Chapter 19: Chapter 19- Dinner With a Beauty From Another Dimension
Talon stared at Chin-Hwa's back with a stoic expression. After a while, he exhaled a long breath.
"Sigh, what's wrong with him?" He asked himself as he rubbed the back of his head. "Did I do something to him?"
Talon wasn't scared at all from Chin-Hwa. If anything, his threat sounded like a child throwing a tantrum at him. However, he still didn't know why he was the target of hatred of that guy.
"He can't do anything to you," Acrypha said casually as she sat on top of a crater.
"I know, I will just ignore him. If he tries to do anything, I will beat his ass." Talon shrugged before he turned around. At that moment, his stomach gurgled. Looking down, he touched it gently.
"Ugh, I need to eat."
Ever since he left his house in the morning, he hadn't eaten a single thing. Instead, he kept exerting himself continuously.
"It's weird that I didn't get hungry until now." He murmured.
"You will start to feel less and less hunger from now on since your body won't rely on food to get its energy back. It is naturally getting stronger as you level up. Every imperfection you have will slowly vanish. That includes the urge to sleep and eat."
"Every imperfection? Wait… So that means that I can become good-looking?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Acrypha replied.
Talon pursed his lips as he nodded his head. That was good news to him if he had to be honest. However, he didn't really care about his looks since he was never someone to seek attention from girls or anyone for that matter. He was too busy with studying and working to even care about trying to get to know a girl.
'Still, it's nice to become handsome, haha.' He smiled to himself as he finally focused on the task he wanted to do.
"Ok, let's cook something up." Looking around him, Talon was surrounded by all kinds of food stored inside the boxes and crates.
So, he simply started walking around, looking into boxes and picking things he wanted to eat. Fruits, vegetables, seasonings, and even pots and other utensils. Then, he searched for a stove that he could use.
"Do you know how to cook?" Acrypha asked curiously as she watched Talon place everything skilfully and start rolling his sleeves.
"Yes, I learned how to cook when I was young to prepare food for my parents before they came back from work everyday."
"I see…" Acrypha murmured as she stared at Talon weirdly.
After that, the young man pulled out a knife and rinsed it with some water from one of the many jugs of water he found. Then, he skilfully started cutting vegetables at a very fast speed.
"Goddamn! I'm doing it fast!" Talon was surprised to see that his precision and speed increased a lot. He was basically storming through the vegetables in seconds.
"Hahaha! This is fun!" Laughing jovially, Talon eventually finished preparing the ingredients before he started throwing them in the pot.
"This, this… Oh, right, let's add some of this and this…" As he quickly moved, Acrypha watched curiously from behind. For some reason, seeing Talon cooking while enjoying it was rather pleasant.
She didn't know what was so attractive about it, but she didn't want to complain either so she just watched.
In a few minutes, steam was rising from the pot and the beautiful aromatics slowly filled the place. Acrypha noticed that smell and her eyes widened slightly.
'That smells good…' She thought to herself. For someone accustomed to the best delicacies any Dimension has to offer, she was surprised that her nose would react to something this simple.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm…" Humming as he stirred the pot, Talon then looked back at Acrypha. "Want some? I'm making a chicken and vegetables soup."
"..." Acrypha found herself unable to speak. "I don't need food to stay alive."
"Ah, I guess that's true. But, there is no harm in eating for the fun of it, here." After filling a bowl, he gave it to her along with a piece of bread. "Just try it. Though I doubt it will be as good as a Medium-S Dimension's delicacies.
Acrypha grabbed the bowl and looked at it. The beautiful steam rose and entered her nose again, making her instinctively gulp down a mouthful of saliva. She didn't know why, but at that moment, that soup looked so delicious.
"Sigh, finally, time to eat. After you…" Talon said as he sat down and grabbed his spoon before looking at Acrypha.
The latter seemed hesitant for a moment before she finally gave up her resistance and grabbed the spoon too. Then, she took a mouthful of soup in her mouth. The moment she did, an explosion of flavors occurred in her mouth.
Her mouth froze for a second as she took in the rich taste of the soup. Then, she looked down with an astonished expression on her face.
Talon watched her silently before he finally asked. "So… Is it bad?" He asked.
Acrypha didn't reply and instead grabbed the spoon again and took another mouthful, and then another one. Quickly, she started eating the soup in an odd silence.
Talon watched her with a raised eyebrow before he smiled lightly. At that moment, Acrypha looked really cute. Like a small girl who can't admit something and was making a fuss about it. "You could've said you liked it… geez." He murmured to himself as she started eating too.
The two ate in silence, a very calm and comfortable one.
"What's your favorite food by the way?" Talon decided to ask.
"Hm? I used to eat Logdursial Flamesteak. It was my favorite."
"What in the hell is that, haha? I never heard of such a thing." The young man laughed as he listened to her with an interested look.
"Logdursial is a type of docile animal with very tender meat. It's the most delicious food you can eat."
"Really? What does it taste like?"
"It tastes like heaven," Acrypha replied.
"Never been to heaven before though. How am I gonna know how it tastes?"
"Your sarcastic remarks won't work." Acrypha smiled dangerously.
"Oh, aren't they? Seems like they're working to me." Talon said with a mischievous smile.
"If they were, you would be dead by now."
"Hehe, so scary." Talon pretended to be scared by her playful threat.
Then, the two continued talking about different things as they finished their dinner. Talon shared some of the funny things that happened to him before while Acrypha listened and commented every now and then.
Time passed slowly until they finally finished their food. Talon felt full after the third bowl while Acrypha alone ate 5 bowls. Every time she went for seconds, Talon would tease her about it which ended up with him being flicked painfully on the forehead.
"Now, I want to practice with the spear. I feel like I can increase its level." Talon said as he stood up and stretched his arms, ready to go out.
"The more you practice, the higher your spearmanship will increase. However, before that, I need to see your status window."
"Ah, right. Sure, you can take a look. But how?" Talon tilted his head confusedly.
Although he might've been against the idea of showing his status window to Acrypha, when he thought about it, he really had no other choice. He needed her knowledge to get stronger.
"Just let me grab your hand," Acrypha said as she extended her arm.
"That's it?"
"Yes. That's it."
"Hm, ok." Shrugging, Talon approached Acrypha and touched her hand. The same soft fingers that were on his cheeks that morning were now touching his hand. Talon naturally felt his heart race a little. He couldn't stop himself from remembering what happened.
His eyes wandered to Acrypha's red lips for a moment before he looked down again quickly. He tried not to show any reaction on his face.
As for the girl herself, she was focused on something completely different.
"Manifest your status window."
"Ok…"
When Talon did that, surprisingly, he felt some kind of connection occur between him and Acrypha. He couldn't describe in words how it felt but he was sure it happened.
On the other side, Acrypha was finally able to see it, and when she did… She was completely flabbergasted.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone