Friday, 19 July 2019

Ch 153 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 153 -- Minced Meat Dishes And After-Dinner Desserts


"Sorry to keep you waiting." I apologised straight away, knowing it wouldn't help but I'm Japanese so...

"Where were you?" Fer grumped.

"You're late again." Dora-chan chimed in.

"Sorry sorry. I'll make dinner straight away." The only apology those two would accept was food-shaped and came in a large bowl. Bowls. Right then, I had lots of Orc General and Bloody Horn Bull minced meat to hand thanks to the Mithril mincer Sui-chan had made for me so that was a start. What could I make that was quick and easy, well, how about filled omelettes? Melted cheese and aubergines would be good to go along with the minced meat too, I could alternate the two dishes. Yosh, let's get started. I opened up Net Super and started off buying onions, ketchup, cheese and meat sauce in cans before I switched over to the cookware section and bought some extra-large dinner plates.

I decided to make a simple omelette straight away and serve it quickly to my contracted monsters since they seemed a bit impatient. Chop some onions, fry in a frying pan with oil until they turn translucent, add the Orc General and Bloody Horn Bull minced meat and stir-fry them together after sprinkling some salt and pepper and adding some soy sauce and sugar, not too much. Once the meat was done I put it to one side to cool a little.

Now for the eggs. I melted butter in a hot frying pan, cracked in the eggs and coddled them around until they were starting to solidify then dumped in the minced meat on top. I got one of the large plates, used it to cover the frying pan then flipped it over and hey presto! One large, actually oversized minced meat omelette ready to eat.

"Yup, that looks good." I muttered, starting on the next two omelettes. I'd need three omelettes, topped with ketchup (of course!) and having the Black Magic Cooking Stove with its four really strong burners was a life-saver. I could only make two omelettes at a time though since stir-frying the meat used up one burner and cooking the eggs another. I had cooked a lot more meat into the omelettes than I would normally do for myself because, well I knew my contracted monsters really liked meat. I added the ketchup and put the oversized plates down for them and started on the next round of omelettes while they ate.

"Here, eat this while I make some more food." I said, turning back to the stove.

"Eggs and meat, huh? This is pretty tasty." Fer mumbled telepathically, his muzzle stuck deep into the omelette. Why did he have to mumble? I wondered as I worked on the next dish. Okay, his mouth is full but he's using telepathy...

"Ohhh, the eggs are runny and not overcooked." Dora-chan added.

"Eggs and meat, it's delicious-" Sui-chan said.

Everyone seemed to like the omelettes. For the next round I made minced meat with aubergines and topped with melted cheese. I started by peeling and halving the aubergines before frying Orc General and Bloody Horn Bull meat with a little salt and pepper. When the meat browned I added the aubergines and topped it all with meat sauce. I had to be careful, the sauce was quite strongly flavoured so I added it bit by bit and tasted it frequently as I stirred it into the mixture. When it was cooked I put the meat and aubergines into a large baking pan, sprinkled the top thickly with grated cheese and put it into the stove's oven. I judged it was ready when the baked cheese turned a light brown and then I took it out and served it onto three plates, just as the three gluttons finished their omelettes. I was getting better at this, I mused. Timing is important in cooking, of course.

"Here you are, be careful because it's hot." I warned them, a little too late in Dora-chan's case. Straight out of the oven the melted cheese was like napalm.

"Hot hot hot... huff huff, oh yeah, this is tasty..." He was blowing on the dish and then eating a mouthful, blowing and eating, in too much of a hurry to let it cool down a little but it was the sort of dish that tasted better when it was hot. There was a sudden gust of cold air from somewhere. What? I looked around and saw Fer using his Wind magic to cool his own serving of baked cheese over minced meat. That was one way to do it, I supposed.

"This will do nicely." Fer commented as he stuck his muzzle deep into the dish. "Ah, still hot... but it's delicious anyway."

Sui-chan only waited a few moments for her own serving to cool a little before ingesting her helping. It seemed she could deal with the hot food better than the other two which surprised me a little. Slimes were water creatures after all, weren't they?

"It's delicious because it's sticky hot." Sui-chan said. "So much meat, that's delicious too-" Sui-chan really likes cheese, of course.

Oh, I mustn't stop now, time to make more oversized omelettes for the next serving. After that I made more minced meat topped with grilled cheese, more omelettes and more minced meat then more omelettes then... finally everyone's dinner was over. Well, apart from my own dinner, a mouthful or two snatched between cooking """Seconds""" for the other three as usual. I had nearly finished eating when-

"Hey hey Aruji, is it time for Sui's reward yet-?" Sui-chan asked hopefully.

"Oh, wait a minute." I said, swallowing my final mouthful of minced meat and grilled aubergines.

"Nuuu, what's this about a reward?" Fer asked suspiciously.

"A reward, huh?" Dora-chan chimed in.

"Ah, well you see..." I started to explain but Fer and Dora-chan crowded me.

"So, this reward for Sui?" Fer pressed in.

"Yeah, what's it for?" Dora-chan was hovering right in front of my face.

"C'mon guys, you're too close." I said as I pushed them back. "Y'see, I had Sui-chan make a cooking item for me earlier and I figured she deserves a reward for doing it." As I explained I saw the expressions on Fer and Dora-chan's faces and swiftly changed gears. "Of course I'll give you two the same thing as well, OK?"

"So what kind of a reward is it?" Fer asked, his ears pricking up.

"Yeah, like the big guy said, whatizzit?" Dora-chan added, buzzing around my head even more furiously.

"It's cake." I answered.

"Cake, is that the white, fluffy sweet thing you offer to Ninril-sama?" Fer asked, licking his muzzle. Thinking about it, I'd given Fer cakes and baked sweets before and he'd enjoyed them, things like anpan and choco cornets.

"Yeah, you know I have a skill to get stuff from another world, right? I got a level up in that skill and it lets me order even more delicious cakes and sweet things than I could get before." I explained.

"Oh really?" Fer was definitely interested now.

"Sui-chan deserves something for making the cooking item for me and this is the perfect reward since she loves sweet things. Don't worry, there will be some for Fer and Dora-chan too of course."

"Hummm, I wasn't worried." Fer lied. Of course you weren't worried that something might escape your big stomach, Fer. Riiiight.

So, to business. I opened Net Super and selected the new Sanke store menu option. Let's see, which should I choose... well, it's a bit common perhaps but I couldn't resist the strawberry shortcake. Next, ohhh, they were holding a limited-time Matcha Fair, all sorts of cakes and sweets made with green tea flavourings. I was tempted but I knew Sui-chan didn't like bitter things so I moved on. The white chocolate cake, ohhh, and the blueberry tart too, yup that looked delicious and of course Sanke's signature dish, their world-famous custard pudding. I went back and added some matcha shortcake for myself as an afterthought since why should I do without? That would be sufficient, I decided and fed coins into the Net Super screen. A few seconds later a cardboard box appeared as usual.

I opened the box with some difficulty as all three of my contracted monsters were getting in the way to see what they were getting. Inside was another box with the cakes and pudding, carefully surrounded with cold-packs to keep them cold and fresh. I took out the cakes and put them on plates then unsealed the pudding which came in its own little tubs and put it out on a plate too. It got broken up a little but I figured that wouldn't affect the taste.

"Here you go." I said, putting the dishes down for the Impatient Trio.

"Umu." Fer eyed the dishes, obviously trying to decide which of the cakes to sample first.

"Oh, so this is cake? Lemme see what it tastes like..." Dora-chan had never eaten cake before, had he?

"Hooray-" Sui-chan had eaten cake before and was very happy, it seemed, to be given the chance to eat more.

After a few seconds of sampling the cakes and pudding...

"Umu, what's this really delicious thing that has red fruit on top of the white filling?" Fer mumbled. So Fer's favourite was the strawberry shortcake?

"W- w- what's this?! The wobbly stuff, it's sooo yummy. Gimme some more!" Oh, Dora-chan seems to really really like the pudding. I dished out more pudding for him but I expected he'd be satisfied with only one extra helping. Three servings of wobbly stuff would probably be too much for the Pixie Dragon. Probably.

"The cake I'm eating is sweet and delicious-! More, more, Sui wants to eat lots of it-!" Yeah, Sui-chan really likes sweet things. I put out one more serving of cake for her but that would be all, I decided. There would be other opportunities to indulge her sweet... uh, she didn't have teeth, her sweet... ummm, I gave up and turned my attention to my own dessert, a green tea shortcake from Sanke's limited-time Matcha Fair event. I needed coffee to go with this, black of course. I pondered just making it with instant coffee granules but black coffee? Nah. I opened up Net Super again and searched for... ah yes, here it is, drip-bag coffee. I selected an assortment pack and fed more coins into the Net Super interface to purchase it.

It's great there are such convenient things like drip-bag coffee now. When I want to drink black coffee it's so easy and quick to prepare, just follow the instructions on the side of the box and I couldn't go wrong. I positioned the drip-bag across the mouth of my cup using its little origami folding handles then I took hot water from my Item Box and slowly, sloooowly poured the water through the drip-bag, letting the dark coffee collect in the cup below. The smell of freshly-brewed coffee filled my nostrils with a comforting aroma. Wonderful. I took a first sip, oh yes, definitely more flavourful than instant coffee.

I bit into my matcha shortcake. It's an adult taste, bittersweet. I sipped more coffee, delicious, then another bite of the cake. Yosh, coffee goes so well with matcha sweets, doesn't it? I settled back to relax...

"Hey you, gimme more wobbly stuff!"

"Aruji-, Sui wants to eat more cake!"

Dora-chan and Sui, can't you be a little quieter, please? It seems Dora-chan had become addicted to pudding and Sui-chan's consumption of sweet things was making her somewhat hyperactive and demanding.

Speaking of sweet things and demanding behaviour reminded me of someone... Ah, Deplorable Goddess-sama. Oh dear. I wouldn't be able to keep the Sanke tenant store a secret and I was going to get pestered unmercifully by her when she found out. Ah, what a pain. The pleasures of matcha shortcake and drip-bag coffee turned to ashes in my mouth.

"Hey, you listening? Where's my wobbly stuff?"

"Sui wants to eat more cake-!"

...haaa.

Monday, 8 July 2019

Ch 152 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 152 -- A Lot Of Drop Items


"Hey hey, Aruji, what do you want Sui do do-?" Sui-chan pyonged excitedly as we reached the room, obviously eager to help out. Darling Sui-chan...

"Aaah, it's this thing..." I took the hand mincer from my Item Box. It rattled a bit as I pulled it out. It hadn't been like that when I bought it from the Net Super, I had just used it a lot to make minced meat to feed the Gluttonous Trio over the past couple of months and it was pretty much worn out.

"I want you to make this please." I said, handing the mincer to Sui-chan.

"Hmm, wait a minute-?" Sui-chan absorbed the mincer into her body to examine it.

"Can you make one like it but a bit bigger, Sui-chan?" I gestured with my hands, suggesting something about 1.5 times the original mincer's size and capacity.

"Well, this is big-." Sui-chan said after a while. "It's complicated, bits inside go spinny and whizzy and choppy... but Sui will try her best." Ah, making the various parts inside the mincer would cause her problems, they'd have to fit properly and work afterwards, turning and cutting the meat. The Mithril knife and short sword she had made for me were simpler items, just single pieces of metal.

"Ah, I see. Well, do your best please." I passed Sui-chan some Mithril ore which she ingested. A new mincer was my number-one priority when it came to making cooking utensils. If it was made of Mithril it would surely be very strong and not wear out and the spinny and whizzy and choppy bits inside would be very sharp so it should be easier to use. My arm got tired turning the handle of the original Net Super mincer, I hoped a Mithril mincer would be less work.

A Mithril cooking knife is TOO sharp, if my hand slipped I'd lose fingers and the blade would cut through any sort of chopping board I could get hold of so I had given up on that idea, but the mincer's sharp parts would be inside its Mithril-metal body so that shouldn't cause a problem.

My next project for Sui-chan would be a Mithril frying pan, one bigger than the largest frying pan the Net Super sells. It's not really essential but it would be nice to have a bigger one to use sometimes. I thought about a real commercial kitchen-sized stock pot, bigger than the half-sized ones I had bought from the Net Super but such a pot on the Black Magic Cooking Stove's burners would be quite tall and it would be difficult to stir its contents since the lip would be so high. The half-sized stock pots were just the right size for my needs, it turned out and I had plenty of them anyway.

After that, hmm, I'd have to give it some thought but there was no hurry. I'd just be happy if Sui-chan could make things for me. She's sooo cute... and as a reward I'd get her lots of cakes from the Sanke tenant shop, I decided.

I left Sui-chan working away while I started sorting through all the drop items from our dungeon explorations. Boy, there were a lot of them... I began by going through all the skins I had collected, starting with the most common ones. Let's see, Orc skins - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ......... 123, 124, 125 skins. 125 Orc skins in total, that's a lot. Next would be Lizardman skins? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...... 61, 62, 63 skins, is that all of them? So 63 Lizardman skins, half the number of Orc skins. Ogre skins, there were a lot of them too, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, .......... 100, 101, 102 pieces. Oh, more than a hundred Ogre skins, that's a lot too. Trolls next, I remembered there had been a lot of Trolls in the Giant Zone between the 21st and 25th levels and they usually dropped a skin so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ......... 111, 112, 113 skins? More than a hundred skins again. I had lost track of the drops I had been collecting while we had been travelling through the dungeon's levels so the actual numbers were a surprise now I could sort through the piles of different skins and count them properly. I continued counting and organising drop items as the morning wore on then --

"Aru-ji, I'm hungry-" Sui-chan interrupted.

"Oh, sorry sorry. It's lunch time, of course. Let's go eat with Fer and Dora-chan." I said.

"Ah, Sui's not finished yet-"

"Oh, that's not a problem." I had expected making the mincer would take Sui-chan quite some time, what with all the spinny and whizzy and choppy bits inside. "It's okay to stop for a bit to eat lunch."

"Okay-? Well then, I'll make it more after I eat food-." Sui-chan pyonged off the bed and followed me down to the beast stables where Dora-chan and Fer were waiting patiently for me. Not.

"You're late." Fer complained.

"Really late." Dora-chan added. Both Fer and Dora-chan seemed a bit grumpy.

"Sorry sorry." I apologised. "Please forgive me and I'll make something special for you."

"Ooooh, the Earth Dragon dish in yesterday's dinner was good."

"Really good! It was so delicious!"

Last night's dinner ended with grilled strips of Earth Dragon meat in yakiniku sauce over rice. Everyone liked it and it was definitely delicious, I felt my mouth watering at the memory of how it smelled when I was cooking it, how it tasted...

"So then how would everyone like some Earth Dragon meat in yakiniku sauce?" I suggested.

* * * * *

Several bowls of Earth Dragon grilled in long-time best-seller yakiniku sauce over rice, a much better-natured Fer and Dora-chan were taking a nap. Sui-chan and I went back up to the room to start work again, me to continue sorting through the drop items and Sui-chan to continue working on the mincer she was (hopefully) making for me. It had been a revelation to discover she could temporarily pause her Smithing skill and eat food then continue afterwards without problems.

"You know, I had no idea there was this much..." The sheer quantity of our haul amazed me, I kept finding things I had forgotten about as I pulled one drop item after another out of my Item Box. It shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, thirty dungeon levels full of defeated monsters... I pushed forward, determined to get it all done today.

"Hmm, I've finished..." I had finally reached the end and I could sit back. I looked over the list of drop items we had accumulated from our successful conquest of the Doran dungeon. It was... impressive.

Venom Tarantula Poison Sac × 3
Orc meat x 56
Orc's Testicle × 31
Orc skin × 125
Lizardman skin × 63
Ogre skin × 102
Ogre's Magic Stone (small) x 21
Troll skin × 113
Troll's Poison Talon × 48
Troll's Magic Stone (small) x 23
Minotaur meat × 42
Minotaur's Horn × 49
Minotaur skin × 88
Minotaur's Iron Axe × 15
Minotaur's Magic Stone (small) x 20
Orc King's Testicle × 1
Red Ogre's Magic Stone (medium) x 1
Spriggan's Magic Stone (large) × 5
Giant Killer Mantis Wolf x 38
Giant Killer Mantis Magic Stone (small) x 7
Murder Grizzly Fur × 21
Murder Grizzly's Magic Stone (large) × 3
Cockatrice meat × 10
Cockatrice Feather × 7
Rock Bird meat × 6
Rock Bird Beak × 10
Rock Bird Feather × 13
Paralysis Powder of Paralyse Butterfly × 42
Giant Dodo meat x 3
Giant Dodo Wings × 9
Giant Centipede's outer shell x 3
Giant Centipede's Magic Stone (large) × 2
Wild Ape Fur × 61
Killer Hornet's Poison Stinger x 286
Killer Hornet's Royal Jelly × 1
Vasuki's Fang × 1
Vasuki skin × 1
Vasuki's Magic Stone (oversized) × 1
Manticore skin × 1
Manticore's Poison Stinger × 1
Manticore's Magic Stone (oversized) × 1
Gustave's skin × 1
Gustave's Fang × 1
Gustave's Spine × 1
Gustave's Magic Stone (oversized) × 1
Giant Sand Scorpion's Poison Stinger × 6
Giant Sand Scorpion's Magic Stone × 3
Sandworm teeth x 8
Sandworm Magic Stone (large) × 4
Death Sidewinder skin × 7
Death Sidewinder Poison Sac x 5
Death Sidewinder Magic Stone (large) × 3
Giant Sand Golem's Magic Stone (Oversized) x 1
Behemoth skin × 1
Behemoth's Magic Stone (Super Extra Large) x 1
Behemoth (dungeon boss) treasure chest x 1
Mimic Treasure Box (Small) x 1
Mimic Treasure Box (Large) × 2

Treasure chest drops, jewellry
  Ruby (small grain) × 1
Emerald (small) × 1
Aquamarine (Small) × 1
Garnet (small) × 1
Amethyst (small) × 2
Peridot (Small) × 1
Gold ingot x 1
Imperial Topaz (medium size) × 1
Sapphire (medium size) × 1
Alexandrite (medium size) × 1
Diamond (large grain) × 1
Diamond (medium size) × 2
Diamond (small grain) × 2
Yellow diamond (large grain) × 1
Diamond ring × 1
Tanzanite Necklace x 1

Magic items that were in treasure chests
Magic bag (small) × 1
Magic bag (medium) × 1
Magic Recovery Ring × 1
Detoxification necklace × 1
Cursed Demon sword Caladbolg
        (from Behemoth's treasure chest drop)

Laid out in black and white like that, I was really surprised just how much there was but, really, I shouldn't have been. Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui-chan were defeating dungeon monsters bam bam bam, boss rooms full of A-rank and B-rank opponents wiped out in a few seconds. All I needed to do, all I could really do to assist them was just collect the drops afterwards.

Elland-san had said he would take all the skins but the rest of it, I didn't know... and there were more jewels than I thought. I'd discuss this all with him later, but now I was done. Yosh.

Just then, "Aruji-, it's ready-" Sui-chan announced.

"Oh, you're finished too?" Good timing. Sui-chan extruded a gleaming mincer, a bit larger than the one I had bought from the Net Super. It looked really good and I decided to give it a trial run right away. First of all, Orc General meat... Oh wow, this mincer is amazing! I put the meat in and turned the handle but it was so light, it took nearly no effort as the minced meat poured from the mincer's opening and because it was bigger more minced meat came out for each turn of the handle. Next, Bloody Horn Bull meat, just the same, light and easy to operate and lots of minced beef coming out. I kept turning and turning the mincer's handle, delighting in how effortless and smooth it worked... I stopped suddenly, looking at the immense piles of minced meat I had produced while I was in a daze. Oh.

"Aruji, what's wrong-?" Sui-chan asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got lost there. This mincer Sui-chan has created, it's wonderful! Sui is amazing! Thank you so much." I said as I put the minced meat away in my Item Box along with the Mithril mincer.

"Wow, Aruji praised me-. Sui's so glad- " Sui-chan was happily pyonging around the room.

"Oh," I said, realising what time it was, "Fer and Dora-chan will start getting angry again if I'm late making dinner for them. Let's go, Sui-chan."

"Unh-" Sui-said as we headed for the stairs.

"Oh, and Sui, I'm looking forward to giving you something good to thank you for making the mincer after you eat your dinner."

"Something good-? What is it, aruji-?" Sui-chan asked.

"Just wait until we've finished eating dinner, OK?" I said.

"Okay-" Sui-chan agreed happily.

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Ch 151 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 151 -- Tenant


After finishing breakfast I decided to check everyone's Status. We'd beaten all the level bosses of Doran's dungeon and even polished off the final boss, Behemoth so we must have picked up some levels and status boosts. First up I checked Fer's Status.

[ Name ] Fer
[ Age ] 1014
[ Type ] Fenrir
[ Level ] 921
[ Stamina ] 10003
[ Magic Power ] 9637
[ Attack Power ] 9275
[ Defence Power ] 10001
[ Agility ] 9839
[ Skill ] Wind Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Sacred Magic, Barrier Magic, Claw Slash, Physical Strengthening, Physical Attack Resistance, Magic Attack Resistance, Magic Power Consumption Reduction, Appraisal, Battle Enhancement
[ Protections ] Wind Goddess Ninril’s Blessings, War God Vulcan's Blessings

O- oh? Fer's level looks about 10 points higher than when I appraised him before the 26th level boss fight... Fer had mentioned once that the higher someone's level is, the harder it is to increase it but well, the dungeon boss was Behemoth. His strength and defence exceed 10,000 too. Was there anyone, any monster who could go up against Fer the way he was now? I supposed being that strong wasn't a bad thing, not like I would know anything about that personally of course ha ha.

Next up is Dora-chan.

[ Name] Dora-chan
[ Age ] 116
[ Type ] Pixie Dragon
[ Level ] 160
[ Stamina ] 1092
[ Magic Power ] 3223
[ Attack Power ] 3115
[ Defence Power ] 1057
[ Agility ] 3893
[ Skill ] Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Wind Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Recovery Magic, Bombardment, Battle Enhancement
[ Protections ] War God Vulcan's Blessings

Ohhhh... Dora-chan's level has also increased, maybe by about 30 points or so. He fought Behemoth too, of course as well as a lot of the level bosses and high-ranking monsters. All his Status points exceed a thousand now, a big boost. Next I looked at Sui's Status. She seemed to have grown the most.

[ Name ] Sui
[ Age ] 2 months
[ Type ] Big Slime
[ Level ] 88
[ Stamina ] 1489
[ Magical Power ] 1467
[ Attack Power] 1460
[ Defence Power ] 1464
[ Agility ] 1491
[ Skill ] Acid Bullet, Restorative Medicine Creation, Growth, Multiplication, Water Magic, Smithing
[ Protections ] Water Goddess Rusalka's Blessing, Blacksmith God Hephaestus' Blessing

Oh, that's a lot of levelling up she's achieved since I last looked, probably due to fighting Behemoth and the other big battles against strong monsters like the assorted S-rank bosses in the later dungeon levels.

All my contracted monsters are amazing. Now it's my turn, I suppose. My Status is visible when I'm using Net Super but I don't pay much attention to it since I'm usually hungry or selecting offerings for certain Deplorable-samas and I want to get finished and go to sleep. So, Status...

[ Name ] Mukouda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)
[ Age ] 27
[ Job ] A person from a different world who got caught
[ Level ] 20
[ Stamina ] 280
[ Magic Power ] 273
[ Attack Power ] 254
[ Defence Power ] 252
[ Agility ] 232
[ Skill ] Appraisal, Item Box, Fire Magic, Earth Magic, Familiar, Perfect Defence
[ Contracted Monsters] Fenrir, Big Slime, Pixie Dragon
[ Unique Skill ] Net Super (+1)
[ Protection ]  Wind Goddess Ninril's blessing (small), Fire Goddess Agni's blessing (small), Earth Goddess Kishar's blessing (small)

Okay, my level is up, but it's not as much improved as everyone else. Well it's not a surprise, I didn't get involved a lot with the level boss fights and I stayed well back from Behemoth. I wasn't really expecting much of an improvement... actually, I'm lying, I was expecting a big increase, I got to the final level of the dungeon so I hoped it would be better than it is. The difference in improvement between myself and the other three is pitiful, really. Safety first is my motto, but yeah.

Hold on though, I didn't notice yesterday but there's a (+1) beside my Unique Skill of Net Super. What's that? If I select it by touching the (+1) I get...

[ The Unique Skill Net Super 'Tenant' has been unlocked. Please choose from the following... MacDonalds / Sanke ]

Huh? W- what just appeared? 'Tenant'... that's a store within a supermarket, selling specialised items or offering franchised food -- MacDonalds, for example. So if I chose that one I could order junk food through the Net Super? Hmmm, it's been a long time since I ate junk food but the other choice, Sanke -- that's a cake shop with Imperial connections, wagashi confectioners who supplied the three Tokugawa clans...

I saw Sui bouncing around me. Sui really likes sweet things. "Hmm," I asked her, "Does Sui like sweet things?"

"Sweet thing is pudding or cake? Umm, Sui looooves sweet things-" Of course she does. That's it decided, I'll go with the tenant shop that supplied the three Tokugawa clans with sweet things. Sui-chan is healing, it's the obvious choice. I touched 'Sanke' on the Net Super display.

[Tenant agreement with Sanke? YES / NO]

Oh, it's asking if I'm sure. I looked at Sui-chan, of course I was sure. I touched YES.

[You made a tenant agreement with Sanke. The next tenant availability will be at level 40. We look forward to your next visit. ]

After displaying this message for a few seconds it returned to the usual status screen where the (+1) beside the Net Super had disappeared. I stared at the screen, trying to figure out what was going on. I would get to choose another 'Tenant', another in-store shop when I reached level 40, it had said. Did that mean I got this first 'Tenant' because I reached level 20? I didn't expect Net Super to change at all, this was a real surprise since it was a Unique Skill. Fer had said some Skills never evolved or improved, things like Item Box but, well, my Net Super had a 'Tenant' now. I should really check it out, shouldn't I? I opened Net Super and, let's see, yup there was 'Sanke' in the first menu. I chose it and, ohhhh, my mouth started to water at the assortment of cakes and baked sweets that appeared, the sorts of wagashi and cakes you might see displayed in a high-class confectioners back in Tokyo.

I manfully resisted the temptation to start pumping gold coins, no, large gold coins into the Net Super interface. I had other things to do first but later, oh yes later, I would be buying cakes and sweets from my Net Super's tenant store.

"Fer, Dora-chan, I'm going back to the room right now and I'm going to be busy sorting through the drop items."

"Okay. Don't forget lunch." Fer reminded me unnecessarily.

"Yeah, lunch." added Dora-chan.

"I won't forget." I told them. "Sui-chan, I've got something I'd like you to do for me so can you come with me?"

"Okay-"

I wanted Sui-chan to make something for me while I sorted through all the drop items we had collected. I had been using the one I already had a lot, overusing it really and it was likely to break soon. I could buy another one in the Net Super of course but if Sui-chan made it from Mithril then it would be a lot tougher, and she could make it bigger too, make it easier for me to use. We headed back to our room so I could show it to Sui and ask if she can make it. I was pretty confident she wouldn't have a problem.