Chapter 45: Fed
The short walk across to the Library was almost too much, and he was half-tempted to dig in to the slices of Zach before he even got inside. Key words almost and half, thankfully: This would probably be perfect with a side salad, and he did still have to whip up that 'midnight snack' for when Twilight got back. Two birds, one stone, and a trip to the kitchen later found him with a second helping of the salads he had made for himself and the Crusaders earlier, Twilight's tamale safely stowed away in the heat-holding container she had installed across from the fridge not long ago. It was almost a shame to start eating the beautiful red-and-gold creation on his plate... Again, key word almost.
Its flavor was just as complex and comforting as he had expected, and Spike quickly wolfed his entire serving down within a few minutes, dipping into the salad occasionally to counterbalance the earthy tones of the main dish and chasing both down with a spare glass of the Emerald Julep. A few citrines and a ruby at the end as a palate cleanser, and Spike felt fantastic. That, claws down, had been one of the best meals he could remember. And to make a sufficiently good dessert for the snack later... That meant heading back to the fridge.
> Dinner (wherever I didn't have lunch, I guess)
Reward: A good meal is its own reward
For the first time so far, that message wasn't followed up with a Satisfying Meal buff... Which made sense. He had already seen the recipe for the zacahuil, he hadn't made it himself, and there were no gems in it: Maybe if he learned the recipe later on down the line and adapted it he might get a bonus from this tamale, but not today. What he could do today was crack the seal on a container of clotted cream, pull the calyxes off a few dozen strawberries, and take a chopping knife to a nice dark block of chocolate to create a good bowl of shards and fragments... Yeah, that looked nice.
> Snacks (for Me and Twilight)
Reward: A good meal is its own reward
> "Food"
Reward: Dragon's Kitchen
"Sorry, Dragon's what-now?"
[Dragon's Kitchen] (Subskill) Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: Varies
The transfer of energy and sustenance is a huge part of Draconic culture in Equestria, and forms the basis for all of their relationships. The parents invest power in the child, the child returns power to the parents, the community grows in power through mutual competition, and so forth. All aspects of the Dragon culture revolve around power, and nowhere is this more evident than in this unique cuisine, pioneered by a particular whelp of particular parents... Fire in the belly, fire in the blood.
Your Cooking can now consistently produce buffs from food that is made with appropriate gems.
All buffs from this skill are automatically compiled into an index of effects (In a new menu).
Your gem-infused food can be safely served to allies even if they cannot digest gems normally.
The intensity and duration of buffs will vary based on care, attention, gems used, and MP used.
Buff duration can be refreshed by consuming gems directly, but only for the user themselves.
This skill will grow based on how many unique recipes and buffs are registered to your index.
Spike's eyes watered a bit as he read the description of the skill, trying to piece through all the new information it gave him. Hints about the broader culture of his race, suggestions about the rarity of what he was doing... Was he that whelp? Would that make his 'particular' parents the ponies who raised him or did it refer to the dragons who made his egg in the first place? And the skill itself... This was the exact thing he had been hoping for ever since this morning: A way to pass on these benefits to his friends and companions. Not to mention a new excuse to cook for them!
A sniffle and a subvocal command pulled up his buff index, which ended up being a very tiny grid chart... for now. It was clearly sized based on the number of entries, and had the potential to get quite large if the attached 'search' field was any indication. Right now it showed the intersections of various dishes (like a virgin mint julep) and gemstones (emeralds) and displayed the result (HP regen) where they intersected. He could even see a distinct cross-out in the space where emeralds would cross with Cinci chili, and the space where emeralds would meet with souffle: Appropriate gems meant there were conversely inappropriate gems, and the index made that clear without him even trying the dish. That would definitely save him a lot of wasteful experimentation in the future.
He didn't have a lot of experience with trail food and other portable snacks, but he'd definitely have to find the time to figure it out... Maybe candy as well? Now that his buffs could be shared with others, it would be nice to have access to them in case of emergencies. Given their uniquely edible nature, that meant (ideally) shelf-stable food bases that were easy to carry and eat. Pinkie probably knew enough about candies and energy bars (thanks to helping Dash with training) that he could ask her for lessons. Not to mention their pre-existing cooking plans from earlier...
But right now Spike's focus needed to be on getting everything in order for the now as opposed to a hypothetical later. He had the books sorted, food prepared, library cleaned, clocks set. Subquests remaining? Trimmed down to just "Serve overdue fines" and "Visit other ponies", which also meant he was on the verge of getting two more major quest rewards... and then it would be the end of his whirlwind first day. As for what that ending would mean... Well, that was a ‘later’ thing too.
When he double-checked his list of fines and his personal map, it confirmed that his final address really was right near Fluttershy’s place. Although come to think of it, that address was really close to her house yet he didn't recognize it...
Cutting out from the Library (locking the doors behind him) and making his way towards the marked spot on his Map, he took the time to stretch his new abilities further. While he had a feeling that the 'boost' of his first quest was primarily responsible for the gaining of skills and powers, and not their levelling? It didn't hurt to grind while he walked either way. It was easy enough to run down all of his skills on the way towards Fluttershy's cottage, just like he did with the Crusaders earlier.
Falling into meditation alongside the song Pinkie Pie had given him, Spike could then channel his increased mana recovery into other skills. First create a gem of green flames, carve it with sweeps of his sharpened claws, enhance all of his body from within and without. Watch the entire process with his magic-vision and refine the motions as he went along. Take calculated self-damage as the shards dig into his scales and then burst open into green flame again, hurting him just enough to ding off a bit of HP. To anypony watching it would seem like he was casually whistling, walking, and tossing around little green stones... But in Spike’s eyes, one skill level transitioned into another as he whiled away the time.
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Interesting. For all that it can still handle the situations anyway, it's clear that he's outside the bounds of what the "game" expected.
A dragon’s enchanting?
45 chapters later. Its still Day 1.
Im not sure how to feel about that.
I liked how Spike thought non-linearly about how he could be the “particular whelp” who shapes dragon culture in the future.
Nice touch of world-building with “the transfer of energy is a huge part of Draconic culture”.
Thats a Lot of cooking to get through, better to overlay it with diets and meal plans for various situations with various entities and beings in combinations of multiples? From a quick snack to a full banquet for Royalty and Ambassadors?
If he is doing minimum damage rolls, once he gets out of town, he can start working through Criticals, to increase not just his skills there, but map out Accurately his entire body where he can be attacked from, getting more strike gems of smaller size means he could aimtowards Sandstorm, or more likely for him, Diamond Dust Storm, at least for impacts or even checking for criticals on double impacts, that is hitting a prestruck area before it can reheal? Increase his resiliance to mechanical irritants on scales, eyes, and breathing, swallowing etc?
Work on his agility and flexibility by claw walking, tailpogo, crab, splits and drop splits etc?
the only living quarters I know of right next to Fluttershys, that Spike hasnt seen, still gets mail deliveries. for a given value of mail, deliveries, and escape to reality?
Spike? You are about to leave the Twilight Realm. And enter Q Space.
Thus rose Spike the min-max'er
“the transfer of energy is a huge part of Draconic culture”.
Goddamnit my brain has apparently been tuned to see "Evolution" after Draconic no matter the context and now all I can see is Spike wearing that bulky Chaotic Armor... Hmm...
I still love this story so far, but I'm dying for a Twilight chapter.
I can be patient, though.
10139788
Afraid not, per the timeline info in the FAQ, Discord is currently, uh, serving hard time. No, the only malevolent entity hanging around Fluttershy's at the moment is more... lapine in nature. And may well be using the [Bossy Pet] title.
10140010
That would probably look really cool. . . You know, if I could see it as anything other than a cubic blocky mess fitting so poorly that he couldn't move.
I just had a thought, what if spike got such a high health regen stat, that he could pull off a Kirito from SAO Abridged. Where he's just getting slashed at continuously. "My stats, are just higher than yours!" I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
10143692
You know, out of everything from SAO abridged, that was one of the few things that was essentially unchanged from the actual show. Sorry, it just bugs me when something is accredited to a reference or parody.
That said, he might already be there. A song could easily give him the regen, and if it was based on percent max, or his health determining stat, stat boosting would help a lot too.
That's not even remotely a body part.
Neat.
Oh, very nice.
And it comes with a very useful UI.
Always be grinding.
10144247
I get where you're coming from there on it being essentially unchanged. I was referring more to the actual attitude he had with it, the crazed look in his eye, the nearly unhinged excitement of the enemies fear and the joy of seeing them terrified.
And he probably could pull it off at this point with some health regen.
10144659
You know... By the time one has Chaotic Armor you can probably do that exact thing to anything short of a Chaos Guardian. Adding in the fact that it even has chaos in the name means Discord could probably get his opinion in on it.
I see little difference between Chaos Guardian and Chaos Spirit except in expression.
10139784
Spike is gonna need a nap.
One Tarterus of a day slowly comes to its end...
Equestria gained a one extreamly powerful Dragon this day
10144659
Also, he is a dragon. He goes anywhere, everyPONY will be terrified. I hear tales of the first time he sleepily wandered into Day Court. If you have ever read the Traveling Tutor series it apparently was similar to Green Grass's reaction but with less bucket of water and more pressing against the wall. If you haven't read it yet do so.
10144619
Seeing that skill my mind went, "Spike evolves into Sanji."
Ever need a thousand freshly made meals? Spike is you'r Dragon to make or store them 👍
10665673
I can see the comparison, minus the almost starving to death and being a Pirate kicking protige.