Training

After he shouted, a very dangerous howl was heard that made all the beasts and spirits inside the dark forest kept quiet, even those who were with Lander shuddered and knelt from the ground!

Only Lander was calm. He waited for a while before they heard stomping from the ground that made it tremble, then they saw a very big Rabbit heading towards them, "Yow Robby!"

"Growl!" Robby let out a deafening roar that made everybody limped down from fear except Lander who was still standing with his hands behind his back portraying the air of a Master.

"Can you carry us all? Grey! What the h*ll are you doing there limping down, tell Robby what I said." Lander was irritated by his buddy, he was tired and he just wanted to have a good sleep. Grey, who was limping down communicated to Robby then transmitted their conversation to Lander, "He said that we'll follow him."

After saying that, Robby began shrinking and became that of a size of a normal rabbit as it led the way. Everyone was stunned at the scene they just witnessed.

Lander and his group followed Robby, their journey was relatively safe arriving at the Necromancer's place in an hour.

When they arrived, the Necromancer greeted them with a little bit of anger, "You really dare disrespect me in my own territory?"

"Tsk, I wouldn't disrespect you if you just told me your name. Anyway, we're tired and haven't had a decent sleep so we will just go and rest." Lander said not even intimidated by the Necromancer.

The Necromancer was about to scold him when he felt something as he rushed towards the room where his lady was kept.

Although a bit scared, Lander's group followed him and found a place where they can rest, as for Lander, he went inside the Necromancer's room and slept for 10 hours due to over fatigue and pain from his abdomen.

When he woke up, he saw that the Necromancer was pissed and the people who came with Lander was on the side bowing their heads afraid.

"Not even you disrespected me but even slept inside my room! You really have that audacity?" The Necromancer questioned Lander glaring at him.

"Oh forgive me, I was just too tired and badly needed a sleep so I just entered your room," Lander was quite embarrassed scratching the back of his head.

"You better get the hell out of my territory before I end up your lives here!" The Necromancer was now angry and released his very malicious aura engulfing everyone from the house. Everyone limped down and became unconscious but only Lander was still half kneeling because of the pressure.

"This... aura.. you.. you.. are... from... the.. Dark.. Force?" Lander gritted his teeth as those words came out from his mouth.

"HAHAHAHA you know nothing! But I'm impressed that you are still conscious despite releasing one fourth of my aura!" The Necromancer laughed wildly and instantly removed his aura.

"Fwah!" Lander stumbled down when the aura was gone. He stabilized his breathing, "Then we'll leave your territory if that's what you wanted."

"You better as I don't need people who disrespects me but two people will stay behind to be my maid and cook," The Necromancer replied.

"HAHA it's your loss then since I haven't taught one of them about my cooking style," This time, it was now Lander who laughed. He already sensed that this Necromancer was not really intending to kill them but was more worried about his woman.

"Then you should stay and teach one of them," The Necromancer ordered.

"Hey, Hey, Hey, Old man, are you kidding me? Can't you have at least a decent decision?" Lander replied scrutinizing the Necromancer.

"I'll give you a month to train one of them," The Necromancer replied ending the conversation.

"What an eccentric Necromancer!" Lander said scratching his head.

When the people around regained their consciousness, Lander started training the five cooks by peeling. This kind of training lasted for a whole day however, not for Lander, he gave them instructions and had to do his training while also teaching Yan Yan meditation.

A whole week passed, when Lander started lecturing about ingredients, freshness, meat quality and different styles of cooking. Yan Yan and the other two women also joined the lecture. And on the afternoon, they would all try to cook something based on just the lectures and Lander would taste them giving comments and insults. Lander while waiting for them to finish cooking would again try to open his storage ring but to no avail, he still couldn't open it.

Another week passed when Lander showed the different kinds of cooking to them while explaining the process and proper way of handling the ingredients. Then all of them would try to imitate what he did, "Do not try to imitate my work. We are all different and we have our own style of cooking. You might copy some of the things I did but at least put some variations that would make it yours."

Waiting again, Lander would sometimes read books about soul, meditate or open his storage ring.

For the last week of the month, Lander just told them to cook something that would impress him. He gave them a day each to create a satisfying dish while he would always go out with Grey trying to acquire the Golden Metamorphosis Plant and Energy Soul Stone to auction.

The first day was a total failure as they weren't able to create a dish that could satisfy Lander. Even Lander wasn't able to locate the place where he plucked the Golden Metamorphosis Plant and Energy Soul Stone. He would always evade the spirits and beasts if possible.

Second day when one of them was able to create a decent dish while Lander still failed.

Third day when Lander finally located the place where he picked up the Energy Soul Stone. He collected half of the total of the stones. He was also able to acquire eleven bundles of Golden Metamorphosis Plant. It was an easy work as the beasts were afraid of Grey despite having the number advantage.

Fourth day when finally, everyone created an average dish but wasn't still satisfying to Lander's palate. As for Lander, he ventured the Dark Forest again fighting several beasts and acquiring their meats. He also found a den of a Rank C beasts, the grizzly bears. Lander knew the difficulty of entering so he left not intending to continue.

Last day, Lander asked them to create a dish that would satisfy the Necromancer. He, on the other hand asked Robby to accompany him to where he summoned the lightning before.

When Lander arrived, he could hear loud rumbles of thunders while lightning scattered all over the darkest sky illuminating the place from time to time. The rod he planted was now nowhere to be seen. As Lander has trained for the past few weeks, he finally decided to be struck by lightning again trying to open his soul affinity towards lightning. He meditated in the middle of grassy field for a day but to no avail, he wasn't struck by any lightning. But he could feel tingling sensations from the ground that could somehow give him electrifying numbness.

Standing up, he left the area but planned on staying there for one and a half month before finally leaving, heading straight to the Amphiptere Academy.