Chapter 384: The Beginning of Showing Off (2)
Seeing the carved ice mountain, Hachiman nodded in satisfaction.
Approaching the large fish tank in the kitchen, he rolled up his sleeves and reached into it, grabbing a struggling sea bream still swimming inside.
Though the fish thrashed violently, trying to shake off his grip, Hachiman's strength easily subdued its futile struggles. With a firm grip, he lifted the sea bream out of the tank.
Arriving at the cutting board, he swiftly ended its life with a clean stab from a pair of chopsticks.
With the sea bream handled, Hachiman finally embarked on the most crucial step of this dish.
Slicing.
He picked up a bottle of liquid nitrogen meant for chilling and sprayed it wildly over a newly acquired kitchen knife.
As the compressed liquid nitrogen spewed out, it rapidly vaporized into nitrogen gas, absorbing a considerable amount of heat from the surroundings, drastically lowering the temperature of the knife.
After spraying for a while, Hachiman set down the liquid nitrogen bottle and reached out to grasp the chilling knife.
"This is..."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Hachiman-kun, don't..."
"Onii-chan!"
...
Ignoring the alarmed exclamations of the others, Hachiman held the ice-cold knife in his bare hands and walked over to the prepared sea bream.
Observing this scene, Gin suddenly spoke up, "Everyone, please watch closely. What comes next is the most marvelous part of this dish."
Hearing his words, everyone cast aside their previous astonishment, eager to see how Hachiman would proceed.
Slowly raising the icy knife, Hachiman left a faint trail in the air with its chilly blade.
In the next moment, the blade shimmered with light as it danced in his hands, sending glittering pieces flying towards the ice mountain with each swift motion.
"Those are... slices of sea bream!" Erina suddenly exclaimed.
Upon hearing the girl's words, everyone focused their gaze.
With every stroke of the knife, Hachiman sent thin slices of sea bream fluttering onto the nearby mini ice mountain, where they adhered perfectly.
"Ah, this..."
Is he really cooking or performing magic?
Seeing this somewhat magical scene, everyone stared in disbelief as if they had never seen anything like it before.
"Indeed, Hachiman's knife skills are always so pleasing to the eye," Gin exclaimed with admiration.
Knife skills...
Are these really knife skills?
Everyone had their doubts, but recalling the news of Hachiman's attainment of Sword Saint, they comforted themselves in their hearts that it must be due to the blessing of Kendo.
As it turned out, their speculation was correct.
Hachiman's ability to achieve this level was indeed due to the blessing of the Kendo module. It wasn't just the Kendo and Cookingmodules; even the Physique module played an important role.
His powerful physique allowed him to wield the ice-cold knife without being frozen, a benefit brought by the Physique module.
Moreover, the precise control that allowed each slice of sea bream to land accurately on the mini ice mountain was also thanks to the extraordinary control granted by the Physique module.
Regardless of their thoughts, Hachiman continued to slice the sea bream unperturbed.
With each stroke, the delicate slices of sea bream sparkled like crystals, fluttering gracefully towards the mini ice mountain like dancing butterflies.
Such a beautiful scene left everyone enthralled.
However, the beautiful moment was short-lived. Soon, the sea bream was sliced completely, and the captivating yet brief spectacle came to an end, leaving everyone still mesmerized.
After slicing the sea bream, Hachiman exhaled a breath of cold air and slowly released his grip on the knife handle under the flowing water.
Although the temperature of the ice-cold knife was low, it would definitely cause frostbite to a normal person.
Unfortunately, Hachiman paid no heed to this temperature with his current physique.
Seeing Hachiman release the knife, Komachi reacted immediately and hurried over to his side.
"Onii-chan, are you okay?"
Grabbing his hand, Komachi shivered slightly. "Wow, it's so cold."
But when Komachi looked at Hachiman's palm with a worried expression, she saw nothing. Hachiman's palm remained fair, without a trace of frostbite.
"Huh, how is that possible..." Komachi looked at him in surprise.
Rubbing her head with his other hand, Hachiman smiled. "Don't worry, Komachi, it's just a little cold. I'm fine."
Just then, Erina and Alice also rushed to Hachiman's side.
"Are you an idiot? How could you hold the ice-cold knife with your bare hands? Aren't you afraid of frostbite?" Erina scolded, mixed with a hint of worry.
As for Alice, she was purely concerned. "Hachiman-kun, are you okay? Should I prepare some frostbite ointment and bandages for you?"
Erina also realized the situation and quickly spoke to Hisako.
"That's right, Hisako, quickly go get some frostbite ointment and bandages."
"Okay, Miss Erina," Hisako nodded and was about to run out of the kitchen.
But Hachiman directly stopped her.
"Hisako, you don't need to get the frostbite ointment. I'm fine."
"How could you be fine? With such a cold temperature, you must have frostbite. And aren't you able to use sword aura projection? You could have just cut with sword aura. Why did you have to do it like this, you idiot!" Erina scolded with concern.
Alice chimed in, "Yeah, exactly, you could have just used sword aura to cut."
Upon hearing their words, Hachiman just smiled faintly. "Relax, I'm fine. And to taste the deliciousness, you naturally have to pay some price, right?"
"The essence of this dish requires cutting at low temperatures in an instant. If I used sword aura, I wouldn't achieve that effect."
"And I really am fine. Don't believe me? Take a look."
With that, he even showed his palm to the two girls.
To their surprise, there was indeed no trace of frostbite on Hachiman's palm.
"Ah, this..."
This left both sisters dumbfounded; was it possible that such low temperatures didn't affect him at all?
It wasn't just them; everyone, including Gin, was equally surprised. After all, the last time they saw Hachiman prepare this dish, he was "frozen."
Unfortunately, Gin didn't know that Hachiman hadn't actually been injured that time; applying the cold compress was just for show.
But what worried him more now was the attitude of Erina and Alice.
Why did it seem like they both liked Hachiman?
It wasn't just Gin who had such thoughts; even Senzaemon felt the same way.
At this moment, Senzaemon felt somewhat helpless. He did hope Erina and Hachiman could become a couple, and it seemed like it might happen soon. However, he hadn't expected Alice to also have feelings for Hachiman.
This was getting awkward.
To hide his embarrassment, Senzaemon cleared his throat.
"Cough, cough, Hachiman, is this your first dish?"
Upon hearing his question, Hachiman nodded with a smile.
"Yes, Senzaemon-sama, this is the appetizer I've prepared for everyone."
"Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain!"