Time lost meaning to Arthur as he slowly moved through the workstations, one by one. From sauces, he moved to butchering and then to entrees. None of the stations were easy, and all had their individual challenges and hidden traps to avoid.

A few times more, he caught other signs of scourge-rot on the food that he was working on. But also, while he was at the butchering table, he encountered new animals and fish—some that had poisonous parts to avoid.

For that, the chef gave him additional material in a scroll to study. Mostly, however, Arthur focused on his ever-advancing Butchering skill to tell him what parts would be safe to eat and what wouldn’t. The combination of gut instinct and experience his high-leveled skills gave him was becoming increasingly invaluable.

Trying to pass the entree station had him studying a recipe book that was not so different from the one he had used at Barlow’s. Only, this book had ways to help him increase his Cooking Intuition, too. Each recipe had portions that were flat-out missing. A few of them had ingredients listed in proportions that either were so under or over that they would ruin the entire dish.

Also, he encountered unfamiliar terms here and there that he had to puzzle out, despite his Language Proficiency skills. He suspected those had been made up by the recipe writers to confuse people who were not supposed to have the book.

However, every time he successfully navigated through one of the hang-ups or outright traps, he received a bonus of a few levels in that particular skill.

But that wasn’t all.

While at the workstations, he was forced to cook using wildly different methods, from roasting several dishes in stoves that all required different but precise timing to frying food in hot oil. He even had to cook on an open flame while managing the temperature so that it didn’t char the food.

He must have messed up one time without knowing how or why, because suddenly he found himself pulled from the entree workstation and sent to the dishwasher’s sink. There, he was faced with pots and pans that had been piled up nearly to the ceiling.

At first, Arthur was frustrated, but soon he realized this, too, was an opportunity to advance his skills. He’d been a dishwasher for years in various kitchens and already had his Dishwashing skill at a fairly high level 23.

But now, keeping in mind what Marion had told him about his Catching skill, Arthur fully concentrated on his task. To his surprise, he immediately gained a new skill in Scrubbing. And it was one that he quickly started to level, as well as his current Dishwashing skill.

It might be silly, a grown man focusing on leveling Scrubbing, but he didn’t care. He was going to take everything that the Dark Heart would give him.

Besides, finding new and interesting ways to clean pots and pans that had been sitting too long and had food practically glued to the bottom also helped his Tidying skill. That was one of the first skills he’d acquired as a boy, and now it started to shoot up in levels too.

By the time the last of the pots and pans were dealt with, and he’d cleaned out the sink for good measure, his Scrubbing was up to a respectable level 25, Dishwashing was at 38, and Tidying up to a staggering level 47.

He was reassigned to the entree station and began working with renewed vigor. As he did, he took special care to clean up after himself while concentrating on his Tidying skill. He wanted it to pass level 50.

The station that threatened his completion of the challenge was Confectionery and Bakery. Arthur had never excelled at desserts, and no matter how high he got his Baking and Cooking skills, he could never make caramel without burning the sugar. While he could produce functional cakes and cookies, decorating them to perfection required an artist’s touch, which he lacked. His were good enough without that extra something that made them extraordinary.

He didn’t have an artist’s soul—not like Brixaby with his blacksmith artistry skills.

However, even if he didn’t have a natural talent for desserts, and his chocolate work was more functional than inspired, he was determined to brute force his way through it. By the time his Confectionery and Baking skills reached the midthirties in rank, he let those skills carry him through.

He’d been working on the stations for . . . how long had he been here? Certainly more than a few hours. It might even have been days at this point.

Nothing changed in the kitchen: no staff changeover other than when Arthur took over a new workstation. The orders kept coming. Yet he didn’t feel the fatigue he knew he should have been experiencing. Not even mental fatigue. He didn’t start making careless mistakes, and not once did his knife slip while cutting.

The Dark Heart was providing him with as much time as he needed to complete the challenge. Considering how much he was leveling, he wasn’t in a hurry to end the process.

He still couldn’t help but worry about how Brixaby and the others were faring in their challenges. Were they also working in their versions of kitchens?

No . . . no, that would be silly.

Arthur shook his head and dismissed the thought, then continued to create small, delicate tarts to an acceptable standard.

Mindful after his time at the dishwashing station, he took a few minutes after he was done to clean up the mess.

This time he was rewarded with a new skill.

New skill gained:

Kitchen Organization (Cooking Class)

Due to your card’s bonus traits, Endless Grindstone, and unique practice location, you automatically start this skill at level 10.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.