That was just embarrassing. To think that I'd forget to add butter to the pan. I blame the lack of sleep.
Or at least that's how Melina was trying to console herself as she tried to get the burned egg off the pan. It was as if she had gone back to the days when she was still a [Mage] and had to scrub the cauldron after one of her brews had gone terribly wrong. All because she had accidentally added four drops of mandrake root essence instead of three.
"Let's try this again. Do things exactly as I do," Brock growled, clearly not pleased about the burned omelet which would have to be tossed to seagulls. Or vultures of the sea as Brock had called them.
"Yes," Melina said, looking carefully at everything the chef was doing.
"First add a little bit of butter to the pan, just a bit is enough," he said and threw approximately half a tablespoon of butter into the pan. It immediately began to melt and spread around. Melina did the same—so far so good.
"Now you pour a ladle of egg-cheese mixture into the pan and spread it around like so," He lifted the pan a little bit and then tilted it from one side to the other, making sure that the mixture filled it up evenly. Melina repeated, but she tilted the pan a bit too far, so the omelet was a bit thicker on one side.
"You wait until the edges are firm, then carefully flip it using the spatula," Brock continued, flipping the omelet perfectly. It was beautifully golden brown. She carefully scooted her own spatula underneath the omelet, pleased to see that it wasn't stuck this time. Unfortunately, the stubborn egg decided that it did not want to stay on the spatula in one piece, instead breaking in half.
"Oh, no! It broke," she said helplessly, worried that this omelet would have to become seagull food as well.
"It's fine, just flip the broken piece as well. It may not look pretty, but it's still edible. And trust me when I say that these guys don't care about the presentation," Brock soothed and then slid his complete omelet on top of the others, equally perfect ones. Melina did the same, except that her dish resembled a scrambled egg more than an omelet.
[You've made a
At least it's not Rank F anymore. Still not great. I need to make sure that the rest of my omelets are perfect just like Brock's.
"It seems you've got the gist of it now. Just don't forget the butter," Brock warned and returned to cooking. Melina nodded and turned her attention wholly on the egg-making. She'd surely make at least one higher-ranked dish and unlock a new skill. After all, hard work was the best way of learning new skills. Melina had learned that a long time ago.
[You've made
[
[You've gained + 2 exp.]
[Broken Omelet. + 2 exp. Broken Omelet. + 2 exp. Broken Omelet. + 2 exp.]
Why is it so hard to flip a damn omelet so it wouldn't break?!
Melina glared at the eggs, then at the spatula, and then at the pan. She had no idea which one of them was at fault, but she glared at them all. Of course, she understood that the guilty party was none other than herself. But she just couldn't understand what she was doing wrong. She did everything just like Brock had shown her.
She peeked again at how the chef flipped his omelets, focusing on his hand movement. However, it seemed so quick that she barely managed to register exactly how he had moved his arm.
Maybe being quick is the key to it remaining intact.
And so she tried again, focusing on making the movement quick. This time it didn't break, however, she failed to flip it perfectly in the middle of the pan, and half of the omelet hit the rim and broke.
[You've made
[Congratulations! You've reached Level 2.]
[New skill obtained: Chef's Intuition – Rank F.]
Level up and a new skill. I guess flipping all those omelets actually paid off. I'll have to check what that skill does later.
Melina quickly dismissed all the messages before they completely obstructed her field of view, and continued making her
[You've made a
[Congratulations! You've reached Level 3.]
"I did it! It didn't break. It didn't break!" Melina cheered looking at her last omelet. It was a bit thick on one side and there were a few darker spots on it, not quite burned but getting close, however, it was not broken. It was in fact a whole omelet.
"Good job, girlie," Brock grinned, already pulling out the plates from one of the many cupboards. "I'd like to joke that it only took you a hundred times, but you're still much better than any of those louts. They'd turn it into charcoal."
"Cooking omelets certainly is harder than I initially thought. You made it look so easy," Melina said, admiring his perfect stack.
"If you had as much practice as I have, you'd be perfect too. You have some promise as a cook," Brock nodded as he began putting his omelets onto individual plates. She took her own creations and began doing the same. Melina felt bad for the sailors who would be stuck eating her omelets, but then again Brock had said that they didn't care for aesthetics.
"You really think so?"
"I know so. As long as you keep practicing," he hummed. "Now enough chit-chat. We need to get all of these plates to the dining hall before they go cold."
Just like the day before, Brock allowed Melina to eat peacefully in the kitchen. She was nibbling on her
[Name: Melina Dufour]
[Level: 3]
[Class: Cook]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Strength: 5]
[Skill: 5]
[Charm: 5]
[Active Skills: 0]
[Passive Skills: 2]
[Archmage's Shadow.]
[Chef's Intuition – Rank F.]
[Unassigned stat points: 2]
Two unassigned stat points. I could just invest them into strength so my flimsy arms wouldn't have to suffer each time I need to grate cheese, but I got a feeling that it's not the most important stat for a [Cook]. My guess is that
Now, let's take a look at what Chef's Intuition exactly does.
[Chef's Intuition – Rank F: Provides a better understanding of how to prepare dishes without making mistakes. At Rank F you have a decreased chance of burning dishes or damaging them by accident.]
It feels like the System gave me this skill out of pity. I still have no idea how this seemingly emotionless thing manages to be so irritating. It gave me a lot of pity skills when I was learning magic as well. But then again, I can't really complain—I need every boost I can get to impress the master and have him accept me as his apprentice.
Melina closed the status screen, her curiosity satisfied and continued eating the omelet, enjoying its fluffy texture. Just as she was about to finish, the ship rocked violently and Melina nearly dropped her plate on the floor, managing to catch it at the very last moment.
"What was that?" she asked aloud and carefully set down the plate on the counter. She went outside the kitchen peering down the hallway and saw equally curious sailors peeking out from the dining hall.
"You felt that too, girlie?" One of the sailors asked.
"Yeah, what was that?"
"Not sure. But I suppose since there is no alarm, there's nothing for us to worry about," the sailor said dismissively, about to return back to his breakfast when a loud bell began ringing from above deck. The alarm bell.
"Shit! Everyone—get to your stations right now!" Another sailor yelled and everyone poured out of the dining hall, rushing to get on deck as quickly as possible without knocking any of their companions over. Melina stood by the kitchen door, watching them all run by until finally, Brock emerged from the dining hall, a deep scowl on his face.
"Stay here, girlie! You'll only get in the way," he commanded and ran upstairs after the others. Melina waited until he was gone and then decided to follow. If there was an attack, then she could surely help. She might not be a mage anymore and her body isn't as strong as it used to be, but she knew how to fight if it came down to it.
When she managed to get herself on deck, she saw that all of the sailors were standing by the railing staring somewhere into the sea. The bell was still ringing, but it didn't look like there was an attack happening. Perhaps the enemy hadn't reached the ship yet. Melina carefully tiptoed towards the railing, trying to remain unseen when she heard the water splash somewhere nearby and sailors gasp in shock, clutching onto their swords, harpoons, and bows.
"Everyone! Prepare to attack! Load the cannons, draw your bows, prepare the harpoons, and wait for my signal," the Captain bellowed, a large harpoon in his hand. Melina closed the few final meters between herself and the railing of the ship and peered from behind one of the tense sailors. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the beast swimming just some fifty meters away from the ship. A leviathan.
The serpentine monster had a large red fin stretching all the way down its long neck, through its back, and even all the way through the tail which was flicking violently in the water as the monster gazed at the ship. Its yellow eyes went from one sailor to the next and at one point it felt like Melina's and its eyes met. The beast sputtered and snarled at the ship, looking somewhat annoyed. However it didn't attack.
Melina instantly rushed towards the front of the ship where the Captain was, ignoring the sailors who were trying to grab her and block her way. She wove around them with ease, her small and nimble body too difficult for these burly men to catch.
"Don't! If you attack it, we're all dead," Melina yelled at the Captain when she managed to get closer to him. There was still some distance between them, but there were too many sailors blocking her way for her to get through.
"Girl, this is no place for you! Get her below deck!" The Captain roared angrily and some men lunged forward in an attempt to grab her.
She jumped back, barely avoiding them, and yelled at the Captain again. "If you attack that leviathan it will retaliate and turn this ship into a pile of splinters. Its boiling hot water attack will kill everyone here in a matter of minutes. But if you remain calm then it will not attack!"
Melina knew this well from her time as a mage. Leviathans were ferocious beasts that could cause a lot of damage and kill people like they were mere flies. However, they only got aggressive if provoked or if somebody had intruded on their territory. The second option was out of the question since this monster, as ferocious and huge as it was, was just a juvenile—only half of the size it could potentially reach one day.
The Captain looked at Melina incredulously, then he looked at the leviathan who was swaying its neck in the water, hissing at the ship but not making any attempts to attack.
"Please, trust me on this! I merely wish for everyone here to remain unharmed," Melina said in a calmer tone, looking deep into the Captain's eyes. They stared at each other for a long while until finally, the man relented.
"Put away your weapons! If anyone dares to attack, I will personally cut their hands off," the Captain bellowed at the top of his lungs. The men looked at him in shock, but everyone lowered their weapons, not daring to disobey.
"Open the sails and get us out of here!" The Captain ordered again and the sailors scrambled to get the sails open. The leviathan watched them the whole time, its yellow eyes piercing into the ship. The men also constantly threw glances at the beast, keeping their weapons close and ready. But aside from angry snarling, the leviathan made no move to attack.
As the sails unfurled and the ship picked up speed, it merely watched as the ship sailed past it, leaving the giant monster behind. When they put some distance between themselves and the beast, the Captain turned his attention to Melina, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows.
"So tell me—how did you know that this monster wouldn't attack us?" The Captain stared down at her menacingly. But Melina didn't falter, she had already come up with an excuse.
"My parents died in a leviathan attack, so I've been researching a lot about these monsters. The one we saw was merely a juvenile, probably just searching for food. But humans aren't exactly their preference, they like fish and other sea critters," she explained. Naturally, her parents dying in a leviathan attack was a lie. In reality, she had faced plenty of leviathans as an [Archmage] and had learned a lot about their behavior.
Like the vast majority of monsters, leviathans stayed within their own territory which they defended until their dying breath. If this were leviathan's territory it would have attacked straight away. Also, there was no way of defeating a leviathan without magic. Their scales were just too tough to be pierced by regular weapons and attacks. Perhaps cannon fire could damage the juvenile, but it was not guaranteed—not to mention that it would be hard to hit such a mobile target.
"Lies!" One of the older sailors suddenly cried out and pointed a threatening finger at Melina. "This girl is a witch. I've told you, Captain, that bringing a woman aboard was a bad omen. Respectable women remain at home instead of wandering around the world."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Peter! We have already gone through this and your silly superstitions. We live in modern times—you should forget about these silly, old tales already," the Captain retorted, looking rather fed up.
"But, Captain! We've been traveling this route for years and nothing like this has ever happened. Then this lass shows up and suddenly a sea serpent appears in our path!" Another sailor said and others joined in, nodding in agreement.
"That's right! Even if she's not a witch, she clearly brings bad luck!"
"Yeah, we shouldn't keep women on board. Let's throw her out in the nearest port."
"Let's throw her overboard! Have her sea pet save her!" The older sailor yelled, and some of the sailors were starting to come closer to her—their eyes filled with hatred and malice. Her heart began to beat uncontrollably at the all-too-familiar scene.
Are they really going to throw me overboard? I only wanted everyone to remain safe and survive. Why is this happening again? It's as if they still somehow know what I have done. Even if they cannot remember it.
Melina took a step back as the sailors crept closer to her, clutching their weapons tightly. She frantically looked around, but the only thing around her was the vast sea. If she were to jump out, then she would either become leviathan food or eventually drown since there was no way she could swim all the way to the shore.
What do I do? Even if I had my magic, defeating them all would be difficult but without it—I'm completely defenseless. Is there no way of changing their mind?