Nick would definitely get his revenge for this breakfast, but not today, today he had to go around the city to gather some information about the building materials for his palace.
Stretching a little to wake his body up, Nick then went to the kitchen to make himself some proper breakfast. He hadn't eaten anything for nearly two days, and although high-level cultivators could do without sustenance, he wasn't at that level yet. And even those powerful cultivators that could live without eating never dropped that habit, because eating was one of the few things that made life enjoyable and worth living.
After stepping into the kitchen, Nick was startled to find it in a mess. Pots and pans with broken eggshells on the stove, bread crumbs decorated the floor, and a large bucket of oil was spilled on the ground. Nick did not understand how two kids who were hungry just yesterday could be so wasteful with food like this! And the kids were nowhere to be seen, they probably cut their losses after repeated failure.
Nick decided to wait for them to grow accustomed to living with him a little better before he sat them down and had a talk with them. Because Nick couldn't stand by and watch the two kids mess around with food when so many people were starving to death, it just wasn't his way of doing things.
Nick then searched around the kitchen for suitable ingredients to make breakfast and soon found a whole basket filled with eggs in one of the cabinets. But these eggs were weird, not only were they abnormally huge, but they were also each of different colors.
Curious, Nick activated one of his cooking skill functions, 'Ingredients'.
[The Rainbow ostrich (Egg) (aka The Slut ostrich)
This Ostrich isn't actually multicolored, but it enjoys decorating its nest, its life goal is to find beasts of different color and mate with them to lay different colored eggs. Their mother died a wrongful death as she saw a human one day and thought he would be a perfect part of her collection, but sadly she didn't know that the human was in the Immortal King realm, so, as soon as she used her aphrodisiac power on the Immortal, the powerful immortal…her to death! Her dying wish is that one day her kids would achieve what she couldn't, and lay a human egg!
Effects: Exp +20, Consuming this every day for a year will change a person's personality into a sleazy cheater that sleeps with anything that moves!
Ways to cook: Scrambled, Omelet, Poached...
]
Nick shed tears for this bird with such a big dream, if only she met someone with low cultivation, she would have died satisfied and content, why was humanity so cruel...
Nick then choose the Omelet recipe and started breaking the eggs into a wooden bowl, it's not that Nick didn't know how to make a simple omelet, any village idiot could make an omelet, let alone a seasoned veteran like Nick, but he wanted to see what differences the cooking skill made.
And sadly, Nick didn't see anything special in the recipe, but he didn't give up though. He thought that if the system made such a huge deal about this book, then it must at least have its own advantages.
As for the effects of one ingesting it every day constantly for a whole year, it didn't worry him much, only a crazy person would eat eggs constantly every day without skipping a single day!
Nick didn't have to stay in suspense for long either, because he soon noticed his energy was leaving his body, and entering the egg! Apparently, the skill was using his Origin energy to soak the eggs, seeping into them, perfecting them inside and out, and after a while, the Omelet released an aroma so tantalizing, it made one just want to put their hands into the firing pan to grab them.
Nick could smell all the different ingredients, the pepper, the tomato, and all the different spices that had come together in unison to show each of their better sides, none overpowering the other in the slightest.
It surprised Nick because he had never smelled anything so amazing, and this was a meal cooked with the lowest of ingredients! If he one day cooked something with ingredients of a higher grade, then maybe people might actually jump into the fire to grab the food before it was fully cooked!
Satisfied with the new skill, Nick flipped the Omelet skillfully onto a plate, but before Nick could turn around, he heard an eerie sound of a large puddle of water hitting the ground, startled, Nick quickly turned his head to find the source of that sound, but he nearly dropped his plate in astonishment when he found that it was just the twins, drooling excessively.
The eyes of the twins were red, their lower jaws hanging low as they stared hungrily at the plate in his hand. They kind of reminded Nick of the zombies he had seen in the movies. Nick's eyebrows relaxed as a subtle smile arose on his face. He then walked over to the dining table and placed the plate in front of Maggy and started preparing another one for him and Dean.
Because even though Nick would definitely get back at the kids for the thing they fed him this morning, he would never starve them or refuse to feed them because that was Nick's principle, he was stingy with money, but he was overly generous when it comes to food.
Maggy wanted nothing more than to ravage the delicious-looking omelet before her, but she had gotten used to never eating without her brother, so she waited until her brother got a plate too. And in order to hold back her urges, she sat on her hands, preventing them from reaching out and stuffing the shiny omelet into her mouth.
Seeing how Maggy refused to eat alone and instead waited for her brother, a warm and appreciative smile appeared on Nick's face, how many in this world could stand this kind of temptation for familial love? The only reason Nick had remained clear-headed despite the smell was due to the immunity the Cooking skill provided, otherwise he would have sat down, eaten his share first, and then cooked one for the kids.
Nick's moved faster seeing how both the kids seemed too impatient and were having a hard time enduring the wait, Dean even waddled over to him twice asking, if he was done yet.
After ten long excruciating minutes, Dean's omelet was finally done. But weirdly, Maggy's omelet wasn't even cold and looked as good as he first made it. This must be another advantage of the cooking skill, Nick thought.
Dean and Maggy didn't start eating this time either though, instead, they both looked at Nick as if they were going to wait for Nick as well! But Nick could see their eyes, begging him to free them from their misery.
But Nick ignored them, as if he didn't notice the look in their eyes and just kept cooking his serving, but after only five seconds the two kids started speaking.
"Big bro, even though we are terribly hungry, we will wait for you!" Dean announced with pride.
"Yeah, Big bro Nick, even though we are now orphans and this food will help us handle our sorrows a little bit better, we have decided not to eat without you!" Maggi also announced. But their eyes full of expectation said otherwise.
"Thank you, then," Nick replied.
Startled, Maggi, and Dean, looked at each other in shock. What kind of monster lets two hungry little kids starve like this?! They had clearly mentioned how hungry they were, wasn't Nick supposed to tell them to go ahead, to start without him, to eat their meals first, and that he would remember their kind thoughts instead?!
The duo then kept mentioning how it was torture for them not to eat, while constantly reminding Nick that he was the reason they weren't eating. How could Nick not get their hints, but he couldn't let them keep trying to scheme their way through life now could he, if they did that, they would be stealing his methods...
And after a couple of minutes of hinting at Nick, the twins finally realized that they were dealing with an emotionless monster! How can a person keep ignoring adorable kids like them? Resigned they could only ask simultaneously, "Big bro Nick, can we eat now, please?!"
Nick didn't even turn his head as he just nodded to show his approval.
And, bam!
The sound of forks slamming onto the plates rang out, and the violent unsynchronized chewing sounds of the kids followed.
"Chew with your mouths closed!" Nick said sternly. He hated it when others chewed with their mouths open, and since he had taken them in now, he had to at least teach them some manners. And it seemed like the kids listened well as they suddenly turned extremely quiet.
After a few more minutes, Nick's omelet was done. Placing his Omelet on a plate, Nick headed towards the dining table to sit with the kids. But what he saw there terrified him! Both of the kids were lying on the table, unconscious! Worried, Nick hastily threw his plate onto the table and went over to the kids' side to examine them.
And thankfully, it was nothing major. Even though Nick's cultivation was high and the number of Exp-points the eggs provided were pitiful for him, the same couldn't be said for the kids who were only in the spirit realm. After all, and the cooking skill maintained and added energy into the meal, and the two kids couldn't handle that much energy and crashed! It was like how one would feel sleepy after a large meal, but intensified a tenfold!
So, the kids directly fell asleep after only eating half of their serving. And it was a good thing that the energy in his cooking was the soothing kind, unlike the violent one in Energy stone.
After confirming they were alright and there weren't any hidden problems, Nick carried the kids to their respective rooms. Then, and only then did he return to the dining room to taste his masterpiece.
One bite! One bite was all it took to surpass all Nick's expectations! The Omelet, such a simple dish, carried such amazing taste that it was addictive! It wasn't too greasy, salty, sweet, or spicy, just amazingly balanced and succulent.
After eating slowly to enjoy the taste better, Nick finally finished his meal, and begrudgingly stopped himself from cooking another batch for himself, he had work to do after all. So, Nick left the house with Peter and headed to the city in search of news on the palace building materials!