Chapter 13: Entry-Level Mana Cooking Knowledge

Meanwhile, Nero had finally returned home.

He didn’t bother having dinner or checking the rewards he had received throughout the day. Instead, he went straight to his room and collapsed onto his bed.

Although his body wasn’t particularly exhausted, his mind certainly was.

He had spent hours fighting inside the simulation, sparred with Lucas, and somehow ended up taking Serina to the hospital. It had been a rather eventful day, especially for someone who rarely did anything outside his usual routine.

More importantly, the enormous amount of combat knowledge he had obtained needed some time to settle in his mind. Sleeping would probably help him get used to everything he had learned.

With that thought, Nero closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

By the time he woke up again, his room was completely dark.

"Ugh..."

Nero rubbed his eyes and reached for his wristband to check the time.

11:47 PM.

He had slept for several hours, and dinner time had already passed.

Just as he was wondering whether he should go back to sleep, his stomach growled loudly.

"..."

’Right, I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.’

However, before getting out of bed, Nero suddenly remembered something.

He still hadn’t checked the reward he received after helping Serina.

[Alchemy Emperor’s Knowledge (Epic)]

An Epic-grade reward!

From what Nero understood, the System’s rewards were divided into several grades: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical.

There could be even higher grades, but so far, the highest one he had encountered was Legendary.

Curious about what the reward contained, Nero opened its description.

However, after reading through it, he couldn’t help widening his eyes.

It was much better than he expected.

The reward contained the medical and alchemical knowledge of an Alchemy Emperor, including information about countless herbs, medicines, and methods of refining them.

There was so much information that Nero didn’t even know where to begin.

"This System is casually handing out cheats like they’re nothing..."

He was genuinely speechless.

With this knowledge alone, he could probably earn an enormous amount of money, even if he never managed to become an Awakener.

After all, medicine was an extremely valuable field, especially in a world where supernatural abilities and dangerous creatures existed.

Of course, Nero had no intention of giving up on awakening.

He had already decided that he would become stronger, and with the Ultimate Choice System helping him, he was confident that he would eventually find a way.

He just needed to be patient and continue improving himself.

No more being a coward!

Grow stronger, become more confident, and stop running away whenever something difficult happened.

Grrrr!

His stomach growled again, interrupting his thoughts.

"...Food first."

Nero got out of bed and stretched.

He still had the Warm Meal Voucher in his inventory, but he was more interested in trying the Entry-Level Mana Cooking Knowledge he had received earlier for eating breakfast with everyone and make something mana-infused. He was feeling motivated right now.

Besides, if he somehow ruined the food, he could always redeem the voucher afterward.

With that decided, Nero left his room and headed downstairs.

The mansion was quiet at this hour, with most of the servants having already retired for the night. Only a few lights remained on in the hallways.

After reaching the kitchen, Nero pushed open the door and reached for the light switch.

Click!

The moment the lights came on, a loud crash echoed through the kitchen.

Clang!

"Huh?"

Nero turned toward the sound and discovered Lilly sitting on the floor a few meters away.

A plate had fallen beside her, scattering food across the tiles.

She was dressed in a pair of rather short pajamas that hugged her figure, with shorts that exposed most of her white thighs.

Her strawberry-blonde hair was loose and slightly messy, making her look quite different from the neatly dressed girl he was used to seeing during the day.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

"...Oh."

Nero hadn’t expected to find her here.

Lilly, on the other hand, seemed even more surprised by his sudden appearance.

"W-What are you looking at?!"

Her face turned red as she hurriedly stood up, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Nothing. I just came to make something to eat."

Nero walked past her and headed toward the refrigerator.

Lilly frowned at his response.

"You? Cook?"

She let out a mocking laugh.

"Don’t tell me you actually think you can cook."

Before Nero could respond, a familiar golden window appeared.

[Choice Detected: Prove Your Worth]

[Option 1: Prove Lilly wrong by cooking a proper meal for both of you.]

[Reward: Perfect Sleep (Uncommon)]

[Option 2: Ignore her and make instant noodles instead.]

[Reward: Premium Instant Noodles (Common)]

Nero read through the choices before selecting the first option.

He had already planned to test his cooking knowledge, so there was no reason to refuse a free reward. He was secretly happy about this.

"Sit down. I’ll make enough for both of us."

Lilly blinked.

"...Excuse me?"

"I said I’ll cook for both of us. Just wait a bit."

Nero opened the refrigerator and began examining the ingredients inside.

Lilly remained standing for a moment, seemingly unsure how to respond.

The Nero she knew would have probably apologized the moment she mocked him, yet here he was casually telling her to sit down and wait for his cooking.

"Hmph! Fine."

She pulled out a chair at the kitchen island and sat down.

"But don’t blame me when you mess everything up."

In fact, Lilly was quite skilled at cooking, and her dream was to become a powerful Mana Cook. Because of that, she particularly disliked people who boasted about their cooking skills without having anything to show for it.

She wanted to see what Nero could actually do.

"Okay..."

Nero replied helplessly.

He took out two steaks, some potatoes, green beans, garlic, and butter before arranging everything on the counter.

However, when he picked up one of the steaks, he noticed something unusual.

There was a faint trace of energy inside the meat.

’Mana?’

Upon closer inspection, Nero realized that the steak contained Mana, and the same was true for most of the other ingredients.

They were all mana-infused food products.

Considering how wealthy the Morgan family was, this wasn’t particularly surprising. However, they usually ate ordinary food for breakfast and lunch, reserving Mana-infused meals for dinner, when everyone returned from their training.

After all, training was an essential part of an Awakener’s lifestyle.

Mana-infused ingredients were far more expensive than ordinary food, but they were also much more nutritious. The energy contained within them could help Awakeners recover and improve their physical condition by triggering the passive mana in their body.

For someone trying to become stronger, these ingredients were practically perfect.

’Alright, let’s see how good this knowledge actually is.’

Nero activated the Entry-Level Mana Cooking Knowledge he had obtained earlier and began preparing the ingredients.

Almost immediately, he realized how useful the reward was.

He knew how to cut the ingredients properly, how much heat to use, and how to preserve the Mana within them during the cooking process.

It was strange because he had barely cooked anything in his life, yet everything felt surprisingly familiar.

Before long, the sound of sizzling meat filled the kitchen, followed by the pleasant aroma of vegetables and seasonings.

Lilly, who had been scrolling through her phone, gradually became interested in what he was doing.

At first, she had expected Nero to mess something up within a few minutes.

However, he was handling the ingredients rather well, and even the way he controlled the cooking temperature seemed unusually precise.

’Wait, does he actually know how to cook?’

Lilly lowered her phone slightly in slight surprise.

Soon, Nero finished preparing the steak before adding the vegetables and adjusting the heat one final time.

A few minutes later, he placed two plates on the kitchen island.

Each plate contained a juicy, pan-seared steak served with creamy garlic mashed potatoes and buttered green beans.

The steak had a beautiful brown crust, and the aroma of garlic and butter filled the kitchen. More importantly, the Mana within the ingredients had been preserved remarkably well.

Nero pulled out a chair beside Lilly and sat down.

"Here... try it."

Lilly glanced at the plate before looking toward Nero.

She still found it difficult to believe that he had prepared all of this himself.

However, the food certainly smelled good.

After hesitating for a moment, she picked up her fork, cut a piece of steak, and took a bite.

"...!"

Her eyes widened.

It was delicious!

The steak was tender and perfectly seasoned, while the mashed potatoes were creamy and rich with butter. Even the green beans tasted better than she had expected.

And Nero had somehow prepared all of this without any assistance.

She couldn’t understand how that was possible.

After all, he had never shown any interest in cooking before, let alone Mana Cooking.

Yet here he was, eating the food he had prepared as though there was nothing unusual about it.

Lilly continued eating without saying anything.

She had already noticed that Nero seemed different since today. But this? This was something else entirely.

How the hell did a guy who barely left his room manage to make something so delicious?

Not only that, she had also noticed the effort he had made that morning to start a conversation with her. The last time they had properly talked to each other was four months ago.

He was changing, and even Lilly herself could see it.

For some reason, she found herself feeling rather happy about it.

Maybe it was because she was beginning to realize that this guy wasn’t completely useless after all?

Or perhaps she was simply glad to see him finally making an effort to change.

Whatever the reason, she wasn’t going to admit it out loud.

However, after taking another bite, Lilly suddenly felt something stirring within her.

It was her Mana.

She immediately dropped her spoon onto the plate and looked down at the food before turning toward Nero as she stood up.

"Y-You... Is this Mana-infused? How is that possible? You are not awakened, how can you retain the mana in the food?!"