SWNOVELXO Chapter 1553: Familiar Bonds
-----
Aquarina quickly wolfed down her enormous breakfast, which included several slices of bread with scrambled eggs, bacon, and roasted meat, accompanied by a couple of fruits, pancakes, lots of milk, and some coffee mixed in.
What she ate for breakfast would usually be what a normal person ate in two days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was almost always a necessity to eat a lot of meat in the beginning of the day so her large body could get all the proteins and energy it required to keep moving for the rest of the day.
Fruits, grains, and carbs were also a must, and a balanced combination of all of this would finally satisfy the giant girl from hunger for a couple of hours and allow her to function at 100% of her strength.
If anything, one of the greatest weaknesses of strong people was their necessity to eat a lot of food to keep their bodies with energy and not grow weak over time, especially when you cultivated your physique.
Of course, the power of Cooking Magic and all sorts of Magical Ingredients existed in this world, some that could give more calories, vitamins, and other nutrients in smaller quantities than normal food.
Though, very strong people would usually not starve most of the time anyways, even when they lacked funds to buy food, hunting down monsters and eating them has always been a practice across the entire world.
It was a custom for most adventurers to cook and eat a part of their hunt whenever they were outside, saving money on provisions by filling themselves with lots of monster meat, rich in nutrients, energy, protein, and also mana.
Cooking Magic users were always welcomed within Adventurer Parties, as they were required to keep everyone well feed, the power of Cooking Magic was capable of making the food prepared using it become more nutritious and filling.
"Phew, all done!" Aquarina licked her lips after she drank one last glass of goat milk. "Mom, have you see Pyuku anywhere?"
"Yes he's on the pool with Undine I believe," said Nepheline. "The two have been very chatty lately, looks like they became friends. That's good. It's always better if your Familiars get along and are friends. It could allow you to do Familiar Fusion in the future much more easily."
"Familiar Fusion?" Aquarina wondered.
"You're not there yet," said her father, as he took away her dishes and washed them for her. "But one day you'll learn what it is. Well, you've seen us use it before, when we battled that Evil Goddess… or a part of her."
"Ooh! That!" Aquarina recalled. "That was really awesome! I really want to do that too! Maybe I can do it now?"
"Impossible," said her mother. "Not only do you need to further strengthen your Bonds with your Familiars, but all of them must do the same with one another. Only like that can you reach the next step."
"O-Oh…" Aquarina muttered.
"Yeah, it's one of the things you cannot brute force," said Shade. "You have to spend time with them, talk, become friends, and even family. Then, the path will open up for you."
"Hmm, okay," Aquarina nodded.
"So try to be more open with them, talk with them, learn their past, and try to empathize better with them," said Nepheline. "Your girlfriend Sylphy is so good at bonding with her Familiars, they love her so much already! She can already infuse their powers into her body and transform, and I think she has managed to fuse them together once before, unprecedently so."
"I can also infuse them into my body!" said Aquarina. "With Leviathan I can achieve a Draconification of ice and with Undine… with Undine…"
Aquarina quickly recalled that she had never done the same with Undine, and that perhaps it worked with Leviathan because she raised him from a baby and had a good affinity with her Dragon Heart.
"You haven't, right?" asked her mother.
"I'll get to it eventually!" said Aquarina.
"You should be able to do the same with Pyuku in the future as well, so work hard on strengthening your bonds," said her father.
"Okay, fine, I know. I've been trying this entire time actually! I'm not dumb…" said Aquarina. "We talked a lot yesterday and stuff."
"Oh, that's nice then, well done," her mother patted her head. "Alright, wash your teeth first before departing, girl."
"Ok, I was about to do that mom, you don't have to tell me everything I have to do…" Aquarina rolled her eyes, walking to the bathroom.
Her parents looked at one another.
"Is it my idea or has she become even more rude lately?" her mother sighed, crossing her arms. "This brat…"
"I don't think that's the case," said her father. "I think she just wants to be acknowledged as an adult… All teens her age start being a bit like this. Even you were a lot like Aquarina when you were younger, Nepheline."
"Me?! I was never as spoiled as her!" said Nepheline, crossing her arms.
"Maybe, but you were also very rude with everyone all the time…" said Shade. "Well… it isn't as if I was that different either."
"Hah! You were silent all the time, and whenever you would finally talk, you were cold, and barely even made words," said Nepheline. "You got on such a fight with Allan once because he just wanted you to open up and be nicer you two almost killed each other."
"Ah… Yeah, I regret what I did back then…" Shade sighed. "I was truly a fool… I needed more experience, I needed friends, and all of you… I'm sorry for that, even now…"
"A-Ah! Of course we've gone past that for a while now, dear! You don't have to get sad… Come here," Nepheline noticed Shade getting slightly depressed, as she rushed to hug him against his will.
"Agh! N-Nepheline, you're crushing me!"
Her big, muscular arms embraced her small husband, giving him all the love of an amazoness.
"How about I show you some love, amazoness style?" Nepheline smiled, licking Shade's face.
"N-Nepheline…!" Shade was blushing, completely red. "Wait, Aquarina will-"
"Uh, well, whatever you're doing, do it once I leave, please!"
Aquarina walked out of the bathroom, quickly packing some things in her storage ring and running away.
Her parents blushed for a bit as she left, and then they continued their endeavors…
-----