Magic Cultivation

Chapter 21: A modern style chef making a friend

Nyx got what he wanted, because after coming to this world he had was his, mom's breast not that he was sick of it but he wanted to taste real food but sadly their family could only afford meat at least one to two days in a week and as he was still a baby he couldn't even eat anything yet and just sucks on her mama's ahem, milk to be full each day. Nyx wanted to cook but he didn't have any ingredients to begin with so he wandered around flailing the chunk of meat that her mother gave it was only at a size that he could carry as her mother Zira thought he couldn't lift it if she gave him too much. The meat was already dried and the bloor was almost completely gone as Zira had already prepared chunks or meat that they would use for the village feast and the rest were brouth back to the barracks and have Terran freeze them to keep it in the coming months or sell it, and that was what also Nyx thought he once again circulated his mana and focused and tried to remember the feeling he first manifested his sword inted to try and cut the chunk of meat in half, he secretly entered a state of half cultivation and had the little girl guide him around while he was in half cultivation state which he was half asleep and half conscious, after a while Nyx managed to comprehend a sword intent that was only basic as he was in need of the moment not for battle but just for cutting a chunk of meat in half.

"Phew... are we close to the meat shop..?"

"Mmmm..."

The girl nodded in response to Nyx's questions and noticed that earlier Nyx didn't say anything like his usual which was strange and thought something happened to him and the girl was a little scared of what might've happened to him.

"A-are you okay..?"

"Huh..? oh, sorry can you help me hold the other half of the meat... I wanna sold only the other half so we could buy ingredients and cook this meat, sorry for this trouble but I can't cook it unless we buy the right ingredients first... hehe..."

Nyx scratched his head as if he was sorry for bringing the girl along with him, he felt sorry as the girl was already hungry but it would be worth it if a girl like her can at least eat foods that she hasn't even eaten before.

"Ummm... it's alright if you don't cook it without any other ingredients... ah not that I'm ordering you to... I'm sorry..."

"Hmmm... we have already reached it huh... that was fast anyway watch out and hold the other meat for me"

"H-huh..? you didn't even listen..."

"Oh... you said something..? sorry hahaha I didn't quite heard it..."

*swoosh*

With a slight breeze Nyx's hand move very fast that the girl hadn't noticed that the meat was already sliced through in half.

"Uhhh... what's your name, sorry for being rude but I didn't get your name earlier and just suddenly made you my friend... haha"

"U-um, my name... my name's Lisa... just Lisa"

"Hmmm..? Just Lisa is your name..? well I'm not a person to judge but... Just as a first name is actually... kinda funny"

"W-what..? no, no it's just Lisa..!"

"HAHAHA, I know I know, I was just teasing you a bit because your always saying sorry like it's all your fault so stop saying sorry"

"Owwwwooo~... I'm sorry..."

"Hahaha stop saying that and don't cry... because"

"B-because..?"

"You'll drop the meat that we're gonna eat other wise..."

"H-huh..? o-oh... right I'm sorry..."

Lisa pouted as if she wanted to hear another thing not related to meat.

"Y-you'll come back right..?"

"Huh? of course, if I don't you cry... probably"

"W-what..? No... I won't hmph..."

Lisa finally expressed her feelings towards Nyx and didn't act shy as she was before. But too bad Nyx has already gone inside the store to sell the magical beast meat all Lisa heard was the reply of jingle from the bells when Nyx opened the door.

*slam*

"H-huh..? he has already inside... idiot..! hmph"

Meanwhile Nyx was already inside and was greeted by the owner but didn't saw who came in.

"Boss... I mean Mr. can I sell you this meat..?"

"huh..? a kid? kid it seems you are-"

"Lost..? haha, no I'm here you sell you a magical beast meat Mr.!"

"What..? how could a scrawny kid like you have such a luxurious meat... get loss now kid and go home before I get angry-"

"But Mr., it really is my mother gave it to me she and my father are adventurers and while we were finding a place to sleep in... we found our way to this village and while coming here many beast were scattered running in every direction of the woods and some even ran straight at the road then we killed those who have came too close to our carriage Mr..."

"Hmmm... adventurers you say..? Hmm..., 'this kid is actually telling the truth in the morning I seem to have heard that there was a beast horde coming but there was a mage and a strong warrior so they just let us stay in hiding to avoid any casualties... and what this kid is saying must be when the beast horde was cleared and the higher ranked beast who had the intelligence to grasp how dangerous it was for them to stay and ran away... they must've stumbled upon them..."

"Yes, I got along with them since it was only an F rank request that only said to gather certain materials and herbs to collect so it wasn't anything dangerous but we seem to have gone too far so my mother just said to make it a camping trip instead..."

"Hmmm... 'if what this kid is saying is true... then I can get a huge discount if I bought it from such a kid..! usually a magical beast meat would cost around 10 gold coins in every kilo and if I give this kid 1 gold coin... then it wouldn't seem suspicious, because do kid even know how much is money this meat really cost..?", This must be what this guy is thinking right now and is trying to scam me... so I've also come prepared, I at least need 3 gold coins to buy the ingredients and I need to be fast Lisa might've already be so hungry right now... so I'm gonna ask 7 gold coins and lower it to 5 gold coins, and besides this meat is just a small piece to what the others have... MUAHAHAHAHA!!

"Alright kid, I'm gonna buy it for one gold coin, this meat might just be at 2 and a half kilo judging from it's size... and it took so long for it to be sold so I don't know if the quality is still good..."

"What..? Mr. I know you might want to get a profit... but my father and mother are adventurers it's natural that they would teach me a thing or two, they told me I could sell a magical beast meat at, at least 7 gold coins...", HAHAHA, this guy might've think...

...'this kid, originally a magical beast meat would sell up to 10 gold coins... but what do you expect about those brutish adventurers, to say it would only sell at 7 gold coins, how lucky hahaha, I'm gonna go lower and bargain with this kid so I won't loss this opportunity..!'

"Hmmm... my bad dear customer, I was just thinking about it's quality so I said such a rude thing... so how about 3 gold coins..?"

"what..? Mr. if you continue to bargain with me then, I'm willing to go to a second rate restaurant and let them cook this for free and eat them together with the owner... do you want that..?"

"W-what..? such a precious... ahem, I mean, how much do you want then dear young master..?" 'To go so low with such a lousy brat..! but this will still be worth it if it will be 5 gold coins for this chunk of meat..! I can sell it for at the very least 25 gold coins when a noble come here... preferably that swine noble who is in control of the mines, how lucky... hahaha!'

"Hmmm... how about5 gold coins..? doesn't that sound fair as it is also a rank D magical beast that this chunk of meat was taken from, but we needed money to pay the inn so we're willing to sell this chunk of meat at such a low price..!"

"A D-D rank..? here Young master, here is your 5 gold coins... and anyway can I check if it really is a magical beast meat? just to be sure of course" 'hahaha! it's my lucky day..! a magical beast meat would usually be much more red in color than the normal meat of wild beast and... it should exude a beastly aura if in contact with a mana stone..!'

The meat shop owner then got a lamp that used a mana stone and remove the mana stone made it in contact with the meat, Nyx couldn't help but be curious as well so he stayed and watched, after a while nothing happened and the owner seemed to be impatient but suddenly the whole room got darker and a beastly roar was heard Nyx protected himself by covering his entire body with mana out of instinct while the meat shop owner was so scared he pissed his pants and got knocked out.

"Well... it's not my fault... you were really greedy and that's karma you've received... HAHAHA!"

Looking back the meat shop owner also looked like a wild boar because of his hairy arms and his fat body, but soon a falling meat that was made into a ham fell down to Nyx and made stumble.

*thud*

"Ouch..."

Lisa heard the commotion and was scared if Nyx was scolded by the owner and got a beating, because she heard such a loud roar and heard Nyx saying "ouch".

"Um... are you okay..?"

"Mmnn... yeah, we should buy the ingredients fast"

After a while the two wondered around the shops and bargained as if they were really experienced in it, it was mostly thanks to Nyx's thick face and experience in his past life. Hmmm... this world doesn't know the method of frying and they just know something similar but primitive, and it was searing only... I have been searching oil this whole time while gathering sugar, and some spices and also a herb that smelled really nice but still haven't seen oil...

"Mr. do you know of something that is liquid but instead it is much thicker unlike water and can burn if heated too much..? it is called an oil"

"Huh..? oil..? I don't know any oil but something similar to that, but it is obtained from a fruit which when one would use to make a torch but... the fire doesn't last very long"

"Hmmm... that's it, Mr. do you have those I'll buy one box of it..!"

"Oh, we do young man here it'll be all 5 bronze coin"

"Hehe... back then people also used oil to use as a fuel to make lamps but to see it here used as a torch is pretty primitive as I thought they have magic and should have advanced more... but it seems not too far from what the anime and manga's and in the novels said... hahaha I can probably use this to make a business in the future..!(hehe)"

"Ummm... why are you so happy..?"

"Hmmm..? well because I can finally cook a food that isn't from this world- ahem, I mean that isn't from this land"

"Really..?! will it be good..?"

"Hehe, not just good but very very delicious!"

"Let's cook it then... but where are we gonna cook it though..?"

"Don't worry let's just get to that alleyway and cook it there"

After a while Nyx chanted and created what seemed to be a small lump of ground spike to support the frying pan.

'Hmmm... I wanted to test if I can actually use fire magic... as I did comprehend almost all the law of elements back in the ten thousand immortal worlds... Hmmm... let's see let's take an approach that is the same in the anime and use my imagination to create a solid image of flame, flame is created by an extreme temperature and oxygen is what fuels it and releasing heat or light'

*fwoosh*

A flame then immerged from Nyx's left hand that he was focusing mana into but, it was blazing and was far from what he imagined it almost engulfed him but he had full control as back then not only one but almost all the element he learned all the law of elements in the ten thousand immortal worlds he controlled it but he learned that once a mana is casted it can't be taken back unlike QI which would completely obey him, mana seemed to be an energy that was at their disposal but it was not refined and absorb by their body so it was impossible to withdraw the fire that was spinning at his hands, so Nyx thought of something and made it into a much more smaller scale unlike the burst of flame that almost took shape of a tornado earlier but he was shocked of the result when he tried to compress the fire as the fire condensed it turned bluer but it wasn't the time to be impressed as he had another person to be impressed.

"Y-your a mage..? *gasp*"

"Uh... this, well I've learned from my father's notes..." 'let's just say that so when she accidentally say this to my father I can have a leeway and blame it on those stupid books!'

*Fwoom*, the sound sound of flame soon came and Nyx controlled it to be bellow the frying pan and Nyx then was curious how to get the oil and thought the fruit would be full of them but..., What is this..? are you kidding me it's oily but I don't see any oil that is dripping from this fruit..! was I scammed..? no, no Lisa also didn't react so she probably knew this... I'll just ask her then.

"Uh, Lisa how do you get oil from this..?"

"Oh the liquid torch fruit, well you will need to extract it first but... you will need to have the strength to do so... sorry I didn't told you earlier because you seemed to be happy..."

"huh..? extract it huh... well this fruit looked like an avocado, well to extract it... that'll be easy I think..."

"Do... do you know any magic to extract it..?"

"Well you can call it a magic..." 'The wood law has it that wood gives life, like the world tree the dark elves lives in the past it has the power to share it's life energy and cure any sickness or even extend a persons life..! which is why elves receive the blessing of life from the world tree and has their lifespan at a thousand years even if they don't cultivate for it... and the law of wood is the same it can give life... but it also means you need to extract that energy from something and I can use this to simply it and create a technique which can extract the essence of wood element... I mean oil it's embarrassing to accept but it really is just a technique to extract oil...

After a while a faint green glow soon envelope Nyx and ran through his body and when he touched the "liquid torch fruit" it seemed to have wilted but the oil was really extracted and Lisa saw this miraculous spell and thought Nyx know every daily life necessities spell's like this..!

"wow... you can actually do that..? and it seems... the liquid is far more greater than what would one have if manually extracted..!"

"Hmmm... this should be enough"

While the frying pan was long preheated Nyx controlled the oil and slowly made its way to the pan and sizzle a little bit.

"W-what are you doing..? is that edible..?"

"No but, we can make something out of it" 'Now let's turn up the heat a little bit and it should be ready'

"Lisa give me the meat"

"O-okay"

Lisa just watched Nyx carefully and saw that he even knew energy blade and was now very curious if Nyx is actually from a Knights family or from a Mage family, Nyx then poured the meat with honey.

Note: Honey works as a tenderizer by breaking down the larger proteins on the meat's surface. It also imparts a naturally sweet flavor and a brown, crispy exterior. When honey is one of the primary ingredients in a marinade, it's important to use the raw variety.

"Hmmm... let's just rub the spices as I'm not a 5 star hotel chef and just mix it together..."

"A-a five star hotel chef..? what is that... umm... by the way, c-can I ask you your name..?"

"Oh sorry, how rude of me... I'm Nyx, Nyx Namid just call me Nyx"

"Oh... Nyx... what a beautiful name..."

"S-sorry... I mean, I didn't mean to say it like your... no, no what am I saying... sorry..."

"It's alright, my mom always tell me that I even looked like a girl if my hair would be grown much longer than this... haha"

"Y-yeah... you do really look beautiful... wahhhh..! what did I just said... I'M SORRY, I'M SO SO SO... Sorry..."

Lisa was embarrassed as she blurted out the wrong words and she felt comfortable together with Nyx, as in the first place she looked like a girl when you look at, a fair skin that a princess would have and a beautiful face which even a girl would envy and an unusual hair color which was Nyx's hair is color black and his eyes had the sake color as his hair but it was much more shiny.

"HAHAHA! you can tell me that when your at least twelve years older..!" 'T-that was... a good response me..! if not would've make things even more awkward-"

Lisa heard Nyx's word and nodded as if she really agreed which Nyx didn't expected, the cute little girl just nodded and didn't know it herself but she felt it was the right response.

Now that I looked at her she would be beautiful when she'll grow up, a silver colored hair but why is it short... well whatever shell look beautiful when she grow up though, so it might not be a bad idea to have a real girlfriend this time around (hehehe)

"Hmmm... it should be done now, hmm Lisa can you move back a bit because you might be startled when I start frying this stake"

Lisa then moved farther and came closer to Nyx but she kept her distance as she was still embarrassed by what she said earlier, while Nyx cut down the steak into a round shape to make it more palatable and a big a juicy looking stake was born!

*sizzle* *swish* *swoosh* *sizzle*

The steak sizzled and the boiling hot oil was rupturing like a mad volcano Nyx was determined to let this girl have a taste of what luxury foods really was and after a while. Hmmm, this should be enough, I should pour the oil on the top of the steak to make it even and just wait for the honey to caramelized and turn the meat on the other side. After a few minutes of waiting Lisa was impressed by how Nyx handled this steak and it was her very first time to see such a cooking method! But it amazed her she has never smelled such a rich aroma of meat ever and it was enveloping the whole alleyway they were in that it even attracted the cats and dogs, and even mouse's to see what was cooking.

"Phew, wait a little longer and it should be done"

"O-okay"

At the gaze of the night sky the two cooked a meat under the cover of the night, the small houses that were close to them started to murmur and said "honey are cooking something new..?", "no honey... I'm also wondering if someone was cooking something very fragrant", "yeah, I know you didn't cook something this smells amazing...", "what did you just said..? *bonk*" "ow... I'm just joking, haha"

Nyx and Lisa heard the commotion and couldn't help but laugh at it and it seemed that it made them unconsciously much more closer.

"Hmmm... that fat is also melting so it should be almost cooked now I'll just simmer it and put this sweet wine that we have brought earlier"

Note: Wine is basically an acid ingredient (which helps tenderize the outside of the meat) and it has a lot of flavor. The wine-based marinade helps keep meat, poultry, or seafood moist while it cooks, too.

Nyx poured the wine while he was done caramelizing and made sure to put a cup of water to balance the wine and made the meat submerged in the ingredients, after a couple of minutes of simmering Nyx saw Lisa was impatient to eat already because of the new and wonderful aroma she smelled while Nyx was also curious if it was alright as it was his first time to use such methods to cook but he also had a basic experience of cooking while surviving in the cultivation world.

*Swoosh*

The lid opened and Lisa saw that the wine was gone and turned into a thick sauce of brownish color which made it more look appealing, Nyx was also quite surprised to see this result and thought, phew... it was a success after all... thank you *Soma sensei for teaching me how to cook.