Emery, for the first time, didn't know where to start prepping.
He looked at the array of 'assorted meats' in front of him, and for the first time, struggled to decide which one to cook. If it were before where there was only one beast to satiate his crippling hunger, Emery would have cooked that one without hesitation.
But this was different. Looking at Citro's prey made him remember just how far he'd come in the last three days. From snivelling at Carlos' feet, powerless to handling multiple Class Tens with ease.
It was surreal, but he couldn't let that get to his head, either.
'Focus, Emery. Distraction is bad.'
He shook the thoughts away and then finally concentrated on the goal ahead.
After eventually eliminating some of the unpalatable ones and the ones that were difficult to cook, he found the one that he could perhaps manage.
His chosen protein for this meal was a large bird with brown-white feathers. It looked similar to chicken, which he was very familiar with cooking.
It wasn't half as big as the tiger, meaning they would still have to go hunt if they wanted to eat more, but for now, it would do.
A bright light appeared at his fingertips and a small pot appeared there.
"Elyn, do you know how to make a fire?" he asked.
She bit her lip cutely, then shook her head.
"Come on, I'll teach you." he turned to the brown creature after, "Citro, in the meantime, get rid of the feathers from that bird. I don't want to see any of your claw marks on it either, so no sloppy work,"
The mongoose rolled its beady green eyes in a much-too-human manner, "Eep eep eep."
For anyone else, its loud screeches would have come off as inhuman and unintelligible, but Emery could clearly hear what the little thing was saying.
"Hey, I know what you said. Just do it already."
He walked over to Elyn and picked up a few sticks off the ground.
"So an important part is this. You're going to need a lot of these if you want the fire to keep going strong," he said.
"Un! What else…"
"Okay, so after that you need to…"
A while later, he was done explaining the basic survival skills he had just learned months ago when the apocalypse started.
Afterwards, Emery turned away from them to construct his makeshift prep station. He found the closest large rock to him, then set up his cutting board and other things on it. While Elyn was boiling water and Citro was defeating the bird, Emery would be doing something important. Almost as important as what they were doing.
Several pristine multicoloured vegetables appeared at his fingertips, landing on the chopping board in front of him. It almost seemed like a luxury to have such things once more.
'Months of living on the streets would probably do that to a person,' he mused.
The next thing he pulled out was his trusty knife. Several scratches covered the previously pure silver blade, and the handle was coming apart from all the fights it was used for.
Then, without wasting any time, he fell into the rhythm of the thing he enjoyed most in the entire world. His hands danced on the chopping board, cutting the vegetables into different uniform shapes.
Some were thin strips, and some were diced. They decorated the board in a splendour of red, greens, yellows and oranges.
Previously, Emery didn't have much of an idea of what he was planning on cooking, but now it was all coming together.
A few minutes later, the water was boiled, and the feathers were basically all plucked off from the bird. It was rather difficult, but after a while, they finally managed to wash most parts of the bird with the hot water.
Emery performed a few more sanitary things like these before cooking. He was healthy, so he could afford to do all this, fortunately.
Then finally, it was time for cooking.
He pulled out a large pan and threw some oil over it to heat up for a short while. As soon as the heat was sufficient, he threw some of the vegetables onto the pan to allow it to cook to a certain crispiness.
A tantalizing aroma filled the air, but it was far from it. He was only getting started.
His arm slammed down onto the bowl containing the sliced, boneless bits of the bird's breast and sent the contents flying into the pan soon after. Emery barely had time to comprehend what had happened, as he already moved on to the next.
The remaining vegetables he had kept aside finally came into use. He poured them over the pan, showing a vast amount of colours that spread out from where he stood. Now the saute was almost complete. Flavours meshed together perfectly. He could tell from where he stood.
No clashes, no conflict.
It was beautiful.
Wind burst around his being as he did this, making his jacket and long hair float around ever so slightly.
The beautiful smell returned once more, but this time it was far more than what it had originally been. It had far more flavour, and it was so obvious.
Basic spices like pepper and salt mixed with his newly acquired oriental spices to form something of a large flavour punch that hit him through the gut.
It was a simple stir-fry, but it looked so… amazing!
Vegetables are slightly brown at the sides and of all colours mixed with the light brown bird meat. It glistened almost magically with a light layer of oil that pulled everything together.
"Time for the final touch…"
He reached into his pantry and pulled out a single green leaf. He wasn't quite sure what it was, and the system wasn't being helpful when he tried to search, but it was something Chris got for him in the ingredient shop.
Supposedly, it would take his cooking to the next level
'We'll see about that.'
So he delicately dropped the leaf at the dead centre of the dish. Suddenly, the seemingly perfect dish became even better.
[Ding!]
[Job Action performed. 20 exp gained!]
[New Dish Created: Wind Bird Stir Fry
[Name: Wind Bird Stir Fry ]
[Effect: Passive wound restoration for three hours. Slight increase in speed for one hour. Inclination towards the chef's food.]
[Ding!]
[Your skill, Basic cooking has become Intermediate Cooking!]
[Your skill, Basic Knife Skills, has become Intermediate Knife Skills!]