'A chef with basic proficiency at knives? Does it mean that she can be helpful in combat if I equip her with a knife? But unluckily, I don't have any way of crafting one.'
Adrian thought, but then he remembered the tech tree, 'I unlocked the farming pot because Farzom had the gardening skill, so is there any other skill-based technology for a chef?'
Swiftly, his finger tapped the tech tree tab.
[ Tech Tree ]
[ Quests ]
// Capture Spree. (Beginner)
Task - Capture 5 beings.
Reward - 3 TP //
// Alternate Source - Completed.
1 TP has been rewarded. //
// Experience Gain. (Beginner)
Task - Level up once.
Reward - 2 TP //
// Complete all the beginner quests to unlock new quests. //
[ Tech ] (1 TP)
// Fabricator //
// Bioreactor //
// Extraction Altar - 2 TP //
// Purifying Altar - 5 TP //
// Farming Pot //
// Energy Kitchen - 5 TP //
// ??? - Requirement not met. //
// ??? - Requirement not met. //
…
]
Adrian grunted in distaste, 'Bruh, so expensive! 5 TP for a kitchen? The hell?'
Though he was intrigued about it being an energy kitchen rather than a normal kitchen, but since it was way above his paygrade, he didn't bother wasting his brain cells over it.
So he simply summoned his control hub to check his energy pool before he went back to hunt.
[ Control Hub ]
[ Energy - 65% (Lowest) ] ( Recovering at the rate of 1%/hr )
[ Bioreactor - 103% (Lowest) ]
// Note: 100% Energy (Lowest) = 10% Energy (Low) approximately.
[ Shield - 96% ]
[ Tank - Energy-infused water (Lowest) x98 L
Purified water x 999 L ]
[ Tap Water - Purified Water ]
[ Sphere Slots - 1/5 ]
// Slot 1: Farzom - Corrupted Human Lv2 //
]
'Dang, just a single hunt drained like 4% of my energy even though I finished the hunt in like 2 minutes?' Adrian's eyes widened, he strictly remembered his energy being around 69 earlier after using 20 to make 16 litres of energy-infused water.
Sighing, he asked the AI for time.
[ The time currently is 11:03 AM. ]
Humming under his breath, he stepped outside to collect all the wooden chips that Farzom had managed to make before he sent him out for food hunting around the area.
'Not bad, that's like 3 more spheres.'
Counting 64 wooden chips, Adrian threw away the 4 that looked in the worst condition before putting the 60 in the fabrication hole and starting their crafting.
'Should I use the radar now or later?' Adrian narrowed his eyes at the energy percentage of his control room.
It being at 65 was pretty safe, since Adrian felt secure about fending off a large number of attacks on his shield till it drained out.
But if he used the radar now, it would be left at mere 15% energy which felt a little low for Adrian's comfort.
'Nah, I will radar at 11:59 AM, I just need to be careful and leave at least 50% in the tank till then.'
He felt stupid for converting the energy into water earlier, but since it was already done, he had to roll with it.
Unfortunately he had run out of the rocks to throw, so he sent the new bond to gather those while he waited and crafted 3 more bonding spheres in the control room.
***
With a sphere in his arm, and other 6 wrapped in his shirt in the inventory, Adrian had the sphere situation under control.
His sphere for the female zombie was left in the control room, since he felt that he had no need for it as he had no plans to recall her back in the sphere.
He had also decided to name her Chefead, since she was an undead and a chef.
Although he knew his naming sense was atrocious, he found it funny. And who was there to correct him anyway?
A monitor bound AI? Or subdued bunch of zombies?
// Corrupted Human Lv4
Grade: E
Attack: 23 -> 18
Defence: 9 -> 5
Magic: 0
Skills: Chef - The bond possesses knowledge about cooking and basic proficiency at using knives.
Unallocated. //
He had checked Chefead's stats under the sun, which were pretty decent, and he also asked for his, but the response was not as pretty to look at.
[ Manager 0420's an ungraded human, with an attack, defence and magic, all at 10. The mean of attack and defence can be termed as 'physique', as the manager may know from the talent window. ]
With Chefead carrying a bunch of rocks in her arms, and Adrian walking in front with two new sticks- both over an inch thick and sharpened- was looking for a new target to capture.
'I need some fodder for the extraction altar, since I need the level up for the quest.' Adrian thought as he roamed his eyes around, 'It would be smart to capture more zombies, but I do want a beast too.'
He sighed, feeling confused.
Managing the area was stressful and confusing, and with so much going on at the same time, it was getting harder and harder to keep up the pace.
'Come on, can't I find a single lone beast?'
Grumbling in frustration, Adrian failed to find a single lone beast, as the most were going around in groups of 3 or more, and though he did see the same shadow jumping cat as before, she disappeared back into the shadows never to be found again.
Chefead's HP was also very low, slowly trickling up in number but still in the red zone, so he couldn't afford to take on a large battle.
He had to preserve his control room's energy too, after all.
After what felt like ages, Adrian finally caught the sight of a zombie that was walking alone. However, it felt different than the rest.
The zombie was walking straight, not stumbling around like the rest, as his steps felt more profound and purposeful. His body appeared lithe and lean, as if he used to be a trained fighter once.
The biggest curveballs were the two cat-like ears on top of his lush red hair and a patchy, rotten tail coiling behind him.
'No way, a beastman?' Adrian's eyes widened.
He had read that there used to be many races on Sphardia before corruption, but reading was one thing and witnessing was another.
The moment his eyes were laid on the fine specimen, Adrian had already made the decision to capture him.
It was a shame that it was a male not a sexy cat-girl, but since they were all rotting zombies, Adrian didn't feel any sense of lust anyway.
Looking at them, all Adrian saw was that they were free and reliable workers for his area.
'Maybe finding him is better as he might be a better fighter?' Adrian shook his head, throwing off the sexist thoughts.
But just like Adrian was observing the fine specimen, the cat-man also noticed Adrian standing a dozen meters away from him.
[[ Corrupted Therianthrope - Lv5
HP: 200/200
MP: 10/10 ]]
"Oh shit…" Adrian gulped in dread, but then his inner child awakened to fight off the feeling of fear he felt…
"Chefead, I choose you! Use Rock Throw!" Adrian grinned nervously, pointing at the undead cat-kin.