Liam, unfazed, set up his portable stove on a flat slab of stone. "Worrying won’t cook food," he said with a shrug. He fiddled with his streaming interface, but the screen flickered before dying altogether. "Hmm, guess the stream’s down."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Making cotton candy," Liam replied, pulling out a small spinner and some sugar. "Gotta snack before we inevitably meet our doom."

Elizabeth stared at him like he’d grown a second head. "You’re insane."

"Probably." He didn’t look up. The sugar hit the heated spinner, melting into golden liquid, then catching air as it spun outward into delicate pink threads. The smell hit immediately, burnt sugar and cherry blossom, sweet enough to cut through the damp stone and bone-dust hanging in the catacomb air.

He wound the threads around a stick, slow and careful, watching them build into a cloud. His peripheral vision caught Elizabeth shifting her weight forward. Her pink ears had tilted toward the spinner without her permission.

"Want some?" He held the stick out toward her.

Elizabeth hesitated, then snatched it from his hand. "Yes, thank you." She took a bite, her expression softening. "Hey, this actually tastes like cherry blossoms," she said happily.

Liam watched her tongue sweep a strand of pink sugar from her lower lip. His chest did a slow, heavy thud. Heh. That’s what you taste like, Liam thought, but kept his mouth shut. The last thing he needed was Elizabeth’s sword pointed at his throat.

He glanced down at the dusty floor and frowned. "Hey, look at these tracks."

Elizabeth dropped beside him, and her shoulder pressed against his arm. Solid. Warm through the fabric. She smelled like steel polish and something floral, jasmine and cherry blossoms, maybe, buried under sweat and leather. His fingers twitched against his thigh.

Those look like... a naga’s slither pattern." She pointed to the other set, leaning closer. Her hair brushed his jaw.

"A big one came through here," Liam said. "Recently."

Liam stood up. "We should be careful."

He returned to his cooking setup, pulling out dough and cinnamon. "I’m going to make something special."

"More food? Now?" Elizabeth’s voice rose an octave. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Trust me." He rolled the dough thin, fingers working with the kind of focus he usually reserved for boss mechanics. cinnamon and sugar, twisted into a serpentine shape. He held one up, admiring the coil. Cinnamon scroll snakes might come in handy and who knows, maybe we should grow a tail."

[Effect: Serpentine Vanity. The user grows a functional snake tail for 36 hours. Provides +0 Battle Bonus.]

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "How exactly does pastry help against monsters?"

"Everything helps if you’re creative enough," Liam added roasted chestnuts to his portable oven. "The smell of these should help mask our scent from the naga. Maybe give us a surprise attack advantage."

"You’re actually planning to fight with food?" Elizabeth’s tone shifted from incredulous to intrigued.

"Wouldn’t be the first time." Liam smiled, the chestnuts beginning to crackle and release their rich aroma. "Stay close to me," he said in a low voice.

Her pink ears flattened. A flush crept up her neck, and she broke the stare first, turning toward the deeper tunnel with aggressive purpose.

"Obviously," she muttered. "Someone has to keep you alive."

He packed his creations carefully, stacking containers with deliberate hands. Behind him, the sound of Elizabeth’s boot tapping. A pause. Then the distinct noise of her licking sugar residue off her fingers when she thought he wasn’t paying attention.

He was paying attention.

The way to a warrior’s heart, he thought, especially this particular warrior’s.

Liam’s ears rotated, catching the faint sound of scales sliding across stone. He raised his hand, signalling Elizabeth to stop. His red eyes narrowed as he peered around a jagged corner. There, coiled in the dim light of a glowing crystal embedded in the wall, was a Naga Elite, a serpentine creature with the torso of a muscular man and the lower body of a massive snake. Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air.

Liam turned to Elizabeth, placing a finger to his lips. She nodded, hand already moving to her sword hilt.

He crept forward, his footsteps silent despite his size. The Naga’s head turned slightly, nostrils flaring. Liam watched as confusion crossed its reptilian features. It couldn’t smell him, only the lingering scent of chestnuts from his cooking preparations. By the time the creature realised something was wrong, Liam’s blade was already in motion.

The strike was clean, precise. The Naga’s head tumbled to the ground before its body had fully registered the attack.

A smile tugged at Elizabeth’s lips. "If that’s what you can do with a kitchen knife, I’d hate to see what you could do with..."

Her sentence was cut short as she backed into an ancient wooden bucket, sending it clattering across the stone floor with a sound that echoed through the tunnels like thunder.

Liam’s ears flattened against his head. "That’s bad."

From the dark throat of the catacombs came a chorus of answering hisses that definitely weren’t a welcoming committee. Five more Naga Elites slithered out of the side tunnels, their eyes glowing with the kind of predatory intent that usually results in someone becoming a snack.

"Oops?" Elizabeth offered weakly, looking at the bucket.

The hissing intensified, and Liam’s eyes narrowed. He turned from Elizabeth, his massive frame blocking her view of the approaching threat. Without a word, he knelt beside the dead Naga at their feet and pressed his gauntleted hand against its scales.

"Absorb," he whispered.

The body dissolved into particles that streamed into his gauntlet. A warm sensation spread up his arm, not unpleasant, like the first bite of a perfectly cooked meal after a day of hard work.

[Tool Tip: The Vulcan Hearth]

Type: Origin Source Description: Unlike mana, the Hearth does not deplete; it intensifies. The more Liam "cooks" (kills) in a single encounter, the hotter the light becomes, increasing Attack and Defence by 1% per stack. Basically, he’s a walking furnace.