The first thing Thiago did was to turn on the gas in the brand-new barbecue so that it would heat up quickly. He had never cooked on a barbecue before, but he wasn't worried. He had bought the recipe for the perfect BBQ skewers called 'Home Chef's Delight' from the system shop and it had been imprinted in his mind. He knew exactly what to do.
Next, Thiago had to cut up all the vegetables and meat he had in front of him. He carefully selected the freshest ingredients from his basket and began to cut them into bite-sized pieces. He sliced red and green peppers, juicy tomatoes and sweet onions.
He also diced juicy chunks of marbled beef and tasty chicken breast. At first, he was rather clumsy, but with each cut he seemed to get better.
As he worked, he remembered the steps of the recipe. The flavours and textures were etched in his mind, and he knew the end result would be perfect.
In fact, he had always liked the idea of cooking, but he had never really had the motivation or the time, and he had never been any good at it. That was why he'd decided to buy the recipe from the System Shop. Fortunately, it had also been extremely cheap, so it was no loss at all to him.
Once he had prepared the ingredients, he threaded them onto skewers, alternating between meat and vegetables. He made sure that each skewer was loaded with enough ingredients to satisfy both Faye's and his voracious appetites.
He placed the skewers on the barbecue and watched them sizzle and cook. The aroma of grilled meat and vegetables filled the air in the cave and made his mouth water.
But he wasn't the only one whose mouth watered at that moment, as Faye, who had been absorbed in her cultivation, was disturbed by the intoxicating smell that made her nose twitch.
After a few seconds, Faye could no longer concentrate and suddenly opened her eyes to see what the source of this amazing smell was.
Once she had located the source of the scent and turned her gaze to the part of the cave where Thiago was cooking, she couldn't help but be startled by what she saw – A human figure.
Immediately, she became much more alert and assumed a fighting stance.
"What? Thiago, is that you?" Faye called cautiously, because she wasn't one hundred percent sure, because even though she could smell Thiago's scent on the human figure standing in the middle of the cave, it was a bit strange and so sudden that she asked anyway, just to be on the safe side.
"Huh? Oh, you've finished your cultivation, I'm sorry if my cooking bothered you, Hehe, I didn't think that far. Ah yes, it's obviously me, why would a human come in here just to cook in leisure, haha". Thiago quickly explained when he suddenly heard Faye's question coming from where she was standing, a little behind him.
"Oh well, but how? How do you suddenly have a human form? We've only been apart for half a day and all of a sudden, you've cultivated a human form, that's really incredible even for this extraordinary self, humph," Faye asked incredulously as she examined Thiago in his human form from head to toe.
She had to admit that somehow his human form had a certain charm, not that she found him handsome or anything like that, purely from an outsider's point of view, yes, yes, that must be it.
"Well, I have advanced to the realm of the Superior Student and have thus cultivated my human from the one you see now, a few hours ago." Thiago explained, referring back to her previous question.
And somehow he felt her dejected mood, which might have been due to the fact that she was far behind in terms of realm, and he encouraged her, "Well, I think you will also be able to have a human of soon, so don't be discouraged, I have been cultivating for longer than you, so this is also normal.
"Wait, you are a bit small in your human form, aren't you?" Faye suddenly remarked, causing Thiago's expression to turn slightly sombre and he felt as if he had been jabbed in the heart with a sword. His height was his only sore point in his human form, and she had just poked at it so casually or deliberately, who knew.
"Ahem, no, definitely not, I am actually very tall, normal people are not as tall as me," Thiago lied without blushing or raising his pulse, anyway, how would Faye know if it was true or not.
And it seemed that Thiago was right, although Faye was a little suspicious, she did not contradict outright and only commented: "This princess will believe you for now, hump!"
"Anyway, don't think about that right now, because I'm cooking a great meal that will be ready soon, so you just have to wait a few more minutes." Thiago quickly changed the subject, which also caught Faye's attention, as anything to do with food was bound to pique her interest, as she was a real foodie.
"Humm! I hope this food tastes as good as it smells." Faye declared, making Thiago grin as he was already used to her antics.
Now they were both waiting in front of the barbecue for the meat and vegetable skewers to be ready...
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the skewers were ready.
Thiago carefully removed them from the grill and placed them on a platter, and for Faye, who did not yet have human form, he placed them on a larger platter, but first he removed the skewer from the meat and vegetables, as it could be quite difficult to eat with the skewer in the way, the colours of the vegetables and meat making an appetising display.
"Enjoy your meal!" Thiago shouted before picking up his first skewer.
He took a bite of one of the skewers and his eyes widened in delight. The meat was tender and juicy, the vegetables still slightly crunchy, and the BBQ sauce added just the right amount of sweetness and smokiness to the dish.
Glancing at Faye, who at that moment was completely engrossed in her meal, Thiago smiled, knowing that she probably loved it too.
Even though there was not an ounce of mana in this meal, it was simply a masterpiece for Faye, whose previous beast food had been the mana-infused steak Thiago had bought for her from the system shop, which had no taste at all compared to the skewers and whose only advantage was the mana it contained.
But if taste was the only thing that mattered, the meat and vegetable kebabs would be miles ahead of the steak.
At the moment, Thiago was quite happy because he had officially cooked something truly satisfying for the first time.
Not some boring cup noodles or ready meals to heat up. He had done it. He had created the perfect BBQ skewers, at least according to his expectations, thanks to the recipe that the system had implanted in his head after he had bought it.
After only five minutes they had eaten all their skewers and it seemed as if they were not even full yet, which was quite normal since there was no mana in the food, which was not very nutritious for beasts like them.
"This venerable self is quite content with your food; can you make more of it?" Faye commented as if she did not deeply enjoy the taste of the freshly prepared vegetables and meat, making it seem as if the food had only been passable.
"Haha, can't you just say you liked it? Well, I might as well make another round of skewers anyway." Thiago laughed as soon as he heard what Faye had said, but he still started making another round of meat and vegetable skewers, knowing that it was just her personality, and it was quite a compliment for her to say that she was quite content with his food.
Soon after, another round of food was served, after which Thiago decided not to do another round of skewers, as he was mentally exhausted from everything he had experienced today.
"I'm going to sleep in the villa tonight, do you want to, or would you rather stay in the cave?" asked Thiago Faye, not quite sure what she would decide now.
"I want to sleep in the mansion!" Faye replied promptly without having to think too much, it seemed she liked sleeping in a bed compared to the rough cave floor, well, that was understandable. After all, who would voluntarily choose to sleep on a rocky floor when they could choose to sleep in an extremely comfortable king-size bed.
"Well then, let's go to my inner world." Thiago explained as soon as he had received her answer.
The only thing he did before taking them both to his inner world was to quickly collect all his cooking utensils in his spatial necklace, as he would probably use them again in the future, so it was good to keep them organised in his spatial storage, where he could find them every time, he needed them.
Having done all that, he took Faye and himself directly to his inner world, where they appeared directly inside the mansion, as Thiago was able to control where he wanted to appear within his inner world, which was certainly very handy.
Before Thiago went into his room he spoke to Faye: "Starting tomorrow I will be training some of my new techniques, if you want you can train with me, I am sure it will be beneficial to you in every way".
"Do you want to train with me?" when he asked this question, he somehow felt as if he was making a confession, because it really had almost the same ring to it as if he were saying, "Do you want to go out with me?
Thiago quickly put these strange thoughts to one side - he had no idea where they were coming from in the first place - and waited for Faye's answer to his question.
At least Faye found this to be a completely normal question and did not think as much as Thiago and after roughly a few seconds of deliberation she answered that she indeed wanted to train with him, before she wished a good night and went into here room right away where she plunged into the large and soft bed.
Thiago, on the other hand, did not feel that much that she had agreed, as it was purely a question of practicality, as he had to train anyway, and it did not make much difference whether Faye was there or not.
Afterwards he went to his room where he could feel the bed as a human again, which was a completely different feeling as he no longer had his thick fur and could feel the warmth of the blanket. And about twenty minutes later, Thiago had fallen into a deep sleep, caused by his massive mental and physical exhaustion throughout the day.
First, he had to lure the ice serpent, which was no easy task, then he had to fight the golden basilisk. After that, he had gone through his evolution, and then he had even fought for a short time, where he had almost lost this life against the Dark Apparition.
All of this had taken a heavy toll on his mind and body, so he really needed this rest.
…
The next morning...