Zeph spent the next hour just wandering through the market, buying supplies with the mechanical efficiency of someone following a checklist. Rice. Beans. Vegetables that would keep. Instant noodles because the vendor had been right about exhaustion.
Some kind of jerky that was apparently made from boar, not rat. Tea, because he vaguely remembered liking tea in his previous life.
The vendors were patient with him, explaining things he should have known, not judging when he didn't understand basic cooking terminology or asked obvious questions about how to prepare certain foods.
'They think I'm a Wildlands survivor who never learned to cook properly. Which is true, technically. Just not for the reasons they think.'
His credit chip took a solid dent—maybe 500 credits total—but he left the market with actual supplies and the knowledge of how to return.
