Royal City, Earth:
There was a quiet district that solely belonged to Evander. In it, there was an estate with a huge mansion.
It was big. Bigger than any dorm in the academy.
But…
There was a loneliness in the walls that couldn't be erased. The way only she moved to and fro, in this vast, and almost ghostly mansion along with Anna had bothered Sarah for a long time.
Not now.
She held the spatula in one hand as she test tasted the dish she was cooking. "Hm…a pinch of salt would do."
Then cautiously, almost gravely, she added a pinch of salt.
She didn't want to blow up the dish…she was already past that point.
The magical salt imbued with aura whirled around the meat on the stove. Being magical items with different sources, they needed to be properly dealt with.
Or…
Sarah heard a click.
Like a chain reaction, the magical salt acted as a catalyst while the meat with plenty of aura became the explosive.
The result—
Boom!
Sarah hurriedly covered the whole dish with a water bubble, and the explosion that could've blown away the other ingredients in the kitchen was quietly silenced.
"Argh! I'd rather believe dad will talk to me properly than I can cook." Sarah clasped her forehead in frustration.
"Don't give up, miss." Anna appeared in the huge kitchen and said. "You came a long way, miss."
Sarah blinked and pointed to herself. "I did?"
Anna nodded seriously. "Of course. It's been four days since you started training. You learnt cooking with normal ingredients on the first day.
I even let one of you pursuers, some random young master, taste the dish. Because it was made of normal ingredients, the effect was limited. He stayed in the washroom for only an hour.
Once you got your hands on magic ingredients, your had to learn it all over again. You blew up everything under 1 minute on the second day. The young master waited.
On the third day, you were able to cook something or rather what was left after you blew up was no longer ashes. That cooked thing…Taste is another matter. But it's lethality is just astounding.
The young master tasted it again…
It's been 30 hours and the young master still hasn't come out of washroom. He's even a level 4.
Miss, I know no one who can rival your talent in poison making." Anna's voice was full of sincerity as she praised her young miss.
Sarah on the other hand, almost coughed out blood.
'When did I say I was learning to concoct poisons! I was only trying to cook.'
"Uh-ahem, Aunt Anna, I am trying to C-Cook, eh, edible food." Sarah squeezed out a smile and explained.
Anna was dumbfounded and wanted to slap herself. "I-I see. E-even then, you aren't far away!
You just need to not blow up everything like…"
Boom!
Sarah hurriedly covered another dish or what was once a dish in making with water bubble.
She looked back at Anna and said. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"I…" Anna sighed deeply and resumed guiding Sarah.
Everything in the world had aura. But only after a certain threshold was reached would they be called spiritual.
Spiritual ingredients were beneficial to awakeners. Eating spiritual dishes everyday would help lay a solid foundation in the beginning.
It also increases progresses, loosens bottlenecks and improves one's strength, the specificity depending on the ingredients and the dish itself.
But there was a catch.
Since each and every item had quite some aura, they needed to be handled delicately.
Any incompatibility, any trigger, any reaction would result in accidents—most of them leading to destruction of the ingredients.
Thus, spiritual cooks needed to be very precise. In fact, even repeating the same amount of ingredients won't work!
Weather, surrounding aura concentration and one's own condition must also be taken into account!
Thus, just any other person couldn't be a Spiritual Cook.
"…Or miss, you can take a break." Anna said in distress.
Sarah was completely dedicating herself to this. She was trying to get the 'feel' right.
It was an intuition honed through hundreds of failed experiments.
She was close…yet it was far away.
"Don't wanna." Sarah mumbled and continued on. The black apron stuck to her white clothes, a small top and a long skirt.
As she moved around tirelessly, her golden bangs stuck to her forehead as she sweated.
Anna watched the figure of the hardworking girl and fell into a daze.
Unknowingly, she muttered. "Miss?"
"Hm? I'm listening." Sarah answered, her back still turned to Anna.
"Is it really worth it?" Her voice had a hint of grief and questioning.
"…what is worth what?" Sarah titled her head in confusion, but carefully mixed the meat with the spices.
"Spending four days of your training on something like this…" Anna finally said, her voice drawing out in the end. "Two months ago, you would never do this."
Sarah's movements slowed down, then halted altogether. She opened her mouth to say something, but ended up closing it.
"I…I like the way he enjoys what you cook. I know he smiles a lot, but most of the time, it's for courtesy.
When he eats your dishes, that's one of the few times he is genuinely happy. I want to do the same." Sarah said, biting her lip.
"...He hides it well, but he has a painful past. I know that because I am the same. I cannot change his past. But I can at least make him...smile more."
Anna fell silent. A few months ago, she was the one asking Sarah to take rest everyone now and then.
To have a life outside her relentless training.
Who would've thought this day would come?
"Miss, he saved you twice, alright. I know you're grateful, but this doesn't look like that, it's…" Anna couldn't say it in the end.
"It's like we're good friends, right? I think so too." Sarah smiled at Anna. "I mean, I do think Crimson and Luca are good friends, but Varian is…more special?" She sounded confused herself, but continued her work regardless.
Behind her, Anna facepalmed. 'Evander, this is the result of you warning every boy when she was in school.
Now she gets some suitors, but she doesn't understand these things properly. Argh! What am I gonna do?'