Fantasy Realm [One Piece] [Harry Potter] [Naruto] - [Progression] [LitRPG]

Chapter 176: Riding Tereza... Literally

Alex spends a calm day with his parents and other relatives before returning home. By now, the weakening effects from Tereza's blood-draining ability have worn off completely.

As he steps back into his apartment, Alex immediately picks up a strange smell. It's hard to describe, it smells like meat roasting, but it's unusually strong, slightly pungent, and not particularly appetizing.

Looks like she's back at it, huh? Alex thinks, wrinkling his nose slightly. I better get used to this... I'll probably be smelling this for the next couple of weeks, he adds, slightly regretting his earlier decision to let Menchi set up a kitchen specifically for her experiments.

Alex walks into the living room and finds Tereza in her usual spot on the couch, reading his Harry Potter book collection.

She closes the book as soon as she notices him. "Had a nice time at home?" she asks.

"Yeah. Felt strangely... normal, I guess. You already done in the Realm? I'm guessing Menchi will be busy for a while. It's getting dark outside, will she really cook through the night again?"

"Probably," Tereza replies with a shrug, looking a little helpless.

"Anyway, Rishi told me his SPR is at 23, and nothing's come up yet. If there is such a thing as a special threshold, it's probably at 25, 30, or even higher," Tereza says.

"Shit... That's so unfair!" Alex curses, clearly frustrated. "You know what? We made a contract with Roja... we might as well ask her. If she refuses, we can probably buy that information from her. It's not that important to me since I can't freely raise my stats anyway, but for everyone else, this kind of information is crucial."

Alex suddenly remembers the other reason they entered the Realm and turns to Tereza. "Any good news? Did the vendors buy Menchi's dishes?"

Tereza nods. "Yeah, surprisingly, your hunch was spot on. Menchi is insanely talented. Even her Gray-ranked dishes, made with Gray-quality meat and generic ingredients, just about broke even on cost—despite selling them to the workers at Realm-run stores. The unranked food, though, was a big loss, just like we expected.

"As you said, as long as Menchi can maintain the grade of the prime ingredient, the dishes will sell for roughly what we spent. Plus, we sold some to players directly, charging 20% to 50% more depending on their knowledge of market prices. A few fools would buy anything from two cute and sweet ladies like us." She smirks slightly. "We also sold the White-quality dishes, and Menchi made a nice profit. Overall, your investment paid off big time. We've already bought new ingredients as well."

Alex's expression twists into a nasty grin, making Tereza recoil slightly. Hehehehehe, I did it! Alex thinks, his mind racing. The Menchi gold mine is now open! She can cook all day, and for each dish, we'll earn FC—even if she just maintains the quality. I can't imagine how much I'll make if she has 4 or even 8 weeks until the next mission starts. I can't believe Menchi is already this skilled! If her skills grow even further....

"Stop it. I know where you're coming from, but that expression disgusts me," Tereza says flatly, giving Alex a judgmental look.