With every step that Lorelei took away from Gyde and Glyde, she felt herself questioning her decision. How on earth had she just been able to justify to herself that it was okay to walk away? That mail room had ten of her ex-colleagues within it, and she'd just left them to die. She hadn't needed to do that.

  Just because she hadn't wanted to go back to her old role in life didn't mean the only other choice was to abandon people in need. She could have freed them, explained what was happening, and then walked off into the sunset with a clear conscience. But, despite those thoughts, her pace did not slow down. And soon, the building with its accusative green dots inside had been left long behind.

  One cold bitch, after all.

  So where to next? Checking with her [Quest Log], it appeared that the most sensible place to head towards would be the Mystical Market. Whatever that was. She had 'something shiny' to buy from there to complete Gear Up and had earned an entry ticket for it as a reward from Money, Money, Money. The Guide had also suggested that she could find things to splurge her gold on from soloing the [Kobold Champion] within.

  She could be wrong - because all that together was a pretty subtle nudge - but she sensed the Mystical Market might be supposed to be her next destination. "And I wouldn't want to piss the System off, would I, by not following a quest chain?"

  Lorelei didn't answer and tried to let the words bounce off her. It didn't work. She walked on silently for about an hour, picking off little groups of Kobolds and any Wolves she felt comfortable handling. Her [Whispering Gloves of the Seer] were adding more oomph to a successful , and she felt her mana pool was filling back up noticeably quicker after a .

  Whilst Level 2 and 3 Kobolds were a cakewalk, she still occasionally got in trouble with Level 4 Wolves - particularly if they could get off a and called in back-up. However, with so many more available health points, a deeper mana pool and a health skill that was both awesome and potentially lethal, she was raising her Skinning skill at quite a pace.

  Lorelei finished skinning the last of the Wolves and put away her knife. "I've been getting loads of [Leather Offcuts]. Where do they go?"

  Lorelei did so, and a list of things she had apparently collected started scrolling past. Amongst a bunch of random items of stationery, she must have inadvertently swiped from Glyde and Glyde during the Kobold battle - it seemed even the apocalypse couldn't lessen her appetite for office supplies based kleptomania - she also had 2x[20 Leather Offcut] and 15 [Wolf Meat].

  "Is there something I can do with all this? Like, I assume there's a Cooking skill to learn. Or maybe Leatherworking?" As soon as she spoke the words, she was aware that a couple of notifications popped up telling her that in addition to Skinning under her skill, she now also had Cooking and Leatherworking.

  "Guide, I literally just asked you a question about whether those were skills I could learn. It's not my fault my Class seems geared to pick things up quickly!"

  There was a soft ding, and another notification appeared.

  "Interestingly, that's not the least helpful customer support message I have ever received. Now, how do I trigger this . . ." Lorelei sensed she was unlikely to get much more info from the Guide for a while, so it took her a few minutes before a small, softly glowing fire appeared at her feet. And then even longer before she worked out how to transfer the [Wolf Meat] out of her inventory and into the smaller inventory contained within her Campfire.

  As with the skinning penalty, Lorelei could see that the debuff had the potential to be a pain, but it wasn't too terrible. If, as the Guide had said, there was no one else on the planet with as many professional skills as her, then she needed to take advantage of that head start. A notification let her know that her [Wolf Meat] had been turned into [Charred Steak - poisoned] and that she had gained a +1 in Cooking.

  Shrugging, she refreshed the fire, took the poisoned steak into her inventory and threw another chunk of [Wolf Meat] onto the Campfire.

  She slowly worked her way through all of her meat, ending up with 8 [Charred Steak] and 7 [Charred Steak - poisoned].

  "What happens if I eat a steak? I mean, a normal one?"

  "And a poisoned one does it the other way around? Loses 40 health and reduces stamina and spirit if eaten for too long. Got you. Can other people see the food is poisoned?"

  That wasn't what Lorelei meant, but she'd take any advantage she could get. She was about to see what she could do with Leatherworking when something blue caught her attention on her Map's edge. Standing up caused the Map to swing slightly in that direction, and she realised she was seeing the corner of a building.

  "Guide, why's that building blue?"

  "What do you mean, a 'neutral' venue?"

  Lorelei took a deep breath and dispelled the Campfire.

  "Seems like I'm going shopping."