"Apparently there was a delay with Danilo's sign. Not a problem, though." ~Shallies Mythernal, Mentor of Heroes

Shallies called Apple and Phey'lan over to watch her integrating students. Gar was somewhere close by, wreaking havoc on a training dummy. His movements were lively and powerful. No signs of noldzwjak poisoning at all. She made sure that the giantkin's excessiveness wouldn't distract Grace and the others in their meditation.

The Chef went to the kitchen to think up of a feast for everyone to celebrate. She had about an hour or so to spare before lunch. While she could do some of her usual dishes, a thought came to her mind. She went inside her Class Inventory and headed straight for the Containers. A drillbull, a crolikin, and a noldzwjak.

The smallest of the three was the drillbull. Shallies only momentarily considered butchering it up to prepare for a meal. Sure, her freezer room would have space if it was only the drillbull, but she would've preferred doing the entire process at once without a time constraint. She wasn't heading into battle, after all. So there was no need to rush.

"Better start with the others first," she said to herself.

That was where the vegetables came in.

[Marlic, from a marlic pod,] Stachie began after Shallies made a Scan. Her Chef Class had influenced the sort of information she could acquire with the Skill. [Can be used as a replacement for garlic. It'll provide a Food Buff that slightly increases Mana Regeneration Rate.]

"What about this one?" Shallies asked, Scanning a vegetable shaped like a bulb.

[Ponion, from a ponion pod. Can be used as a replacement for onion. Has the same effects as the marlic.]

"Can I use them both and increase the effect?"

[Certainly.]

"Great. These will do." Shallies only had two of each of the vegetables. She took them all and left her Class Inventory.

Shallies began cooking a large pot of Vinegar-Braised Pork, using the ponions and marlics to replace their respective, mundane counterparts. She mixed in some chicken with the pork to add more meat. Based on what she remembered from the giantkin, his normal diet would be comparable to at least three of Ren's. She had to adjust the recipe to make sure the flavor stayed consistent.

She also steamed a lot of rice, and at the same time, also boiled some eggs. With her processing station, she made some chilled fruit juice. Mango and orange, just like in the last feast. It was the only option she currently had to make something sweet.

Shallies took advantage of her Cooking Mastery, allowing for the pot to simmer on low fire for longer than usual. It would incorporate the flavor a bit more, and make the meat all the more tender. She took a taste test and found no difference in flavor with regards to the ponion and marlic.

Content, Shallies turned the stove off and went back to the field. Gar was taking a break. Apple was offering the giantkin a glass of water, while keeping an eye on Chippy. Phey'lan had her arms crossed. The three students were still sitting on the ground.

"Still meditating?" she asked the seraph.

"Yeah," Phey'lan replied. She had a mana potion at the ready. "Tayin's almost out."

"Is integrating with the Mentor System usually like this?" Gar asked.

"No, not really," Shallies admitted. "Not this long at least. Usually they'd be done in thirty minutes. But there's no need to worry. I was just a little thorough with the integration."

Of course, Shallies couldn't tell the truth. On top of integrating her students with the Mentor System, their hidden traits were also changing because of their new bond with her. It was a significance of their connection with the Godkiller. A pseudo formation of their influence, though negligible, manifesting upon Destiny. However, none of them would notice it until they'd already graduated.

Just then, Tayin stirred awake. Phey'lan immediately handed her the mana potion, and the halfling drank it desperately.

"That was a whirlwind!" she exclaimed with a satisfied sigh. "What in Ysvil just happened?"

Shallies subtly tilted her head towards Gar to let the halfling know that there was someone around who wasn't in on their secret.

"Oh, hey, Gar," Tayin said, not showing any signs of panic. "What're you doing here?"

"Was supposed to just visit Miss Shallies here, but I was asked to help out on your training." The giantkin gestured towards the beat up training dummy. "Dunno how that works, though."

"I can explain it later," Shallies said. "It's easier when everyone's around."

While they were talking, Phey'lan retrieved a second vial of mana potion. She was standing in front of Grace. Just then, the half-orc was spurred to life, drinking the potion right away.

"How was it?" Shallies asked, letting Grace know about Gar in the same subtle way.

"I don't feel any different?" said the half-orc.

"That's different from my experience," Tayin said.

"It's different for everyone," Shallies said. Compared to what she could convey to Gar, her words for the two were actually the truth. "Some say it's related to the compatibility between mentor and student. Personally, I think it's just superstition, and has more to do with your ability to control mana."

"Oh," Tayin hummed, nodding towards the half-orc. "There was that time when Grace went into a trance while meditating. Maybe it has something to do with that?"

Before Shallies could answer, however, Phey'lan signaled for their attention.

"Ren's waking up," she said.

A second later, the human knight jumped in surprise, as though he had been awakened from a nightmare. The seraph quickly got a hold of him and passed him another mana potion.

"Whu—What?" Ren looked around, confused. It took him a second to understand Phey'lan's insistence for him to drink the potion. "Thank you."

"Well, he seems to be the worst off out of all of us," Tayin commented. "It probably really has something to do with mana, huh?"

"Regardless, congratulations are in order," Shallies said, clapping her hands. "I didn't have much time to prepare for a feast, but I think you'll like what I have in store for lunch."

"Oh, good!" Phey'lan started. "I'm famished!"

"That's because you woke up late!"

Shallies eagerly awaited their reactions.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

After partaking in the Vinegar-Braised Pork and Chicken with Ponion and Marlic, it didn't take long for everyone to notice their Food Buffs. The mildest reaction out of them was Phey'lan, who wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the concept.

The rest, however, were excited.

"It says here I have a Double Minor Mana-Regeneration!" Tayin proclaimed, reading from her System Console. "And plus 10% mana, and plus 1 to all Attributes! Gods, this is too many for one Food Buff Slot! Why is it double?"

"Both the ponion and marlic have the same Mana-Regeneration effect," Shallies explained. "Apparently it stacks, but not enough to turn 'Minor' into 'Major'." She turned to Phey'lan. "What do you think?"

"To be honest, it is a very minor Food Buff," the seraph replied. "Did you expect otherwise, Shallies?"

The Godkiller simply shrugged. "I've never had a Food Buff before."

That garnered all the eyes in the courtyard. She would've been more open about expounding on her statement, if not for the giantkin with them. As it was, she had no choice but to shrug and play it cool.

"Never bothered with it." She turned back to Phey'lan. "What's a good or effective Food Buff?"

"Attribute increases or mana-based effects are pretty common," the seraph started. "Some really good ones would give 50 points to one or two Attributes. Really rare ones give the same amount to three, or some other combination, like 100 points on one Attribute. As for mana-based effects, the good ones essentially double the rate of normal regeneration, or double the pool itself. Rare ones triple or even quadruple them. The really special ones, however, are those that give a unique effect."

"Like what?" Grace asked before anyone else could. Everyone, even Shallies, had the same question.

"The most interesting one you might find is an Experience Boost Food Buff," Phey'lan said, drinking from her mango juice. "But since you have a mentor now, you don't exactly need it."

"How rare is that one?" Shallies inquired.

"Not exactly rare, as far as I know. Though, I'm not an expert on these things."

"What else, what else?" Tayin asked.

"There's one that gives you a temporary shield. Like a barrier. There's another that keeps you satiated and energized for the entire day. There's one that supposedly helps you slim down, but I've never tried it."

Phey'lan suddenly clapped her hands. "Oh! I've actually heard of something really interesting about them a long while ago. Allegedly, there's a legendary Food Buff that acts like a Miracle. The supposed effects were all pretty confusing, though. Full immunity, or extreme healing properties, some even claim it can prevent death once."

"I'm assuming that's all hearsay?" Shallies guessed.

"Yep. It's all just a theory. No one's actually cooked one up before. And those that claim that they did get called out for fraud pretty quickly."

"Seems like you're pretty well-informed with all these Food Buff things."

"It's a Favored Class thing," Phey'lan explained, riding along with the façade to avoid getting discovered by Gar. "Just trying to make sure I know all the options to increase my combat strength. Even at Hero Class, surely you've heard of them at least, right?"

Shallies knew what the seraph was doing, and she appreciated the verbal maneuver to help her tell her side of the story without lifting any suspicions from their guest.

"I was tricked," she admitted. "The first time I tried a Chef's cooking for a Food Buff, I was inflicted with a Hunger Curse instead. Turns out the Chef was a minion of… some god."

It was an event that had taken place a few millennia after she had become the Godkiller. Profession Classes had only started getting integrated into the System back then. Chef had been one of the first few, and no one had any knowledge about Food Buffs yet.

Kurfurul, the Goddess of Colors and Trickery, and one of Shallies' closest friends, had played a prank on her with the Hunger Curse. It had been a valuable lesson to not trust everything the System had made, but at the same time, it had been a traumatic experience. Since then, the Godkiller had avoided Food Buffs and had even pretended to have had next to no knowledge of them even today.

There was also another instance where she had endured the Hunger Curse for a second time. But it was a story involving Catelyn. Shallies avoided bringing that up, since it also involved the Divine War where she had to kill Kurfurul.

"So, you know…" Shallies continued. "I avoided Food Buffs until I became a Chef. But I don't have much need for it now that I'm just settling down to get a tavern business going."

"I saw the menu," Phey'lan said, riding the tangent in the conversation. "You should at least add one more bit for each item. As far as I can tell, you're not charging for your efforts, like your Skills. Your Favored Flavor Skill alone should be more than enough to justify that, not to mention the actual cooking you do. And not to mention further, that Apple also helps you out sometimes. Even charging just a bit more isn't fair to the both of you."

"Alright, alright, alright," Shallies said, raising up her hands in surrender. "Every feedback I got said to charge at least a bit more, so fine. One more bit then, for each item."

She stood up a little too quickly, a bit peeved at everyone who had told her to charge more. Even her students had said it, after they had a moment to relax.

"If you're all done, just take a break. We'll start training after I clean this all up."

"I thought you said no training today?" Tayin asked, her voice not exactly complaining.

"Changed my mind."

"You just don't like the criticism," Phey'lan said, deliberately poking Shallies.

"I don't have a good business sense, alright," she said, making a face. "I appreciate the help. I already said I'll change it. You don't have to rub it in!"

She turned to her students, specifically Ren and Tayin. "We're training a bit today so you can take a break tomorrow and spend time with Gar before he returns home. It's not because I'm mad about the price change, okay?"

"It totally is," Phey'lan said, smirking. Third time was the charm.

Shallies dropped what she was doing and pounced on Phey'lan with speed so quick that it took everyone by surprise. Using both hands, she lightly pinched the seraph's cheeks. 'Lightly' as far as the Godkiller was concerned.

"Ow! Shawwies! I'm showwy! Owwwww!!!"

After the meal, Gar went back home to rest, despite Shallies' invitation to watch her students do some preliminary training. As it turned out, the giantkin was now quick to tire after recovering from the noldzwjak poisoning. Probably the aftereffects of the Great Miracle. She was sure, however, that it was something he could train back to normal.

Nonetheless, Shallies was now out of the tavern once again, with her three new students behind her. This time, they took the path west, heading for the main road just a few steps away from her main gate. It was late noon, and a few carts were using the road. It was still wide enough for them to walk along it with a substantial berth away from the moving vehicles, which weren't moving that fast in the first place.

"We have two objectives to complete for today's training. First, I'm bestowing you one Skill today," Shallies started as they all stood on what was essentially the sidewalk. "It'll be the same for everyone, and I'm pretty sure you all know what it does. It's called Mana Energy."

As expected, the entire group's eyes dazzled with great interest. Shallies kept the momentum going.

"Mana Energy is an active Skill that you can use to convert your mana into stamina. It keeps you going for as much as you need so long as your mana pool can provide it. Striking a balance is important, since even Martial Class holders rely on mana at times. With Expert proficiency, the conversion of mana is more efficient than normal, and we'll take advantage of this for as long as we're training."

Grace's expression telegraphed that something clicked in her head. "I see! The Mana-Regeneration Food Buff's perfect for it! We can keep training without getting tired!"

"Well, that depends," Shallies pointed out. "We're here to let the three of you get used to the sudden energy Mana Energy provides, as well as to see how much you can push yourselves with it. You'll eventually see what I mean."

"You said there are two things?" Ren asked, raising his hand.

"We'll talk about that later. If we don't get the chance to do the second objective today, we'll do it the day after tomorrow."

"Right. So what do we do?" Tayin asked.

Shallies pointed south of the main road, towards the far-off mountains.

"Run from here to the foot of the mountain. Then back here to complete your lap. If you're not tired, you can do it again. The one with the most laps gets a small prize. There's no time limit. But if you completely empty your mana, you're out, even if you regenerate a bit later on. That also means no items. The goal is to manage your stamina and mana, and get a feel for your Mana-Regeneration Rate and compensate accordingly. This isn't a race, but a marathon."

Out of the three, the halfling's face scrunched the most. "Running!?"

I suppose I should be happy that they didn't complain about the distance at all.

"Get used to running," Shallies said. "It helps build your stamina and endurance. I should probably also mention that you should eventually learn to cast complicated spells while on the move. So the better you build your foundation, the better."

Tayin was about to sigh, but the idea of casting spells while moving grabbed her attention without any difficulty. Now that everyone was on-board with the idea, the Godkiller mentor clapped her hands, gesturing for her students to take their positions. They stood side by side, preparing to run.

"Make sure you guys keep an eye on the road. Don't cause any accidents. Ready… Go!"

Just like that, they were off.

Shallies didn't bother to monitor them. Honesty between mentor and student was important, so she had to trust them to abide by her rules. Instead, she went back to their usual training field to retrieve the training dummy.

It had definitely endured a Wroth Fell's fury. Limbs were broken, there were holes in its chest, and even its neck was snapped at a weird angle. Nonetheless, she opened her System Console and connected the dummy to it via a thread of mana.

[Record Dummy detected,] Stachie began. [Would you like to watch it, Shallies?]

"Yes, please."

The Godkiller watched Gar from the dummy's point of view. He was as ruthless as any giantkin she could remember. Yells, powerful attacks, relentlessness, he had it all.

"Perfect."

[Should we apply it to all the dummies then?]

"Just fifteen for now. Thanks, Stachie."

[I'll get right on it.]

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