Liquid gold

Kit decided they should get well away from the white bear in case it woke up and decided to slaughter them for taking the flowers. He asked Snowball to lead them back to the orchard of moon fruits. Kit wanted to collect some more of the fruits and suspected he would need more of them than any of the other ingredients to make the moon juice magic.

Kit relayed his idea to Mars.

"You have more of an idea about these things than me. I'll just follow your lead. Are you going to start trying to create the juice now?"

"I think I should. I don't want to leave without trying to make the recipe in case I need something else from this area. I'm worried if we leave without making the juice, we won't be able to return."

"Ok, you start making the juice and I'll continue to collect the ingredients we have identified so far."

Mars wandered off into the orchard with Snowball. Kit took out the camping kitchen. He didn't want to make a large amount of the juice in the barrel until he had it right. Kit took out a large jug he then realised he didn't have a blender. Kit groaned at the thought of the effort of having to mash the fruit with a mortar and pestle.

He took a bunch of the moon fruit from his pouch and started to peel the skin away. The inside was a white translucent pulp surrounding a brown seed. It was covered in a sticky fluid. Kit squeezed it between his fingers, it seemed like it was similar to a grape. It flattened out then bounced back into shape when he let it go.

He placed five of the peeled moon fruits into the mortar and pestle and started to puree them by hand.

Ding!

[Skill learnt: Crude puree]

Player smashed the food to into liquid. Cavemen have the same skill.

Agility + 4

Intelligence + 3

Kit laughed at the description of the skill. He knew that it wouldn't be great. He was in a rush and didn't care about using a touch of finesse. He could improve the skill later when he had more time. Once he was happy with the consistency of the puree, he poured it into the jug and repeated the process until he had two handfuls of the fruit inside. He then added a cup of water.

Kit took out a moon fairy flower and crushed it into a paste. He then added it to the drink. Next, he removed one of the black flowers from his pouch. He hadn't examined the black flower yet. Kit used identify.

[Blessed night velvet]

A black velvety flower shaped like a cone. Inside the closed flower contains the precious blessed night velvet seeds.

Kit laughed when he saw the name of the plant. They had been right, the name confirmed his suspicions. He thought about what Curt had told him. 'The moon berry fairies blessed the moon fruit to add the magic to the drink'.

The key parts to Curt's information were moon berry, fairy and blessed. Curt really had given him all the information he had needed. Kit felt the velvety texture of the flower in his hands. He dug his thumb nail into the seam of the flower and dragged his thumb downwards splitting the large flower open.

Inside were small black seeds connected by thin white stems. Kit pulled one of the seeds out and crushed it. He then placed the paste into the jug. He started to mix the drink with a spoon. He stared at the drink with anticipation. He couldn't wait to see the blue sheen.

Kit stirred the drink for one minute before he gave up. There was not even a tiny spark of blue in the drink. Kit took a sip to see what it tasted like. He immediately spat the drink out as soon as it touched his tongue. Kit thought the drink would be sweet. What he had made was too bitter to even swallow.

Kit was disappointed at this first attempt. He blamed himself for not considering tasting the ingredients first. He wouldn't even be close to the right ratios for the drink if he didn't taste what he was putting into the drink. Kit scolded himself for a rookie mistake.

Kit first popped a black seed into his mouth and bit down. He promptly spat the offending seed onto the ground. 'Well at least I know where the bitterness comes from now. I don't know if I will be able to taste anything after that.'

Kit rinsed his mouth out with water. He then tasted the moon fairy flower. The flower tasted like mint, the clean fresh taste cleared out the remaining bitterness in his mouth. Kit was happy with the flavour of the flower. Next, he tried the moon fruit. He placed the grape like fruit into his mouth and bit down. A sweet strawberry like flavour burst into his mouth. It was sweet with a slightly floral taste.

'Right, so the seed is the problem. One seed would probably be enough for a whole barrel.'

Kit tried his next experiment on this premise. He continued to strive to get the recipe right for three hours. Kit finally had to stop to go to the toilet from all the juice he had sipped. When he returned to the camping kitchen, he could see the light starting to spill over the trees from the rising sun.

Mars returned to his side to hand over the ingredients he had collected. He had done this periodically as his bag filled. Kit had a very healthy collection of ingredients now.

"Finished it yet?"

"No!" Kit was becoming dejected from all his attempts. It was clear in his voice from just his one word reply. Mars gave him a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry Kit, you'll get it soon. I'll head out again, so I don't distract you."

This conversation had been repeated numerous times. Kit shook his head, he was getting tired and his determination to create was waning. He decided to have one more try before calling it a day. They would need to log out at some point today and they still had some things to discuss before that happened.

Kit decided to pull out the juice barrel. He was sure he almost had the formula right now. If he didn't get it this time he would give up for today. Kit blew out a breath between his cheeks and started to add the ingredients inside the barrel.

Kit closed the lid and crossed his fingers, madly hoping for success. He waited for the hum from the barrel to stop, then placed a cup under the tap of the barrel and poured a small amount in. The liquid was a clear white colour, at the top of the liquid was a white foam. Kit took a sip of the juice. Kit felt a tingle down his throat as he swallowed the juice.

Kits heart started to thump. This was the first time he had noticed a difference drinking the juice. Shortly after swallowing the liquid Kit had a robust feeling. Kit excitement exploded.

Ding!

[Moon juice magic created]

Quality level: Poor

Quality bonus: funky taste, leaves an unpleasant after taste after consumption.

A drink to quench the thirst on a hot summer's day. The sweet flavour burst adds vitality using the magic of the moon.

+ 5,000 health

For three days.

[Restricted: chef Level 75 to unlock for sale]

Reward: 20,000 EXP, 10,000 culinary EXP, 1 gold crown, 1000 culinary points.

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 7 Chef]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 8 Chef]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 9 Chef]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 10 Chef]

Kit dropped the cup when he saw the notification. His mind froze. Kit stood still for a whole minute before his brain processed what he had done. Joy erupted, he laughed, he couldn't contain his excitement. His whole body felt like tiny fireworks were going off inside.

He started to jump around laughing the whole time. Mars heard the commotion and came over to investigate. He saw Kit's behaviour and started to chuckle.

"Made the drink finally, I take it."

"YES. MARS. IT. HAS. GREAT. STATS. Quick, have a cup!"

Kit filled a cup for Mars and shoved it towards him. A little of the juice sloshed out of the cup from Kit's eagerness to hand it to him. Mars took a long drink from the cup. He had a blank look on his face after downing the drink.

Kit could tell he was looking at his stats to see what the drink did. When life returned to Mars eyes they crinkled from his smile.

"Wow, this was worth all the trouble to make. This will be great for us to drink while we adventure. How on earth are the stats so good though? The after taste is a little …"

"Maybe the stats are good because this is a travelling realm. The after taste… well I'm not sure what went wrong there." Kit pondered about the funky taste, he would have to improve it somehow.

"The drink is great. The only problem is, I don't know if we can get access to this place again. I will have to ask the moon sphynx."

Mars just nodded in agreement. After Kit had calmed down, he thought about all the things inside the tropical paradise. He wondered if he could use anything else inside. He wouldn't mind trying to find some more beautiful slumber flowers. He thought they might come in handy in the forsaken state, he told Mars his thoughts.

Kit filled glass bottles with the moon juice magic as he discussed plans with Mars.

"Did you pick up some of those crystal shards from the black flower field Kit."

"Yes, I thought they might be valuable. I couldn't identify them though."

"I think the white bear is a spiritual beast. So, the shards should be worth quite a bit. You should try crushing the shards and putting them in your meals. Spiritual beast materials might be able to make stats meals you could only dream about. Worth a try, right?"

Kit looked at the juice barrel. "Couldn't hurt to try it once. I collected quite a few of the crystals."

Kit finished pouring the juice into glass bottles and prepared another batch of moon juice magic. He crushed a shard of the crystal with the mortar and pestle then sprinkled it into the mix. He placed the lid on the juice barrel and waited for it to stop.

Kit held his breath as he placed a cup under the tap. Instead of the clear white fluid that came out in the last batch, this fluid had a golden glow inside. Kits eyes rounded at the liquid. His hand started to shake.

Ding!

[Spiritual Moon juice magic]

Quality level: Poor

Quality bonus: Foul nightmare, due to the low level of the creator the juice is unfit for human consumption. Induces vomiting upon ingestion.

+ 20,000 health

+ 2,000 intelligence

+ 1,000 defence

Immune to all poisons

For 5 days.

[Restricted: chef level 200 to unlock for sale]

Reward: 100,000 EXP, 75,000 culinary EXP, 50 gold, 10,000 culinary points.

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 17]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 18]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 11 Chef]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you are now Level 12 Chef] …

Kit's chef level kept rising until he reached chef level 17. Kit almost choked on his own spit when he read through all the notifications. He stared blankly at Mars.

"Kit, you ok? What happened?"

Kit couldn't get his brain to function to form a reply. He turned his gaze back to the cup. Kit really felt like his brain had gone offline right now, totally scrambled. He pinched his leg. Then turned a blank gaze to Mars. A worried look started to appear on Mars face.

"Did something happen to you in the process? Did it backfire somehow?"

Kit could not answer him he was having difficulty moving his thoughts away from the drink. He could only stare and blink.

"Kit, answer me! Are you ok?"

Mars was starting to panic at the lack of response from Kit. Mars walked up to Kit and slapped him hard on the cheek.

Kits head jolted to the side from the force of the slap. Tears started to pool in his eyes. Kit was unsure if it was from pain or happiness.

"Shit, sorry Kit I didn't mean to slap you that hard."

The slap jolted Kit enough to meet Mars eyes. He blinked and fought hard to form words.

"Mars I think I'm in a little bit of shock right now. I feel a bit numb."

Mars started to panic thinking something terrible had happened to Kit.

"Right, shock! Right, what do I do? Ok, sugar, we need a sugar drink."

Mars stared at the cup in Kits hand.

"Drink the cup of juice it should have sugar in it."

"NO, THIS IS TOO VALUABLE TO DRINK! WE CAN ONLY STARE AT SOMETHING THIS AMAZING!"

Mars finally realised what Kit was holding. Mars eyes turned to the golden liquid.

"Kit, what's in the cup?"

"LIQUID GOLD!"

Kit couldn't control the volume of his voice. His brain was starting to come back online. Kit suddenly let out a squeal. He started to laugh hysterically. The tears that had pooled in his eyes started to flow down his cheeks.

The fireworks inside his body that he had felt earlier went off like a volcano erupting. Kit felt like he was going to pass out with happiness. His stomach started to hurt from laughing so hard, but he couldn't stop.

Mars walked up to him and slapped his other cheek. Kit head jolted to the side once again. Kit felt himself calm down enough to get himself under control after the slap.

"Thanks Mars, I needed that."

"What the hell did you make?"

"You were right Mars, spiritual beast ingredients are amazing."

Kit shared the information with Mars. He wasn't going to let him waste the liquid gold by trying some. They would be logging out soon and it would be a waste. Kit watched Mars for his reaction.

Mars blinked, "That really is liquid gold."

Mars had a stunned look on his face. Kit laughed at Mars reaction. He was not even upset about Mars lack of praise for him making such a wonderful drink.

"I can't even drink this little bit. I don't want to waste it."

Kit took one bottle out of his inventory. He was nearing the end of the glass bottles he had bought. He filled it up and gave it to Mars. Mars stared at the glass bottle with fascination plain on his face.

Kit giggled at the sight. He then filled up a bottle for himself and another to sell. He left the rest in the barrel. Kit was still bubbling with joy, he wanted to savour this feeling, but the day was slowly ticking away.

Mars must have felt the same, he jogged Kit out of his happy daze with his next words.

"Kit this is our last day before we must log out. What do you want to do?"

"I need to buy some more things at the market. I want us to be ready to head to the forsaken state as soon as we log back in. So, I guess it's a shopping day."

"I agree. Then do you need anything else before we go. I know you wanted to look for some beautiful slumber flowers, but we could waste all day looking and not find any."

"I know. Let's go find the moon sphynx and give him some Moon juice magic. Then we can go."

"Snowball, can you take us back to the entrance."

Snowball had been lying down watching the two prior to Kit's request. He lifted his head and gave a small yip. Kit thought the poor little guy looked exhausted. He stood up and started walking in a confident manner, wiggling his body.

They soon arrived at the entrance of the cave, the moon sphynx was waiting.

"Did you make the juice?"

"Yes, would you like some."

If cats could raise their eyebrows. Kit was sure the cat would be doing that right now. He internally chuckled, he wasn't silly enough to do it out loud in front of a creature that could produce an inhumane amount of pressure to make him feel immobile.

"Please."

Kit removed the bowl he used for Pint and filled it up with the Moon juice magic for the sphynx. The cat daintily lapped the juice.

"It's a little off in the taste, though it is the correct formula. Thank you, you can enter the cave in three months' time once again. Too bad you didn't make the other juice, or I would have made a contract with you to be my new master."

"The other juice?" Kit was curious to know if the 'other juice' was the Spiritual moon juice magic.

"Yes, there is a special juice that can be made inside this pocket realm."

"So, if I made the Spiritual moon juice magic, I would get access to this realm whenever I wanted?"

"Yes, as long as you owned land yourself, I can attach the pocket realm to it. That is provided you make the Spiritual moon juice magic. Wait, what did you just say?"

The little moon sphynx froze. It then slowly widened its sapphire eyes. Kit's grin spread wide across his face. He was going to be the owner of his own pocket realm!

"Show me."

The moon sphynx sounded angry, Kit could clearly hear the demand to produce his creation without delay in the cat's tone. Kit felt no pressure coming off the cat. He wasn't worried about it lashing out due to its anger. Kit thought if he didn't produce the drink then it might be another story.

Kit took out a bottle of the spiritual moon juice magic. The golden liquid swirled in the bottle, little golden flecks shimmering under the sun's rays. The moon sphynx let out a soft purr at the sight.

"Can we sign a contract now?" Kit couldn't hold back the question.

"Yes."

A parchment magically appeared in front of Kit. He read over the contents. Once he owned a piece of land, he could access this realm whenever he liked. The moon sphynx had captured the White moon travelling pocket realm and is the owner. He would grant Kit access to the realm in return for Spiritual moon juice magic.

Kit signed the document. Golden threads wove around Kit's wrist and the moon sphynx. It pulsed then disappeared.

"How long will one bottle last you for?"

The cat eyed the bottle with greedy eyes.

"One year."

Kit placed the bottle on the ground the sphynx walked over to it and the glass bottle disappeared. Kit was very happy with the exchange.

"Will you automatically know if I buy land or do I have to come and find you."

"I will automatically bring the realm over when you buy land. The contract will let me know when that happens."

Magic really was useful. Kit didn't want to log out today he wanted to stay in longer. This was the happiest he had been in such a long time. He owned his own small realm!

"Master the Hoarder of precious things wants me to ask you why you haven't accepted his heart stone."

"The what?"

The moon sphynx sighed and looked at Snowball. "Are you sure you want him to have it? He doesn't even know what you are."

Snowball responded with a firm yip.

"When you first met Snowball, he gave you a red stone that was warm to the touch. That is his heart stone. If you accept it, he will be bound to you. He will be able to find you no matter where you are in this world."

Kit was shocked at this news. He would have sold Snowball's heart stone if they hadn't come here. Who knew where the little guy could have ended up. Kit took the warm stone from his pouch. He looked closely at the red stone. Inside amongst the glittering white flecks he could see a small pulsing red dot.

Kit's heart started to pound in time with the little dot. Finally, he was going to get Snowball as his permanent companion! Kit felt like he was going to burst. A large smile spread across his face. He switched his gaze to the little fluffball. Snowball's whole body was wiggling in excitement.

"What do I have to do?"

"Accept it."

Kit frowned, he knew that. He was unsure how to accept though. Kit tried the simplest option.

"I accept Snowball as my companion."