Chapter 276 - 266: Elf and Sugar 17

The beet field from yesterday had been completely harvested. Today, the Sea Sprites assigned them a new task.

Moira Lynch was assigned the job of stirring syrup.

Juice extracted from plants was processed into syrup.

At this stage, it couldn’t be called Elf Syrup yet; it was just ordinary syrup.

Moira Lynch’s task was to continuously stir this ordinary syrup until it was completely free of bubbles.

This was the first step in making Elf Syrup.

Moira Lynch stared at the massive cauldron, several meters high, and the stirring rod thicker than her own leg. She was dumbfounded.

Although her strength was considerable, it wasn’t nearly enough to stir such a huge vat of syrup.

Seeing that the Sea Sprite had already left, Moira Lynch realized she had no choice but to brace herself and get to it.

Fortunately, she had plenty of Strength Potions on hand.

Moira Lynch braced herself for a tough time, but after she started, she found the work wasn’t nearly as difficult as she’d imagined.

She wrapped her hands around the stirring rod and began stirring the contents of the giant vat with surprising ease.

Aside from the sheer size of the stirring rod, Moira Lynch felt no resistance at all.

As Moira Lynch stirred, a steady stream of bubbles rose from the syrup in the vat.

The air filled with the fragrance of flowers and fruit, tickling Moira Lynch’s nose.

She guessed the vat of syrup she was stirring must have been extracted from some kind of fruit.

A look around revealed that everyone else was in a similar situation.

Many other players had been assigned the same job.

The player closest to Moira Lynch was one who had awakened a body-enhancement talent.

’It must be a partial enhancement,’ she thought.

Moira Lynch noticed that the man’s arm muscles were completely out of proportion with the rest of his body.

On Caelus, partial enhancement was classified as a mid-tier talent. Since it only strengthened one part of the body, the unenhanced areas remained extremely vulnerable.

It was easy for opponents to find and exploit such a weakness in a fight.

’Still, arm enhancement is a perfect fit for this job, isn’t it?’

The player clearly thought so, too.

His already thick, muscular arms swelled another size. He gripped the stirring rod and began to stir with frantic speed.

He moved so fast his arms became a blur.

Moira Lynch watched in shock. ’That can’t be right,’ she thought.

The purpose of stirring was to get the bubbles out of the syrup and mix the liquid thoroughly.

’It’s definitely getting mixed, but at that speed, won’t it just create even more bubbles?’

The commotion quickly drew the attention of others.

A group of Sea Sprites in work uniforms came rushing over. When they saw the syrup churning in a vortex, they looked like they were about to faint.

The Sea Sprite in the lead hurriedly stopped the man.

By now, even a fool could see the Sea Sprites were furious.

The player, realizing his mistake, stepped down from the platform, looking nervous.

Moira Lynch was too far away to hear their conversation clearly, only catching faint murmurs.

This was where Patience came in.

Through Patience’s interpretation, Moira Lynch got the gist of their conversation.

It was mostly just criticism. After all, the player hadn’t meant to mess up.

As luck would have it, the syrup that player had been stirring was an extremely rare variety.

Now that it was ruined, the entire batch had to be scrapped.

Even if they forced it and turned it into Elf Syrup, it would be full of bubbles, which would ruin the texture of the final product.

The Sea Sprites would never allow that, so the batch had to be thrown out.

Once the excitement was over, Moira Lynch returned to her work.

As she continued to stir, the bubbles in the syrup grew fewer and fewer.

As the syrup cooled, its surface turned a beautiful amber color, and the stirring became more difficult for Moira Lynch.

Once it reached that stage, Moira Lynch continued stirring for another dozen minutes or so.

Suddenly, a "DING" sounded from above her head.

The light overhead turned green.

Seeing this, Moira Lynch guessed it meant she was finished.

It was followed by a "CLICK."

The stirring rod in her hands locked into place, likely to prevent anyone from over-stirring and ruining the syrup.

’The syrup is done, so what do I do now? It’s not quitting time yet.’

Moira Lynch checked the time. It had taken her an hour and a half from start to finish.

That meant stirring one vat of syrup took at least an hour and a half.

’Since it’s my first time, I was probably slow. The actual time should be faster than an hour and a half.’

Fortunately, Moira Lynch’s confusion didn’t last long.

Soon, a burly Sea Sprite walked over.

He gave Moira Lynch a friendly smile, then wrapped his arms around the giant vat, lifted it effortlessly from the ground, and walked away.

Moira Lynch sucked in a sharp breath at the sight. ’No wonder they say sprites are a warlike race.’

A little while later, another well-built Sea Sprite came over, carrying a new vat filled with syrup.

The Sea Sprite nodded to Moira Lynch and left.

She looked at the new vat of syrup and sniffed. The smell was different from the last one.

’Did they put ginger in this one? It smells a bit like ginger candy.’

She set the stirring rod in her hands into motion again.

With her previous experience, Moira Lynch’s movements were much more practiced this time. She finished the job in just over an hour.

Then came the third vat.

This time, it had the scent of green apple, which was a flavor Moira Lynch liked.

When it came to fruit candies, Moira Lynch’s first choice was always pineapple, followed by green apple.

She checked the time. After this vat was done, it would be about time for her lunch break.

Once you started stirring the syrup, you couldn’t stop.

So, to avoid working into her break, Moira Lynch slowed her pace.

She was a professional at clocking out right on time.

Noon arrived smoothly, and Moira Lynch’s work finished right on cue.

She collected her lunch from the Sea Sprites, then traded it with Caden York for his.

"You seem to be in a hurry. Is something wrong?" Caden York couldn’t help but ask.

At his words, Moira Lynch blinked. "Was I that obvious?"

Caden York nodded. "Very."

He already knew that Kai York often brought things from the game back to Caelus. ’Could it be related to that?’ he wondered.

Plenty of people had Space Buttons now, but very few could actually bring useful things out of the game.

There were many reasons for this, the biggest being that they didn’t understand alien items.