Horned Rabbit Steak.

Ariel was cutting down trees in single strikes. It was shocking. Aric looked at her with a wide mouth. How strong was she exactly?

Before ten minutes, she had dropped close to fifty trees and had cleared a lot of space around the area. Aric saw that it was enough for what he wanted, so he ran to her.

"Ariel, that's enough, that's enough," he cried out to her. She turned to look at him with a confused look.

"But I just started," she said.

"I know, but you have already provided us with more than enough wood for what we would be building," Aric said.

She glanced at the axe in her hand like she was not ready to let go of it, but after a few minutes of thought, she finally did and stopped cutting.

"You are quite strong, Ariel. I wouldn't have been able to cut that amount of wood so fast," Aric said.

She let out a bright smile, seemingly happy with what he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

"Alright, let's finish off the building. If you aren't tired, I could use your help in getting some things done," Aric said. She eagerly nodded and followed him back to the building.

With her help, Aric began to cut the wood faster, and he started making the wall at an unbelievable pace.

Ariel watched him for an hour, and she got the hang of what he was doing. She could read the blueprint and also how to use all the tools. She took over from Aric before he knew it, and the building started coming up faster than he was able to make it.

Aric was shocked to see this. He felt a little depressed that she learned it so fast and was now the one doing everything, but he was also happy because, from the looks of things, they would be finishing the building soon.

She worked without breaks, but Aric felt that was bad, so he decided to get her something to eat. His fish had bitten on the lines again, so he decided to get something from the system benefits to make a quick meal.

He quickly checked his stats to see how much he had left in gold.

[Status Screen]

[Host: Aric]

[Race: Half-Elf (Human-Elf Hybrid)]

[Age: 17]

[Title: Exile]

[Class: None]

[Level: 5]

[Exp: 50/500]

[Health: 100/100]

[Stamina: 50/50]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Gold: 11,965]

[Attributes]

Strength: 11

Agility: 11

Endurance: 11

Intelligence: 15

Charisma: 10

Luck: 5

Free stat points: 6.

He still had over ten thousand, so it was not an issue. He decided that he would spoil Ariel a bit for her hard work. He decided to make something that would cost a thousand gold.

He thought of what to make. He wanted to get the general idea before he started searching the system for more information.

After some thought, he decided to try steak. He had the craving for it as well, so why not do it?

"System, show me your steak recipes," Aric asked.

The system made a huge list for him to see. Aric kept going through them one by one until he came to one that had the recipe and the ingredients costing a cumulative of 900 gold, so he went for that.

There was only one issue, though—it was called horned rabbit steak. Aric was sure that there was no horned rabbit on Earth, so that meant this steak recipe was not from Earth—maybe this world.

But that didn't bother him, though. If the system had it, then it was probably good for cooking and would taste good. With that mindset in place, he bought the recipe. The recipe alone had cost 300 gold, and now the ingredients would cost 500.

He opened the recipe and saw what he needed: a two-year-old horned rabbit, extra virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt flakes, black pepper, unsalted butter, garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme, and aged balsamic vinegar.

He immediately bought everything that he needed to get started, and he started cooking. First, he took out the cut-up rabbit meat and placed it in a bowl. He seasoned it with salt and dry pepper, then allowed it to sit for some minutes.

He placed the pan on the fire that he made and put some extra virgin olive oil inside. When the oil was hot, he placed two pieces of the steak into the pan to allow them to sear. He let each side cook until they were golden brown.

After that, he tried to lower the heat and then added his butter to the mix, along with his herbs. He took a spoon, and every few minutes, he would fetch the oil from the pan and pour it over the steak. He continued for two minutes.

He allowed the steaks to rest in the pan for five more minutes and then drizzled his vinegar on them. By this time, the sweet scent of the meat had filled the air. Even Ariel, who was busy working, caught a whiff of it and stopped what she was doing.

She looked over at Aric with hungry eyes. Aric noticed that and let out a small chuckle.

"Why are you standing there? I made it for you, after all," he said.

When she heard that, she literally ran over. Aric served up the steak on a plate and handed it to her with a fork.

She used the fork, and the steak was so soft it cut with ease. The steam escaped beautifully out of it. She was about to take it into her mouth, but Aric stopped her.

"Wait, it's hot. Blow on it first."

"Okay," she responded and looked at the steak with eager eyes. She blew down on it and then ate it. Immediately, the steak entered her mouth, and her eyes widened. She began letting out sounds like a child.

She forgot about Aric and immediately started eating away. Aric smiled and then placed his own on the plate and started eating slowly. The beautiful taste made him reminisce about home. He savored every bite with a smile on his face.

Maybe this new life was not half bad, he thought as he ate.