Fight's done and dusted, now it was time to eat. Onward to the cafeteria for food! All of that fighting got Alwin's appetite whirring. It had gone into overdrive, demanding a banquet worthy of a victorious warrior. Plus he needed as much of his energy restored before the next class, where Milvus was going to introduce that super-important technique.

Gus bounded out the door, making a beeline towards the cafeteria. While Alwin accompanied Uchronia the Leafling and the rest of the class as they trailed after the Furball.

"Aren't you going to congratulate me for beating Bion?" asked Alwin.

"I would, if you actually did beat him," said Uchronia.

"What do you mean? I beat him! Even Milvus said I beat him."

"More like Gus beat him. You didn't even fight."

"So? I'm just doing everything I can to win."

"If you keep finding shortcuts like that you'll never grow."

"And you know this how? We've literally just been born, what do you know?"

"More than you it seems," she huffed.

"Sure, sure.”

Alwin and Uchronia argued on their way to the cafeteria, their voices adding to the cacophony of chaos that filled the hallway. As the class drew closer to the cafeteria, the sound of chatter and klinks of metal grew louder and louder. At the end of the hall was a massive wooden double door leading to the cafeteria. A thick sea of monsters filled the room.

The cafeteria was massive being able to house the throng of monsters all trying to replenish their energy for another day of learning. The floor was made of floor, or for a more accurate description, tiles. They were white, rectangular, and surprisingly clean. No doubt the cleaning staff in this place did a hell of a job keeping the cafeteria tidy.

Long plastic tables of various sizes stretched across the vast expanse of the cafeteria. Students huddled around them, diving into their meals. The air was filled with the clatter of trays and the hum of chatter, punctuated by bursts of laughter. Plates overflowed with a variety of dishes, each more colorful than the last. Among the throng of students, vibrant monsters of all shapes and hues mingled, their scales and fur adding a kaleidoscope of color to the bustling scene.

There were round monsters, cube monsters, long monsters, short monsters, skinny monsters, fat monsters, pointy monsters, furry monsters, scaly monsters, plant monsters, leathery monsters, slimy monsters, metal monsters, and so much more. Everywhere Alwin looked, a new type of monster caught his eyes.

One dragon-like creature with shimmering blue scales daintily nibbled on a salad, while a pink fluffy rabbit monster with oversized eyes guffawed at a joke, its claws wrapped around a towering sandwich. Claws? Those were basically hands. In fact, all the monsters here had some sort of hand equivalent, even if they were just a plain ole slime like Alwin.

Those without natural paws, claws, or any hand equivalent, instead boasted a pair of floating glowing hands that were quite literally an extension of their body. Everywhere Alwin looked, if those monsters weren't blessed with natural hands or their equivalent, they instead had a pair of floating hands at their disposal. The hands came in a multitude of colors.

Alwin spotted a large greyish slime-like creature shoveling heaping spoonsful of rice into its mouth using its ethereal green hands. A snake-like creature had orange hands, while a two-legged large purple lizard had a pair of yellow hands, and so forth.

All those lucky monsters. Alwin longed for the day he could have hands. Being restricted to only mouth was so cumbersome. The diversity of monster hands was astonishing, but Alwin wasn't here to marvel at them, he was here to eat. But, what to eat? That was the question. Now where was all of the yummy food?

Alwin scanned the cafeteria, and he did so by pivoting his body three hundred and sixty degrees. One scan wasn't enough so he had to do another scan which involved another full rotation. When that wasn't enough he rotated again, and when that wasn't enough he did it again. Round and round Alwin went, until he had a crude mind map of the cafeteria.

On the other end of the long wide open area were a series of counters. These counters were staffed by a delightful array of small, cat-like creatures. Each one adorned with a chef's hat placed jauntily on their head to accompany the spatulas and tongs in their paws. Those lucky cats with opposable thumbs.

One white cat flipped pancakes, the golden discs spinning in mid-air before landing perfectly back on the griddle. Nearby, a black cat sautéed vegetables in a sizzling pan, the vibrant colors of peppers and onions contrasting with its glossy fur. A brown cat, perched on a stool, meticulously piped icing onto a row of cupcakes, its tongue peeking out in concentration.

As captivating as it was watching the cat monsters prepare food. The food itself was much more interesting to Alwin, especially since he hadn't eaten anything since he was born. To fill his empty tummy would be a dream come true. A lame dream, but it was still a dream nonetheless. After he filled his tummy he would fill his brain with new techniques, then he’d take a nap or something.

Speaking of fill, right now seemed like an opportune time to test the limits of the information that had been downloaded into that squishy slimy brain of his. To grow was to break limits and to break limits he needed to know where the limits stood. Hopefully, they stood not too far away. If he didn't have information about pills maybe he had information about food. This was totally not an excuse to start naming out all the different types of food he could see.

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The left counters had an assortment of meat: beef, chicken, venison, to a whole myriad of meats. Then there were the cuts, jowl, flank, brisket, loin, tongue, ham, ribs, and. There were the sausages, bratwurst, chorizo, knockwurst, blood sausage, kielbasa, and salami.

The right counters had a variety of yucky vegetables and yummy fruits, both raw and cooked. Carrots, peas, mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, parsnips, tomatoes, watermelon, bananas, onions, and corn on the cob.

Then there were a couple of other food types in the middle counter. In the center was a bunch of starch and grains, pasta, rice, couscous, millet, bread, bagels, chips and biscuits. On the side was a collection of drinks, from regular milk to chocolate, fruit juice of every flavor, tea, coffee, water, and soda.

Alwin would have liked to test the limits of his food knowledge for much longer, but a slap to his face courtesy of Uchronia's leaf tail, slapped him back to reality.

"Stop thinking and let's go eat," said Uchronia.

Drat! Was he making weird faces while he was stuck naming foods? Oh bother he really had to fix this bad habit of his, but maybe after some grub.

"Coming!" shouted Alwin as he bounced his way to Uchronia's side.

"Why aren't we going over to the counters? Where are we going?" asked Alwin.

"They prepared food for us."

Alwin followed Uchronia away from all of the wonderful, beautiful, tasty-looking food towards the edge of the cafeteria. There he noticed a long blue table laden with bowls of food, with the rest of his classmates already stuffing their faces.

"Are we that special that they serve us food?" asked Alwin.

"It's because we don't have anything to carry the trays with," she replied.

"Oh. Well, my idea sounds better."

"If you say so." Uchronia rolled her eyes.

Alwin and Uchronia plopped down right next to Gus. The aroma of food filled his nostrils, causing his stomach to gurgle. It would have been oh so more pleasant if Gus wasn't making such a racket. He was slurping, gulping, crunching, and smacking as he inhaled his bowl of food.

The bowl of food in front of him was magnificent. A menagerie of ingredients swam within a thick puddle of broth. Dumplings, large pieces of meat, and a hefty spoonful of vegetables and noodles. The lot was drizzled liberally with oil and sauce and sprinkled with a blessing of chopped garlic and ginger.

Alwin was about to dig into his food when he felt someone tap his side. He turned to his left to find Uchronia with a big grin on her face.

"Remember about your deal with Gus?" she asked.

"What? Nooo. What deal?" Alwin's voice rose sharply, almost a squeak.

Uchronia just rolled her eyes at him again.

Satisfied with a lack of challenge to his painfully poor attempt at lying, Alwin turned back to finally begin the task of filling his belly. What he saw shocked him. Instead of a bowl of food, Alwin was staring at the glossy blue tabletop. His food was gone. Vanished. Poof! Where did it go? Alwin looked to his left and found Uchronia squinting at him in confusion. Then he looked under the table and all he found was the floor. Finally, he looked to his right, something that he should have done first, and found Gus happily slurping, gulping, crunching, and smacking away at Alwin's bowl of food.

That yummy yummy found. All gone. Alwin let out a sigh and wondered how the food tasted like. Was it sweet? Salty? Filled with umami? Whatever that means. He would never know, which made him let out a second longer sigh.

Two days without food. He hadn't eaten since he was born. His stomach was punching, kicking, and choking his other organs, demanding some kind of sustenance. If this continued Alwin was sure that his guts and internal organs would fight among themselves to survive and eventually tear apart his body. He definitely wasn’t being over dramatic or anything like that.

"Here have this." A bowl of food appeared in front of Alwin.

Alwin turned towards the direction the food came from and was met by Uchronia's smiling face, except that her smile was upside down. Otherwise better known as frowning.

"For me?" asked Alwin.

"Yes," she sighed. "You haven't eaten since yesterday and you need to eat something if you want to pay attention in class later. I better not catch you daydreaming or thinking about something instead of listening to Mr. Milvus."

"I most definitely, probably, promise to pay attention," said Alwin, with a big smile.

"Good. And I hope the next time you have a fight you won't rely on cheap tricks to win."

"You call them cheap tricks, I call them strategy. By the way what about you? What are you going to eat?"

"I ate half of it already. You can have the rest."

"Thanks! You're the best!" Alwin pounced on his food.

This time he made sure to watch the food the entire time it was in front of him. That being said he couldn't stop himself from wolfing down the food as fast as he could. This was his very first meal and it was absolutely delicious. The savory juices of the soup flooded his mouth with every sip, while the fresh and crunchy vegetables added a layer of texture and earthy flavor to the rich broth. The tender chunks of meat practically melted in his mouth, their umami-flavored goodness swimming in every bite. At least he thought it was umami, he wasn't a chef or had any chef knowledge. The dumplings were pillow soft and steaming hot, their doughy goodness a perfect complement to the array of flavors.

He sipped, chewed, gulped, bit, drank, swallowed, crunched, and nibbled until his bowl was completely empty. Alwin even took a moment to admire the empty bowl before he turned to look around. There he saw Gus eyeing his bowl hungrily.

"Bowl's empty already, Gus," said Alwin.

"So can I have it?" asked Gus.

"It's empty."

"So can I have it then?"

"You know what? Sure. Have it"

"Thanks!"

Gus picked up the rim of the bowl, tossed it into the air, and with one giant gulp he swallowed it whole. A few moments later he belched and patted his belly.

"Mmmm. Woody aftertaste," said Gus.

"Ignore him, he always does that. We've got to get back to class now," said Uchronia.

The class departed from the cafeteria. They made their way through the corridors and arrived at their classroom. As they filed into the room, the tables and chairs had returned. Alwin was a tad disappointed. He wanted to watch the floor open up and the furniture rise up. That disappointment was soon replaced by excitement and curiosity as he imagined what Milvus was going to teach them today. What could that super-important technique be?