We arrived back in the main village sometime after Brett had already returned. People were already expecting us, as the scout made sure to give a warning to anyone who might see us arriving. He was already talking to the chieftain, and we were supposed to follow along as soon as we arrived. We were getting very used to going to Rex's old childhood home, and it took us just a couple minutes to cross the village from the entrance to the middle.
When we arrived, Brett and Ash were talking over the model of not just the village, but the nest and the surrounding area.
"You came," Ash smiled as Rex arrived. "Many Eaters?"
"No, Father. Just one. Already dead." Rex answered.
"Good, good." Ash turned back to Brett to continue his explanation. He was now talking about the Patrolling Eater that we saw and the route the creature took when it left the nest. He talked about the entire path that particular Eater took and even some of the behaviors it had when it was moving: things like how many tentacles it spread out and the rhythm of their legs. Most of what he was saying was work that I didn't even realize was happening, but it seemed the scout was truly good at what he did.
After Brett finished speaking, Ash just gave an order and pointed to the door. The scout quickly left, giving us a nod beforehand. We stayed there as Rex didn't seem to have any intention of moving away. After a couple of moments, when Brett was far enough away, Ash let out a sigh and looked at us.
"Need to speed up attack. Not enough Rodenti. My brother still needs few days. But no other choice. If Nest complete, strong Eaters will come. Too risky leave alone."
"So, we fight without Uncle?" Rex asked.
"Seems like. Uncle comes back in week. Good chance Tier 3 Eater around then. Better without it. Already sent message. Rodenti from other villages coming today. Tomorrow we leave." Ash paused. "Later we will have dinner to talk plan."
"Are they going to get here in time to leave in the morning? We need to wait until midday or something for everybody to have a proper night's rest. It wouldn't be worth it to push them too hard and force them to fight while tired," I said.
Ash gave me a look. "True. Lunch. Then rest. We prepare in the morning and attack. It will take two hours for Army to reach nest, so we have short time before night. But still better than waiting another day."
Rex nodded and raised his chin a bit. "What father need?"
"From you? Nothing. Rex did job well. When Rodenti from Brother Village arrive, you join dinner. Now, need plan." Ash replied.
"But Rex wants help."
"To Rex help," Ash pointed to Rex's rock stump. "Make better foot. Have seen reports. Rex great help. But slow. Needs be carried. If Rex wants help, fix before attack."
Rex glanced at his missing foot with a sad expression. While he never said much about it, we could tell that he was very upset about losing a foot and the fact that {Body Regeneration} wasn't enough to regrow a limb.
Then again, the limb itself wasn't really a problem, the bones were. We had even asked him if there was a way to make the muscle and the skin grow around a piece of rock, but according to the System, that wouldn't work. The skill would recognize the rock as a foreign material and would reject it. This rejection would cause the limb to either hurt like hell until the rock was removed or just completely fall off and return to where it was.
It was possible that when {Body Regeneration} reached Tier 3, it would be able to regrow everything, but it wasn't something that we would be sure would happen until one of us reached Tier 3. And who knows how long that was going to take. Still, carrying our new order, if we could call it that, we all left Ash's house, leaving the Rodenti Chieftain to his planning.
Ash stayed in the war room. The place where a model of the area was located and various stone sculptures were spread all around them. Some were Eater, while others the people from his army. Most of the miniatures that were supposed to represent the various groups of Rodenti that were going to participate in the attack were now missing. A large part of them had yet to arrive.
Now, he had to come up with a plan that was going to work with just this smaller number of warriors. Then again, this was a problem that he himself ended up creating. About half of those that were missing were actually people that had already arrived, and instead of staying around, Ash asked them to go look for other groups that were supposedly coming to help. It was a last-ditch effort, and they had strict orders to return in a week if they could not find the other group. However, that week ended up being too generous of a deadline.
We returned to Rex's House, and our Rodenti companion shut himself in his bedroom. We tried to talk to him, but he was clearly upset, and it was hard not to understand him. His father just told him that the one thing he could do was likely the one thing he wasn't able to. Still, we did our best to try to help by being supportive and trying to lure him out of the bedroom. When that failed, we just turned back to make our own preparations for the fight.
Michael grabbed everybody's weapons to give them a once-over and see if there were any upgrades he could make. While Astrid took the leather from the Rampaging Koala in order to make some leather armor for us. Riley was the one focusing on something more offensive and preparing as many spells as they could. Riley inscribed each spell on a small stone that they could toss and activate from a distance. They were already filled with Energy so Riley could pass those along to others, giving everybody an extra way to attack.
Not having anything else to do, I just focused on trying to make some food. It was the best way for me to contribute, especially since there wasn't much planning I could make. This was all part of what Ash was already doing. If I tried to jump in with my own ideas, it would only cause more problems. Still, I did my best to make something that could at least be tasty. I kept thinking about the meals that Pops used to make that just warmed my soul.
I decided to go for some French fries and a hamburger with lettuce, tomatoes, and of course, bread. Honest to God, bread. I have no idea how the Rodenti managed to figure out the recipe. To this day, I found that baking bread was more of a witchcraft than what Riley could do. Even then, they had been able to replicate not just regular salt bread, but even a burger bun.
This was the kind of treat that would only happen back in the Hidden Horn Village on very rare occasions. Like when it was someone's birthday, and on the day they turned 18. Usually there was only a small amount of bread made, but there were some occasions where the weather was particularly good for that, and the entire village could have some. Not so much because of the meat, but because of the bread, as it required a lot of heat and an actual oven to make it work.
Yet, here I was in a place that didn't care in the slightest about the possibility that using an oven could attract Eaters. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if people hoped that was going to be the case. If an Eater did show up near the village, it was just an excuse for them to gather more particles. Not to mention that since we were underground, maybe it wouldn't even matter, anyway.
Either way, I focused on making the best burger possible, using a sauce that included some tomato, eggs, and more oil. I remembered how I had seen a cooking book of the old world that mentioned that eggs and oil were used to make mayonnaise, which was supposed to be this incredible sauce that could fit almost everything. My own special ingredient was a little bit of Eaters Blood in the sauce. I had realized that while it absolutely sucked to be used as the main part of a dish, it could give an interesting kick when just mixed with a topping. A sauce sounded like very much the type of thing that would be good for that.
The entire time that I was cooking, only one thought was crossing my mind aside from the cooking itself. I wanted to make something that would make everybody happy and help them relax. As weird as that sounded, I really felt like this was something we had to do right now. It had been just a single day since we fought the Guardian Eater, and now we were about to fight the entire nest. Even if everybody was saying that they were fine and ready to fight, it was hard. We didn't have time to rest properly.
As soon as I finished it, I was wildly surprised by the System's message.
[User has created a dish with the following effect.]
[Anyone consuming this dish will have any feelings that are prejudicial to their physical or mental state lessened. In addition, those who consume this meal will relax more easily, as their bodies will naturally relieve some of their tension. This effect will last for 2 hours.]
The surprise wasn't simply because I made a dish that made people relax, but because dishes like this were possible. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that a dish or just a meal that I made could have some effect that interacted with somebody's mental state. That felt very advanced and even somewhat worrying.
I mean, if I was able to make someone more relaxed with a meal, what was the limit of this ability? Would I be able to make someone angry or more stressed? Could I make someone feel like they were falling in love? Would I be able to make someone feel something that was more abstract like betrayal or envy?
I hoped not, but thinking about things in a more logical sense, emotions were nothing more than chemical interactions in one's brain. If I got good enough at controlling those reactions, maybe I would be able to essentially mind control people. That thought was horrifying. Especially considering how easy it would be for someone to get a class related to cooking.
'Hey, Sys, Can you clarify a couple of things for me?'
[System needs to know what clarification user required before confirming if such clarification is possible.]
I rolled my eyes and explained to the System my fear. Once I was done, there was a pause that lasted a bit longer than I would have liked, but eventually, the System came with an answer.
[Users fears are understandable. However, the likelihood of something as what user mentioned to happen is minimal. The nuance required for user to properly replicate the chemical interactions that result in one's emotion is far beyond users current capability. Even System, together with the use of all particles available to Tier 2, would find little to no success in replicating the effects of specific emotions.]
'But aren't you already doing that with this dish?'
[That is incorrect. System is not controlling or interacting directly with an emotion. System is, instead, recognizing the danger of certain signals being sent to user's brain and reducing their intensity. Said signals are not being created, only filtered so users would be less affected by them. On that same vein, System would not be able to create the feeling of envy or love, but instead just increase or decrease its intensity.]
'I know you're trying to assure me, but that's not great either. If you can actively make someone feel more in love, it's kind of like you're controlling their mind.'
[System would like to add that as it is stated on the dish description, this effect is only temporary. Once the effect is over, the emotion will return unless something is done to stop that from happening.]
'What do you mean by that?'
[For instance, if user is worried about a specific conversation and said conversation is had during the effect of the dish, once the effect is over, user will no longer have to worry about the conversation.]
'Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I thought you were talking about some skill or something that could remove the emotion from me.'
[System is unaware if such a skill is capable of existing. However, if user wishes, System could create a quest in order to attempt to acquire it.]
'No, no. I'm trying to stop that from happening. Anyway, thanks.' I let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the burgers before taking them all back to the living room where the rest of the group was.
To my surprise, even Rex was there, sitting on the table with a large smile and something in front of him.
"Are you okay, Rex?" I asked while placing the food on the table for everyone to get some.
"Yes. Yes. Much better." Rex gestured to the piece of rock that was in front of him. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. But it was a stone foot. A very well-made one that even had small toes and claws. Including joints and each was able to move, apparently. "Did you make this?"
Rex nodded. "Yes, yes. Use same skill to make pet rat. Need Test properly. But now, Rex can run."