6 Chapter 6: We need to Cook
As I was walking back home and buying some resources for my alchemy I noticed a glaring flaw in my plans.
I was going to run out of money.
Yes, that was certainly a problem. I sure as well wasn't going to get a part-time that was for sure, school took up enough of my time as it is. I wish I could either sell my potions already or mindfuck someone to give me their life savings or something but unfortunately, both of those avenues are closed to me at the moment.
But well, I guess I do have a way to make some money fast...
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[Stealing(Novice) Lv.3] => [Stealing(Novice) Lv.4]
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Wowie , the people in this town sure are very kind. They were gracious and generous to donate me money even though they didn't even know me or ever see me.
Sure, they didn't really consent to donating me their money but hey, it's the thought that counts doesn't it?
I am not stealing, that sounds bad. I prefer to call it the rightful redistribution of wealth toward the greater good.
Dumping the pile of wallets into a corner in some street for the cops to eventually find I used my own wallet which was suddenly 10x richer to buy myself a shit ton of supplies.
Especially the better stuff like ginseng or rarer mountain vegetables. And actual beakers and vials to perform alchemy, it feels kind of demeaning to be someone with a god-given ability to be making potions in plastic bottles in his basement.
Once I had gotten home I dumped the contents of my backpack and started getting to work setting everything up. Since my mana reserves had reached at least adequate levels I can make potions without having to spend so much time waiting for my mana to recover.
I looked at the table full of ingredients for me to use with bright eyes, I felt like a kid at a Lego store. All the building blocks were before me, I just had to let my imagination go wild was all.
Let's get cracking!
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I am a mad scientist. And production was the right choice.
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You have discovered 50 Alchemical aspects without help.
You have developed the perk:
[Alchemists Intuition]
-Using [Inspect] on an ingredient will reveal one of their alchemical aspects to you.
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You see, my Alchemy has recently hit level 5. Because I managed to crack what makes it rise in proficiency faster. It feels like there is an imaginary bar I have to fill to make my skills level up, I have a sense of how much it rises every time I do something related to that skill. You know, like Skyrim.
Using that I managed to figure out what to do to get the most proficiency to raise my skill. First of all, the one that gives the least proficiency is discovering a new aspect, after that is brewing a potion I already know, then it's learning a new recipe probably(there is no one to learn from) and the last one is experimentation.
Creating new recipes and spending ingredients on seeing what works and what doesn't makes the proficiency rise very fast indeed. I spent most of my time at home doing nothing but alchemy and cooking myself meals.
Sure, throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks has led to me creating a variety of useless potions too. Most of them just being a mix of incredibly diluted effects due to being poor combinations, I call these Awkward Potions.
Why? Because they do basically nothing. Drinking them makes you just feel awkward because something did happen from drinking it, it was just that what happened was so underwhelming it was barely noticeable.
But other than those I have managed to improve my regular potion formulas. I am at Minor Health Potion Ver. IV which can probably heal from getting stabbed within a few minutes.
But more importantly, I have been working on a special blend for that muscle growth I talked about. Ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to my latest creation.
[Minor Recovery Potion Ver. III]
-When drunk, slowly recovers the user's health, stamina and energy.
This thing was the key to achieving fitness, until I manage to give myself permanent regeneration or learn healing magic that is. I could drink this and start exercising and by the end of it my muscles will have grown several times, I can basically condense an entire week of working out into one session if I really hate myself.
Other than that I had a few dozen potions in stock, I had even made cure disease potions which guess what, cured diseases I created it because apparently your body doesn't like it very much when you keep eating random shit.
It also doesn't understand the concept of taking one for the greater good too apparently.
Also, do not drink many potions in a row. There is also a concept called potion sickness too. It's like drinking water, yeah a bottle is fine and you can chug another a bit later too. But drink 5 litres without stopping and you will question all the decisions that led you up to that point.
Just because I was focusing on making potions for now did not mean I was slacking on my magic however.
Transmutation was going swimmingly, it had levelled up twice too, giving me more insight into how I could utilize it. Transmutation is the perfect spell to help me train my magic power and control. My shaping the earth into statues and stuff it helped me train my magic power and helped me get used to using my magic power with more finesse.
It also helped to finally complete {Reinforcement}, well a knockoff of it more like, nothing like filling in the molecular gaps or anything(Because I have even less of an idea on creating something as complex as structural analysis). It worked off the same principle transmutation does.
By adding another layer to the transmutation circle I added it the ability to solidify the mana I was using to shape it allowing me to make the structure I transmutated to be more durable as long as I was still supplying the mana.
How did I manage to apply this to non-transmitted objects you may ask? It's simple I just cut out the middle man, as long as I have a good grasp of the object's structure I can run my mana through it before solidifying its shape like adding rebar to concrete.
It was pretty strong too, I could break a rock with a pen if I was strong enough to break a rock. But there is a flaw with it too, add too much mana and things can get bad. Like the pen exploding in your hand and stabbing you with dozens of splinters.
...Yeah I wasn't using this on my body anytime soon.
Other than that I managed to crack yet another code.
Sometimes my genius even frightens me.
You see, skills rise based on achievements, make better potions get higher proficiency, that kind of jazz. The same goes for cooking, make better food get better proficiency.
So making supernatural food would get me a lot of proficiency right? And how do alchemical products work with cooking do they boost each other?
Well, I can give you the answer.
Yes. They can stack to some degree.
I found this out when I made these bad boys. It took a bit of trial and error but I made cookies. And mixing potions into them really enhanced the food.
[Heart Cookies]
-Heart-shaped cookies imbued with vitality, eating them increases regeneration by 10% for 3 hours.
They taste absolutely delicious by the way, I am impressed at my cooking abilities. So I made another one too, one that was way more useful for me. But beware of eating too many different buff foods at once.
Because if you do they aren't going to get along in your stomach very well. If you are lucky you will experience nausea and spend half an hour on the toilet.
If you are unlucky you will probably the blasting out of both ends within minutes.
[Star Cookies]
-Star-shaped cookies imbued with mana, eating them increases mana regeneration by 10% for 3 hours.
I already had experience in baking so both turned out really well, I made the heart-shaped ones red and they tasted like sweet cherries while the blue star-shaped ones tasted like cool blueberries.
Packing them up for my lunch I headed for school. I had created a good routine for myself in Kuoh I would say. I was raising my magic stats steadily, fast enough to be noticeable but not enough to be alarming.
...I hope.
I don't know how alarming it is to them but my magic power has basically doubled since the start of the week(sleeping 4 hours a day is paying off). I don't know fully if the Rias' peerage has noticed me but I don't particularly feel like caring about it.
Them finding about me is an inevitability and it won't hurt me badly anyway. Besides it would be good to form some connections soon, nothing bad could come from befriending the sister of satan after all. Speaking of, I have noticed a lot more student council people talking to me recently, just chatting normally but it was enough to alarm me a little.
Why was Sona not approaching me directly if she already knows about me? Or does she want to build a good portfolio first, seem good and friendly in my eyes and then reveal the supernatural part of the world to me with the promise of eternal life and power because she suspects that I have awakened a sacred gear(not exactly wrong)?
Well, out of sight out of mind, if I don't get disturbed by them then I don't have a reason to care. If they do try to recruit me however they better be prepared to put a full banquet on the table.
As I was going through my usual routine of existing in class and meditating through it(helps clear the mind) which was what I did most of the time to the point that the skill had already reached level 5. What do I get if I reach level 10? Do I achieve enlightenment and become a Buddha or something?
But as I was going up to the roof to have my lunch I noticed something.
Something was tailing me. And they were doing it very blatantly too.
That's right, wherever I went since the lunch break began she was steadily following after me. Was this because Sona told Rias about me? Or did I encounter a stray windowsill? Regardless if she wants to approach me for a talk she should wait until after school, because my cookies are waiting for me to devour them.
Ignoring her presence I walked all the way up to the rooftops before plopping my cushy bottom down and opening my case of cookies, they smelled heavenly, I could feel my mouth watering.
*Stare~~~*
And I can feel someone else's mouth watering too apparently. Sat opposite of me on the roof was Koneko Toujou, the idol of the school, she was an incredibly cute and beautiful small girl with white hair and catlike gold eyes she had a rather petite build. And I could feel her eyes digging into my packed lunch, her nose cutely upturned as she sniffed the air and blushed when I stared at her inquisitively as she did that.
Well too bad for you little girl. These cookies are mine, find your own.
I felt a twinge of sadistic glee as I watched her eyes widen and shake as I took a cookie from the box and plopped it into my mouth, I couldn't help but make a noise of contentment at the pleasant taste which shook her even more. She looked at the luxurious boxed lunch on her lap and then at my cookies again, obviously starting to find her own lunch unappetizing at the prospect of my cookies.
But I ignored her presence regardless, taking another cookie and crunching down as her eyes wavered once more, she took out her own chopsticks and started eating her lunch but her eyes were still firmly on my cookies.
I could see her resolve wavering with every bite I took of my cookies. Her body subconsciously inching closer to mine, the longing in her eyes clear, as the number of cookies in my box got lower she started to get more agitated, giving me pitiful cat eyes and actually flinching as I grabbed another cookie.
Man, am I evil for enjoying this?
I am totally going to hell, aren't I?
A/N: Takumi is still figuring things out but he is figuring them out fast. Competence, determination and a little bit of imagination applied on a sacred gear designed to help the user improve and with the help of meta-knowledge is a deadly combination.
And who would have thought that the reason Takumi attracted attention to himself would be because of his Culinary Superiority?
What did you think about this chapter? I would love to hear your thoughts about it, suggestions and criticisms help me improve my works so they are more than welcome.
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