This is a Sword Art Online and Campfire Cooking In Another World Crossover Fanfiction Only.
Other Franchises may be included.
The life of a young man with only his mother to raise him would or could never be called easy, having to grow up in this life was very hard, people knocked him and ridiculed him for being a teen working as a prep cook and a convenience store clerk, nobody wondered why he had to have two part-time jobs, but the truth is he didn't he had two full-time jobs.
By the time Tsuyoshi made it to high school, he had worked for all the years in middle school, only because his mother was very sick, and it was only because of the medical benefits he got from those two jobs that she eventually recovered. If his classmates asked about him, they called him a freak, a bookworm, always with his head in some book. Little did they know it was every cooking book he could get his hands on.
Anyone could prepare ingredients, or even make side dishes, but in fancy restaurants, the only one in charge was the chef, and this person was educated to know everything there was about food preparation, storage, and business, or so it should be. You see a person would never be acknowledged or recognized as a chef without graduating from a reputable culinary school or college. Tsuyoshi's family was poor, so he could only attend public school, and nobody would give him a scholarship because those were given to students whose parents paid off the principal.
Working at a small restaurant he would sometimes notice how the supposed chef messed up a recipe, and he would fix it before anyone was the wiser, the other was a chef who became chef only because he knew the girls whom he would attend in his own words were hot, and him being the owner of a rich family, he would never have to work a day in his life. It was the things he found over and over again, lazy or egotistical morons who made mistakes but would never admit it.
He was fired from several places because the idiot who was supposed to be chef simply accused him of putting something in the food to make him look bad and make the restaurant lose customers, this was common and his idiot co-workers and even brown-nosing co-workers sometimes agreed with the chef like it was the words of god. But not all was unnoticed and as facts would have it, the stress of all this abuse by his employers caused him to suffer a massive heart attack, and the doctor told him he would need to recover for three years, and working was out of the question, the owner did not want to admit it, but he knew who caused this, it was his son, and the reason was obvious.
Tsuyoshi was appreciated by many of his co-workers they knew that they had a job thanks to him either fixing something or cooking the order himself, so in truth, they were grateful for this. The only reason they did not say this was because deep down they had wives and children that depended on them, so losing the job was not really an option, and Tsuyoshi never held any grudges against them because he understood their reasons.
So instead he focused his time on learning new things and trying to somehow gain the certification to be a chef, his mother often worried about him so since he had few friends she decided to buy him a new game system that was introduced to her by a friend of the family, it was a normal VR headset or so she thought but it was something far more than that, the machine could literally read the thoughts and nerve signals of the user and in turn make the person feel as if he or she was truly alive in the game, all five senses, it was amazing to feel alive in a game world.
The first game that was going to be released was called Sword Art Online, a fantasy dungeon exploration game, but the thing is, it had medieval weapons, swords, axes, bows, and such, no modern weapons at all, so the only long range weapon was the bow. The last bit was a bit more unexpected, no magic at all, yes, a fantasy role-playing MMO without magic at all. No job class, No skill trees, No Magic casters at all, some people called it lazy, they were not putting that stuff in cause they were half-assing the game, others thought it was being done because nobody had ever done it before, called it revolutionary.
Tsuyoshi called it a company trying to be noticeable in a market with so many games and systems, that it was practically a single game in a sea of games and systems, they needed any advantage they could get, and this was the pilot game for a new game system, if the game is crap, the game system will also bomb in the sales, and that would lead to every single person in that company being out of work.
He actually wrote that in the comments of a review video he saw online, little did he know that some people were actually reading those comments, and he was given the chance to be one of the beta tester players someone who would get to play the game months before the official world release of the game. Tsuyoshi could not believe the price they were selling this thing for, he joked with his mother that this thing must be made in some Chinese sweatshop. This was priced at the cost of a new cellphone. His mother laughed and told her son that he was actually wrong, it was made in Japan, and it was done in a new fully automated factory, not a single employee, so the cost of labor was zero, which meant the company could take that and reduce the cost of the Nervegear.
Well as it turns out not much was known about how to properly level up or even improve the efficiency of the skills of characters, it was very productive for the company making the game, but many bugs and glitches were found, some of them downright horrible, such as using an item to quick travel, and ended up in a place where they died instantly. How could that happen, simply put the person teleported and clipped through the levels and ended up teleporting outside the castle, meaning in the air. This person had the most exhilarating experience of how it feels to free fall from the sky at heights that commercial airlines fly
It was a horrible experience and let's just say the Beta in question was very vocal about it. So many bugs were in fact fixed, and many glitches were patched, that was the real purpose behind the Beta period, to begin with as Tsuyomi and Kirito talked as they cleared one monster spawn area. Kirito asked him why would he even need to hunt monsters, and told Tsuyoshi that he was if there was a class system, a chef, not a hunter, but he was out in the field killing monsters with a bow.
Tsuyoshi and Kirito knew each other from real life, but as they met each other, they had no clue they were, in fact, friends at first, since initially, they could not tell, their characters looked like nothing similar to what they looked like in real life. They slowly met more and more hunting monsters Kirito finally wanted to know the reason, and that is when Tsuyoshi let him in on a secret that he found, but nobody had a first clue or ever realized it existed. Tsuyoshi found a hidden dungeon, and that hidden dungeon was unlike anything they could imagine, it was a cooking academy, a dungeon dedicated to teaching them how to cook and testing their proficiency on how good their cooking is.
An actual, factual, grading and class cooking school, hidden as a dungeon nobody had a clue it existed. That is when Kirito asked him why bothers cooking at all, all food in the game takes like crap, they could never figure out how to make the stuff that shops owned by none player characters taste good or they simply didn't bother. So why go and learn if all the food was useless and going to taste shit.
"Alright, you say all food on Aincrad is both useless and taste like crap, here is the bet, I will freaking admit that is the case if this food I am going to cook taste like shit and it provides you no benefit, that you are right. But if I am right, I will take no more comments about all food here tasting like crap, and you are coming with me to study in that cooking school dungeon! Cause you are so fucking pissing me off that I might decide to never cook for you. Now are you going to take the bet, or are you scared?"
Kirito was not liking being challenged like this so he told Tsuyoshi to cook his crappy food and be ready to eat a side order of crow. That is exactly what he did, he took things he took from killing monsters and began to cook like the school dungeon said he should, not using the fucking menu but treating the stuff as actual ingredients. He cooked a five-course lunch using only items he got from monster drops, and as he finished cooking Kirito admitted that the food looked delicious but he still believed it would take like a steaming turd. Tsuyoshi told him something very simple when he had enough, to shut up and eat it.
Kirito took one bite of the roasted chicken and he was eating the food like he had been starving for months, he simply kept eating until all the food on his plates was eaten and the plates were practically cleaned, "Alright where the fuck did you get all those ingredients and how come to your food don't taste like crap?"
Tsuyoshi told him being able to cook and having a chef skill, allows him to do something most people can't, every single monster he kills gives him ingredients he can cook, Kirito said that was fucking unfair, why nobody had this skill, to which Tsuyomi told him the dungeon was hidden, and even if the dungeon is found the exams are nothing to sneeze at, they are at the level of an actual culinary school. So either nobody found it or didn't fucking pass the required exams to get the skill unlocked. He screamed and still called it bullshit, and asked how did he cook things this good.
Tsuyoshi not wanting to keep his friend guessing smiled, "You want to know how to cook, come with me to the hidden cooking school dungeon and pass your exams, but since I am not a jerk, you cook by treating this stuff as actual ingredients and do not use the menu, got it, no fucking menu and actually learn to cook, but without the skill from the cooking school dungeon, your food will still taste like crap, it is not a but, the NPC don't have the chef skill. It is a PC-specific skill, get it, good, now shut up and help me gather more ingredients when you finally pass the bare minimum exams so you can be a prep cook. Yes, you will not get automatically to chef level, you have to work at it.
Again Kirito complained that it was not fair, why he had such a higher level of skill than he would start with, Tsuyoshi told him the game takes into account real-life experience in the skill they were using, Kirito was in the Kendo Dojo his grandfather used for years, that is why his skill with a sword was better than most other players, and Tsuyoshi worked as a cook for just as long, so he was better at cooking than most other players, it was that simple, but if he wanted to complain about it, he could send a report to the tech team, but shut him up, when he reminded him that making false reports would cost a ton of Exp, the only person who tried to do that to get even with a guy who defeated him in a duel learned this the hard way.
The company who made the game was not going to let shit like that happen, a fake report means it was wasted time they could have spent dealing with an actual bug, which cost them money, the old saying goes time is money, so if the idiot sent them a fake report, they will lose money, so it was only fair that he lost Experience Points, meaning all the time he spent to gain those he will lose. Sword Art Online was brutal in enforcing the rules of the game, but deep down it was always fair. The next thing that happened an idiot tried to rob an NPC shop in the middle of the town market district, thinking they were not people, what the hell could they do? He should be able to take anything he wanted.
He was wrong and how he learned proved how brutal the enforcement of the rules was, the minute he punched the NPC a large man wearing armor and carrying a sword that appeared to be made of golden light, began to beat the living crap out of him, it would not kill him, but it sure as hell didn't mean he wouldn't feel it. The person beating him was the NPC of what was called the Town Guards. These were stronger, faster, and more skilled than any player hoped to be. So the lesson was learned as the fool lost all his experience, make trouble in town, and the guards will come and make you wish you were never born.
In reality, the town guards were stationed all over the town, they simply can teleport instantly when they are near someone causing a problem by breaking the rules. Most of the time they were cordial and quite friendly, and regardless of what they looked like in armor, once off duty, several were actually quite lovely young women, in fact the person who beat the first player, was extra hard because the NPC the player hit was his daughter.
People forget that in Aincrad they think of it as a game, to the people from the supposed game, Aincrad was their homeland, and they got married, had children, grew old and even some were grandparents, these adventurers may call them NPC but to them they were just people. The people called themselves the people of the land. The guards however showed no sympathy for those who broke the rules, why? Because even if they killed the idiots, unlike the people of the land, they would always resurrect in the church. The people of the land simply died, so that is why the town guard was so brutal.
Tsuyoshi talked to the young woman who was eating at his stall and asked if she had killed any of the adventurers, she laughed and said no, she has not, most of them are smart enough not to pull that sort of shit, but those that do are marked forever with a mark that can be seen on the middle of the forehead. Tsuyoshi said that he did see some of them as a weird star, she laughed and told him it was a reverse pentagram, the sign of a devil. "Well I am really happy I don't get on your bad side Robin, I would not want to be beaten up by you."
She laughed and told him that she didn't become the best fighter of the Iron Palace by being a softie. Tsuyoshi said she was particularly soft when they were kissing during their date the other day. She blushed and punched him in the gut making him bend down and she kissed him passionately on the lips, "Told you to keep that stuff secret, I got a reputation to keep. Just for that comment see you tonight!" As she walked away from the stall Kirito asked her why does he put up with such a violent lady? Tsuyoshi told him because she might have her moments but she was usually a lot of fun to be with. Kirito was about to mention something sarcastic like she is fun in bed, when he felt this cold killer intent fueled glare in his direction.
"You do, You, Anyways come on help me pass the exams from the cooking school from hell. I will never complain about my teachers being hard ever again, those teachers in that school make monsters look cute and fluffy. So come on, at most I got to Prep Cook and that fucking sucks, my drop rate is so freaking low, and my cooking skill exp is practically non-existent." Tsuyoshi saw that his last customer of the day was over and decided to help Kirito hut down some monsters to get the ingredients he would need to pass the exams, the school would not provide the ingredients, so the students had to gather or buy them.
This means either finishing missions to earn money from the reward or killing monsters and hoping they drop the ingredients you need, those were the only options. That is the main reason why the skill caused monsters to also drop food ingredients. The food ingredients depend on the type of monster, the time, and the level of the monster, high monsters drop good quantity and quality ingredients, and low monsters drop stuff people can buy at bargain sales from their local grocery store. A person with the Chef skill however had one thing that most people do not, they could temporarly charm animal monsters by feeding them food. These monsters would act like pets for that person for a time, and their drop rates would be influenced by the person who fed them.
Parties could share the benefits and one of these benefits is that if the party ate a meal they would all gain the benefits they get from eating the food as a sort of party bonus benefit, but individually their stats would improve depending on what they ate and with what others dishes they had. The biggest boost came from eating what was called the five-course meals, five dishes that harmonized and worked well together to give the best benefit to those particular types of foods.
Tsuyoshi helped Kirito to pass his exams and slowly thanks to them working together they got the ingredients he needed. They were on the first floor and they began to work hard to become stronger, in this case, it meant an awful lot of cooking by Tsuyoshi and a lot of eating by Kirito since he was more focused on getting his experience and passing his exams. For some odd reason, Tsuyoshi thought that Kirito was taking these exams as a personal challenge. The creator of this game was challenging him to even try to pass, and he made the exams extra difficult so nobody could pass. As they traveled to the other towns in the level they met Argo the Rat, an information broker, and a guy named Agil, whose apparently weapon of choice is a battle axe.
The three of them managed to defeat the first-floor boss only by working together, and because Kirito had them eat some of the food he made, not to mention that by the time they made it to the place where the floor boss room was, they became rather close friends, and so Tsuyoshi began to cook for everyone a set of five-course meals, one for each of them. Argo wanted to argue that it was a miracle that she didn't gain weight eating all this food. Agil told her that it was worth it to get to eat such tasty grub. These two didn't even notice how the food they ate actually improved their STATS and provided them with all sorts of benefits.
It was a major shock to them that they actually managed to defeat the floor boss so easily, like everything they were afraid of getting killed by the Floor Boss, and losing a ton of EXP was not really an issue for them. They took out the kobold guards like they were ordinary monsters they would find on the field, and they used the switch method to pile the damage on Ilfang, upon defeating the monster since Tsuyoshi was the one to deal the final blow, his luck stat influenced the result, Normally the person who got in the last hit, gets something amazing, but because his luck stat was so high, this cause the item drops to drop four chests, and when each would touch on of them, they would get to pick a piece of gear they wanted from the available items inside the box.
That is how Kirito got his Coat of Midnight, Tsuyoshi got the Coat of Twilight, Argo got the Daggers or Noon, and Agil got the Sunset Battle Axe. This made two of the friends realize that the Luck stat was no joke at all, and from that moment on they would let the person with the highest luck finish off a floor boss. The only thing that he was not happy about was that the food ingredient he got from killing these kobolds was beansprouts, a ton of beansprouts.
Well, the second floor of Aincrad was not something any in the small party expected, the place looked like some prairie, they could swear they heard the sounds of cows and bulls in the distance, the first thing they had to deal with was the activation of the teleport stone, as soon as each party member touched the large stone obelisk they became registered to fast travel back to this floor and between any floor they have been to. It was convenient for Kirito at the very least, the cooking school dungeon was on the first floor.
He has to return to the dungeon if he ever wants to take another lesson or attempt another exam. Kirito often complains that he wished it was something more convenient like he could have a cellphone and take lessons watching a video on the phone, but no he had to go in person to go into the dungeon to take all the lessons and attempt to pass the exams.
At present thanks to the help of Tsuyoshi, Kirito has a lot of great ingredients and he managed to pass the exams to become a line chef, currently, he is working hard to pass the exams to become a sous chef. The thing is the exam requires a lot of experience cooking with beef, and the first-floor monsters do not drop that much high-quality beef. So Kirito hoped he could meet some cattle-based monsters so that he could gain some high-quality beef. This would immensely help him with passing the exams at the very least, to him it was rather tedious having to take a lesson of stuff he already knows.
Kirito was a person who would be called a foodie by some, he likes to eat good food, and because of this and because his aunt and uncle were so busy working in the office, he had to pretty much cook for himself and his sister, who technically was his cousin. Suguha was a prodigy of the Kendo Dojo or his grandfather often told others. This forced him to try and be better than her, constantly trying to push himself to be better, faster, be more accurate. He also did all the cooking for himself and he even left some for Suguha to reheat and eat when she was hungry.
Well, the cows were rather friendly which in turn made all the bulls near them absolutely pissed at their party, Argo often was heard arguing why the hell these bulls come after her, she is not the one constantly putting his hands on those cows. In reality, Kirito had the crazy idea of trying to get milk from these cows which of course pissed off the bulls. Tsuyoshi told him the milk was an item drop, and no matter how much he tried he would not be able to get milk from the cow, did he actually see any calves around in the floor level? No, of course, he did not.
Quest Alert Rescue The Calves from the monsters that took them from their mothers and return them back to their mothers. Reward for each calf rescued you get one bottle of milk for each one rescued.
