Preparations in Ordinary Days

Meanwhile, Linsey had already set out on his return journey.

He headed east toward the Graveyard Church, muttering under his breath:

"O backpack painstakingly made by Qiao Er, let's see what you can do."

As soon as he finished speaking, Linsey activated the ability of his Personal Baggage, transforming the newly acquired backpack into Personal Baggage.

The next moment brought a pleasant surprise.

Over the past three years, Linsey had tried transforming quite a few backpacks in town into Personal Baggage. Yet regardless of their material or size, the resulting baggage had never held more than thirty slots.

But this backpack, painstakingly made by Qiao Er, raised that limit by more than half!

It had a full forty-eight slots! At the same time, because Qiao Er had used his craftsmanship to create an excellent system for separating and storing items, an One-Key Sort icon had appeared in the upper-right corner of Linsey's Personal Baggage after the transformation.

Linsey immediately tried out the feature.

He tapped One-Key Sort, and the game he had caught, the odds and ends he usually kept inside, and his supply of Clear Water were immediately arranged neatly by category, making everything clear at a glance.

At the same time, it also messed up Linsey's preferred arrangement.

"..."

"Damn it!"

Linsey's face darkened.

He honestly put everything back in the order he was used to, then set off again.

"Qiao Er really put a lot of thought into this."

Muttering in admiration, Linsey soon returned to the Graveyard Church.

However, he did not go straight home. Instead, he took a detour to the woods beside the cemetery.

Several tall, towering maple trees grew there.

At heights between one and a half and two meters, thin tapping tubes had been inserted into the maple trunks to draw out Maple Syrup. Wooden buckets hung from the other ends of the tubes, collecting the Maple Syrup that flowed through them.

Linsey had set these up to prepare the necessary syrup.

He removed the buckets filled with Maple Syrup and stuffed them into his Personal Baggage. Then he put away the tapping tubes, treated the wounds in the trees, and only then returned to the church.

"Nun, I'm back!"

Linsey called out the moment he entered.

Red Moon was still seated in the chapel, carrying out her seemingly unchanging prayers.

Seeing Linsey return, Red Moon merely gave a slight nod and reminded him:

"There's food left for you in the kitchen."

Linsey had long grown used to how he and Red Moon communicated.

He nodded his thanks and headed to the kitchen himself.

As usual, a piece of bread and a bowl of vegetable soup sat on the kitchen table.

Linsey picked them up and ate while placing the game he had caught today on the cutting board.

Five pheasants, one Wild Rabbit, and three squirrels.

Since he had already made such a plentiful catch with the Wild Boar, Linsey had not turned in the other game and kept it for himself instead.

He skillfully bled the animals, plucked their feathers, and skinned them.

Then he used a knife to separate the meat, organs, and fat.

At this point, the meat was basically processed. It only needed to be smoked or cured before it could be stored.

But Linsey did not stop there.

After dividing up the meat, he took out the Maple Syrup he had collected from his backpack.

Without modern collection equipment,

wooden buckets could not keep out the tiny insects that came to steal a taste.

At the bottom of the buckets of Maple Syrup, drowned bugs had settled like a layer of tiny sesame seeds.

"Why did you have to come compete with me for food?"

Linsey curled his lip.

He did not mind it too much. After carefully scooping all the bugs out of the Maple Syrup, he lit the kitchen stove again and began boiling it down.

The process was simple, but lengthy.

Once the water in the Maple Syrup had been boiled away, what remained was sweet Maple Syrup.

Fortunately, Linsey had the bonus of mastery-level cooking.

He was much faster than an ordinary person.

While the syrup boiled down, Linsey took out a mortar and pestle from the corner of the kitchen and began grinding flour himself.

In the end, the flour, animal fat, lean meat, syrup, and a small amount of salt were mixed together. Linsey picked up a little of the mixture with his finger and tasted it with the tip of his tongue.

"Mmm... the flavor's just right!"

Next, Linsey began repeatedly pounding and kneading it into the shape of a large brick.

About fifteen minutes later,

Linsey let out a breath and carried the food brick outside.

It was already late at night. The light in Red Moon's room had just gone out, and a starry night shrouded the autumn sky.

A light breeze drifted past, bringing a cool chill to the small courtyard within the church.

Linsey stretched and picked a good spot.

He spread a layer of burlap over the ground, placed the freshly made food brick on top, and covered it with an insect screen.

"Finally done."

Standing in the courtyard, Linsey looked up at the heavens.

In weather like this, the food mixture would probably set after a day.

Then Linsey would slice it into thin pieces the size of biscuits, bake them in the oven, and dry them a second time.

Once that step was complete,

the preparations would be considered a complete success.

This was the ration Linsey had prepared for himself—Meat Biscuit.

According to rumor, the first Exploration Team from his previous life to conquer the polar regions had used similar provisions. It was a tribute to history, in a way.

As for the flavor...

Even with the boost from his cooking skill, the saltiness, sourness, astringency, greasiness, and bitterness of Meat Biscuit were no joke.

But breaking through Black Mountain was not something he could accomplish just by talking about it.

This was an expedition—an actual, long journey across worlds!

Even though Linsey had decent hunting skills,

no one could guarantee that he would not find himself in an environment where game could not be obtained. That was why these long-lasting rations, capable of providing large amounts of energy, were an indispensable preparation.

Even if the taste left something to be desired, Linsey could accept it as long as it worked.

And this was not the first time he had prepared Meat Biscuit.

After his cooking skill had reached mastery level, Linsey would occasionally hunt on his own and make this kind of Meat Biscuit.

Over time, bit by bit, the quantity had accumulated.

By now, there were a full 443 slices of Meat Biscuit in his backpack, along with a corresponding amount of Clear Water.

At the same time, to deal with other emergencies,

he had also relied on the botanical knowledge Finn had taught him to collect two kinds of emetic seeds with different principles, three types of herbs that could quickly stop bleeding, a plant-based coating that repelled mosquitoes and insects, and Coca Leaf that could be used in emergencies to sharpen his mind or numb injuries.

Dong—dong—

Midnight was close at hand when the bells in the west of town rang out the time.

By then, the Maple Syrup he had been boiling down with acceleration had finally finished cooking.

Linsey poured it into jars, putting one portion in his own backpack and leaving the rest in the kitchen for Red Moon to use.

After cleaning up, he returned to his little room.

He carefully lit the oil lamp on the table and spent half an hour reading "Explorer Phi and the Mountain Savage Woman" by its light.

Linsey's day finally came to an end, and he lay down on his bed, sinking into deep sleep.

He still had to go to the Lord's Manor tomorrow, so he could not keep staying up late.

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