Chapter 40. The First Hero (34)
Silnyang seemed to trust Na-ye a little more now.
With Silnyang, you need to poke its pride a little to make it move.
[So you provoked Silnyang on purpose?]
That way Silnyang realizes how precious its master is.
Seongchan looked toward Na-ye.
Thank you.
For what?
They exchanged the words with their eyes.
Na-ye seemed to send another thought to Silnyang.
The spirit removed the wind blade from her left hand and left only the one around her right palm.
Silnyang had begun listening to Na-ye's requests.
Together, they began preparing the Wild Pig meat.
"Now that Na-ye and Silnyang have become closer, shall we make something special?"
Seongchan pulled out low-grade flour.
Today, he intended to cook a special dish.
Plop. Plop.
Prepared Wild Pig meat and vegetables went into boiling water.
Streams of water flew in every direction.
Some peeled vegetables.
Some washed them.
Some carried them.
Others cut and moved meat.
Ella's streams of water worked busily.
[After making that wind-like water blade, I can control even more water streams!]
Ella was delighted by her growth.
Seongchan shared that happiness through their emotional connection.
Then he began seasoning the flour.
He mixed low-grade salt and low-grade sugar in the right ratio.
One of Ella's streams, having finished another task, sprayed the correct amount of water into the flour.
Seongchan gathered the seasoned flour and kneaded it.
Once the dough became round and smooth, he pulled a rolling pin from his high-grade subspace pouch.
Whoosh!
He scattered flour across the cutting board.
Then he rolled out the dough.
He sprinkled flour over each folded section and folded it repeatedly.
"Wow! It smells delicious! We brought all the customers!"
"What are you making?"
Dean and the children crowded around Seongchan.
People in the Terk Kingdom mostly ate bread and stew.
After Seongchan arrived, many also began eating Wild Pig Soup with the bread they brought.
"You'll understand when you see it."
Seongchan used a knife to cut the repeatedly folded dough.
Once he'd sliced the entire thing, he shook the pieces loose.
"Those are kalguksu noodles."
"Exactly."
Na-ye licked her lips.
Silnyang also stuck out its tongue with a hungry expression.
You can't eat it.
Spirits couldn't eat physical food.
But they could synchronize with their master's feelings while the master ate and experience something new.
[We can eat emotions!]
[That's right. We can eat too.]
Ella and If heard his thought.
Seongchan had meant to keep that one to himself.
He had accidentally transmitted something he hadn't wanted them to hear.
So he blocked his thoughts from reaching the spirits.
Spirits grow through emotional sharing with their master.
That growth probably gives them a sense of satisfaction similar to what people feel when eating.
Ella and If clearly wanted to hear more.
Seongchan blocked his emotions too.
Fwoosh!
"Hiiing!"
If jumped in surprise at the sudden silence and flared its fire.
Ella shouted that it wasn't fair and sprayed one stream of water directly at Seongchan's face.
The pressure was weak.
It merely washed away the sweat caused by the kitchen heat.
[You freely controlled your thoughts and emotions so your spirits could not perceive them!]
[You have learned Emotional Sharing Master (S)!]
Emotional Sharing Master allowed Seongchan to hide thoughts and emotions without the spirits realizing he'd deliberately blocked them.
The useful part was obvious.
He could hide unnecessary thoughts without making the spirits feel excluded.
[Are you not thinking about anything?]
[I thought you blocked us.]
Ella sensed something strange but let it go.
If returned to controlling the flames.
"Ella, dry my face too."
[Weren't you thinking about something and then suddenly stopped? Your emotions also went completely quiet for a moment. I could only feel If's emotions.]
I was just drooling while thinking about how good the food will taste.
Whoosh.
Ella's water flowed across his face.
When it passed, Seongchan's skin was completely dry.
He pushed away Ella's suspicion with his emotions.
Ella sensed that and let the suspicion disappear.
A spirit user could communicate through words and thoughts.
But the most important thing was emotion.
Emotion was at the core of controlling spirits.
A proper spirit user needed to recognize and manage the negative feelings their spirits developed toward them.
"What's a kalguksu noodle?"
The children had been listening to Seongchan and Na-ye.
Unable to suppress their curiosity, they asked.
"It's what you're going to eat."
Seongchan smiled.
"It'll be very good."
The children reacted immediately to the word delicious.
They swallowed and stared with sparkling eyes.
"Have you finished preparing the Wild Pig meat?"
"Yes!"
"Then help make the kalguksu noodles."
"What?!"
Ella's water could reach anywhere.
The flour was no exception.
After watching Seongchan make the noodles once, Ella already understood where her role began and ended.
Splash. Splash.
Na-ye had finished butchering the Wild Pigs.
Seongchan began preparing another batch of dough.
"Nervous?"
"No. I can do it."
"Kyaooo."
Na-ye was definitely nervous.
But she was trying.
Perhaps sensing her master's feelings, Silnyang wore the exact same determined expression.
Seongchan thought the two looked strangely similar.
He placed the kneaded dough on the board.
Now it only needed to be cut.
"Just imagine you're slicing a monster into several thin pieces."
"Okay."
Na-ye gathered her resolve.
Then she swung.
Fast.
She focused for an instant and sliced the dough.
Kalguksu noodles appeared.
"Hiiing?"
Ella lifted Na-ye's noodles with a stream of water.
Then she let out a confused sound.
"Uh... I didn't mean to do that."
"Kyao... kyao."
Na-ye and Silnyang stared at the cutting board with disbelief.
Seongchan brushed his hand across the place where the noodles had been.
Crackle... THUD!
The cutting board had been sliced apart.
So had the worktable beneath it.
"You cut it well."
Seongchan looked at the destruction.
"The noodles, the cutting board, and even the worktable."
"I'm sorry."
"Kyaooo! Kyao!"
Na-ye apologized.
Silnyang thrust a front paw out and began expressing with its entire body that the cutting board and worktable had simply been too weak.
The longer Silnyang's explanation continued, the worse Na-ye's expression became.
Na-ye already feels guilty, and now Silnyang's desperate excuses are mixing into that.
No wonder she's getting overwhelmed.
Mental Barrier couldn't completely eliminate the natural desire to make excuses.
Na-ye probably agreed with Silnyang to some extent and also wanted to defend herself.
"That's enough explaining."
Seongchan stopped them.
"Focus on controlling the sharpness."
