Chapter 148: Cooking
[Chapter 147 Comments]
[Xinhuan: This is pretty wholesome.]
The group continued working hard on every single assignment. Fortunately, there was no further problem that caused any harm to the kids.
In the past few months, the kids have improved rapidly. Theo could still remember how awful they were during their initial spar.
On the last day of the trip, Theo finally decided to cook for everyone. They had been training hard, so he thought about rewarding them.
Theo was carrying multiple plates at once with his essence and placing them on the tables at the same time. The control was so smooth that the plates hardly produce any sound from hitting the table.
"Woah?" Serena widened her eyes in shock, never expecting she would see food at this level on this trip.
In front of her was actually a fish soup. The broth looked clear, the foul smell of the fish had disappeared, and the vegetables accompanying the fish looked promising. In fact, the aroma from the soup made her angrier.
"How do you even produce this on a mountain?" Aurora sucked a cold breath. She was an elf who had her way in the woods, but collecting these ingredients was far above her level.
The second dish was in front of her. It was a deer dish. Theo just caught it in the mountainsfor not long ago. Theo had cooked it so well that the deer's meat looked glistening.
"Teacher. I didn't know you were this great. No, should I say as expected of you?" Lancelot looked at Theo, remembering that he was the perfect teacher that everyone aspired to be. His eyes were glued to the third dish, which was another fish dish.
However, it looked like the fish had been grilled, which produced a unique smell that was irresistible to some.
"It seems that Dad has gone all out. Is this one of the illusion dishes, Dad?" Mia asked while positioning her plate to the fourth dish, which happened to be bear meat.
She didn't know how he even managed to fight the smelly bear of this meat, but she could always expect something from her father's cooking.
"Illusion dishes?" Everyone's eyes turned to Mia as if they were asking for an explanation.
"It's pretty simple. It's a dish that has been infused with the power of illusion, allowing the one who eats it to see something once they eat it. It's a hard dish to produce, but the taste is not the only amazing thing. It's hard to explain, so I believe eating it is an easy way to understand what I am saying."
Mia rubbed her cheeks and gave a blissful smile. Whether it was her bliss or the food's amazing presentation, their stomachs couldn't help but growl.
Theo chuckled. "It's nothing much. All of you have worked hard for the last few months, so I think it's fair to treat you a bit. Please enjoy it."
'It's nothing much' was probably the only thing the students wanted to ignore. How could he say that when the food he brought to the table had an amazing visual presentation and a wonderful aroma? It was practically impossible to create on this mountain.
Once again, they realized how monstrous Theo was. He could basically do anything.
"Then… I will be first." Mia used this opportunity to grab the bear meat and immediately take a big bite.
The rest of the students were startled, so they looked at Mia's reaction.
Mia froze for a second before her expression melted as if she had just tasted 'Heaven.' They couldn't see what kind of image flashed in Mia's mind, but her genuine expression alone was enough to tell them about the taste.
Avalon immediately grabbed one of the slices of deer meat and tried it.
Once he bit the meat, an image flashed in his mind. He was in the middle of the peaceful forest before his vision suddenly rose as his body was elevated. He looked down and realized he was on top of a big deer. The deer was quite special as well.
The deer had a white body like that of a unicorn. But instead of a single horn, the pair of horns expanded to the side, creating a majestic picture.
Avalon didn't know why but he ended up raising his sword while shouting, "I am the Majestic Deer Knight…"
Once the illusion in his mind crumbled, Avalon dropped his arms on the table, almost letting his plate go. He panted a few times while shouting, "No. I'm not a deer knight… I want to be a dragon knight."
He never expected that there would be something terrifying like this. For a second, he believed that he was a deer knight.
"Avalon? What happened? Did it taste bad? What did you see?" Maya asked a lot of questions.
"No." Avalon took a few deep breaths while saying, "It's extremely delicious. The taste is heavenly because of the image following it. I have never experienced eating something like this. As for what happened, I think it's best if you eat it yourself."
The others gulped down as they tried their own.
Li Wei and Jayden got bear meat and experienced the same thing. They were sitting on the ground as the big mama bear patted their heads. The scene was harmonious as if they were the bear's kids.
The image changed multiple times from how they were walking together to how they slept on top of the mother bear, feeling secure.
They somehow missed their family once they saw this image.
Not far from them, Serena, Aurora, and Haruka ate the fish soup. They felt like they had become fish, swimming freely in the river. Due to the change in the rock's surface, it made the track even more adventurous, giving them a sense of energy where they enjoyed discovering unknown things.
Lancelot, the twins, and Oliver got a portion of the deer, and ended up seeing the same thing as Avalon where they became the leader of the deer, riding the majestic white deer.
The students finally understood what Mia meant by the illusion dishes. It was truly something they had never experienced.
The taste was absolutely delicious, but the fact that they could see such a scene while enjoying their dishes elevated the level to a whole different dimension. They felt like they were adventuring into a dimension they had never seen before.
Without them realizing it, they devoured all the food so fast that Theo hadn't even sat down yet. Even the soup was licked clean by someone, who wouldn't admit it.
Once they realized that they had finished their food, they couldn't help but feel disappointed. They looked like they wanted to eat more, not realizing that they had eaten at least twice the portion they normally had.
Theo chuckled when seeing their expression and said, "This is just my way to reward you for working hard. And after this, all of you are going back to your own homes for the summer holiday. I won't be giving you any homework, but I will expect things from you once the new semester starts. Let's see…"
Seeing the expectation in his students' faces, Theo couldn't help but raise a condition. "How about I cook a special food for the three of you who improve the most? This time, I'll listen a bit about your problem and make a dish that might be able to solve your problem."
Their eyes flashed. The students exchanged looks, thinking of the same thing. 'I won't lose.'
There was no way they would give up on this special dish when Theo promised that it would be such an amazing dish.
With this, the students' expectations were elevated to the peak, which should be enough for the rest of the holiday.
"Alright. This is the end of our trip. Let's pack up everything and don't forget to remove everything that belongs here. One shouldn't mess with nature too much."
"Yes!"
The group hurriedly packed up everything and made sure to not leave anything behind. All kinds of trash were stored either in the Space Ring or Oliver's Inventory.
Only after that did they finally climb down the mountain and return to the city by foot. It was an easy task for the rest of the students.
However, the students were playing during the whole trip, or more like, they were surrounding Mia.
Mia was extremely lucky to be Theo's daughter. He might be harsh when training her, but the reward made her feel grateful. Everyone couldn't help but feel jealous to have a father like Theo.
Some students even teased Mia by calling Theo 'Papa' or 'Daddy,' which resulted in a small argument that ended in laughter.
Once they reached the city, it wasn't hard to get transportation that would lead them to the airport. In fact, the return trip to the academy proceeded so smoothly that they managed to reach the academy at 8 p.m.
Theo gathered them in front of the school and announced, "Alright. Starting tomorrow, I know that all of you are returning to your original world. There are a lot of ways to improve yourself even in your daily life like what I've shown you during the trip.
"Treasure this time and make sure to get a proper rest so that you can face the second semester in your peak condition. Please be safe and see you in a month."
Li Wei couldn't help but cup his hands politely. Aurora lifted her skirt and bowed while Avalon placed his hand on his chest and lowered his head. All of them seemed to be using their specific way of showing their gratitude.
Theo and Mia waved their hands, watching them disperse to their own rooms to pack up their luggage for their trip home.
Theo finally had the time to look at the comment and said, "Wholesome? Does the author extend it so that it can match the comment? But there is that special featured comment that has influence over the story. I guess the author is testing something."
"Dad?" Mia tilted her head in confusion.
Your journey continues on My Virtual Library Empire
"Let's go back, shall we? We should take our time to pack our luggage for our trip." Theo smiled, brushing the thought off.
"En!" Mia nodded with a big smile on her face. "We have agreed on our destination, right?"
"Of course. Though, I need to have you dress up in their way so that we don't draw too much attention this time. At least, not searching for trouble right away." Theo corrected himself, knowing that the author would find a way to bring trouble to him.
"Yep! This is the first time I have experienced another world that is very different from ours. I'm sure it's going to be a blast."
"Should we tell the readers where we're going?" Theo gave a teasing smile.
Mia grinned as she replied, "Should we? Maybe we shouldn't give them a spoiler."