TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

Intense pain flared through Tom's shoulder. He groaned and rubbed his arm.

Stupid wolf.

The morning sun was barely visible on the horizon. There were dozens of campfires scattered around the hill, surrounded by hundreds of sleeping bodies on the frozen ground.

Tom's stomach rumbled. It was time to find Art and the butcher, for what Tom hoped would be the start of a wolf-meat breakfast.

As he made his way around the camp, Bo was already up and hard at work, seemingly trying to teach a young man how to construct a [Profession Booth].

There were still many uncertainties when it came to recipes and blueprints. Tom didn't know if he could pass on the directions to cook a [Hearty Boar Kabob], or whether other [Cooks] would need to obtain the recipe from somewhere.

Tom searched through over half of the campfires before he finally spotted Art, huddled under a blanket, warming his hands over the fire. He and Art shook hands, then Art pointed to each person sleeping by the fire—his wife, son, brother, and brother's family. They had been celebrating New Year's Eve together before the earthquake struck.

Art woke his sister-in-law and introduced Tom to Cindy. Cindy's skin was a lighter shade of brown than Art's, and the dark smudges beneath her eyes were more obvious. Her grip was strong. She explained she had prior experience working at a butcher shop, and Job had offered her the position.

Cindy had worked through the night and successfully processed and cleaned both wolves. She uncovered a large bundle, buried under a pile of snow, containing hundreds of cubes of meat.

Tom looked at the large pile in awe. "Cindy, this is fantastic! Thank you!"

The meat was darker than the boar meat and didn't seem to have any visible fat. He hoped it would taste fine, or at least not be gross. But first, he had to figure out how to cook it with mana since he currently only knew how to make [Hearty Boar Kabobs].

Tom dragged the heavy bundle of meat back to his cooking area and got a fire going. Nearby, there was a large pile of maple logs that had been cut and left by one of the loggers. He brought one over to the fire, letting the sticky maple syrup heat up over the flames.

Tom had made countless [Hearty Boar Kabobs] by this point, so he didn't need to refer to the recipe. He took a thick piece of wolf meat from the bundle, pierced it with a stick, and placed it over the fire.

After a few minutes, Tom pulled the sizzling meat off the flame and basted it with warm syrup, trying to infuse it with mana as he had with the boar.

Nothing happened.

He tentatively took a bite. It wasn't too bad; the boar meat was better, but this was good enough for someone who was starving.

Tom finished the cube of meat and waited for a buff that never came.

He was also still hungry. Double fail.

He tried again with no success.

Tom ate the meat so it wouldn't go to waste, and pondered his next steps.

Time after time, he tried cooking the wolf kabob. He focused on infusing his mana in different ways, but each time was a failure.

Tom angrily gnawed on a piece of meat.

Chloe approached Tom at a snail's pace. He stood and walked away from the cookfire, breaking the cooking time dilation.

Tom handed Chloe a piece of meat as he complained to her about his failure.

Chloe listened, and explained that in many video games players could discover recipes. Therefore—based on the other rules of the apocalypse—it should be achievable.

"Perhaps you should experiment with varying portion amounts," Chloe said. "Maybe wolf isn't as filling as boar; you could try adding an extra cube of wolf meat or something."

"Good idea."

Tom returned to the fire to try two cubes of wolf meat, drizzled with syrup.

Still unsuccessful.

He let out a sigh and handed the skewer to Chloe. He pondered what to try next as Chloe ate the entire kabob.

Two women approached the cookfire hand-in-hand and introduced themselves as Heather and Megan. They were White, heavy-set, and somewhere in their midthirties. They had chosen to become [Cooks] because Heather had fond memories of growing up in a household where cooking was a cherished activity. When she and Megan married, their shared enthusiasm for baking and wholesome foods had warmed their home and their lives. When Bo had said they needed food-related professions, they had happily signed up.

"Was Caretaker Job angry with you for choosing to be a [Cook]?" Tom asked.

Heather and Megan looked at each other, confused.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Not at all," said Megan. "He seemed excited, actually."

"So, what can we do?" Heather asked. "I'm happy to help. I chose a [Crawdad Gumbo] recipe because it gives resistance to extreme conditions." She shrugged. "My feet were frozen to the insides of my boots at the time. I don't know where I'm supposed to get the crawdads though . . . Like I said, happy to help however I can."

"Same here," said Megan, rubbing her gloved hands together. "I can't make my recipe yet either. I need bovine milk to mix with snow to create an ice-cream dessert that increases morale."

"Meg was always the sweet-tooth." Heather smiled at her wife.

"Those both sound great!" said Tom. "I'm hoping we'll be able to teach and share all our recipes with each other." He motioned for them to sit across from him at the cookfire.

"First, though, we need to get these people fed," said Tom. "I haven't been able to successfully cook a wolf kabob yet. I'm basing my attempts off my [Hearty Boar Kabob], but I'm not even sure if it's possible to magically cook without a recipe. If this was boar it would be easy."

Tom picked up a piece of wolf meat and pretended it was boar. He walked through the simple steps of adding ingredients and cooking the meat.

"Then, this is where I would infuse the mana into the kabob, and boom; it becomes a magically enhanced meal with an added buff. However, when I try to replicate the same process with the wolf meat, nothing happens. My daughter has a knack for game stuff, and she suggested maybe we can create our own recipes, and perhaps it's all about portion sizes and ratios."

For one time-dilated hour, Heather, Megan, and Tom tirelessly grilled kabobs and handed them out to the famished crowd; so far, none of the kabobs had any magical effects.

"Ah ha!" Heather had an unfocused look in her eyes and a wide smile on her face. She held one of the smoking kabobs to her lips and nibbled the meat. "It worked! The buff is there!"

"How did you do it?" Tom asked.

"Well, portion control played a part, in that I used twice as much syrup. Also, wolf meat is denser and more gamey than boar. So, I tenderized it by smashing it with a rock, then marinated it in syrup, then grilled it and hit it with the syrup one final time."

"Oh," Tom said.

I would never have thought to do that.

Tom and Megan worked through the steps as Heather hovered over their shoulders.

Megan's first attempt was successful.

Tom infused the kabob on his third attempt. A prompt appeared in his vision.

[Congratulations, you have successfully unlocked the recipe for Hearty Wolf Kabobs.]

As Tom took a bite, the Kabob gave an XS boost to physical damage. Just as importantly, it provided warmth—like the Boar Kabobs.

Makes sense since they both use the same syrup.

Tom's mind was ramping up. Could Tushar blend his potato recipe with the syrup to create a vegetable dish that provided warmth? Could you combine anything edible, as long as you figured out the correct proportions and preparation techniques? He made a mental note to find Tushar and discuss it with him later.

The Kabob was so delicious that Tom couldn't resist eating the rest of it. He felt completely fat and happy afterward, like he had just finished a full meal.

He cooked more Kabobs to share with Amber and some others who were now awake.

"Bridget told me we have several [Cooks] now," said Heather cheerily. "I'm going to find them and show them the recipe. We're going to have a breakfast rush here soon with how great this smells!"

Heather stood and almost skipped away.

Tom and Megan were busy cooking Kabobs when Heather returned with a group of new faces. Tom was surprised by the number of [Cooks] now. They arranged themselves around the cookfire.

Heather picked up a piece of wolf meat and demonstrated the simple steps of tenderizing, adding ingredients, and infusing mana into the meat.

The new chefs were able to replicate the process in no time at all. They chatted in amazement as they were awarded the recipe.

They picked that up a lot faster than I did.

Deflated, Tom set down his skewer sticks.

The scent of grilling meat filled the air around the camp. The new [Cooks] passed Kabobs to those who had followed the enticing aroma.

Lower down the hill, Bo was waving for Tom to join him; it was time to go exploring again.

Tom stood, thanked Heather for teaching him the recipe, and said goodbye to the other [Cooks]. He plodded down the hill, staring at the ground.

The large group waiting for him consisted of his family, the Robinsons, Sophia, Art, Roger, Charlie, Jeannie, and a few new faces.

Bo nodded at Tom, then addressed them with his plan for the day. "We'll take a more direct route to the fishing area we visited yesterday, to catch some more fish and check our traps. Afterward, we'll follow the stream in a southeastern direction. This should bring us back closer to camp, while we search for a more accessible fishing spot."

Roger gave Bo a thumbs up.

Bo smiled, and continued. "As a [City Planner], I have access to various zones such as mining and rock quarrying. I want to keep an eye out for these areas, even if we can't utilize them yet. So, Jeannie and Charlie will be joining us again to scout out potential sources of ore."

Bo indicated a tall White man beside him, sporting thick mousy hair tied in a hipster-style bun.

"We also have Steve, our first [Quarrier] on the hill, who will be searching for quality rocks. Also along with us are Ryan and Grace, two [Gatherers] tasked with finding berries, tubers, nuts, and other edible plants."

Bo pointed out Ryan and Grace: a younger White man with tattoos and prematurely gray hair, and an older Latine woman with purple highlights in her hair and one broken lens in her glasses.

Bo grimaced, then pointed up the hill.

Blake ambled down the slope toward them.

"Looks like our good buddy Blake is going with us again," said Bo. "Last, but not least, is Derek, our [Herbalist], and I'm not sure—"

A pudgy White man in his early twenties stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Hi! My specialization is [Medicinal Plants]. Tushar needs [Pink Chamomile] plants for his potato recipe, so if anyone sees any bright pink plants please let me know."

There was a pause.

Bo nodded, and clapped his hands together. "We've got a long journey ahead, so let's not waste any more time. Lead the way, Art!"

Nineteen people trekked through the woods and arrived at the fishing stream in just over three uneventful hours.

Many of Art's traps had been successful. Sophia and Art were thrilled as they each dragged another large rabbit back to the group and tossed them onto the dead animal pile.

Tom spotted a variety of interesting creatures besides the large rabbits: a ferocious-looking long-clawed armadillo; an albino raccoon; a beaver; and some type of big-ass ferret thing.

"Art, could you talk Sophia through the steps needed to create these snares?" asked Tom. "One of the [Cooks] was able to teach others a new food recipe."

"Already did," stated Art.

Sophia dangled a dead rabbit in front of Tom's nose.

Like the day before, Roger had a great fishing trip; he reeled in thirty plump catfish.

Tom began loading the fish and animal carcasses into backpacks and onto people's backs. Even Blake pitched in—possibly enticed by the prospect of more upmarket delicacies than wolf meat.

The group followed the winding stream back toward their base, bearing enough food to sustain the entire campsite for at least a day. Blake had even stopped mumbling about needing to leave the camp—for a few hours at least.

For the entire hike, Tom had been scanning the forest and straining his senses toward the smallest scent or sound. There were no signs of monsters. Instead, squirrels and birds flitted through the trees, and the sun shone down on the chilly but beautiful day.

They had been walking for about an hour when Jeannie exclaimed, "Look at that! It's glowing green!" She pointed excitedly to a small boulder jutting out from the side of a steep bank near the stream.

The group made their way over to the rock.

Jeannie crouched, and brushed dirt and leaves away from its surface. "There!" She traced her finger along a thin reddish-brown vein that ran through the rock. "It's Copper!"

"It sure is!" Bo examined it too. "My interface would let me set a [Copper Mine] here if we owned the territory. Great work, Jeannie!"

She held up her hand with a smile and they did a high-five.

Bo stood for a moment, his eyes elsewhere, and nodded at the rocks sticking out across the stream. "Looks like that area over there can be set up as a [Rock Quarry]. What's weird is we can set up a Quarry now if we want to. Come to think of it, we don't own the territory at the hill, but we were able to set up a [Lumber Zone]." His faraway look returned.

"Makes sense," Chloe said. "Most games have beginner resources that everyone can access."

Steve hopped over a few rocks in the waterway and made it across the stream. He leaned over and peered at the rocks Bo had indicated, kicking away leaves in several spots, and tapping his knuckles on the stone.

He stood and nodded to himself, then hopped back across the stream. "Prompt said there is a mix of limestone and shale."

"We're gonna need pickaxes," Bo stated to Hana, who nodded.

After exploring the area a bit more, Jeannie and Steve rejoined them.

They all gathered their gear and continued following the stream.

Along the way, Roger smiled and pointed to several spots—much closer to camp—where he could potentially fish.

Art and Sophia took the opportunity to set up some snare traps along the water's edge.

After another half-hour of walking, Loo pointed out smoke from the campfires.

"My estimate was wrong," Bo said. "This is great. The stream is much closer to camp than I thought."

They followed its rushing waters until Art—who was in the lead—held up a hand, signaling for quiet.

Tom crept forward to see what Art had spotted.

A massive formation of rocky boulders protruded from the ground. The stacked arrangement vaguely resembled the top half of a Headless torso, with a gaping hole in the middle. Sharp stalactites and stalagmites jutted out of the cave's mouth, giving the impression of sharp teeth.

Holy shit. That's a Dungeon.