I resigned myself to my fate with a shrug before walking up to an empty cooking station and standing there.
Before long, a teenage beauty with her raven black hair tied back into a ponytail and bright green eyes reminiscent of a calm forest on a sunny day walked up to me and stood right beside me.
She spoke with a frown on her face, "How are we paired together? Your name starts with L and mine does with A. Even our roll numbers are far apart."
"Beats me," I shrugged. "But do not fret m'lady. We shall vanquish all our enemies and win this thing."
Amelia looked at me blankly for a moment before saying, "Did you hit your head any time recently?"
"No, why?"
"Just because."
"...."
While setting up utensils, she spoke again, "It's fine, though. Just follow my lead, and as you said, we will ace this."
"Wait," I scoffed. "Why would I, the best culinary artist to have walked on this planet, ever follow you?"
"...Lucas," Amelia looked at me blankly for a few seconds before finally speaking. "I knew you were narcissistic, but are you delusional too?"
"How dare thee?!" I squinted my eyes at her. "Do you doubt my skills?!"
"You have no skill!" Stifling a chuckle, Amelia exclaimed. "Your cooking is terrible! That's why I didn't let you cook during the mock war! Not to mention, your utensil handling skills are terrible too!"
"Blasphemy!" I roared. "Anyone who has tasted my cooking has gone silent from the sheer foodgasm they experience!"
"If by foodgasm you mean retching sensation and food poisoning, then yes," Amelia nodded, still holding back herself from laughing.
"Y-You!" I gritted my teeth. "Fine, instead of helping each other, let's do something else. Let's make a bet!"
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm listening."
"We will each prepare one dish and ask the instructor to rate them. Whoever scores the highest wins," I said.
"What will the winner get?" She asked.
"Whatever the winner wants," I replied.
"Interesting," Amelia flashed a confident smirk and nodded. "Okay, let's do it."
With that, we started our preparation. Our task was to hunt a mana beast from the 5th District Forest, skin it, prepare it, and cook it.
We were given a total of three hours to accomplish everything.
Successfully creating a delectable dish within that allotted time would result in a passing grade.
Naturally, those whose dishes stood out with excellence would be rewarded with higher scores.
But since the time frame provided to us was too small for both hunting and cooking individually, everyone decided to divide the work among their partners.
One member of each duo took on the task of going to the 5th District Forest for hunting, while the other person in the pair focused on preparing ingredients until then.
Once the individual who went hunting returned with the game, the duo would then start cooking together.
Yes, it was a perfect plan. But since Amelia and I decided to have a little competition of our own, we couldn't possibly work like that.
So we came up with a plan of our own.
We both would venture to the 5th District Forest to hunt there and then we both return back to cook our own dishes individually!
Yes, we didn't have much time, but that's what made it more exciting!
…I'm starting to believe that we both are idiots.
Fwoosh, Fwoosh—
Currently, we were jumping from one tree branch to another while traversing across this dense 5th District Forest.
From my right, Amelia spoke in a curious voice while hopping from one branch to another.
"So, what are you planning to cook?" She asked.
"Uh, I'm thinking about Moonlit Rabbit," I answered, matching her pace.
Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Can you catch one? You do know that Moonlit Rabbits are fast—!"
Kwish—!!
"Bwaaar!"
Before she could finish her sentence, from the cover of the woods, an ape jumped out on us– on me, specifically.
The ape was red and white in color and fire seemed to be coming out from the top of its head.
It was a Fire-Head Ape. It looked like a slightly larger gorilla from my world if they were red and they had fire coming out from their head.
These Fire-Head Apes can spit fire from their mouth like a flamethrower and they are physically very strong— to the point where they can crush a boulder with their bare hands.
Thuk—
As I was in mid-air, the Fire-Head Ape jumped on the branch in front of me– the one I was going to land on.
It pulled back its hand and balled a fist, aiming to hit me in mid-air.
"Watch out!" Amelia yelled and summoned her bow from her smart bracelet before quickly knocking an arrow on its taut bowstring.
But before she could aim and shoot, the Fire-Head Ape threw his fist at me while I was still in mid-air.
Swoosh—!!
However, his fist met nothing but air as I twisted my body and dodged his attack before skillfully landing on his side.
"....?!" The ape was confused but it reacted quickly and turned to face me.
Unfortunately for the mana beast, I had already moved from there. I slipped under its legs and stood up behind it.
From there, I placed my fingers on its back and channeled mana into every part of my body before directing it all to my hand and closing my fist…
THWACK—!!
Ultimately dealing the Fire-Head Ape a perfect one-inch punch.
"Baaawr!!"
The Fire-Head Ape fell to its knees before losing its balance and falling down to the ground.
I had completely crushed its spine so it had died long before hitting the ground.
But still, in its last moments, the Fire-Head Ape let out a cry for help with its last breath.
I fear its tribe would soon be here after hearing its death call so we may want to start moving soon.
I turned to Amelia and shouted, "Let's move before more of its tribe shows up here– Uh, Amelia… Why are you looking at me like that?"
The black-haired girl was staring at me, her eyes widened and her mouth agape to such an extent that it was practically touching the ground.
"What the fuck was that?!" She exclaimed.
"What was what?" I responded hastily, my eyes darting around the woods, on the lookout for any sign of another Fire-Head Ape that might be creeping up on us.
"That... That... That way you moved!" Amelia stammered in shock. I pressed a finger to my lips, signaling for her to lower her voice, but it seemed to have no effect on her. "How was your reaction speed... How were you so fast! And how did you kill it with one blow of your hand at such a short distance?!"
"Shh! Can you please speak more quietly?" I urged. "And first, let's move from this spot before another Fire-Head Ape shows up."
Finally coming back to her senses after hearing those words, Amelia hesitantly nodded her head. "Y-Yeah, let's go."
She placed her bow and arrow back into the dimensional storage of her smart bracelet and we both began our advance once again.
As we moved, I turned my head to look at Amelia and questioned, "Oh, right. What were you saying before?"
"Ah, never mind that," Amelia looked back at me before averting her gaze.
But as if she remembered something in the next instant, she cast a glance back at me. "So is it true?"
"Is what true?" I asked.
"That sensei Leo Kurogami has taken you as his disciple?" She asked.
"More like I took him as my master, but yeah, that's right," I replied with a smug grin.
Hey, one can hardly blame me for feeling a sense of pride after becoming the sole disciple of one of the strongest fighters in the world.
Leo receives hundreds and thousands of emails and physical applications from individuals across the world, all begging for the opportunity to be his disciple.
In fact, there were numerous individuals who had intended to enroll in the Ethereal Academy this year solely because a captain-ranked soldier from the United Military was slated to be an instructor there.
However, once they learned that Leo Kurogami himself was also taking a break from military service and would be joining the Global Academy as an instructor, many of them promptly changed their plans and joined Global Academy instead.
A significant number of people joined Global Academy simply to get close to Leo and flatter him, hoping to secure a place as his disciple.
Under such fierce competition, I managed to secure that spot. So, can one blame me for feeling a tad smug?
"Shouldn't you like… lay low and not let people know about this until the King's Tournament?" Amelia asked. "You will definitely become a target at the tournament now."
"I don't care," I said, looking directly into Amelia's eyes. "It's already too late to hide it. Besides, if they think they can take on Leo Kurogami's sole disciple, then let them come."
