Chapter 35: I made various cookies

After I left Alyssa's store, I headed to Ruin's store where I bought my robe. I want to buy equipment for myself and Rick.

"Hey, what are you looking for?"

"Actually, I tamed a squirrel. Do you have any equipment for the squirrel?　I want something to protect him."

"Squirrel protections... How about this?"

"A bandana?"

Name: Crimson Bandana

Rarity: 1 Quality: ★8 Durability: 100

Effect: Defense +4, Paralysis resistance

Weight: 1

Name: Jade Bandana

Rarity: 1 Quality: ★8 Durability: 100

Effect: +4 defense, poison resistance

Weight: 1

"Yeah, you can put this around a squirrel's neck."

I like how light it is. It won't affect Rick's agility.

"Very nice. How much are they?"

"Three thousand G each."

"I'll take the red one.

This one looks better on Rick. Besides, I think a scarf should be red.

"Thanks.

"And may I see your staves?"

"Oh?　You finally want to use a real staff?"

"Yes, I've decided to fight with mainly water magic."

Yes, I've been refraining from acquiring sword and spear skills until now. Since Sakura can now take care of the vanguard role, I decided to buy a better staff.

"How much is your budget?"

"Hmm. I want to keep 10,000g in my hand..... It's around 10,000-14,000 G."

"Then this, this, and this."

Name: Water Tree Staff

Rarity: 3?????Quality: ★6 Durability: 130

Effect: Attack +3, Magic +21, Water-based magic consumption reduction (small), Fire-based magic consumption increase (medium)

Weight: 1

Name: Water Ore Staff

Rarity: 3?????Quality: ★6 Durability: 200

Effect: Attack +13, Magic +17, Water-based magic power increased (minor), Fire-based magic power decreased (medium)

Weight: 4

Name: Magic Oak Staff

Rarity: 2?????Quality: ★8 Durability: 230

Effect: +10 attack power, +16 magic power, MP recovery increases (minor)

Weight: 3

They're all good. A water tree staff specializing in magic and a water ore staff can be used for physical attacks.

The magic oak staff is not as strong as the others, but it's more durable. Thanks to the increased MP recovery, it's good for a long battle.

By the way, the water tree staff is 12000 G, the water ore staff is 11000 G, and the magic oak staff is 8800 G.

"Then, I'll take the water tree staff."

"Okay. It's 12000 G"

I've spent some money unexpectedly, but my battle power has increased. Now it's time to have some fun experimenting with the new ingredients!

I go back to my farm and check the recipes for mixing and cooking.

There are some new recipes unlocked because I got new ingredients. One of the recipes uses green peaches that I just harvested. I've harvested four of them, so I can try it several times.

I will try out these unlocked recipes. It uses honey, fruit, and water. This reminds me of that Honey carrot juice. It is a vegetable, but maybe I can make something similar.

Let's give it a try.

I put the sliced peaches, purified water, and honey into the mixing bowl and stirred it. A few seconds later, the item is ready.

Name: Honey Peach Juice

Rarity: 2 Quality ★3

Effect: Restores 32% of fullness.

I knew it. Just as I expected. Now, let's do a little extra work here.

I'll peel the green peaches. Actually, there was some kind of sediment in the juice earlier. I'll also boil the purified water. There's no way to modify the honey, so this is the best I can do for now.

Name: Honey Peach Juice

Rarity: 2 Quality: ★5

Effect: Restores 24% fullness, strength +1 for 1 hour

Wha, what?　The fullness recovery rate decreased, but the buff effect was added. Eh?　Isn't this amazing?　You can get buffs from food, too. This is my first time seeing such a thing. It's a delicious meal with a buff effect, you know?

It seems that there are still a lot of people who fill their stomachs with portable food. I have not made any progress in adventuring, but my food situation seems to be pretty satisfying.

I'll try another recipe. This time, I'm going to use green acorns to make portable food.

It shines and smells delicious. This one turned out well, too. Plus, it's an easy recipe. Just mix edible grass with green acorns. Next time, I'll try walnuts.

The finished portable food looks similar, only with a 5% better recovery rate. Well, the important thing is the taste. Let's taste them...

I try the juice and the cookie.

"Yummy!　It's really delicious!"

The acorn cookie tastes like a real calorie bar. They're crispy and not very sweet, but they're more delicious than the regular portable foods that have been around since the beginning.

But the walnuts ones are better. It's sweeter and less crunchy. Walnuts seem to be a little rarer, so I guess that's the reason.

The juice is undeniably sweet. Different from portable food. You can make 5 pieces of portable food with single ingredients. But with this recipe, you can only make one piece using multiple ingredients. Still, once you know this taste, you can't eat the portable food anymore.

"Oh yeah, maybe I can mix this with honey?"

I could remove nuts' shells, and there is still some room for creativity. No, wait.　I once heard that in real life, acorns are soaked in water to remove the lye.

Hmmm. But it takes time, doesn't it...? For now, I'll just remove the shells and crush them. I put honey, edible grasses, and shelled and crushed green acorns in a mixing bowl and mixed it up. Next, I will try the same thing with walnuts.

I made two kinds of cookies. They are honey acorn cookies and honey walnut cookies. The recovery rate is the same, but the important thing is the taste.

Moreover, I created some original recipes!　The recipes are now registered on the "original" page, not on the ordinary recipe page. I'm starting to get motivated. I'm going to make more improvements and create more original recipes.

I tasted what I had just made. I'm already 100% full, but I don't care.

"Oh my God, it's so delicious."

The sweetness is perfect. It's really delicious.

"Any other ideas?　Maybe something I can mix into juice or cookies?"

That's right, how about medicinal herbs?　The taste isn't important, but it might have HP recovery effects.

Gori gori--boom!

Whoa!　Failed?　It exploded and black smoke is rising from it. The result was garbage. I'm not sure if it's because my skills are low or if it's just impossible...

What if I use both walnuts and acorns instead of something else?　It's like a mixed nut. I'll try to make cookies with green acorns, walnuts and honey.

Name: Honey Nut Cookies

Rarity: 2 Quality: ★3

Effect: Restores 27% fullness, prevents fullness decrease for 1 hour.

Yay! Success. Also, no fullness decrease in one hour is a pretty good effect. It'll be easier to control fullness.

Is there any other leftover material that I can use?　No, wait. There's something I can mix. The wild strawberries. I put some of it in my honey nut cookies mix.

Name: Honey Nut Cookie and Herb Mix

Rarity: 2 Quality: ★3

Effect: Restores 27% fullness, prevents fullness decrease for 1 hour.

Nothing's changed except for the name. For now, let's eat the honey nut cookie and compare it with the acorn cookie.

"It looks very similar to an acorn cookie, but..."

But when I tasted it, it was freaking delicious!　The taste is totally different. The ingredients cost a lot, but this is definitely better. The acorn cookies that I had thought so delicious earlier were no longer satisfying. This is not good, and and my taste bud is getting more and more picky.

The herb mix is already like a commercial cookie. It tasted like sweet and sour fruit mixed together. It's my favorite flavor. I don't care if it doesn't give me any profit!　From now on, I'll plant more wild strawberries.

Since it tastes so good, maybe Orto and the others will eat it too. I gave the juice to Orto as a trial.

"Mumumumu--!"

Hustle hustle, just like when he drank juice before. I can see clearly that his work speed has increased dramatically. Maybe I should give him this more often, so he can work faster.

I tried to give it to Sakura, but she refused to accept it.

"――――?"

Apparently, thanks to her photosynthesis skill, she doesn't need to eat. It's convenient, but it also means that food boosts like Orto won't work.

How about Rick?　I don't know if he drinks juice.

"Kyu? Kyukyu!"

As I suspected, he doesn't accept the juice. But, he started eating walnut cookies. I see. So you prefer that one.

I guess each species has its own favorite food. And when they eat what they like, they will work harder.

"Then, I think I'll grow more plants. I need them to feed my monsters."

There will be more monsters in the future, and I have to provide food for them. I gave the green peaches, walnuts, and green acorns to Orto, then logged out.