Chapter Five: Daily Tasks

Because he had to keep an eye on Zhao Tianhe, Jeros had no choice but to stay in his apartment. Fortunately, the place was originally two bedrooms and a living room, so there was an empty room available.

Still, Jeros occasionally left under the pretext of buying local specialties, as the smell of preparing beef offal was truly overwhelming.

Jeros sat in the restaurant opposite the hero’s apartment, sipping tea, reading, and keeping watch on Zhao Tianhe’s movements. Before leaving, he placed a surveillance spell at the door.

“Hm?! He’s gone?!” Jeros glanced at the surveillance spell, only to be startled—Zhao Tianhe, who had been there just a minute ago, had suddenly vanished!

‘Impossible! The mark I placed on him should be reliable for at least ten kilometers—it shouldn’t fail so easily…’ Jeros rushed out of the restaurant and dashed into the hero’s apartment, braving the nauseating stench of beef offal, but Zhao Tianhe was nowhere to be found.

‘A spatial transfer spell? But…he shouldn’t know such advanced magic. Then…’ Jeros stood in Zhao Tianhe’s room, pondering deeply, but the more he thought, the more unsettled he felt. ‘Could I be caught up in some earth-shattering conspiracy?!’

In an instant, countless scenes from novels flooded his mind—evil organizations tampering with the dungeon, leaving traces in the most remote places, Zhao Tianhe silenced for knowing too much, and himself in imminent danger…

A few flashes of insight later, Jeros cast several defensive spells upon himself.

“Hey, when did you get back? What are you doing?” Zhao Tianhe suddenly appeared at the doorway.

“?!” Jeros, startled, nearly unleashed a barrage of lightning, but thankfully he noticed the surveillance mark still lingering on Zhao Tianhe.

‘It’s really him, so…’ Jeros swallowed, feeling awkward, but kept his composure. “I was…practicing spells.”

As he spoke, his hands sparkled with lightning, pulling thick bolts like noodles and striking various poses.

“Truly diligent! No wonder you’re a graduate summoner,” Zhao Tianhe said with a grin, holding two plates.

“So, where did you go just now?” Jeros quickly asked.

“Me? Haha, I see, you were looking for me. But I’m afraid, even if you searched the whole world, you wouldn’t have found me.” Zhao Tianhe replied smugly. “My talent is inherently spatial, and every day I enter it to train for a while, so it’s absolutely impossible for you to find me!”

“A talent ability?” Jeros narrowed his eyes, a little shaken inside. ‘That does explain what just happened, but if that’s true, his ability might be really powerful?’

“Could you demonstrate it?” Jeros asked.

“Well…my talent only allows limited training time each day, so not now,” Zhao Tianhe said, shaking his head and sighing inwardly. ‘I wish I could do it eight times a day, but the system won’t allow it!’

Artoria’s status: support available, favor level 1, 12/200

Daily quest unlocked: The King’s Meals.

Completed 2/3

Quest reward: extra +10 favor

Simply put, although Artoria was now in support mode and could further gain favor to unlock more features, she could no longer be fed endlessly as before. Now, it was limited to three times per day, with an extra ten points as a bonus.

Of course, to be honest, with Zhao Tianhe’s financial situation, he couldn’t spam favor endlessly anyway.

“When will it be possible?” Jeros asked.

“Dinner…no, tonight. About five hours from now,” Zhao Tianhe answered honestly.

“All right, I’ll wait. Also…I need to step out for a bit.” Problem resolved, Jeros relaxed, but the nauseating smell of beef offal returned.

“Something urgent? What’s up…oh, the King did mention I smelled a bit. Is it the beef offal?” Zhao Tianhe realized the issue and hurriedly opened all the windows and doors to air the place out.

‘If only I could install a wind-type air purification array…minimum two gold coins, annual maintenance ten silver coins—far too expensive…’ Glancing outside at the fully armored native hero squad setting out, Zhao Tianhe was filled with envy.

Except for his F-rank slime cave, even the lowest E-minus goblin nest nearby offered a daily bounty of twenty silver coins, split among four, but still much better than his lot.

‘Maybe I should check out the second floor? Hmm, after tomorrow’s demonstration.’ With his talent activated, Zhao Tianhe’s mind was lively.

That evening, Jeros looked at Zhao Tianhe’s spicy beef offal rice and felt a surge of pity.

“Well, here I go.” After eating, Zhao Tianhe piled up a bowl of beef offal, fried a steak, and set a large bowl of rice on the table.

“What’s this?” Jeros asked, a bit puzzled, though he did find something quite incredible. ‘This steak smells fantastic—the grilling and marinating are spot on, and the side dishes are creative and appetizing. Actually, even the offal isn’t bad, it’s rather fragrant…though still, knowing what it is, I can’t bring myself to eat it.’

This time the offal included intestines and stomach, which Jeros simply couldn’t stomach.

“The training is brief but really drains energy, so I need to prepare something to take with me,” Zhao Tianhe explained, then focused his attention and clicked the daily quest on his personal panel, confirming to start.

In the next moment, Zhao Tianhe disappeared.

“Incredible…” Jeros nodded, thinking he wouldn’t need to see tomorrow’s demonstration to confirm—this anomaly was surely a result of awakened talent, and the story about using the scroll to defeat the mutated elite was likely true.

But now, Jeros was genuinely curious to see how Zhao Tianhe’s talent would perform in actual combat.

Meanwhile, Zhao Tianhe found himself in an utterly ordinary living room, less than twenty square meters. In the center was a dining table with two chairs, and nothing else.

“Artoria, it’s time to eat~~” Zhao Tianhe walked to a nearby door and knocked.

“Hahahahaha~~wait a minute~~let me finish this!” came a clear, feminine voice, along with the familiar sound, ‘See, he’s not limping anymore.’

‘Selling crutches?! Last time it was a Japanese comedy I couldn’t understand, now it’s a Chinese sketch…what is she even watching?’ Zhao Tianhe had no permission to enter, and the quest required feeding within ten minutes, so he knocked again, “It’s the steak you wanted, Artoria! Plus delicious beef offal—three spicy sauces and a big bowl of rice!”

“Mm!” The laughter inside stopped, then the door opened.

“Eating on time is a good habit; naturally, I shall comply,” said the beautiful young woman whose face combined charm and a hint of heroism.

Her outfit, however, made it impossible to take her seriously. Artoria wore a blue-and-white lace-trimmed T-shirt, her silky blonde hair draped over her shoulders and back, with a single cowlick sticking up from her forehead. On her lower half, she wore fluffy pajama pants, and on the floor behind her lay a matching lion-hooded pajama top—clearly she had changed tops but was too lazy to change pants.

“Come, come, try it!” Zhao Tianhe sat down, urging Artoria.

“Mmm, not bad—steak goes best with tomato sauce, though next time have some salad dressing ready…” Artoria ate and talked at the same time, astonishingly, her eating speed was incredible!

A huge 700-gram steak vanished in under three minutes, with hundreds of words of commentary in between!

“Mmm~~the offal is great, truly a product without any waste, and so tasty…” The blonde girl feasted on rice and offal, tomato sauce still on her lips, now joined by more spicy sauce.

“But, being watched while eating feels uncomfortable…” Artoria glanced at Zhao Tianhe. “Next time, bring your own meal and eat together—it’ll taste even better.”

“Mm!” Zhao Tianhe answered with a smile, though in truth, he’d thought the same at breakfast and lunch, but his food always vanished into the girl’s bottomless appetite…who knew how much he’d have to bring for himself to get a share!

Still, just watching Artoria eat was enough to satisfy Zhao Tianhe, so he didn’t mind at all.

Ten minutes later, when Zhao Tianhe reappeared before Jeros, he was carrying a pile of empty plates and bowls.

“That’s about it,” Zhao Tianhe said. “As for the effects of my talent, you’ll see for yourself tomorrow. And…I know you suspect I pocketed the magic scroll.”

“I…” Jeros began to explain, but Zhao Tianhe cut him off.

“What do you take me for? Even if I were stupid, I’d know a gold coin is worth far more than a job that pays a silver a day!” Zhao Tianhe declared righteously, but Jeros only felt a wave of poverty wash over him, so pungent it brought tears to his eyes…

With that, Zhao Tianhe went to wash dishes and prep tomorrow’s ingredients.

The next day, after finishing the daily routine, Jeros took Zhao Tianhe to the slime cave.

“Here, today’s chicken soup—try it!” Zhao Tianhe opened his basket, revealing a bottle of warm broth. “Thanks to Jeros’s magic, otherwise you wouldn’t get hot soup! By the way, is this magic something I can actually learn?”

“If it’s a zero-level trick, even Earthlings, who are supposedly magic-immune, should be able to master it,” Jeros nodded.

Here, it’s worth noting that in this world, if someone were systemized, each point of spirit would grant one point of elemental affinity, but Earthlings only have 0.1—one-tenth of a normal person! And that’s only thanks to the bonus from heroic spirit summoning!