All of the students in the HRS class were staring at Saneko with glares of annoyance. They hadn't got over the incident at the cultivation center. They were staring daggers into her, but she simply took it as a compliment as she sat at her desk with her usual smug smile.

Mrs. Gaud didn't even bother to call Saneko out on her actions at this point. It was just expected. And besides, she became aware of the fact that the only way for Saneko to learn was if she didn't get any attention.

"Alright class. Since cultivation has shaped the world in basically every aspect, we will be going to the cooking class to learn to cook with magic. And before you ask, yes, it is possible and very useful. We must be careful though. There have been some earthquakes recently, and the cooking class might be kind of dangerous in an earthquake due to the sharp objects in there."

The class turned their attention from Saneko, to the teacher. They had never thought that they would be learning about cooking. It seemed like something the lower ranking students would learn about. Saneko didn't know the first thing about cooking, but she couldn't let anyone know that.

"Ah, I am quite the chef myself. I will cook a five star meal and blow all of you mortals out of the water!"

The students were already getting up and walking out of the class, not paying attention to her at all anymore. She felt a since of anguish at the fact that nobody cared. This feeling quickly disappeared and was replaced by Saneko feeling challenged by their refusal to accept her as the greatest. Clenching her fists, she spoke through her teeth.

"You'll all see who the best chef in the universe is soon enough."

Once again, Saneko had absolutely no clue how to cook, but this wouldn't stop her.

Once they had arrived at the cooking class, the students looked around to see tables with stoves and ovens built into them. Some tables had microwaves on top of them, and of course there were tons of bowls, cooking utensils, and ingredients. Mrs. Gaud walked up to the front of the room and cleared her throat.

"I already told you we would be cooking with magic, but there is some extra rules as well. We will be focusing on elemental cooking. Each of you will select a primary element to base your dish on. Remember, control is key. You don’t want to end up with a dish that explodes, or catches fire, or turns sentient and tries to murder you. Oh, and it probably doesn't need to be said, but you should at least try to make the dish tasty. It'll be graded based on looks though, so that part doesn't matter all too much, but you know, it'll be helpful later on in life if the dish tastes good. That's pretty much it. Get started."

The class immediately started going up to the cooking stations. Saneko was only half-listening to Mrs. Gaud. She was already envisioning the applause she’d receive when she presented her dish, a culinary masterpiece that would leave everyone in awe. She glanced at the array of ingredients before her and decided that she would base her dish on fire. After all, what was more impressive than cooking with actual flames?

"Hehehe~ They won't believe their eyes when they see this."

She grabbed random ingredients and threw them all into a metal bowl that was right next to her. She didn't bother removing any of the wrapping that some of the items had. A tiny flame appeared on her finger as she poked the bowl. Instead of cooking everything perfectly like she imagined, the bowl immediately exploded, and all of the ingredients, now melted, flew onto her face. The other students all flinched and ducked upon hearing the sound, but once they noticed what it was, they started giggling to themselves.

Saneko wiped the mess off of her face and was fuming with rage.

"THAT WAS ON PURPOSE YOU INSOLENT MORTALS!"

Of course, no one believed that. She angrily grabbed another bowl and placed it in front of her.

"Maybe I shouldn't be so careless. Fine, I'll do it seriously this time."

She looked down at the bowl and realized that it would heat up far too quickly just like it did last time, regardless of how seriously she took this challenge. She swiped it off of the table, letting it fall to the floor.

"That won't do. I need something that can withstand heat."

Saneko mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the appliances, but there was nothing that caught her attention. She began opening some of the cabinets underneath the tables and started throwing out random cooking appliances from them. The sounds of the appliances hitting the ground made some of the other students look over in confusion.

"AH HA!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Saneko pulled out a wok and proudly raised it over her head. She placed it down on the stove and turned it on. As much as she wanted to use her powers, she had a feeling that it wouldn't end well again.

"Now what should I actually make?"

She put her finger to her chin as she looked down at a bunch of ingredients. Since the element she was using was fire, she thought that maybe making a dish based around fire would be a good idea.

“Let’s see…fire…fire…what goes well with fire?”

Upon seeing a few hot peppers on the table, she finally settled on the idea of making a stir-fry filled to the brim with hot peppers.

Mark and Kal were next to each other, sautéing onions, also using fire manipulation. They were making a stew, but the smell of Saneko's meal caused Mark to cough a bit.

"Oh god, what's that smell?"

Kal also began coughing as he too smelled it.

"I have no clue. It smells like a bunch of hot peppers. Like if someone is mixing serrano, habanero, and jalapeno peppers into one meal without adding anything else."

Little did they know, that's exactly what Saneko was doing. She was just throwing peppers into the wok, not even chopping them up. An irritatingly ignorant smile was glued to her face.

"Now... this is perfect, but I feel like it's missing something. Maybe…a little more peppers wouldn’t hurt."

She took all of the peppers she could find and just dropped them all into the wok. People in the class started tearing up from the overwhelming smell of the peppers, but Saneko didn't even notice. She stared down into the wok, only to see that the peppers were just laying there and burning. She didn't put any oil or anything, so there was nothing that helped them cook. Saneko, however, thought that they weren't cooking because it wasn't hot enough.

"Maybe I should use some fire after all. Only because it's not cooking."

She snapped her fingers, and the flames beneath the wok flared up, growing hotter and brighter. It was so hot now that the peppers started melting.

"Yes! It's turning into a soup!"

The heat, alongside the smell was now causing everyone else in the room to cough, tear up, and sweat. Mrs. Gaud started waving the air while coughing, and walked up to Saneko. She knew that Saneko had to be responsible for this.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Saneko turned to her and pointed to the wok, looking as smug as ever.

"Cooking the greatest meal known to man."

"TURN OFF THE STOVE NOW!"

"Are you trying to sabotage my grade for this class? That is not something a teacher should do."

The peppers were now completely melted and were bubbling, yet the heat continued rising. Mrs. Gaud couldn't take the heat and the smell anymore. She was about to turn the stove off herself, but the wok suddenly bust into flames, causing Mrs. Gaud to frantically stumble backwards. All of the other students began screaming in fear.

Despite everyone yelling in terror, Saneko's eyes sparkled with happiness. The fire was beautiful to her. It continued raising up to the ceiling, and Saneko stared up at it with a wide smile on her face. Before long, the sprinklers went off and put out the fire within seconds. After the fire was put out, she looked down into the wok to see that the liquified peppers were now charcoal black and rock solid. Looking back up to Mrs. Gaud, she put one of her hands on her hips, and, with her free hand, she grabbed the wok to show the teacher her "masterpiece".

"I am awaiting my A+."

"Saneko... this is the worst thing I have ever seen in all of my days of living. If I could give you negative points, I would without hesitation."

"So... do I get a B?"

Saneko was once again sitting on the couch, looking down with a guilty expression on her face as she was being scolded by her mother. This was becoming an everyday routine for her at this point.

"SANEKO! WHEN DOES IT END?"

"Mom, you don't understand. I had to use fire because fire is by far the coolest element."

"YOU ALMOST BURNT DOWN THE SCHOOL MAKING SLOP! AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN USE LEMON PEPPER! LEMON PEPPER MAKES EVERY DISH BETTER! IT'S A SCIENTIFIC FACT!"

Suddenly, one of the earthquakes started happening again and Mrs. Sarakana stumbled into a wall and looked around with a disoriented expression.

"Not again! Why has there been so many earthquakes all of the sudden?"

"Don't ask me."

Saneko stomped her foot on the ground, causing the earthquake to stop just like before.

"Is this your doing Saneko? Are you causing these earthquakes?"

"No mom! Do you really think I'm just making earthquakes because I feel like it?"

"I don't know what to think sometimes."

Mrs. Sarakana then walked away, putting her hand to her forehead. Saneko could then feel Nakialia's spiritual presence. She was suddenly sitting on the couch next to Saneko. She manifested herself there just a few seconds ago.

"Your mom has a good point. I don't think you're causing these earthquakes, but you are obviously going to be the suspect."

Saneko of course had to reply telepathically, not wanting to take the risk of her mom hearing her and saying that Nakialia was just an imaginary friend.

"Not now N."

"You see my point though don't you? I mean, you make a big deal of being the best, and your parents know you better than anyone. Obviously they are going to think that you are doing all of this."

"I guess, but you know me too. If I wanted to show off, I would do it in front of people, not hide it from everyone. And besides, making these earthquakes is first grade for me. Why would I willingly do something so weak and irrelevant?"

"The fact that you think creating earthquakes is weak says a lot about you as a person."

Every since Chloe's bracelet shattered, he senses were greatly increased. She was no longer restricted and could feel every single movement Saneko made now. It make her sick to her stomach every time Saneko moved, so she resorted to laying in a fetal position on her head, rocking herself to stay calm.

"Please stop moving. Please stop moving."

Before her bracelet broke, she was horrified of two things. Mainly Saneko, but also of how her grades would plummet due to not attending school. Now though, she could only think about Saneko. If she stopped rocking herself, who knows what would happen to the stability of the planet.

Nakialia thought about something that had been on her mind for a while now. She decided to ask Saneko about it.

"Whatever happened to that girl that passed out? You know, the one that you had to take care of. Have you seen her since?"

"Nope."

"Really? Do you think she's okay?"

"Yeah, she's probably fine."