The sun was just starting to set once we left the Wandering Waystation. I had Mug take us past a few market stalls to pick up basic food ingredients for him and Keggr. Flour, wheat, potatoes, eggs, onions—all the hardy ingredients that could survive sitting at room temperature for an extended period. I know that I could technically Recycle food, but for some reason, it felt icky to me. I mean, this was technically my body, after all. Would you want to feed your friends with substances produced from your body? Yeah, exactly.

  I also managed to barter for a couple of goats for Aranya. It wasn’t quite sustainable, but it was probably a start. Our shopping done, we made our way home.

  I was greeted by the sight of the bakery, the outside now almost fully repaired. It seemed there was only one major hole left in the roof, but even that had been refurbished into a nice, symmetrical opening instead of a random exploded patch of bricks. Perhaps Keggr had left it that way for Aranya? It’s not like she could fit through the front door.

  Mug took the purchased ingredients immediately, and after I used Recycling to make a few pots, began to cook a thick stew on the repaired oven. Keggr sat by and smoked, criticizing Mug’s choices based on the smell. Aranya was perched in the rafters, watching lazily and occasionally suggesting that Mug’s mystery soup would really pop with a butler or two, or at least a town guard.

  It was a nice moment, but my lack of digestive tract and olfactory senses kind of ruined the moment for me. I had never been one for cooking or big meals when I was alive. I mostly ate frozen food in front of my computer, and my family thought saying hello to each other in the morning was a good substitute for quality time. Now, I was feeling a little left out and I would give a kidney to smell that stew. Funny how things we took for granted became the things we wanted most.

  To distract myself from my melancholy, I took an internal inventory. After shopping, we still had 13 gold and 4 silver. Not great, but it seems we had most of what we needed for now. I still owed Keggr’s smugglers, but that could wait for another day. I also had two new items—my Larynx of Linguists and Golems for Real Dumb Guys. One of those was an easy enough puzzle to solve: I activated Devour and felt the Larynx break down inside of me.

  OBJECT ACQUIRED: LARYNX OF LINGUIST, BROKEN. EXPERIENCE VALUE: 535.

  ‘Ah, Void. It’s nice to hear you again, buddy. You’ve been quiet lately.’

  CORRECT. MY PRESENCE HAS NOT BEEN REQUESTED IN SOME TIME. THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT UNLESS MY SERVICES ARE REQUIRED, THEN MY INPUT ISN’T VALUED OR SOUGHT.

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  Were Void’s feelings hurt because I hadn’t spoken to it in a while? Another surprise. I had figured Void was more like a cold, efficient robot rather than a being with emotions, but I had definitely detected a hint of reproach in its voice.

  ‘Apologies, Void. Of course your input is valued. Go ahead, give me a little bit of that classic Void input. Come on, tell me, how was your day?’

  …AN OBJECT WAS ACQUIRED. IT WAS A LARYNX OF LINGUIST. IT WAS BROKEN.

  I guess even disembodied all-knowing system guides felt awkward when being put on the spot.

  With the Larynx integrated, my next step was less certain to me. I levitated ‘Golems for Real Dumb Guys’ in front of me, using Telekinesis to open the small book. Inside there were many complicated diagrams and illustrations of the parts of a golem.

  ‘Hey Void, I have a real question. How do I use this tome? Do I Devour it or can I just read it?’ I was realizing in real time how little I understood magic in this world.

  GENERALLY, EATING BOOKS DOES NOT TRANSFER THE KNOWLEDGE THEY HOLD. MAGICAL TOMES ARE THE SAME. SUGGESTION: READ IT SLOWLY AND START FROM THE FRONT. THE WORDS GO LEFT TO RIGHT.

  There was the Void I knew and loved! Well, it was better than nothing, and it gave me something to do when everyone went to bed and I was alone with my thoughts. I placed it back inside me for the time being.

  I had one more thing I wanted to experiment with: Devouring and Recycling gold. Look, I know what I said earlier about not wanting to crash the local economy or create hyperinflation—but that was before I saw how much good spells cost! I needed to get stronger, and I wanted that to be a targeted growth, not just me eating random things until I got lucky. I activated Devour.

  WARNING: RESTRICTED OBJECT DETECTED. GOLD COIN CAN BE DEVOURED, BUT NO EXPERIENCE OR BLUEPRINT FOR ALCHEMICAL RECYCLING WILL BE AWARDED. WOULD YOU STILL LIKE TO PROCEED?

  I hastily told Void no. Looks like my body had some hardwired limitations to what I was and wasn’t allowed to make. That made sense; Mother and Father had been clear that this second chance at life was a chance for me to redeem my useless former existence. Being able to print infinite money wasn’t really much in the way of character growth. They probably wanted me to struggle and, like, slay dragons or save princesses or something.

  Two things I had technically done already, but maybe not quite as heroically as they had in mind. Well, looks like I was going to have to make my money the old-fashioned fantasy RPG way: doing quests and dangerous missions for looted items and monetary rewards. I could probably have Mug show me a shady tavern with hooded figures looking for mercenary ne'er-do-wells, but that would have to wait a while. We had been going nonstop since I was first discovered in the throne room; I wanted a chance to rest at my base before I threw myself lid-first into danger again.

  Eventually, the three roommates I had fallen in with went their separate ways for the night. Aranya left last, taking one of the goats with her in a tight cocoon. “My thanks for the midnight snack!” she purred as she disappeared upstairs, leaving me alone.

  In the empty first floor, I used telekinesis to hold my new tome in front of me, and by light of the oven began to read. Alone in the dark studying something no one else cared about—this was something I was all too familiar with.