Chapter 40: You have to break a few eggs

  “You’re on time for once,” Mishun patted me on the back as I tied on my apron. “I guess putting you on dish duty did the trick.”

  I groaned. “You have no idea how busy I’ve been lately. Last night was the first night in a week that I actually got any sleep.”

  She placed a hand on my forehead. “Well, you don’t seem ill. Still, I think I’m going to make you some soup to make you feel better. Can’t have you missing work because you collapsed, now, can I?”

  I followed her to the back and looked over a stack of recipes while she prepared a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Most of the recipes had simple suggestions requiring exotic ingredients or arcane circles. There was one, however, that caught my eye at the bottom of the stack.

  On the surface, it was a simple omelet. Analyze, on the other hand, had different thoughts.

  Omelet: Infuse eggs with mana to create a magic dish.

  Was Analyze adapting to incorporate my new skill into its suggestions? That made me wonder if it would get even more elaborate as I continued to learn new tricks.

  “Um, Miss Aires,” I headed over to where she was working. “Can I use some eggs? I’d like to try the modification on your omelet recipe.”

  “An omelet?” she asked. “Why? Your soup is nearly done.”

  “I learned a new technique, and I think it works on food,” I explained.

  “Oh, do tell,” she said eagerly as she raced off to get the eggs.

  When she returned, I picked up an egg and turned it over. “Watch this. I’ll show you.”

  Chicken Egg

  Grade: D

  Condition: 73

  Owner: Aires

  There were no charges listed. Would it really even work? I resigned myself to possibly exploding an egg, and slowly pushed mana into it. Eggs were different from any of the other items I’d infused. A brittle shell surrounded a pool of white and yolk. Unbeknownst to me, there was a thin membrane on the inside that acted as a barrier against my mana.

  I had to add steady pressure to get through the barrier, while also being careful not to break the shell. My first attempt ended in catastrophic failure, and the egg cracked open in my hand, its yolk running through my fingers.

  Mishin raised an eyebrow. “Is that your trick: cracking eggs without touching them?”

  I laughed nervously. “Not eggsactly. Can I have another egg?”

  Mishin let out a heavy sigh and brought the basket over to me. “Try not to break them all.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied, picking up another egg to try again.

  Infusing eggs proved to be harder than any of the things Mr. Yu had me practice on. They were so fragile. If I infused too fast, they cracked open, but if I went too slow, the shell became rubbery. Mishun insisted rubbery eggs weren’t fit to be cooked, and made me start over.

  I was well into my second dozen when I finally pulled it off. Since I didn’t want to cook just one egg, I attempted to duplicate my success with a second one. Only, I failed again…and again. It wasn’t until the fourth egg after my first success that I was able to pull it off again. Then I began another string of failures that only ended on the seventh egg.

  Mishun grumbled as she dumped my bowl of failures, as she called them, in the garbage. I felt her frustration, which didn’t help with my concentration at all.

  “Geez,” I grumbled. “I don’t get why I can’t do this twice in a row.”

  My nerves seemed to calm her somewhat. “It’s okay, Oliver. Sometimes, we focus so hard that we make mistakes. It can happen with cooking as well. How about we cook the eggs you made and see how they turn out?”

  “Okay,” I said, placing the egg I was about to infuse back in the basket.

  Analyze hadn’t offered any advice on exactly what infusing the eggs would do. One aspect became apparent when she cracked them open into a sizzling hot pan. The yolk glowed, and the resulting omelet she made shone brilliantly, like miniature suns in the frying pan.

  Golden Omelet

  Magic Food

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Grade: C

  Condition: 133

  Effect: +5 Vigor (1 hour)

  Owner: Aires

  You have gained 500 experience points.

  Info: Imbue other ingredients with mana to increase flavor exponentially.

  I gaped at the message. Was that much flavor even possible? I’d already tasted Mishun’s cooking, and it was hard to imagine it getting any better. Not without extra ingredients, at least. She added milk, cheese, peppers, and seasoning to the omelet. When she plated it, I got another message.

  Info: You have Observed the Cooking skill. You may Mimic the skill (1) time. Observe (99) more times to make the skill permanent.

  I grinned. The Mimic skill was awesome. If I watched enough people make stuff, I could learn all the skills. Speaking of which, did it just apply to crafting? I was going to have to test it out on Leslie.

  “Let’s do a taste test,” Mishun said, fishing a pair of forks out of a drawer.

  “Wait!” I said, rushing over to pick up the plate. “I want to do something first.”

  “What?” she asked. “You better not be thinking of keeping it all to yourself.”

  I grinned. “No. I have something even better in mind.”

  Her mouth fell open when I used Mimic and made a duplicate of the dish. “How did you do that?”

  “It’s a new skill,” I explained. “Called Mimic.”

  “How many can you make?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Do you want me to try again?”

  Mishun nodded emphatically. I set the plate I’d just made down on the counter and used the skill again.

  Error: Only original objects can be duplicated.

  I frowned. Had I seen an error message before? I turned to Mishun, who was about to take a bite of the original. “Wait! I can only copy the original dish, not the duplicate.”

  She set the fork down. “Well, that was a close call. Let’s trade. You make copies of that, and I’ll taste the one you made.”

  I was busy making the second copy when Mishun swooned. “Oh, my good lord. This is exquisite. We should have duplicated the eggs before I cooked them. Imagine the possibilities.”

  “We can try that,” I said, setting the second copy aside and making a third.

  Info: You can infuse the finished dish to enhance the flavor even further.

  I wondered what would happen if I infused the rotten food Miss Havasu used to feed us.

  Info: Spoiled or otherwise damaged food can be restored to its original state by infusing it with mana.

  Your Research skill has increased: +1 (15)

  If only I had known that before I became magical. Then again, what use would it have done me if I couldn’t use the skill back then? At least the knowledge would come in handy in the future, say, if I dropped food on the floor or something.

  It turned out I could infuse duplicated food, so I went to work on one of the copies I made. Mishun noticed I was doing something different and came over to watch. Infusing an omelet was a lot easier than an egg. As a prepared meal, it was already well put together, and therefore more capable of holding my mana.

  The only problem was figuring out just how much mana it could take without going overboard. My first try ended in catastrophic failure when the omelet exploded, showering us both with egg. I wiped the egg from my face and started on another while Mishun grumbled and looked for a towel to clean up the mess I made.

  Using the first as an example, I stopped just short of the limit on the second copy. Unlike before, the infused version didn’t glow or look any different from a normal omelet. I thought I messed up until Mishun tasted it.

  Omelet à la Evans

  Magic Food

  Grade: B

  Condition: 200

  Effect: +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +5 Stamina (8 hours)

  Owner: Evans

  You have gained 100 experience points.

  I blushed when I realized what it was called. “I hope nobody appraises that.”

  “Why?” Mishun asked. “Is something wrong with it?”

  “No,” I sighed. “The dish has my name in it: Omelet à la Evans.”

  “Wow,” Mishun said. “That’s quite an honor. It usually means you made a dish nobody else has ever made. Do you mind if I taste it?”

  “Let me try to copy it first,” I replied. “I made this out of a duplicate, and wanted to see if it counts as an original now.”

  Mishun watched as I set to work, and soon enough, we had two identical copies of my original dish. I triple checked to make sure I was handing her the correct version.

  Duplicate Omelet à la Evans

  Magic Food

  Grade: C

  Condition: 5

  Effect: +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +5 Stamina (8 hours)

  Owner: Evans

  “Oh wow,” I marveled. “The grade is lower for the copy. It also has a very low condition.”

  Mishin sampled the dish. “I wonder if the duplicate tastes different from the original. Do you mind if I try the primary copy?”

  “Sure,” I said, sliding the dish over to her.

  She took another bite. “Ah, interesting,” she marveled. “There is a clear difference. Both are delicious, don’t get me wrong, but it’s very clear that the copy is second-rate. At least, to my trained tongue, in any case. Tell you what, make enough copies of the original dish and we can call it a day.”

  “Sure,” I replied, getting to work on the Golden Omelet.

  It took about an hour to make enough copies for the crowded restaurant, and I worked up quite a sweat. I’d just taken off my apron when the door to the kitchen burst open and Leslie entered.

  “Oh, good, Oliver,” she panted, clearly out of breath. “I was hoping to find you.”

  “Hi,” I said, beaming at her. “Do you want to try my latest dish? There’s just enough of Omelet à la Evans left for you to try a bite.”

  “Did you name it that yourself?” she asked.

  “No!” I barked. “It came out named that way.”

  She giggled and looked at the half-eaten original. Mishun and I had both tried several bites of it. Her face lit up when she tried a bite.

  “Oliver, this is very good,” she swooned, holding her face like my cooking was so sweet it was giving her cavities.

  “What’s good?” Leila asked, stepping into the kitchen behind her. “Our table’s ready. I came to see where you went. Oh, does your friend work here?”

  Leslie nodded while I looked away, not sure whether I was embarrassed or still annoyed with her.

  I decided to change the subject. “How’s your training going, Leslie?”

  She smiled. “It’s going great. I’m even getting better at not ruining my armor every day. Miss Kirk even says I’ll be able to afford better equipment soon.”

  “I told you to call me Leila,” Leila said.

  “R…r…r…right,” Leslie stammered. “Miss, I mean Leila. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting.”

  “That’s alright,” she patted Leslie on the head. “So, would your friend like to join us?”

  “My name is Oliver,” I said.

  Leila nodded. “Oliver, it is. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

  “I, uh,” I hesitated, trying to read the expression on Leslie’s face. “I have a busy schedule today. I have to work at the shopping arcade in Central Park.”

  “Oh, who for?” Leila asked.

  I wondered how she would react when she discovered most of my benefactors carried black marks. She said she didn’t care. I wanted to see if it was true.

  “I work for Mr. Yu,” I replied. “And Miss Drips.”

  “Excellent,” Leila replied, shocking me. “Both are top notch at their trades. You’ll learn a lot working with them. Why are you so surprised? I told you I’ve been around for a while. I know people.”

  “Interesting,” I said, sensing an opportunity. “I’d love to hear stories about them.”

  Discord Link

  Patreon for bonus chapters.