If Life Gives You Apples, Make...?!

It was time I left the royal capital.

Although I hadn't exactly succeeded in my goal there - I still had no clue where the Adventurer's Guild was - my current objective would not be so easily achieved in such an environment.

I had one half of the equation: raw materials, in the form of the two apples. Hopefully, these counted as such, because they damn well should.

But now I needed the other half: heat. Acquiring that was made all the easier by the addition of my new-old spell, Ignition, but I had a sneaking suspicion that starting fires in the capital might be frowned upon, so I had no choice but to leave.

Leaving was a much easier process than entering, but the process was still slow, due to the sheer volume of bodies passing through. In time, however, I was dumped back onto the wide road, with the tangle of roads leading to the rest of the kingdom. From this perspective, I wasn't sure which road even led back to Troph...hopefully the signpost to end all signposts that stood at the center of the web could tell me, when the time came.

But, for now, my objective was not Troph, but rather the wilderness itself.

"Ah, right," I muttered to myself, taking a road that seemed to lead off into the distance near a forest. "The woods are evil, apparently. And I'm...a chef."

I definitely did not want my first taste of combat to be undertaken as a chef.

Regardless, my goal remained the same: I needed tinder, just enough to fulfill the requirements. I was not sure how specific the "heat" requirement was, but I figured starting uncontrolled fires in the wilderness was only slightly less dangerous than starting fires in the capital, so I'd still need a measure of safety.

That meant building a campfire, even if it wasn't a very good one.

I noticed that this road, one of the larger and more traveled of the bunch, ran incredibly close to the forest, yet none of the travelers seemed especially armed or cautious. Were only some of the woods dangerous? Perhaps, this close to civilization, there weren't any especially dangerous creatures living within.

Wishful thinking, to be sure, but I had little else to go on.

I stepped off the path, earning a curious glance from a few other travelers, and started toward the tree line. To say that I was nervous was an understatement - although the forest seemed at peace, I wasn't sure exactly how quick things could go south. For all I knew, this world had some sort of random encounter system, and I had just stepped into the tall grass.

"CHALLENGE OPPORTUNITY: BURN THE FOREST TO THE GROUND."

To think, if I screwed up, I might actually see what it was like to fulfill one of Zeta's challenges...

But really, no thanks.

"CHALLENGE FAILED."

I noticed some dry-enough-looking brush even before reaching the tree line, as well as a few sticks and bark. None of it was anything to write home about, and would not serve to make a campfire that lasted more than a few minutes, but perhaps that was all I needed. I switched my capital card from my apron to my pants pocket, which I thankfully still had, and used the apron to collect the debris, cleanliness be damned.

Eventually, after finding what I thought to be a suitable amount, I found a space a little ways off the road, but on the side opposite the forest, that seemed suitable for a fire. The ground was quite flat, and the grass not too high - it probably served as a camping spot for travelers who didn't want to pay the cost of staying in the capital, but still needed to travel the roadway.

With the road and its travelers in the distance, I began to build my campfire as best I could. I understood the basic principles - that the dry material was used as kindling to ignite the thicker sticks and bark, which would serve as the real substance of the fire - but having never done it before, it was as disorganized and amateurish as you'd expect.

At last, it was time. I sucked in some air to prepare to chant the spell, only to realize in the last moment that, once again, a chant was not necessary.

I reached out my hand to the kindling and extended my finger, imagining a small spark igniting the fire. Sure enough, a single ember floated out from my index finger and wafted toward the brush. When it settled within, a small stream of smoke began to rise from the campfire, signaling at least limited success.

"I wonder if that's all Ignition does..." I mused to myself, inspecting my finger. I had hoped to keep it as subdued as possible, since I lacked a 'vessel' now and didn't want to accidentally ignite my clothes, but was surprised when it actually worked as I intended. Perhaps if I had imagined something more extreme, it would change accordingly?

"Objective fulfilled: Cast a fire spell."

"...Why is it when the normal objectives come out, it weirds me out twice as hard?"

By now, the mediocre campfire had kicked into high gear - that is, the kindling had succeeded in starting the fire, for now.

As I opened the ability list, I noticed movement to my left, from the direction of the road...and the forest. The sun was beginning to set now, and the amount of travelers on the road dwindled, but did not disappear. Fearing something had crawled out from the woods, I went to reach for my knife, which would serve better than being barehanded, at the very least...

Only to find the curious gaze of a young demi-human staring back at me - or, more accurately, at the fire I had started.

"Uh...hi there," I called out to it, taking my hand from the handle of my knife. I didn't expect I had anything to fear from this one, which hopefully wouldn't turn out to be a mistake.

At first, the demi-human didn't seem to notice my words, instead staring, transfixed, at the fire. It was only then that I noticed this was not the first time I had seen her - she was the same girl who was begging for coins on the road leading to the capital.

A few silent moments passed before the girl seemed to snap out of her delirium, looking from the fire, to me, and then back to the fire. Perhaps she knew I was about to cook, and was hoping for a handout?

Seeing it as a potential for redemption from having nothing to give her earlier, I decided to proceed with my experiment. I had two apples, after all - if something substantial could be made of them, there'd be more than enough to share.

"Watch this!" I said dramatically, fishing the apples from my pocket. I decided to start with the whole apple, so that my first chance had the best odds of success. I held it aloft and imagined...what was I supposed to imagine with this kind of ability? What I wanted to make?

I imagined I was holding apple sauce in my hand...wait, I didn't have any sort of container or anything, this might be...

Nothing happened.

"Uh, wait, hold on a second..." I fumbled with my words and the apple both. The demi-human, meanwhile, couldn't care less about what I was saying, and focused intently on the apple itself, unsurprisingly.

My initial thought was that the requirements hadn't been met again, but Penta did not speak up, nor did the window appear. What gives?

"...Create basic meal!" I shouted after a moment.

The apple exploded into a puff of smoke.

The demi-human's face twisted into a look of despair, watching as the perfectly good food in front of her was, by all appearances, destroyed.

Meanwhile, I felt a sudden weight in my outstretched hand, before I could process what had happened. I felt it lose balance and begin to tip, so I plunged my other hand through the smoke to grab ahold of something...soft.

And hot.

The smoke cleared, and in place of the apple, I held an entire apple pie.

"Holy shit," I muttered.

"Amazing! How did you do that?! Is that real?!" the demi-human shouted excitedly, her tail furiously wagging from side to side.

I had a feeling this wasn't exactly...normal.

"Objective fulfilled: Create a meal. Objective fulfilled: Create a basic meal. Objective fulfilled: Use a class ability. Objective fulfilled: Use-"