Culinary System: Transmigrated to Game World

The sun was setting low in the sky, casting a warm, golden light over the land that Kai and the girl had decided to work on. The soft light turned everything a mix of amber and pink, making the earth look full of hope. The air smelled of fresh soil and the exciting feeling of new starts. The ground was solid beneath their feet, different from the wild, messy world around them. Kai wiped the sweat off his forehead, still feeling the heat of the day even though the sun was going down. His hands, rough from working for hours, held his tools with ease, and his arms were sore from the hard work.

Progress: Stamina – 20%

The girl knelt next to him, moving gracefully even though the task was rough. She held a dagger loosely in one hand, its blade worn down from being used so much, now serving as a tool to dig into the dirt. Her hands, still smooth compared to Kai's, were starting to show signs of the work—dirt gathering under her nails as she quickly got used to the tough job.

The land they chose was wild and untouched, a wide stretch of fertile soil smothered by years of neglect. Tall grasses moved slowly in the breeze, their roots tangled with rocks and scattered bits of debris. The ground was uneven, with clumpy soil in some spots and loose dirt in others, giving the place a messy but natural kind of beauty. The trees were spread out, but their roots had spread across the ground, making a tangled mess that added to the difficulty. Their trunks were twisted and crooked, and their thin branches reached out, as if the trees themselves wanted to take back the land after all this time.

The stream running through the land was a blessing. Its clear water sparkled in the sunlight as it twisted through the uneven ground. The soft sound of the water flowing over rocks and pebbles was calming, but even the stream had its own challenges. Stones were scattered across the bottom, and fallen branches had piled up along the banks, forming small dams and still pools. Clearing the land wouldn't be easy, but Kai and the girl—Varaan, as she had just introduced herself—were determined to make it happen.

Progress: Land Cleared – 5%

"You know," the girl said, breaking the silence, "if we're going to be working together, we should probably know each other's names. Unless you want me to keep calling you 'rookie.'"

Kai paused, resting the shovel against the ground as he leaned on it, his eyes scanning the land in front of him. He took a deep breath, feeling the steady rhythm of the work in his chest. The day had been long, but it wasn't over yet. He glanced at her, thinking over her words. "Fair point. My name's Kai," he said slowly, then added with a small grin, "Well, it's Nyx. I think Nyx suits me better here. It just feels right."

The girl raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk tugging at her lips. Her sharp, calculating eyes stayed on him as she processed what he said. "Nyx, huh? Was that you?"

Kai looked at her, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Where?"

"In the forest, your name was on the tree," she said, her voice clearly amused. "Guess that means you're not a rookie, huh?"

Kai let out a sigh, shaking his head as he looked away for a moment, frustration flashing in his eyes. "I don't know."

Varaan's smirk grew. "Sounds mysterious. I like it. I'm Varaan. No fancy backstory, just Varaan."

"Varaan," Kai repeated, testing the name on his tongue. It seemed to fit her—strong, sharp, and a bit unpredictable. He nodded to himself, as if the name had already settled in his mind.

"Alright, Varaan," Kai said, his tone shifting to something more focused as he straightened up. He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders before exhaling. "Day one. Let's figure out where we're starting."

Progress: Relationship – Varaan – 5%

Varaan glanced at him, her expression unimpressed but not unkind. "You sound way too excited for someone who's about to spend the day stomping around in the dirt," she said dryly, kicking at a stubborn clump of grass.

Kai grinned, unfazed by her sarcasm. "Hey, this is the first step toward building our new life," he said, his tone light and optimistic. "You should be excited too."

"Oh, I'm thrilled," she replied dryly, rolling her eyes as she kicked another patch of grass. "Nothing says 'adventure' like playing farmer."

Kai chuckled, shaking his head. "You're getting into the spirit of things. Just wait, you'll love it once we start seeing results."

Progress: Farming Skills – 5%

They started by marking out a rough boundary for their farm, creating something in the middle of all the wild chaos around them. Kai used a long, straight branch to scratch lines into the dirt, his movements deliberate, though the lines were far from perfect. Varaan followed behind, occasionally stopping to adjust his measurements, her sharp eyes scanning the land.

"You're not exactly an artist, are you?" Varaan teased, raising an eyebrow as she eyed the crooked line Kai had drawn, a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

Kai glanced at her, wiping sweat from his brow and straightening up, his hands aching from the repetitive motion. "It's a farm, not a painting," he replied, his voice light but firm. "As long as it works, I don't care if it's a little uneven."

Progress: Land Marked – 10%

"Functional, huh?" Varaan said, her smirk widening as she crossed her arms. "So, what's the plan when your 'functional' farm ends up looking like a toddler's scribble?"

Kai rolled his eyes, though a hint of amusement showed in his gaze. "You're welcome to take over if you think you can do better."

"Oh no," Varaan said, raising her hands in mock surrender. "This is your masterpiece. I'm just here to point out the flaws."

Progress: Collaboration – 10%

They carried on working, the sounds of the land around them—rustling leaves, distant birdsong, the shifting of earth beneath their feet—filling the quiet between their banter. Despite the long day and hard work, the promise of what was to come kept them moving forward, one imperfect line at a time.

They moved further into the plot, the air growing thicker with the scent of damp earth as they ventured deeper. The ground beneath their feet was uneven, soft in some places, hard in others.

Their footsteps echoed faintly in the quiet of the forest, the only sounds being the rustling of leaves and the occasional chirp of a distant bird. It wasn't long before they came across their first big obstacle: rocks. Not small pebbles scattered along the path, but massive boulders, their jagged edges half-buried in the soil, as if the earth itself had tried to swallow them. Some were as big as a wagon, their rough, gray surfaces streaked with patches of moss and lichen.

Kai knelt beside one, the coldness of the stone seeping through his gloves. He ran his hand over its uneven surface, feeling the rough texture against his skin.

"This one's going to be a problem," he muttered, his voice low and thoughtful, his brow furrowing as he sized up the massive rock.

Varaan crouched beside him, her eyes gleaming with a mix of skepticism and amusement. She took a quick glance at the boulder, then back at Kai, her dagger still loosely in her hand. She poked the rock with the tip of the blade, testing its solidity. "You think? It's only the size of a small house," she said dryly, a wry smile tugging at her lips.

Progress: Obstacle – Large Rock – 0%

Kai didn't bite. His eyes stayed fixed on the boulder, his mind already working overtime on possible ways to deal with it. "We'll have to dig around it," he said, sounding as if he was delivering a grand revelation, though there was no mistaking the hint of challenge in his voice. He stood slowly, surveying the scene, and reached for the makeshift shovel they'd crafted from a flat stone and a sturdy branch. It looked less like a tool and more like a wild guess, but it had worked for smaller obstacles. "Maybe we can roll it out of the way," he mused, as if that was somehow a reasonable plan.

Varaan raised an eyebrow, skepticism dripping from every inch of her posture. She leaned back, crossing her arms, and let out a low, amused chuckle. "Roll it? With what? Your ever-expanding optimism?" she teased, her voice dripping with mock disbelief.

Progress: Strength – 5%

Kai, completely undeterred by her sarcasm, glanced at her with an expression of stubborn resolve. "With leverage," he said confidently, though even he could tell there was a little uncertainty in his voice. "If we can get a branch under it, we might just be able to lift it enough to move it."

Varaan sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes, but didn't interrupt. She knew when to let him chase his foolhardy dreams. "Sure, why not," she muttered to herself, her eyes already scanning the horizon as if this was an exercise in patience.

They didn't dig—not yet. Instead, they discussed their options, moving around the rock like they were inspecting some kind of ancient puzzle. The boulder sat there, mocking them with its sheer size, like a stubborn toddler refusing to play along.

"Alright, so we need more leverage, right?" Kai continued, now pacing around the boulder, trying to act like they were already in action mode. "Maybe if we find a longer branch—"

Varaan cut him off with a grin, crossing her arms in a posture of pure sarcasm. "Or, hear me out—" she said with an exaggerated shrug, "—we could just work around it. Not every rock has to be moved, you know?"

Kai frowned, eyeing the boulder again as if it had personally insulted him. "But it's right in the middle of where I wanted to plant," he muttered, the frustration clear in his voice.

Varaan's grin widened, and she casually tossed her hair back. "Then plant somewhere else," she said, her tone far too cheery. "Flexibility, rookie. Flexibility."

Progress: Problem Solving – 10%

The two of them continued to stand around the boulder, pretending to think of creative solutions, while Varaan mentally checked out. The underbrush surrounding them was thick, the air dense with the scent of moss, decaying leaves, and damp earth. The ground was uneven, soft in places and hard in others, like nature itself was mocking their half-hearted plans.

Eventually, they found themselves at the edge of a dense thicket, stumbling over thick, gnarled roots that seemed to come out of nowhere. The roots twisted and turned beneath their feet, some rising up like angry serpents, others burrowing deep into the soil as if the forest was determined to trip them at every turn.

Progress: Obstacle – Gnarled Roots – 0%

Kai knelt, inspecting the roots with a furrowed brow, as though somehow their sheer existence was a personal affront to him. "These are going to be a pain to remove," he muttered, trying and failing to move one with just his hands. "What the hell kind of tree grows like this?"

Varaan crouched beside him, her sharp eyes assessing the mess before her. She poked at the roots with her dagger, though the blade barely made a dent. "You're not wrong. These things are like steel cables," she said with a smirk, her voice heavy with irritation.

Progress: Tools – 5%

Kai, still determined to make something happen, stood and wiped the sweat from his brow. "We just need to figure out how to work with them," he grumbled, his voice tinged with frustration. "We can't just let them stop us."

Varaan shook her head with a soft chuckle, looking at him as though he had just proposed a bad reality show idea. "You really think you're going to outsmart a hundred-year-old tree root?" she asked, sarcasm lacing her every word.

Kai gave her a tired, almost exasperated grin. "I don't know. But I'm going to try," he said with a sigh, staring at the roots like they were his new, impossible mission.

Progress: Problem Solving – 15%

The sun began to dip low in the sky, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange, they had marked out a rough boundary for their farm. It wasn't perfect—there were still rocks, roots, and uneven ground to deal with—but it was a start. Kai stood back, surveying their work. The shadows stretched long across the land, and the air was cooler now, carrying the scent of the approaching evening. He felt a small sense of pride in their progress, though he knew it was just the beginning.

"Not bad for a first day," Kai said with a grin, his voice a little more upbeat as he glanced at the rough lines they had scratched in the dirt to mark the area.

Varaan raised an eyebrow, looking at the uneven boundary they had mapped out. "Not bad? We barely got anything done," she said, her voice dry, and she kicked a loose stone across the ground in frustration.

"We mapped the terrain," Kai said, gesturing to the area they had marked. "That's progress."

Varaan sighed, but she couldn't hide the faint smile that tugged at the corner of her lips. "You're way too optimistic, you know that?"

"Someone has to be," Kai replied with a chuckle, his mood lifting.

As they walked back to their makeshift camp, the day's exhaustion seemed to fade slightly. The cool evening air helped, and the crackling of the fire in the distance called to them. Kai felt the weariness in his limbs, but there was a spark of hope in his chest. They had a long way to go, but they were moving forward, one step at a time. And for now, that was enough.