Hemp grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the table first, then plucked out a piece of meat. He held the sticks quite awkwardly, but no one had much of a mind to tell him that. They just watched as he sunk his teeth into the meat.
"Uhhh," the man moaned.
It was the last thing anyone had expected to happen, but there it was, happening. Without even waiting further, he swallowed the first bite and dug straight for another bite.
This happened over and over again until someone reacted.
"Hey!"
She reached for her own pair of chopsticks, holding it even more awkwardly than Hemp. This was the sign that everyone could finally eat.
"EEP!"
Citro screeched from his shoulder, causing him to hold his ears a little.
"No need to yell."
"Eeep"
"Right, I did tell you that I'd give you first picks. My bad, Citro. Come on, I'll help you out,"
He grabbed two pairs of chopsticks and used one to grab some food for Citro. The mongoose gobbled it up and quickly requested more. Emery, between doing this and constantly monitoring everyone's reactions, couldn't get a chance to eat his own food.
But no matter. It didn't really mean anything to him.
He took one wide glance at the entire room. Everyone was enjoying the food clearly. Eating and even merry-making. Well, almost everyone.
He got up from where he stood and walked over to Konnor. The large man maintained a respectable distance from where they ate and didn't look at them either.m
"Hey, I came to ask whether you care to join us."
Konnor paused but shook his head. "I'm on duty. There's no time for merry-making or feasting while on duty."
He had a point indeed, but that was the last thing Emery cared for.
"You don't need to worry about that. If anything, the food will help boost you up even by a little bit. And I'm sure Hem- Erm, I mean, Mr Hemp won't mind."
The large man appeared to consider it for a brief second. He moved over from where he sat, quickly approaching the large table. A faint indescribable pressure overcame the entire room in an instant.
A sense of worry followed as Emery moved after the man. 'Fuck. Did I make him angry? Is he going to throw away my foo?!'
But…
PLOP~
Konnor sat on the seat closest to Hemp and reached for a pair of chopsticks. Everyone paused at his sudden presence, even his boss. But that didn't last very long as the merrymaking continued.
"Ah, glad to see you're joining us Konnor." the long-haired man laughed, "I thought you'd be a pain in the ass and not come,"
Konnor sighed, half-bowing his head, "I was just doing my job, sir,"
"Yeah, yeah. You really need to stop being so serious, it sucks."
"Understood, sir."
Emery ignored the rest of the conversation from there on out and heaved a sigh of relief. Upon returning to his own chair, he discovered that Citro had somehow learned how to use chopsticks and was using them even better than Hemp!
'How is that even possible?' he thought.
Well, in the end, that only gave him the comfort of eating the food he made.
Emery grabbed his own chopsticks and dipped them into the broth first. He chose the mild one.
This one was better combined with the rice and other stuff. So, he grabbed a bit of that and quickly wolfed down on it.
A second later, there was nothing in front of him.
'I never realized I was so hungry…'
He and the others kept eating, alternating between the two broths and adding more ingredients from time to time.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Chris yelled.
Emery collapsed to the table. His body emanated some intense heat that spread out in all directions. A faint greenish hue coated his body. It looked just like the one that appeared when he was using Energy Circuitry.
"Was there something wrong with the food?!" someone else yelled.
Only a few people didn't jump straight to action. Elyn and Citro remained calm. Hemp and Konnor didn't even look up.
"Relax," the gang leader finally sighed, "It's normal. His food is packed with the potency of hundreds of different Class 10 beasts, and is amplified by the energy he uses while cooking. Not to mention the Spirit Vein Leaves that you gave him, Chris."
Chris paused. "How did you know?"
"How wouldn't I know?" Hemp rolled his eyes. "Each of those is worth as much as an anomalous Class Nine Beast. I noticed as soon as they left the inventory,"
"Sorry, sir."
"I'm not angry. I'd have been angry if you gave it to some bum. But this here is worth it. Anyway, don't worry about it. He'll be back to normal in a few minutes."
And it was almost exactly as Hemp said. Emery could hear their entire conversation. So the leaf was called a Spirit Vein Leaf? And it was worth as much as an anomalous Class Nine!
He didn't dwell on that. He had much bigger tasks at hand. The heat coming from his body converged rapidly and then concentrated within his veins.
[Ding!]
[You have advanced to Class Nine!]
[Free Summon now available!]
He stared at the notifications in his mind for a while before finally deciding to open his eyes. He didn't feel any different in particular, but he could tell that the difference was there, somewhere.
Something had changed in that advancement, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.
'Whatever. I'll investigate it later.'
He pushed those thoughts aside and then flew wide awake. Firstly, he exchanged multiple gazes with everyone in the room, but everything seemed… clearer.
The world around had become vibrant, shining with more colour than ever before. The smells in the food around were easy to pick out and distinguish between. He could smell multiple contrasting scents, meaning he'd messed up the cooking process somewhere.
And more importantly. The energy in the room. It was massive.
He let down a small gulp and turned toward someone in particular. Hemp hadn't stopped eating, but a monstrous energy crept out of him slowly. It took on the vague shape of a dark-scaled shapeshifting beast that sometimes went from mild to deranged.
'Is the strength of an Upper-Class Awakened?'