Chương 154: Cook
The others could feel that he wasn't willing to talk about the quests, so they didn't press him. Instead, Celine shifted the topic, "Since everything is alright, then let's cook dinner together."
Although usually, Madam Tanner would cook dinner for them, today she thought it would be a great activity to do it together. The thing she had neglected was that none of them had ever cooked before. They were used to getting served, so they had never bothered about it.
"Um, but I don't know how to cook.", Yevina said hesitantly. Then everyone else nodded, to indicate that they didn't know either.
"Urgh, you really...", she was speechless. To her, it was natural to know at least some basic cooking. In the upper realm, even the most pampered sons and ladies would know how to cook. Of course, they would only do it when they were at one of the academies, which was ironic. Only the rich and powerful would send their descendants to attend one of the academies, and those were the only ones who had a chance to live without ever learning to cook. But since it was necessary to learn cooking at the academies they would have to learn it as well.
"Whatever, at least you can cut some vegetables. I'll ask Madam Tanner to help us.", she sighed.
"Could you maybe teach me?", Yevina asked eagerly. She hadn't thought about cooking before, since it seemed natural to her, to let the servants do it, but now that Celine had mentioned doing it themselves as an activity, she liked the thought of doing it together with Key.
"Me too, me too.", Jane chimed in while jumping up and down. Her behavior made everyone smile.
"Sure, I would be happy too.", Celine agreed to their request. She enjoyed cooking and spending time with someone who had become her friend.
During the cooking, the man had been banished to cut the vegetables, while the women did the cooking, but neither Ivan nor Key had a problem with it. Both of them were glad that they could keep their distance from the constantly chatting women.
With everyone's help, they finished an extensive dinner. While most of the dishes didn't look as appealing as the ones made by a professional chef or housekeeper they were made by themselves, and as such, they found them even tastier.
After having finished, Ivan leaned back satisfied. "This was great. We should do this more often."
"Yeah.", Key agreed. He too had eaten a lot. In fact, he had eaten more than he usually would. And if one observed him carefully, one could see that he had preferred the dishes, Yevina had a part in creating.
They then cleaned up together and sat down with a cup of tea, to chat a bit more.
When it was time for Jane to go to bed, Key and Yevina left as well, after promising to come over again, and the house quieted down. Madam Tanner and Lucia had gone to bed as well, leaving only Celine and Ivan still sitting in the living room.
"You should go to bed as well. You will have to go to school tomorrow.", Celine told Ivan while smiling gently at him.
"I'm not that tired yet. After all, I stood up late today.", Ivan responded, "I think I'm going to read a bit, before going to bed. But you had a long day, so you should go to bed as well."
"Yours or mine?", she asked teasingly.
Ivan who had just taken a sip of tea nearly spurted it out again. "You changed.", he said accusingly.
"Well, look at me. How could I not change.", Celine said while showing off her figure. "But you are right. I have changed. But it's not like it's a bad thing. I for myself like it."
"As long as you are happy with it.", he said, while openly admiring her figure.
"I am.", she smiled happily before continuing, "Alright, I'm going to sleep. Don't stay up too late. Good Night."
"Good Night."
After she had been gone, Ivan used his phone to read a book about pill refining.
The next day, when Ivan entered the classroom, he was instantly greeted by Greg. "Hey, where were you yesterday?", he asked him, while walking towards him, with Serge behind him as usual.
Irena came over as well, from where she was chatting with some other girls. "Right. Did you know that everyone was worried? The teacher didn't say anything either."
"I hurt myself and was unable to get out of bed until the afternoon.", Ivan answered their inquiries.
"You got hurt? What happened?", Irena asked worriedly.
"Nothing much. A ritual kind of went awry.", he responded, unwilling to tell the details. "But now I'm mostly fine again.", he then tried to reassure his friends.
"Mostly?", Irena directly focused on the important point of his sentence.
"Yeah.", he nodded. "It's just that my stats are currently locked at fifty."
Everyone else looked at him in shock, "What the hell did you do?", Greg asked incredulously.
"Is it that surprising?"
"Of course. Don't you know that injuries that lock stats are the worst kind, directly behind those that kill you? Just look at yourself. Although you look fine, there have to be some hidden serious injuries, that stop you from using your power and increasing your power."
"Yeah, I know it's bad. But it's not like I can't increase my power and in a year the lock will be lifted anyways."
"If you are sure about it.", Greg said, clearly not agreeing with him. "So do we have to pause our training dungeon runs?"
"No, I don't think so. According to my character screen, I'm still level 200 so I should still be able to do well in the dungeon. And nightmare mode is available anyway since Irena has high stats, and as such a high level, as well.", he reassured them.
"You are still level 200? How come?", Greg asked surprised.
It wasn't Ivan but Irena that answered, "Did you really think that the reason he was so strong was his stats?", she asked and only got nods in reply.
"That's where you are wrong. If we only look at stats, then I do have higher stats than him. So it has to be something else. I'm not sure how it's named since each alliance has its own way to increase its member's stats, but he should have a skill that should do it, right?"
"Yes.", Ivan confirmed, "It's called 'Shadow stats' and it will provide an independent bonus, whenever a stat increases.", he told them since there was no rule against it.
"So that's it. But wouldn't this skill make the owner much stronger than others?"
"Not really. Usually, the bonus for such skills would be small. There has to be some synergy effect with another skill, for it to have as much effect as in Ivan's case.", Irena said.
Ivan was astonished that she was able to guess it so well. If not for his 'Reincarnation' skill having a synergy effect with 'Shadow Stats', it wouldn't be that effective. Only through resetting his stats with 'Reincarnation' could he really exploit 'Shadow Stats'.
"Then could we get a skill like this as well?", Serge for the first time opened his mouth and asked.
"I don't think so. The known skills of this type have already been distributed amongst the strong organizations.", the girl replied to his question.
"Then how come you know so much about it?"
"From my family library. It contains a list of the known skills of this type and who owns them."
"This sucks. Having something like this would really help our future prospects."
"I thought you didn't want to focus on fighting?", Ivan asked surprised.
"So? Being stronger is always a good thing.", Greg responded.
"True. But if there isn't an organization that is easy to enter then there is no way for all of us to get our hand on such a skill."
"That's not quite correct.", Irena threw in, surprising the others.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. And Ivan you are the one who can make it possible."
"?", nobody knew what she was playing at.
"You should either be a duke or you should get the title soon, right?"
"Yes, I should get it soon. How did you know?"
"First of all you are a family head and secondly you are married to a princess. So its only natural that you would get this title.
Anyway, the important point is that a noble of the rank of a duke has three slots every five years, to get a certain skill for a retainer."
"So you mean if Serge, me and you become his retainers, then he can get us this skill, whichever it is?", Greg asked eagerly.
"Yes for you and Serge. For me, that isn't necessary since I already have the permit to learn it at my eighteenth birthday."
"But wouldn't that be too late? After all its still a bit until then?"
"No. The skill can only be used from the eighteenth birthday on anyway."
"Really? How come?"
"Sorry, can't tell you."
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