Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Big brother!"

Melissa screamed as she jumped into Lucas' arms.

The latter hugged her and ruffled her hair, pleased that she was doing okay.

"You're back." Vienna smiled at Lucas.

He nodded as a form of response but felt that the look in her eyes was a bit strange. But Lucas didn't care too much about it as his focus was elsewhere.

"How's the team?" Lucas asked.

"...not in the best place right now." Vienna sighed.

She was previously lighthearted and elated awhile ago, but the conversation about the team seemed to change her aura to that of a depressed staff who had just come off from a forced overtime with no extra pay and was told to do the same the next day.

"Let's hear over to the office. I'll help you where I can." Lucas said.

Since the Versoa Team Co was somewhat his now, it was only naturally for Lucas to put in the effort when his company was underperforming.

However to Vienna, this gesture of his meant something else.

"Alright." Vienna nodded, her pulse feeling a bit giddy after that.

"Going out again?" Melissa stared at Lucas with puppy eyes.

"Not yet. Let's have lunch together first, okay?" Lucas smiled before picking her up into his arms.

Even though Melissa had been well taken care of and her complexion improved considerably, because she was underfed while growing up, she was still quite short for an eleven year old.

"Can I join?" Vienna asked.

"Sure, why not?" Lucas nonchalantly replied.

The Heavenly Demonic shop had a lobby area where customers could sit and wait for their orders to be completed. There was also a coffee table set up there, so it could barely serve as a dining spot.

After having Melissa and Vienna settle in, Lucas went into the workstation to make something. Since the building didn't have a kitchen, his workstation doubled as one. Probably only someone like Lucas could use a forge as a kitchen stove.

Being a vestige-smith, Lucas knew a lot about fire control. During his first life, he had lived alone until his master found him. Even then, Lucas was still taught a bunch of survival skills with one of them being how to cook and identify food ingredients in the wild. So it was safe to say that his cooking skills were more than ordinary.

For lunch, Lucas decided to make a sumptuous meal especially since it has been a while since he actually ate much. In this world, most of the ingredients and food from Earth were present, such as rice. So, Lucas decided to make egg stir-fried rice with barbecue beef and an alternative Italian salad on the side. The salad was made using the ingredients available on Eretre and the same was so for the BBQ sauce.

While cooking, Lucas suddenly had an inspiration. He withdrew the Heart of Silver from the storage locker in the room. Immediately, the stellar energy concentration rose and an aurora covered the room.

Lucas wasn't worried about those outside noticing anything as the workstation was properly isolated by the system. Carefully using a method from his first past life, Lucas extracted three drops of the Blood of Silver silver from the rock and kept the ore by the side.

By having the Heart of Silver present while cooking, the food will inevitably absorb some of the concentrated stellar energy in the air, making it more nutritious. As for the three drops of magical liquid, Lucas used two of them on the egg fried-rice and the last drop for making the barbecue sauce.

This was pretty extravagant but Lucas wasn't bothered about it. Although the Blood of Silver was limited, three drops was literally just a drop in the bucket compared to the total volume. Also, since it was a meal meant for him and Melissa, it wasn't a waste. Melissa was a hybrid, and she seemed to be very talented, so Lucas didn't want to stunt her growth. The food would also help Lucas' physique improve as the Blood of Silver's effect still applied to pure humans.

As for Vienna, it was a coincidence that she turned out to be a guest, so Lucas could only say her luck was good.

It took less than ninety minutes (an hour and thirty minutes) for Lucas to be done cooking. In the first place, the dishes weren't complicated or difficult to cook so it didn't take much time. Most of the time was spent on extracting the drops of Blood of Silver and making the BBQ beef. To pull the latter off in record time, Lucas had to display an exquisite control of heat and his understanding of desolate beast flesh, courtesy of working with desolate beast body parts in making vestiges and the information from the tome "An Adventurer's Manual".

After storing back the Heart of Silver and vacuuming out the concentrated stellar energy into one of the storage lockers, Lucas brought out the dishes using a tray he had made before. Naturally, the tray was a vestige.

"It's ready."

Melissa's eyes brightened like a toddler's.

Even though she has been eating exquisite meals from four and even five star chefs, thanks to Vienna, Melissa still preferred Lucas' cooking. Maybe it was a desire for home-made meals or she was more used to Lucas' cooking, regardless of which it was, Melissa preferred Lucas' cooking.

Vienna stared at the dishes set up on the coffee table and was impressed. As a stellar practitioner, she could sense that the food was quite special but couldn't really figure out how.

Because the Blood of Silver was a lower end Aión source, even more so to the Heart of Silver, there was no strange aesthetic effect as visible concentrated stellar energy around the food. This was why Lucas didn't mind using it as an ingredient even with Vienna around.

"Bon Appetit."

Melissa said with a smile as she waved her hand over the food.

"Bon Appetit." Vienna smiled and performed the same motions as well.

Lucas froze and glanced at Vienna with a confused look.

There was no French language in this world and the phrase 'Bon Appetit' was something Lucas had taught Melissa a few months ago.

Back then, Lucas was in a good mood and said it right before a meal. Melissa got interested in the unique wording and asked about it, so Lucas taught her the meaning without much thought. Who would have known that Melissa turned it into a practice to say those two words before every meal.

"Oh, it's something I learned from her." Vienna explained.

"It's an interesting phrase and I couldn't help but copy it. Melissa says it makes the food taste even better." Vienna chuckled.

Lucas didn't know what to say. This was because that was a lie that he had told her. For some reason, he felt it to be funny so when Lucas explained to Melissa about the phrase "Bon Appetit", he told her it made the food taste better. He got this idea after recalling his experience at a maid cafe back on Earth, where the waitress told him to recite the words "Moe Moe Kyun" before eating as it would make the food taste better.

Although he found that delusional, Lucas played along with it back then. So, when Melissa asked him what "Bon Appetit" meant, he explained the literal meaning while also stating that it could make the food taste better.

'I guess that's why she made it a ritual of hers.' Lucas sighed, realising he was the cause of this.

The trio proceeded to dig into the food, and even the chef, Lucas, was impressed by the taste. At the same time, an inconceivable idea crossed his mind.

'If it tastes this good with just the Blood, what about the Heart?'

Only someone who loved metals and was obsessed with them would consider eating it, and Lucas happened to be just that character.

"This, tastes great." Vienna was shocked.

She was born from a prestigious home, had many chefs at her beck and call ever since young, and could literally be said to have tried out every food on Eretre. However, the taste and sensation the egg fried-rice gave her was literally out of this world.

In all her years of being alive, nothing had tasted this good.

Melissa's eyes sparkled as she stared at the ribs in front of her. If the rice was this good, what about her favourite dish, roast desolate beast meat?

Without hesitating or even caring for her table manners, Melissa stretched out her hand and took a bite out of one.

"!!!"

Like a cat that had its first taste of catnip, Melissa's eyes bulged, her cheeks reddened while saliva leaked out from her mouth.

If she could say a few words while all this was happening it would simply be "utterly delicious". At this moment, Melissa felt like a deaf man who finally experienced hearing listening to Beethoven's Für Elise or Moonlight Sonata. Like a man that had toiled within a cave in search of iron ores suddenly finding diamonds, or a monk who had attained the state of Buddha or Bodhisattva, she was in pure bliss and in a state of ascension.

Vienna's reaction wasn't as exaggerated as Melissa's, but she too was overwhelmed by the marvelous sensation the food produced on her taste buds. Whether it was the egg fried-rice or the BBQ beef, they all suited her palate and tasted unlike anything she had ever had before.

Lucas was more calm compared to the duo. Even though it had been years since, he had tasted even more heavenly dishes than this. But that didn't mean the food didn't elicit a reaction from him —it was just more toned down then the others.

'It's unfortunate, but I can't use this for every meal.' Lucas sighed inwardly.

Using the Blood of Silver once or twice was okay, but not everyday. After all, according to the system, adding it to the serum he would be making upon reaching level 5, would improve the overall efficiency and effects. This was a wiser and more profitable move compared to using it to make breakfast, lunch and dinner, which —although beneficial— was rather wasteful.