitting her what that really meant.

Zoe was excited for the trip, eager to see what the world had to offer. But bemoaned the lack of high speed transport, of long distance communication as she walked back to Joe’s inn and upstairs to the room she’d been renting from him.

She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath as she prepared to see what the system had to offer for her next class.