Chapter 276: Good time.
"Pfffhahahahaha," Sera can't help but laugh, leaning against a tree for support, "That was great, the way you twisted their hands and made them run away, pfffhahaha, they cried like kids." Despite the laughter, it's evident that the aftermath of their skirmish has left both in a dire state; their clothes are dirtied and tattered, bearing the brunt of their recent battle.
Isadora simply blinks, taking another sip from her coconut, offering only a nod in response. Kael's words resonate in her head, 'Dammit, Isadora, if you want to stay quiet, that's fine, but every now and then try talking to someone you like. It doesn't have to be much. Sometimes a few words are all you need to make someone like you,' he had advised her, his voice echoing in her mind. She imagines him, somewhat comically, poking her forehead as he urges her, 'I'm telling you to stop bothering me and let me train alone. Go bother Biana or make a new friend; I need some time alone,' though in her imagination, Kael appears younger and more petulant, almost childlike in his annoyance.
"Ah, I'm so hungry. I'm tired of bland food," Sera sighs, a longing for the flavors Kael introduced her to evident in her tone. 'Dammit, Kael, I got addicted to your cooking. If only I had a stove...' she muses wistfully.
Noticing Sera's discomfort, Isadora halts her sipping and delves into her bag, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. Kael's insistence on preparedness replays in her mind, 'This is mine, okay? If we ever get stranded somewhere, I'd like to have an extra cooking set, so keep it in your pouch at all times,' he had said, almost prophetically stuffing the set into her bag without awaiting her consent.
After a moment's hesitation, Isadora retrieves the cooking set, but her initial attempt to set it up ends in failure. Undeterred, she tries again, only for the pieces to collapse. Sera, struggling to contain her amusement, offers a stifled laugh, "Pfff, do you need help?" she manages, her voice muffled by her hand.
Isadora's response is a firm shake of the head, her determination unwavering as she makes another attempt. Yet again, the setup crumbles. With a clenched fist and a deep exhale, she gives it one last try. This time, although the setup stands, it's far from perfect—uneven, fragile, and seemingly on the brink of collapse. If Kael could see what she'd done to his cherished equipment, he would surely cry.
Isadora glares at the cooking set with an intensity that could freeze boiling water, her frustration palpable. With a resigned sigh, she withdraws her hand, and like a house of cards caught in a breeze, the setup crumbles once more. Defeated, she collapses onto the ground, allowing the grass to cushion her fall, her black hair fluttering in the wind to veil her face in shadows.
Sera, unable to suppress her amusement, stands up, her giggle breaking the silence. "Hmhmhm, come on, don't be so down. I'll teach you how to put it together," she offers, extending her hand towards Isadora with a comforting smile.
Isadora's gaze, one of utter resignation, meets Sera's. Despite the gloom that seems to envelop her, she accepts the helping hand, her movements sluggish yet hopeful. "Okay, let's see..." Sera muses, examining the equipment with a hint of concern. 'Oh... I hope this is hers...' she silently prays, eyeing the damaged parts with a mix of skepticism and determination. "Everything should still work," she declares with an air of confidence, beginning to piece the set back together under Isadora's watchful, albeit disinterested, eyes.
'Oh, I see why she's struggling...' Sera thinks to herself, her attention caught by a piece of paper tucked among the equipment.
[If you're reading this, it means you're helping Isadora put my equipment together, and it means she failed to do it herself. Whoever it is, good job for gaining her trust. The child safety is on; I put a safety on every device, it's on the back left corner of each piece. Don't tell Isadora, this is written in the basic runic language Isadora can't read, it will hurt her pride, and she will hurt me. NEVER LET HER COOK! Don't say I didn't warn you.]
"Pfff,", Sera clears her throat awkwardly, "My bad, I remembered something funny," she fibs, avoiding Isadora's curious glance. Unbeknownst to Isadora, who looks at the note with a puzzled tilt of her head, Sera discreetly disables the child safety feature and effortlessly assembles the cooking set.
"Okay, now, thankfully, I always carry fresh food with me," Sera announces, delving into her pouch to retrieve a bag of groceries.
"Thank you," Isadora says calmly as she accepts the bag from Sera. 'No... that's not for you,' Sera thinks, her hand reaching out instinctively, but she stops herself, unable to voice her concern. "S-so, what are you planning on cooking?" Sera inquires, curiosity mingling with a hint of apprehension as she follows Isadora, who begins to take out veggies from the bag.
Isadora pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. 'Listen here, you can't always choose what you cook; if you have limited ingredients, you have to get creative. So, I can't cook you any tropical dishes today,' she remembers Kael's advice in the cafeteria. Nodding at the memory, she assesses the ingredients before her with renewed purpose.
Sera watches anxiously, her mind racing. 'What do I do, what do I do,' she frets, tapping her fingers rapidly. 'She's so nice; I don't want her to feel down, but that note said she shouldn't cook...'
As Isadora begins to chop the vegetables and fruits, she pulls out oranges, lemons, potatoes, and eggplants, slicing them into a single pile with a satisfied smile. Sera observes the culinary chaos unfolding before her, her hands trembling. 'What is she doing? I'm not a professional cook, but even I know you don't mix citrus fruits with nightshade vegetables. And those slices are horrible; she's a swordswoman, why isn't she cutting them properly?' she laments silently, her expression frozen in a strained smile.
Isadora, oblivious to Sera's internal panic, nods to herself with satisfaction. Mimicking Kael's technique from their survival island ordeal, she cuts the produce into thick and thin pieces. In truth, Kael had only cut them into chunks due to the lack of proper equipment, but Isadora recalls the method fondly.
Without missing a beat, she sets the sliced mix aside in a bowl and reaches for onions and a melon. Sera, seizing the opportunity, immediately begins to separate the fruits and vegetables Isadora had combined. 'What is she doing... my midnight snack mixed with onions... I wonder what would happen if Kael saw this. Would he kill himself?' Sera despairs silently, her heart sinking at the sight of such an unorthodox combination.
-
"I-it's so delicious," Sera proclaims, managing a smile as a solitary tear makes its treacherous journey down her cheek. This is her hardest battle yet. 'I tried so hard to help her, but she still made this...' She holds back her disgusted face as she eats the devil's stew. 'All I can do is smile. She looks so happy with herself...' Sera cries internally as she forces herself to eat.
Taking a bite, Isadora tilts her head and scratches her neck, then she remembers, 'If you want to learn how to cook, there's one thing you have to do. Always eat your food, no matter how... it tastes. Don't let food go to waste, or I won't help you,' she recalls Kael saying that to her, flicking her forehead as she tried throwing food away before. She nods, eating it despite her not enjoying it.
As Sera inadvertently lets a spoonful of the ominous stew escape her grasp, a curious fly, lured by the scent, lands upon it. No sooner does it taste the concoction than it meets its untimely demise, disintegrating into dust with a pitiful finality. 'Poor little thing, I'm sorry,' Sera cries internally.
They both blink as a holographic screen appears in front of them, both of them getting their own holographic screen exactly the same, their bodies emitting a blue hue.
[lvl 1 poison resistance skill acquired]
The message on the screen brings no joy to Sera; instead, it deepens her sorrow. 'Poison resistance? When did the stew turn lethal?' she questions inwardly, a sense of melancholy washing over her. 'Any sane individual would rejoice at gaining a skill, yet here I am, drowning in pain...' Unable to contain her emotions, tears cascade down her cheeks in silent testament to her inner turmoil.
Isadora looks at the screen with a confused face. She tilts her head as she doesn't understand what's happening. She looks at Sera and says, "Are you okay?" in a toneless yet confused voice.
"O-oh, I'm just so happy I got my first skill," Sera lies.
"Skill?" Isadora asks, tilting her head in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Sera, seizing the moment to shift the focus away from the culinary disaster, happily puts her bowl down.
"Hmm? You don't know what a skill is?" She asks in disbelief, her eyebrows arching in surprise. 'Wow, and I thought I lived under a rock,' she muses internally, finding Isadora's ignorance both baffling and endearing.
Isadora shakes her head, her expression one of genuine puzzlement as she tries tapping on the holographic screen, her finger pausing in mid-air as if to coax answers from the glowing interface.
Sera leans back, adopting the tone of an experienced sage. "Skills... are amazing. They can give you cool buffs or allow you to do stuff you wouldn't normally be able to do. There are two ways to get skills. One, skills can be granted by gods, angels, dungeons, or you might just get lucky in a ruin. The second method is hard work. According to ancient scriptures, if you work hard enough in a certain field, and the world acknowledges your actions, you may create a skill," she explains, her voice laced with a mix of pride and an undertone of sorrow at the comical reality of their situation.
"In our case... I think my ingredients were poisoned," she adds quickly, fabricating a plausible explanation. 'Her cooking is so bad, it gave us poison resistance...' she laments internally, her heart sinking at the absurdity of it all.
"We were supposed to get our first skill in a year. When the principal takes us to an angel's temple, the angel pretty much gives us our first skill," she continues, her explanation slow and deliberate, ensuring Isadora grasps the concept.
Isadora scratches her cheek, pointing at where it says [lvl] on the screen without uttering a word. "That stands for level. You can level up skills by meeting the requirements. For poison resistance, it's normally eating more poison. The higher the level, the stronger the resistance gets. Additionally, every skill has a cap. Once that cap is reached, it can evolve if the skill is capable of evolving," Sera explains confidently, her knowledge on the subject matter shining through.
Isadora then points at a blue button on her screen, a silent inquiry hanging in the air. Sera nods, eager to share her insights. "So, I read about this. That button is for active skills, skills that are always on. You can turn off the skill there. We don't know exactly where this screen comes from, but if you want to close it, just hit the X mark on the top left corner. You can always bring it back up by saying 'skills' in your mind."
"Isn't it cool?" Sera asks, her smile wide.
"I don't like it," Isadora responds plainly, turning off the skill and closing her holographic window.
'She doesn't like it? That's strange. What's not to like?' Sera wonders, perplexed by Isadora's reaction. Seizing the moment to escape the remnants of the culinary disaster, she 'accidentally' spills her food. "O-oh no, I dropped it. It's okay, I can eat fruit," she says, clearing her throat, eager to move past the ordeal.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
QTV
QTV I hope you liked the 'skill' lesson
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone