Let’s see. 10 pounds of butter? Check. ? gallon of white sugar? Check. ? gallon of brown sugar. Check. 1 bucket of vanilla extract? Check. 16 eggs? Check. A bag of flour? Check. A bag of salt? Check. A bag of chocolate? Check.

  I look over the various ingredients that I… bought. That should be enough material for my cooking this week. I may have gotten a lot more than I was planning to this week, but the bake-off is next week, and I want to perfect the taste of my cookie before then. I can tell I’m lacking some secret ingredient. I just don’t know what yet.

  As I think, I place the portable magic oven on the counter and feed it my MP. The oven roars to life as I carefully set the ideal temperature. My prevailing theory is that I’m allowing the temperature of the oven to fluctuate, causing uneven levels of gooeyness. Luckily, the greenhouse is empty today, which means I will get the chance to figure out exactly what I’m doing wrong.

  I carefully add the ingredients one by one, beating them as I go along. Eventually, the mix resembles the doughy texture that I’ve seen countless times before. I then carefully place the dough on a baking tray, making sure not to crowd the tray in the process. With precision, I then slide the tray into the oven and wait.

  As I wait, I hear the door to the greenhouse open.

  “What are you doing?” Helia asks as she shakes some snow off her jacket.

  “Club activities?”

  “You do know this is the Botany Club, right?” Helia asks as she takes a seat near me.

  I blink hard as I focus on keeping the temperature steady. “The usual?” I ask as I slide her some cookies I baked yesterday.

  Helia looks at me with an unflinching stare. “Yeah,” she says as she begins to eat the cookies.

  Nothing like a little bit of bribery. Worked in the streets and certainly works now.

  “I thought you had a class project today?”

  Helia takes a bite of a cookie. “Yup. It was on magic circles, which I’m an expert at. So, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would.”

  “That’s nice. I didn’t know you were an expert at magic circles.”

  “Of course. I have the [Blessing of the Scholar]. It makes it far easier to understand and create magic circles. Well, that and other things,” she explains.

  “Huh, Scholar? I didn't expect that. Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I ask as I look over at the floating [System Message].

  “It’s my duty as your upperclassman to answer any questions you have. So, shoot,” she says as she waves her half-eaten cookie around.

  I take a second to answer as I chose my words carefully. “Is there any way to know what [Skills] the [System] might provide you during a [Level Up]?”

  “You mean like when you hit one of the base five [Levels]?” she asks as I take the batch of cookies out of the oven.

  “Yeah, exactly.”

  “There’s no real way to know exactly what [Skills] might pop up, but there’s a way to guess. Basically, you look back on what you’ve been doing the last couple of [Levels] since your last base five and go from there,” she explains as she eyes the new tray of cookies.

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “Yeah. If you’ve spent the last couple of weeks training your swordsmen's ability, there’s a good chance you’ll get a [Skill] related to that. Now, when you have a [Blessing], the weight behind certain [Skills] is increased. So, imagine you have the [Blessing of the Warrior]. If you spent the last month gardening, but maybe you picked up a sword for a day or two, the chances of getting a sword-related [Skill] are higher due to your [Blessing] even though you didn’t spend as much time on it,” she explains further.

  Huh. So, because I don’t have a [Blessing], the three [Skills] that are going to show up probably have something to do with what I’ve been doing for the last month. What have I been doing since I hit [LvL. 5]? Let's think. I baked, mugged some random dude, lied to the Holy Maiden, fought a dangerous slime, scared off Gryn the Blitz Demon, and infiltrated a cult. What [Skills] am I even going to get from that?

  “Thank you, Helia. That was informative. Have a cookie,” I say as I slide a freshly baked cookie to her.

  She takes one bite and nods. “Good, but the egg is over-beaten. Lay off on the anger.”

  I take a bite of a cookie. Damn, she’s right. The egg is over-beaten. That’s a rookie mistake. I’m letting the pressure of making the perfect cookie get to me. Let’s relax and try again.

  As I repeat the process, I focus on the [System Message].

  [Cooking] and [Taunt] are the same as last time, but I also have a new option, [Disguise]. I have no idea what two of these do, but at least I know that previous options don’t just disappear if you don’t pick them. So, with that in mind, which one will I pick? I still see no use for [Taunt], and as much as I would like [Cooking] for this upcoming bake-off, I need to think rationally. [Disguise] is obviously the better option, right? Ah, fuck it. I’ll win this bake-off using my own abilities. Let’s pick [Disguise].

  Now to check out my [Stat Window].

  Wait! [Disguise] costs MP? How do I use it?

  As I think about using [Disguise], I feel MP leaving my body the same way as when I give the oven fuel. My purple skin shifts to a green hue. My horns and black hair disappear to give way to green vine-like hair with sunflowers growing out of it. I even find my perspective shifting as I drop a couple of inches in height.

  Helia looks over at me in shock. “How in the hells do you look just like me?”

  “I just got a [Skill], and I guess it lets me turn into other people. Neat, huh?” I ask as I suddenly hear Helia's voice come out of my mouth.

  “That’s a crazy [Skill]. How much MP does it cost?” she asks as she puts her hand through where my head used to be.

  The moment Helia moves her hand, I feel a sudden slap. Ow! The illusion suddenly drops as my features return to normal, with Helia having accidentally slapped me.

  “Oh, sorry? I guess it isn’t transformation magic. It’s just illusion magic. Still, that’s an impressive [Skill]. What’s it called?” she asks as she pulls her hand away from my cheek.

  “It’s called [Disguise], and it seems to break the moment I take any sort of damage, which is good to know. Hmm… I could get a lot of things done with this [Skill],” I say as I get back to baking another batch of cookies.

  “By the way, when did we get a Dark Orchid?” Helia asks as she points to the corner of the room.

  “Ah, that… I found it last night. I think it’s a wonderful addition- Wait! That’s it!” I say as I rush over to the Dark Orchid.

  The Dark Orchid stands tall in the corner of the room as it billows out dark miasma. If I didn’t have [Gardening], I wouldn’t even go near this thing, but thankfully, my [Skill] is telling me that it’s mostly harmless. As long as I don’t eat the petals, I won’t be poisoned. Not like the poison would do anything, but still, it’s the thought that counts. With gentle movements, I pluck some petals from the Dark Orchid and move back to the table. I then place the petals in a mortar and pestle.

  Multiple steps and half an hour later, I place down a small vial of Dark Orchid poison. This is the secret weapon I needed to win this upcoming bake-off.

  Using my newfound ingredient, I quickly whip up a batch of freshly baked cookies. Helia reaches for a cookie, but I pull the tray away.

  “What was that for?” Helia says with a look of betrayal.

  “I need to test something first before you eat it,” I say as I take a bite.

  By the love of the Gods, this is amazing! That cultist was right. Black Orchid poison really does bring out the flavor of whatever you’re eating. The only problem now is the concentration of poison. As it stands, people will only enjoy my cookies for a brief moment before their death. I guess I’ll just have to do a bunch of trial and error until I get the concentration of poison and tastiness just right.

  “Sorry, Helia, these aren’t any good. I’ll have to make another batch,” I say as I quickly shove the cookies down my throat.

  Helia looks on in disbelief as I scarf down the cookies. “This is what betrayal feels like. It hurts,” she says in an overdramatic manner.

  The scalding heat of water rushes down my head as I wash the shampoo out. An almost oppressive, but welcomed amount of steam billows through the bath. I slowly lower myself into the magically heated bath.

  Ah, just what I needed after almost dying at the hands of a giant. To think I used to live without a daily bath. Now this is luxury. I do a quick peek around the bath to make sure the coast is clear. I then take out a little bag of herbs I grew in the greenhouse and sprinkle them on the bath. Technically, I’m not supposed to do this, but technically I’m not supposed to do a lot of things, so fuck it.

  “Ah, magic baths. One of my favorite inventions of the last hundred years,” Abrigon says as he soaks in the herbal bath.

  “I know, right, it’s great,” I say as I lean my head back into the water.

  “...”

  “Abrigon! Where have you been?” I ask as I suddenly realize his presence.

  “Out and about. How has it been going around here?” he asks as if he doesn’t already know.

  “Oh, just peachy. I almost got skewered by a demon named Gryn. How has your day been?” I ask, lacing my every word with sarcasm.

  “Well, it’s been relatively good. It’s nice to see that you’re settling in quite well,” he says, ignoring my sarcasm.

  “What are you here for?” I ask.

  This is the first time I’ve seen Abrigon in almost three weeks. Based on that information alone, I get the feeling that this isn’t a cordial visit.

  “Straight to business then. I’ve come to warn you that the forces of evil have put a bounty on your head,” he says nonchalantly.

  “How big a bounty?”

  “You don’t seem surprised,” he says, plunging deeper into the bath.

  “I’m surprised that they didn’t do it sooner. I mean, I’m ‘The Chosen One’, also known as the mortal enemy of their boss. Also, I seemingly ruined their plan for the Dark Elves and chased away one of their most infamous allies. So, how big is the bounty?” I ask again.

  With a smirk, he answers, “99,999 Gold coins.”

  “That’s a new record for me. Thank you for the warning-” I say as the door to the bath opens.

  Looking over, I see Hopper getting ready to take a bath and a rather absent Abrigon. He really needs to show me how he does that. A bounty, huh? I wonder if I get my [Disguise] to a high enough [Level], if I could collect my own bounty. Let’s put a pin in that. Let's instead worry about everything else. The heat of the beckons me further into its grasp. I’ll worry about it later.

  Oops. Just realized I didn't name the chapter. My bad. Should be fixed, now.