Learn to Cook

Turry looked at the heap of plants, and herbs suspiciously for a while, then back at me. "Moo… Huf…". He knew, but of course that was to be expected. "What's wrong? Are you not hungry anymore?", I played dumb. "Moo! Moo, moo", he complained. "What's there to complain? Don't you see your favourite herbs? Stop complaining so much and eat. Others don't make such a fuss, take a look for yourself", I replied while pointing at the other Tauruses.

Turry stole a few glances at the eating Tauruses, who were content with simple plants. He must've realised that they didn't even get some herbs. Turry looked back at the heap, then slowly ate away. 'Good, he fell for that'. Fortunately, Turry didn't change all that much. He was still just a simple Taurus, albeit the strongest one out there. When he realised others were worse off than him, there was nothing he'd complain about.

With Turry out of the way, I could focus on my own practice. Due to my familiarity with the Aura, my control of the energy improved at the same time. They were pretty much dependent on each other, since Aura required energy, and energy required control, like the Aura. My focus was directed toward the other type of control though. The condensed energy control, which master Irwin taught me.

At that stage, the condensed energy could leave my body, and even latch itself onto the object within my grasp. There were a few issues though. Once the condensed energy left my body, my control over it would weaken considerably. The other issue was the strength itself. I had to be really careful, and use small amounts of condensed energy. The violent energy would destroy items in my hand, if too much of it was released.

Moreover, my body couldn't handle large amounts of that energy. That didn't stop me from practicing with it. Once my body got strong enough to withstand the force, such energy would become one of my trump cards.

"Haaah, I'm tired…". Dawn came back from her practice, and sat further away from the campfire. "Still afraid of fire?", "... It's not that. I don't like fire for sure, but only because we are weak against it. I'd like to stay safe if possible", she replied. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to mock you. We all have some sort of fears", "Then, what do you fear?", she asked.

"... I fear myself, or rather the anger dwelling inside me. I fear that one day, it will burst and… Yea, other than that, I don't fear anything, hehe", "Hehe, sure, sure. I believe you", Dawn said with a smile. A while later, Tara and Teri joined us next to the campfire. "This was supposed to be a nice trip, why do I have to train…", Tara complained as always.

"Because you're a fatass?", "Shut up, you skeleton. Skin and bones, you don't even have proper boobs", she fired back at me. "It's not my fault! I'm trying to eat more…", I replied embarrassed. "Come on guys, give it a break. How about I tell you a sort of story instead?", Teri proposed. For the sake of abandoning the subject of my body, everyone agreed to the story.

Teri told us a story about Atols who fought during the war. He mentioned my father of course, but mostly focused on the Atols. How they came to use shields. How they improved their skills thanks to help from Lizards and others. Teri wasn't really good at narrating these things, but he tried his best and enjoyed himself. We could tell he was proud of the warriors who fought back then. He wanted to be just like them.

"That's enough stories for one night. We should get some rest, tomorrow's another day to explore this place, right? Oh, and don't wander too far away during the night. I've placed some defensive Formations around our camp", I said. My mother provided me with a tent and a proper set of furniture. She seemed to have loads of that stuff in her storage item. We didn't need to build shelters like my father or me in the past. That was of course much more convenient.

None of the Formations activated during the night, hence we rested peacefully. "... This meat is great raw, but cooked? Hehe, if you want a boyfriend, just serve him this food. Hehe, I'd like to be able to cook like that as well", Dawn praised me.

"I'm happy you guys like it. Besides, cooking isn't that difficult. You just have to remember about proportions and cooking time… Oh, and the ingredients too. Though, you'd pick it up real fast… How about it? I can teach you a few tricks", I proposed to her. Dawn considered the idea for a while, then nodded her head in agreement.

"How about you, Tara? Maybe you can learn a thing or two from Anna as well", Teri proposed. "What? You don't like my cooking?", "I… Hehe, of course I like it. There's nothing wrong with it… You could use some more spices from time to time". Teri probably realised he was digging his own grave, because Tara wasn't happy at all.

"Why don't you go out with Anna then? Since you like her cooking so much?", Tara fired back. Teri tried to save the situation, but he was hopeless. "Give it a break, Tara. Would Teri be with you, if he didn't love you? Don't you want him to really praise your cooking? Or are you simply too lazy to learn?", I taunted her. "You are too lazy!... Fine! Miss 'oh so great at cooking', show me what you can teach me then". My taunt worked the treat, and Tara agreed to learn something as well.

We began our first lesson straight away. Though no cooking was involved, they had to familiarise themselves with spices, ingredients and such. Cooking could be simple, or complicated. That depended on the dish, and the amount of flavour you'd want to receive. "During dinner, you'll help me cut the ingredients. I'll be able to explain a few other things as well. Anyway, I'll pack the stuff and we can be on our way", I said.

Our little trip continued. We all worked out, practiced or trained with each other, while during breaks, my two friends would learn how to prepare proper home made food. They also witness how Curly hunts. She was perhaps small, but strong nonetheless. Though she took down a normal boar only, my friends were surprised anyway.

"Hehe, Curly's teeth are really sharp. She might be small, but she's deadly. Hehe, cute but deadly, right you little furball?", I said while scratching her head. "Arf!", she agreed. "I wonder about Turry. He is the only Taurus who actually broke the wall", Dawn commented.

"... To be honest, I'm not sure. Turry doesn't hunt, he eats plants and herbs. I'm sure he's strong, but how strong?... Turry, would you like to give it a go?", I asked. Turry got confused about my proposal, he didn't seem interested. "Don't worry your little head then. I'm sure you are really strong", "Moo!", he liked the praise, but had no concept of hunting.

"Well, Tauruses don't hunt, so we can't expect him to hunt out of the blue… The bigger question on my mind is, what would happen to Curly, once she reached Outer Limits stage?", Dawn asked an intriguing question. '... Now that she asked… What would happen to Curly?', I asked myself while looking at her. "Arf?", she tilted her head in confusion. "You just stay this cute, I don't care. Hehe".

'Anyway, we'll be at my family's place soon. I can't wait to find out how everyone's doing'. Though my face didn't show it, I was perhaps more excited than all my friends combined. This was a real trip, without masters or anything. Just us friends, going on a journey together. This was a great feeling for sure. The feeling of freedom, and ability to go wherever we wished, do whatever we wanted. That had to be the reason why people became adventurers.