Chapter 15: Moody Tunes
Since the feathers were the limiting factor, Markus was only able to make a 10 arrows. Fortunately, this was good enough to hunt for a while, at least until he was able to find more materials. Since the system could store items for him, he didn't need a quiver. The only downside is the slight delay in retrieval from the storage space. The player had to open the inventory, confirm the item, and after a second, it would appear in their hand.
Many players already took time to practice their speed in grabbing things out of their inventory. Although it wasn't as useful at the early stages of the game, once skills were developed there would be many consumables. Markus thought of the day there would be grenades and other one time use weapons. For now, he decided to carry two arrows in his left and keep one knocked. The rest would stay in his inventory.
"Who's ready to eat?" Baby and Fists finished butchering the boar and came in. What they saw were the two focused looks of Lloyd and Punch as they watched Markus making arrows. Baby saw Markus's handiwork before and thought he was quite good at clothes, but it seemed his skills weren't limited to just that! Seeing the plain but well-made arrow, his expression was one of shock and awe.
"Be honest, you are actually a wild man, right?" Fists broke the quiet atmosphere with his bad jokes.
"Idiot, if he were a wild man how could he be playing right now." Punch rolled her eyes. However, Markus had a confused look.
"What's a wild man?"
"Oh, well its basically someone that grew up in the woods and was raised by animals, or something like that?" Fists awkwardly explained.
Markus thought about his family situation and how he grew up after the car accident and nodded slightly, "I could be considered half a wild man I guess…" 'Raised by those animals.' He thought, finishing the sentence in his head.
"Well sir half-wild man, care to do the honors and cook us up some delicious food?" Fists was expectant because of all the skills that Markus had shown. It was very likely that he could use a campfire to cook with a bonus.
"Sure." Markus replied, rolling his eyes at Fists. They quickly traded and Markus got ready to cook with skewers again, but Punch interrupted him. She was holding a large, flat stone.
"You could use this to grill?"
"Not bad." He placed the stone near the fire on top of two smaller stones and scooped up some embers to place under the slab. He let the heat penetrate the rock and once it was ready started placing the meat. A crisp sizzle sounded out from the stone causing Punch to almost faint in excitement. Drool was dripping from the corner of her mouth, and she started smacking her lips.
"Sis… you're embarrassing me." Fists put his hand to his face in shame. Markus didn't even notice what she was doing until he said something. When he looked up, he saw the girl seemingly on the verge of exploding. Being called out, Punch realized what she was doing and composed herself after awkwardly coughing. Then, she smacked Fists on the head.
"Who's embarrassing you? I dare you to repeat it."
"My o-other sister, definitely not your Grace!" After a moment of tension, the group of four started laughing. This was a normal interaction with the siblings, and everyone here had good chemistry, so they were able to joke around like that. The longing feeling welled up in Markus's heart, but he stifled it when a notification popped up.
[Abnormal Condition: Overworked]
'Sigh, here we go again…' Markus looked down at the pork steaks he was making and couldn't find joy in the food like Punch. His hopes of getting the cooking skill were dashed once more. Once the first steak was finished, he handed it over to Punch on a large leaf that Baby had collected. Although she was able hold back her drool, her eyes still gave away her pleasure. As soon as the meat was cool enough to eat, she went at it.
"Oh my god, Markus this is amazing. Are you looking for a party member?"
"Traitor! How dare you leave our beautiful leader for food; it can't be that good…" After taking a bite, Fists's expression became confused. "Sis, I think I'm in love…"
Lloyd and Baby started eating as well. Although they were also fascinated by the flavor, they weren't as colorful and expressive as the siblings. They thanked Markus for the meal and ignored the two-person show that was being put on. After the initial excitement, everyone silently ate the meat. Fortunately, there was plenty from the most recent kill, so they indulged for the [Satiated] status.
[Grilled Meat
Rank: Mortal
Effect: After consumption, heal 9 hit points over 15 minutes.
Message: You asked it too many intense questions.]
The number was almost twice that of the previous food. Markus looked at the stats of each slab and they were all either 8 or 9 hit points of healing. This was a large improvement compared to last time. Thinking about how much a cooking skill would improve the quality made Markus even more depressed. Fortunately, he was in good company, otherwise he would likely have started to curse out loud at his bad luck.
'Hah, bad luck. Humans are so greedy…' he thought, reproaching himself for the unsatisfied feeling.
"That was delicious! Markus thank you so much. Say, if you don't need a party member, what about a bri—" Punch was lying on the stump backwards flinging her legs in the air when Lloyd suddenly slapped her hand over Punch's mouth.
"Okay, that's enough out of you. You're bothering the him." Punch struggled for a bit, but a Caster had lower strength stats than a Guardian, so it was to no avail. After a while she let go and Punch rolled over and stood up in a flamboyant fashion.
"I want to sing! When the night has come…" Punch started by running over to Fists. He immediately recognized the song and started laying down the beat while Baby beatboxed the melody. "And the land is dark."
Then she ran back over to Lloyd and gave her a side hug. "And the moon is the only light we'll see…" Lloyd continued the song.
"No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid~" Punch sang as if replying to her. "Just as long as you stand," At her slight pause, all four of them sang together, "Stand by me."
Punch walked over to Markus and pulled him up. She had recognized his mood earlier and wanted to cheer him up. He stood up and Punch continued to sing the first chorus. Then, Lloyd took over the second verse and Punch assisted with her voice by singing the same notes. Then as the second chorus came around, Punch turned to Markus again.
"Just as long as you stand…" Seeing her expectant gaze, he unconsciously smiled.
"Stand by me…" After entering the song, the volume and excitement went up a notch going into the last portion of the song. At this point, Markus was taken over by the mood and sang with the group. Although they were professionals, this song wasn't executed perfectly nor properly. Instead, it felt more like karaoke.
Unknowingly, Markus's bad mood had dissipated, and he was able to enjoy himself. He didn't check his status, game log, or the forums. He just enjoyed himself with these random strangers. In fact, it was because they were strangers that he was able to let himself go. He even got carried away and started dancing as they extended the duration of the song by repeating the last chorus.
Afterwards, they all sat down and laughed. They weren't gamers, so they didn't really understand the heavy load on Markus's mind. But they all could recognize that he took everything too seriously. When Punch plotted to get him to relax, they were quick on the uptake and gladly assisted. Seeing how he was smiling and laughing earlier, they had a sense of satisfaction.
As a group hoping to one day become professional artists, their passion was to bring joy and happiness to their fans. Meanwhile, Markus laid back and calmed down his excited state. He had really forgotten himself for a moment and was able to experience the small joys of singing karaoke again. He opened his game panel out of habit and saw a long series of messages that surprised him.
[Affected by [Moody Tunes] talent.]
[Abnormal Condition: Charmed]
[Charmed
Rank: Demigod
Effect: You are more easily influenced.
Message: Charmed, I'm sure.]
[You have become Rested. Regaining all lost stamina and removing [Overworked] conditions.]
[New skill Carousing learned.]
[Carousing Level 1
Rank: Mortal
Effect: Positive effects of [Intoxication] increased by 10%. No longer lose Rested state while Carousing.
Message: Put everything on black and bring me another drink!]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Pill_Guy
Pill_Guy Anyone else break out into song whenever someone else starts singing a song you know? Uh... yeah me neither. What do you guys think of the characters? I hope they feel fleshed out and realistic.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone