Ellia emerged from the bathroom, her skin still glistening with moisture, and just as she placed her foot outside, the door to the room opened.
"Ah..." As Issac pushed open the door, his eyes fixed on Ellia's exposed legs, and for a moment, he stood there, frozen in awe, unable to look away. But Ellia paid him no heed, striding over to retrieve her clothes.
Immediately afterward, Issac shut the door closed.
"Why did you close the door for?" Levi asked, trying to open the door himself.
"Wait..." Issac reached out and clutched Levi's wrist, preventing him from stepping any further inside. "Second Lieutenant is changing inside."
"Really?" In a sudden explosion of motion, Owen burst through the doorway before anyone else could even react.
"Quite a hasty, aren't we." Ellia was in front of the door, adjusting the collar of her uniform.
"Ahahaha..." A strained chuckle escaped from Issac's lips while pulling Owen aside.
"Watch your feet," As Ellia spoke, a small figure darted past the legs of those gathered around her, a blur of motion that seemed almost too fast to follow. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, the figure skidded to a halt directly in front of her.
It was a delivery bot that stood before Ellia.
"Delivery for second Lieutenant Arison." The bot spoke in a monotonous tone.
Ellia quickly moved to place her thumb on the scanner the delivery bot provided.
The scanner emitted a gentle beep as it swiftly recognized Ellia's identity and glowed a vibrant shade of green. Then, without delay, the delivery bot handed the package over to Ellia.
It was a luxurious-looking black bags that seemed to cost lots of money on its own.
As Alex strode into the dormitory, his eyes fixed curiously on the object that Ellia was holding, he couldn't help but ask, "What is that?"
"It's meat," Ellia's reply was like a spark that ignited the air, causing Mike's and Owen's ears to perk up with sudden interest. "Though I remember ordering more..."
When Ellia was walking back towards the dormitory after training, she ordered Ruth to purchase several top-quality cow meat from the internet.
"It was the best out there," Ruth's voice swelled with pride. "I got it off the black market."
"Wait, isn't this..." With a curious glint in his eye, Mike approached Ellia and politely requested to see the bag, his words carrying a tinge of excitement that was palpable in the air. Ellia, sensing his eagerness, smiled and handed him the bag.
Mike reached inside the bag and took out marbled cow meat from the bag. Its juicy contours and intricate veins shimmer like a hidden treasure in the palm of his hand.
"Where did you get this?" Mike cast his gaze upon Ellia, his eyes filled with a mixture of admiration and envy.
"Uhhh, connections..." Ellia said, figuring out that she couldn't say she got it from the black market. "Why? What's wrong with the meat?"
"You just bought this on a whim, huh..." Mike's voice fell to a murmur, sad that he wasn't as rich as Ellia.
"Ugh... yea." Ellia nodded.
"This is grade special grade 8 beef rib eyes!" Mike cried, trying his best to educate Ellia on this matter. "This meat isn't just tasty. It is high in protein and also increases your mana pool!"
'Increase in mana?' Ellia rubbed her chin, interest filling her eyes.
"Why are you going crazy over a rib eye." Owen snatched the cow meat from Mike's hand. "Just throw it into a pan, and let's eat it."
"No, you can't, you ignorant bastard!" Mike shouted as he charged after Owen. "You'll be wasting a million credits like that!"
Hearing Mike's words caused every head in the room to snap towards Ellia in unison, their eyes wide with astonishment and disbelief. "A million? On meat?" They all said.
Alex approached Ellia and asked, "Why are you spending so much money now? I thought you didn't like spending so much money."
"Yea! No matter how you look at it, a million on meat is too much!" Levi added on.
'Yea, I also think that too, but I wasn't the one who bought it...' Ellia thought as the corners of her eyes twitched with a barely contained rage.
"Oh, so you're blaming me now! I see how it is." Ruth shouted in a sorrowful voice. "You're the one who told me to buy it!'
'Yea, but didn't you think that buying a million credit rib eye was too much?' Ellia retorted.
"..." Ellia was met with an uneasy silence that told her something was off.
"Wait a damn minute," Ellia spoke while grabbing the black bag, then turning it upside down. Several other rib eyes tumbled to the floor with a soft thud.
Once again, the room fell into a stunned and uneasy silence as all eyes turned to Ellia, but this time their gazes looked down at Ellia as if she was crazy.
"What happened to you." With a look of concern etched across his face, Alex reached out and firmly grasped Ellia's shoulder. He began swaying her gently back and forth. "Where did my innocent Ellia go?!"
"Oi, stop it." With a flicker of annoyance in her gaze, Ellia rotated her eyeballs skyward before delicately draping her gentle palms onto Alex's hand.
"By the way," Ellia spoke, noticing that someone was missing. "Where's May?"
"Oh, I think she went to look for Instructor James," Levi answered Ellia's question.
"Is that so?" Ellia muttered before shrugging her shoulder. After all, it wasn't her right to be concerned.
Ellia gathered all of the costly cuts of meat, like precious jewels, and returned them back into the black bag. She crossed the room and approached the stove, where a cast-iron skillet lay waiting.
"You know how to cook this kind of meat?" Mike asked, noticing Ellia in front of the stove.
"Uploading cooking techniques for special grade 8 beef rib eyes." Ruth began to take action as she had been anticipating Ellia's command. Truly the best assistant there was around, the kind of invaluable support that one could only hope to find once in a lifetime.
"Of course." Ellia smiled while lighting up the stove.
According to the technique she had just received, she needed to imbue her own mana into the iron skillet and onto the fire itself to bring out the full benefits of the meat.
The meat before them was no ordinary fare but rather a feast fit for royalty. Its origins could be traced back to a lush field teeming with life and vitality, where a cow had grazed upon grasses enriched with the essence of mana.
In a mere twenty minutes later, seven plates of rare medium ribeyes were set on the table.
Aerie had come out of the bathroom, and it was now May that was inside, bathing.
"It looks more like gourmet meat…" Mike spoke.
"I never knew you could cook like this," Alex said, weirdly looking at Ellia.
"Wow…" Aerie applauded.
"It looks good." Levi nodded his head with his thumbs up.
"As expected of Second Lieutenant." Issac gave an approving nod.
Ellia experienced a surge of warmth and satisfaction when she received compliments on her cooking skills. Maybe it was because she vividly remembered the days when her old comrades talked shit about her cooking.