Asami was sitting near a dining table that looked like it was made out of burnt wood along with the chairs. The coffee table and couch were missing as the table and chairs took the spot in the middle of the room. Asami was meticulously staring at each picture in the photo album she was hiding under the table, she thought. I’ve been through twenty boxes of albums. She flipped to the next page and continued her train of thought. I’ve seen his face before… I just forgot which family it was…

Asami glanced in the direction of the kitchen as she placed it near her pocket as it was sucked in. Arashi walked out of the kitchen with a slight frown on her face. Asami saw her expression as she let out a chuckle and said. “I’m guessing Reiki’s eating five kilograms of steak.” Arashi sat down on one of the chairs, she crossed her arms and said. “It’s fine… I just told him to be careful when eating so he doesn’t choke on it.” She realized where she was sitting and looked around, Arashi thought. What the? Asami let out a laugh, she said. “I am interested in how he’ll fit that amount of meat in his stomach.”

From the direction of the kitchen Reiki headed toward the table with a plate in hand, she said. “Here’s your steak and sides.” He placed down a two-hundred-gram steak with some blistered cherry tomatoes on the side along with a plate of asparagus. Reiki took out eating utensils from his pocket that were wrapped in tissue as he placed them around the table, Asami said. “Why is blondie so upset?” Reiki placed the last set of utensils on the table and said. “Arashi’s mad because while the two of us are eating dragon meat she on the other hand gets boar.”

He made his way back to the kitchen as Arashi let out a scoff, she said. “I don’t care, it just made me realize how greedy he is.” Asami took a small whiff of her food and said. “I’m fairly sure Reiki’s the reason why I didn’t throw this building in the pacific ocean with you and the people in it.” Arashi placed her hand on the table, she said. “All I wanted was half of his share.” Asami stared at her for a few seconds and said. “And he’ll give you half of it because?”

Arashi couldn’t find anything to say while Reiki came from the direction of the kitchen as he was holding onto a large bowl and plate in his hands. He placed the large bowl in front of Arashi and said. “Here’s your butadon.” He placed the large plate near his seat as Reiki sat down, he stared at the table and said. “I’m guessing this table is Asami’s.” Asami nodded at him as she picked up her metal knife and fork, she said. “Correct, we ate once on the coffee table. I’m never doing that ever again.”

Arashi picked up a pair of chopsticks and said. “You’re supposed to eat while watching TV.” Reiki touched the surface of the table with the tip of his index finger, he thought. It’s warm. He flattened his entire palm on the table and felt the temperature, Reiki continued his train of thought. Just at the right temp to help plates retain their heat. Asami started cutting a bite-size chunk of the steak on her plate, she said. “And I think it’s fine if you do it, just don’t force others to eat on the coffee table.”

Reiki picked up his knife and fork and started cutting the comically large steak on his plate, he thought. This is going to be a lot of chewing and cutting. Arashi spoke in a soft tone and said. “You two just need to give it a few tries.” Asami stabbed the bite-size steak with her fork, she said. “Reiki, which direction do you need to swirl your mana?” She saw him trying to cut the large steak in half, Reiki said. “It doesn’t matter which way, just make sure to eat slowly and constantly move the mana around your stomach.”

Asami thought. … If this works… I can stop acting courteous with that old man… Arashi was eating her butadon while glancing at Asami from the corner of her eye, she thought. I can’t believe I’m the only one eating boar. Asami slowly inhaled as the mana near her was visibly swirling, Reiki finished cutting the steak on his plate in half, he thought. Maybe I should’ve made roast dragon instead… The moving mana around Asami was slowly getting smaller, she ate the bite-size steak on her fork as she noticed Arashi was staring at her from the corner of her eye.

Reiki cut off a large bite-size piece from his steak, he stared at it and said. “Do you really want dragon meat-?” Before he could finish his sentence Arashi’s eyes sparkled, she said. “Yes, need me to take half of the steak from your plate?” Reiki shook his head and said. “No, I’m still planning on eating this entire thing. After our spar, if you join me for a bit of endurance training and complete it without a single complaint. I’ll give you six hundred grams for the day.” Arashi quickly said. “Deal.” She thought. I get to spar with him and get dragon meat? If his method works I might be stronger than mom when I return home.

Reiki moved his gaze onto Asami, he said. “Asami, I think you should take a break on three bites.” Asami had another bite-size already stabbed on her fork, she said. “Why? I don’t even feel the mana overflowing.” Arashi picked up a piece of boar from her bowl and said. “Does it work?” Asami put down her knife and fork on the plate, placed a hand on her stomach, and said. “Surprisingly.” Arashi’s eyes widened, she said. “It’s real?!”

Asami took a deep breath as she slowly exhaled, she thought. … My only question is where did he find this method… Arashi’s gaze slowly wandered onto the steak on Asami’s plate, she thought. Wedge-cut fries and some pesto sauce sounds good for my steak after training. Reiki was about to eat a large bite-size of the steak but stopped when he heard Ender’s voice in his head. He said. [You can eat later, I need you to countdown.] Reiki stayed silent for a moment, he said. “Three…” Arashi was about to eat some boar but stopped, she said. “Reiki, what's with the countdown?”

Reiki didn’t stop and continued. “Two…” Asami’s eyes narrowed, she said. “What are-.” She stopped mid-sentence as she felt the mana in her stomach suddenly grow, Asami quickly placed her knife and fork on her plate as she hunched down on the table. Arashi’s eyes widened in panic as she vanished from her seat and appeared beside Asami. Reiki ate the large bite-size steak on his fork, he thought. You told me it was going to be a small reaction. Ender said. [It is a small reaction, if it weren’t she would’ve imploded.] Arashi was about to place a hand on Asami’s shoulder.

Arashi said. “Asami, are you okay-?” Asami slammed her fist on the table a couple of times as everything on it bounced in the air. Reiki’s brows furrowed, he thought. I heard something crack. He looked under the table and saw visible cracks near two of the table legs. Asami wiped some cold sweat on her cheek, she took deep long breaths and said. “It felt like a dragon shoved his talons into my stomach and took it on the way out.” Reiki gulped down a mouthful of food, he said. “That’s oddly specific.”

Arashi had a serious expression on her face, she said. “Which one of us is going to talk with him?” Asami let out a chuckle and said. “I’m fine.” Reiki was cutting another large bite size of his steak while Arashi pointed at the table by placing her index finger on top of it. She said. “You nearly caved in my apartment floor.” Asami took another deep breath as she lazily waved her hand at Arashi. Asami said. “I’ll replace the talisman you’ll use.” Reiki kept eating while he watched the two, Arashi said. “You nearly-!”

Asami glanced at Arashi from the corner of her eye and said. “Tora, sit down and eat your food.” Arashi walked back to her seat and sat down, she said. “That’s what I get from trying to worry about you.” She thought. Shit, I thought I could’ve used it as an opportunity to gain something from her. Asami picked up her knife and fork as she slowly let out one last exhale, she moved her gaze onto Reiki who was preoccupied with trying to cut his steak into large bites. She said. “You’re oddly calm for someone who tried to assassinate someone like me.”

Arashi ate her butadon in peace, she thought. The only silver lining is I get to beat him up again in the ring. Reiki stabbed a large bite-size piece he cut off on his plate, he said. “If I was trying to assassinate you, it wouldn’t be lacing your food with poison. I have too much pride in cooking.” Asami stared at the steak on her fork and said. “If I ignored your warning and ate another piece, would I have died?” Reiki shook his head as he managed to cut off another piece from his large steak.

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He said. “Nope, at best you would’ve passed out from the sudden increase of mana in your body.” Arashi watched Reiki eat easily twice the amount of dragon meat she ate, she thought. Yet, your body is fine… Arashi watched him from the corner of her eye, she thought. Then how are you still eating? Reiki wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, he said. “Out of curiosity, how did you deal with excess mana when eating dragon?” Asami used her knife to remove the bite-size steak on her fork, she said. “Exercise and depleting half of my mana.”

Arashi was halfway into her bowl, she nodded and thought. Yeah, that’s how me and my mom do it. Reiki let out a laugh which got him odd looks from both of the girls, he stopped and said. “Oh, you’re being serious? That’s about as efficient as charging a smartphone using a potato.” Arashi didn’t bother to hide the doubt on her face, she said. “What makes you so confident?” Reiki moved his gaze onto Asami and said. “Using your method it would average around seventy to eighty grams a day. If you’re lucky, maybe ninety grams of mana-dense meat.”

Reiki ate more steak while Asami stabbed one of her blistered cherry tomatoes on her plate, she thought. That’s one accurate assumption. Arashi gulped down a mouthful of food, she said. “Can we use this method on food with a lower concentration of mana?” Asami ate the cherry tomato and thought. I would assume so. Reiki nodded, he said. “You can, but that would be a lot of eating. And I highly doubt either of you two would eat for more than twelve hours a day.” He took a moment to rest as he felt his arm getting tired, he thought. Now I remember why I hate eating steak.

Reiki placed down his knife and fork, he said. “These steaks… Why are they so tough? The marbling is even better compared to wagyu. How come it feels like I’m trying to cut a tire with a plastic knife?” Asami was in the middle of chewing as she glanced at Arashi and gave her a nod, Arashi said. “One word.” She placed down her pair of chopsticks and continued. “Muscle.” She gave her left bicep a couple light taps showing off her toned arm. Neither Reiki nor Asami said anything as they silently stared at her.

Arashi faked a cough and said. “Unlike most animals, the connective tissue of dragons is durable. When you eat dragon meat, you’re not crushing them with your teeth. From being cooked some of the more loosened tissue is separated from chewing.” Reiki stared at her for a couple of seconds and said. “And you know why?” Arashi picked up her chopsticks, she said. “The clan has a course on how to eat monster meat. Mainly because after a certain point you can only eat them if you use certain herbs to soften the meat.”

Reiki thought. … A course on how to eat?... Arashi noticed his odd look as she pointed at Asami’s plate. Reiki moved his gaze onto the steak on Asami’s plate as she effortlessly cut a piece of it without the slightest bit of resistance. He moved his gaze onto his large steak and compared the rough cuts, Asami stabbed a bite-size piece on her plate and said. “If that knife and fork in your hands were lower quality. It’d be broken before you could even cut that steak in half.” Reiki moved his gaze onto his knife and fork, he said. “What are they made out of?”

Arashi glanced at her pair of chopsticks, she thought. They have some weight, so it’s not mythril or meteorite. Asami casually said. “I had some spare orichalcum lying around my house.” Pinched in between Arashi’s chopsticks was a thick slice of boar as it dropped back onto her bowl, she thought. Did I just hear her say orichalcum… Reiki glanced at the knife and fork he was holding, he said. “These aren’t even close to bronze or copper.” He thought. If anything it looks like someone poorly polished silver. Asami ignored the gaze of the two as she continued with her meal.

Reiki went back to trying to cut the large steak on his plate and said. “Arashi, since you’re surprisingly knowledgeable about alloys. Why is this murky silver?” Arashi picked up the slice of boar she dropped in her bowl, she said. “One less word from that sentence and it could’ve been a compliment…” She let out a sigh and continued. “It’s refined orichalcum. Depending on the refinement method orichalcum can be used for mage accessories, arm guards for greatsword wielders, and they can be used to resist magic.” Reiki was struggling to cut the last bit of tissue connecting to the steak, he said. “Really?”

Arashi nodded and said. “If you plan on doing that. It’s going to cost you a fortune for an entire suit of armor, since a bar or two won’t even dampen a fireball.” Asami gulped down a mouthful of food, she said. “Arashi, he's not from the mainland.” Arashi moved her gaze onto her, she said. “What did I say? Oh, right, right. Orichalcum’s price has been steadily decreasing while mythril is increasing.” Reiki’s brows furrowed, he said. “Why? Isn’t orichalcum a lot more rare than mythril?” Arashi tapped the surface of the table a couple of times with her index finger.

She said. “To keep it short a lot of people are doing the whole magic swordsman class, since the second option isn’t just cheaper but a better conductor for mana. It doesn’t help that orichalcum is mainly used for creating earrings or gives a slight boost to strength, the third option isn’t viable unless you have a few tons of it.” Reiki thought. This fantasy world is slowly crumbling in my eyes with how much capitalism it has… He said. “Any chance it’s a group of people trying to lower the price of orichalcum?”

Asami shook her head sideways, she said. “No, I’ve looked into it and the price is naturally declining from its low demand. Mages are powerful but the people who can afford all the books, equipment, and have the time to learn spells are becoming fewer each passing day.” She waved her hand and said. “Can we stop our conversation here?” She thought. I never expected our conversation to lean in this direction. Asami continued. “We’ll continue this topic another day, I for one want to eat my steak in peace.”

Arashi wiped the corner of her lips with the back of her hand, she gulped and said. “Don’t look at me, Reiki’s the one who kept asking questions one after the other.” Reiki had a wry smile on his face, he said. “I got curious.” He thought. I started talking about prices before I knew it… But still… Prices for alloys can drastically fluctuate depending on their use…

________________________________________________________________________________

Arashi’s Gym

~One Hour Later~

Reiki let out a long burp, he said. “Excuse me.” Arashi used her hand which had a boxing glove on to push the smell away from her, she thought. He ate so much meat I can tell he had dragon from the smell alone. The two of them were standing in the center of the ring while Asami was floating a few inches above the ropes while controlling her breathing as the mana around her was constantly spinning. Arashi said. “Reiki, you could at least cover your mouth.” Reiki deeply inhaled as the mana near him was being affected by his breathing, he said. “But then you’d just yell at me for the smell on the gloves.”

Arashi thought. True. She did a peek-a-boo stance and said. “Are you ready-?” Before she could even finish, Reiki was already copying her. Her eyes narrowed, Arashi continued her train of thought. … Ok… Let’s start this slow, he ate five kilograms of meat… The greedy bastard didn’t even offer to share… So his movements should be slow… Let me just test a couple of things for… She slowly leaned to the right as Reiki leaned left, Asami watched the two of them and thought. I feel like I ate an entire herd of cows… She slowly exhaled as Arashi and Reiki’s gloves collided, producing a loud bang in the room.

Reiki was easily able to keep up with Arashi’s punches as each time their gloves smacked into each other the sound reverted through the room. Reiki thought. Left hook, jab, faint uppercut followed by a right cross. He perfectly copied all of Arashi’s movements as the backs of their forearms were a few inches apart. Arashi put a lot of weight on her right cross, the moment she stopped her fist Reiki felt the wind around him get pushed past him while his hair was lifted by the wind for a second.

He glanced at his gloves and saw some steam from the repeated friction of their gloves hitting each other, Reiki thought. At least this time one of my hands won’t be crippled. Arashi’s eyes narrowed, she thought. … How is he reacting to my punches… Asami watched them as she floated in the air, she thought. I’m surprised she didn’t just knock him out in one go. Arashi threw a combo of punches as he easily managed to copy her every move. Reiki tried to suppress a yawn but failed, he closed his eyes in reflex as Arashi threw a straight at his face.

Reiki already threw his punch as their gloves collided creating a thud that reverted in the ring. Arashi’s eyes were wide with surprise, she said. “How did you.” She saw the smirk on his face, Reiki said. “Are you that desperate to get a clean hit at me to the point you’ll throw a punch while-.” Before he could finish his sentence Arashi threw a fury of punches as Reiki tried his best to copy every single one. He thought. Right, right, left. One-two uppercut. Arashi winded her right arm back, Reiki moved his gaze from her glove to her bicep.

He thought. Right around… Here. Reiki made a rough guess on where her punch was going to be, in one swift motion Arashi threw her punch as his fist was already halfway there. Their gloves collided while Reiki felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

[System: User has received 88 Damage.]

He felt his upper body leaning back as he took a few steps to stop himself from losing balance, Reiki said. “Nice punch.” Arashi stared at him with a slightly cold look on her face, he moved his wrists in a circular motion as he felt the sharp pain after half a circle.

Reiki thought. Nothing serious… But there’s a good chance my wrist will get dislocated if she decides to throw another punch like that. He let out one long exhale as Arashi saw the mana around him expand, Reiki said. “Ok, now that you’ve warmed up. Ready for round 2?” He let out a small burp and continued. “Excuse me.” Asami had a pondering expression on her face, she thought. Should I open another bottle of wine?... For a split second Arashi’s pupils faintly turned yellow, she deeply inhaled and let out one long exhale. Arashi said. “If you yawn again, I will knock you out.”