Al disappeared before I finished signing up for attunement. I briefly wondered where he’d gone as, last he’d mentioned, he hadn’t picked up a professional skill yet. Assuming Al was safe inside the Academy, I left class feeling good and went straight to the basement where Cooking class was to be held. I found the kitchen easily enough. It occupied half of the basement, taking up one entire side of the hallway. I stood outside the door for a few seconds before entering. I was both excited and nervous about having class with Esteban. I wanted the chance to be close to my friend, even if it wasn’t very smart. I tried to tell myself this was a challenge to overcome. That I could be close and still maintain my cover.

I entered the kitchen where an older lionman stood waiting with his arms crossed. He looked me up and down, then demanded, “Cooking Rank?”

“Intermediate,” I answered immediately.

The lionman considered me for a moment then said, “We’ll see. Report to Chef Wu.”

“Um, where is Chef Wu?” I asked.

The lionman growled then jerked his head to the left, “Look for the dessert station.”

I nodded and moved towards the far end of the room where I could smell sugar and fruit that was indicative of pastries and desserts. As I walked, I passed maybe a dozen students standing at long waist-high counters that were setup as cooking stations set up around the classroom, including ovens, stoves, mixers, and every other cooking tool I could have imagined existed.

“Welcome, welcome,” a rotund woman greeted me. She stood a head taller than me and had the rounded ears of a bear-folk, but she looked different somehow. It took me a second to realise she didn’t have the air of ferociousness I’d encountered around most bear-folk. In fact, she seemed more relaxed and easygoing. “I’m Chef Wu. I’ll be teaching you my specialty, desserts. You’re the second to arrive. Ah, but before we begin, please change into appropriate attire. Clothes, aprons, and toques are through there,” she said, pointing to a door behind her. Just then, I saw Esteban coming out, dressed in matching striped trousers and shirt with a pristine white apron tied around his waist. An equally pristine white toque sat on his head.

He saw me and waved before rushing over, where he proceeded to talk a mile a minute, pausing only to wheeze, “I’m so glad to have class with someone I know . . . sort of. Anyway, this is going to be great. Have you seen the facilities? This is what a real first class cooking operation looks like, I’m telling you. Oh, I should go check in with Chef Wu. Good luck today.”

And Esteban was already gone. I heard him behind me, “I’m ready to learn, Chef.”

“Good, good,” Chef Wu said to him, then looking at me she added, “Hurry along.”

“Yes, Chef,” I said with a small polite bow as was customary in Rychania.

I tried not to hear anymore and hurried into the changing room. I found clothes that would fit me and found an empty changing room. I put my clothes into my bag then secured them in a locker.

“Welcome back, I trust you found everything, yes? No problems?” Chef Wu said. She seemed really kind and sweet.

“Yes, Chef. No problems Chef,” I answered.

“Good, good. We are still waiting on a few more,” Chef Wu said.

I nodded. I both hoped for more students and hoped it would just be Esteban and me. It would be nice to catch up with my friend again without needing to snark at Al at every opportunity. To both my relief and disappointment, five more students joined us, all of them older than Esteban or I, one of them much older. There was Davo, a leopardman from Bueong, who looked like he was old enough to have children of his own. Porcha was a doggirl from Aulido who was two years our senior. She gushed over Esteban’s cuteness, which he seemed quite pleased over. Sid and Mack were Kangaroo-folk, twin brothers from Strine. Last was Takashi Hashimoto, a grandfatherly turtleman from Sunappan.

“Good, we’re all here,” Chef Wu started. “Today, we will be making a custard. All the ingredients for today were prepared by the unranked students. If you see them, be sure to thank them.”

While we waited for the other students to arrive, Chef Wu had Esteban and I wait at one of the workstations where several ingredients had already been placed. I couldn’t help but inventory everything, giving each a sniff. There was milk, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, and a powder that took me a second to place. There was a familiar underlying scent, not wheat or barley, but something grain related. Corn. And the only powdered corn I knew of for cooking was cornstarch, a very expensive ingredient. I was surprised they were letting us cook with it.

There were also whisks, and mixing bowls and under the table were dozens of small round dishes on a tray, stacked bowl and tray, ten high. I assumed the custard was to be poured into the bowls then put into the cold closet.

“Each of you will be making three hundred servings of custard to be served to the students for dessert tomorrow. Unranked students will continue to refill your supplies and take your completed trays into the cold room. We only have an hour, so work quickly and efficiently,” Chef Wu instructed. “First, let’s make some custard.”

I’d never made many desserts, let alone three hundred desserts in under an hour. I preferred savoury and filling foods like bread and beast meat over sweets. I avoided them because I didn’t want my Husky curse to get worse. By the time class ended, I never wanted to taste anything sweet again. Still, I did finish the task. I put the ingredients together as instructed by Chef Wu. Poured several bowls of custard and started over.

While I worked, I had the opportunity to look around, limited though my vision was. It was more what my nose picked up on. There were some really tantalising smells being produced. I breathed it in as different seasonings were mixed together to create something new, or something familiar. It almost distracted me when I smelled something magical. Someone was using ingredients that had been infused with mana. I tried to figure out what the ingredient was, but the mana infusion altered the scent too much for me to determine the original ingredient.

Chef Wu appeared in front of my workstation and asked, “What has you distracted?”

I blinked in surprise and I quickly apologised, “Sorry, Chef.”

Chef Wu smiled kindly. “I asked you a question. What distracted you? Be honest.”

I furrowed my brow, unsure if I should answer. I didn’t see the harm in telling her the truth. “I smell someone using a mana-infused ingredient. I was trying to figure out what it was.”

Chef Wu’s eyes widened, and she bellowed loudly, “All Stop!”

The lionman from earlier stormed over. “What is the meaning of this stoppage, Chef Wu?”

“Chef Wayland, this student has made a very serious accusation,” she stated angrily, looking more like the bear-folk I had come to know. “Student, repeat what you told me.”

I didn’t like the attention. Still, I would answer honestly, I had opened the door, and I had nothing to fear. I knew what I smelled. “I caught the scent of a mana-infused ingredient.”

The lionman’s eyes blazed, and his fur stood on end. He bared his teeth and growled as he advanced, the veins in his neck bulging with rage. “You wouldn’t dare lie to me, would you?” he snarled.

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“No, Chef,” I answered, confused by his anger.

Chef Wayland growled. “Can you lead me to it?”

I nodded. I knew exactly where it was. I could still see the blue glow of the mana mixing with the green of the ingredient. I walked around the workbench and over to where a tall horseman was looking around nervously. I picked up the sprig of rosemary and breathed in deeply. I turned and showed it to Chef Wayland and Chef Wu.

The lionman snatched it from my hand and peered closely at it before closing his eyes and breathing in. When he breathed out, it was more roar than growl. “Mister Red, would you mind explaining why you have a mana infused sprig of rosemary on your workstation.”

The horseman swallowed nervously. “I . . . I must have . . . I must have mixed it up, Chef.”

The lionman looked the horseman up and down before nodding. “See that such a mix up does not happen again. If you had used this, and whatever you were making had not blown up in your face, you might well have killed anyone and everyone you fed this sauce to. Without the Magical Cooking skill, you cannot use mana-infused ingredients without making them toxic. Let that be a lesson to all of you!” Chef Wayland roared. “Now, get back to work. Lunch has been delayed enough over this.”

Chef Wu put a gentle hand on my shoulder and guided me away. “Back to work. The custard won’t make itself.”

I nodded and returned to my station without much prodding. “I would like to speak with you after class if you don’t mind staying around for a little while after we send everything up to the cafeteria.”

That couldn’t have be good news for me. Still, I nodded even as I was cursing my fearlessness for getting me into trouble once again.

I poured my last bowl of custard, and someone was there waiting to collect the tray. I looked around to see a similar action occurring all around me.

“Very good work today. Class dismissed,” Chef Wu said, confusing me slightly and apparently Esteban as well.

“Should we clean up?” Esteban asked.

Chef Wu smiled, “It’s kind of you to offer, but the unskilled students will take care of that. That is how things work in this kitchen. Those who are without the Cooking skill, but are interested in learning the skill, are given the opportunity to learn in exchange for doing the prep and finishing work. Just as I am sure your culinary journey began with learning what things are, how they taste, how to prepare ingredients, so must they.”

Esteban nodded, but his brows were still furrowed. I understood where he was coming from. I was used to cleaning up after service as well. Still, he hadn’t noticed my hesitation, and I didn’t want him to.

I changed and went in search of Chef Wu. She was in conversation with Chef Wayland and another Chef I hadn’t met yet. Chef Wu must have seen me coming because she motioned me over to join her and the other chefs.

“Thank you for joining us, Chef Burion,” Chef Wu said. “First, allow me to introduce you to Chef Mustafa,” she paused and motioned to the third chef. He was a bit shorter than Chef Wayland with a red and black striped moustache and beard. He was a tigerman if I wasn’t mistaken.

“I am pleased to meet you, Chef Mustafa,” I said, giving him a short bow.

“Humph,” Chef Mustafa grunted. It was a bit rude, but I didn’t know what to expect. I was just an Intermediate Rank. These three were all undoubtedly Master rank or higher, and probably all possessed the Magical Cooking skill.

Chef Wayland spoke before Chef Wu could. “You smelled that from across the room, how?”

“I have the Synesthesia skill,” I answered. It wasn’t a secret. I was certain the Dean had already told these three.

Chef Mustafa grunted then asked, “But how did you know it was mana infused?”

That was when I thought I discovered the issue. I shouldn’t have known what mana-infused ingredients smelled like unless I’d smelled them before or could make them myself. But again, the Dean should have already told them that I knew the skill Mana Infusion. I supposed telling them . . . or reminding them of it was the best course of action, “I have the Mana Infusion skill.”

Chef Mustafa grunted again. “We know that. We want to know how you smelled the mana? That should not be possible at your rank.”

That made me furrow my eyebrows. I didn’t understand what they were talking about. I had always been able to smell the mana in infused ingredients, since the first time I infused an apple so many months ago. I shrugged. “Then I don’t know. I’ve just . . . always been able to smell it in ingredients.

Chef Mustafa growled. “Synesthesia, my fluffy nonexistent tail. Were you trained, or did you figure out your Synesthesia on your own?”

I was supposed to be highly trained, that was my back story, but based on his comment, I worried I’d done something wrong. So, I lied, “My father taught me.”

Chef Mustafa cursed. “Sorry to say, your father is an idiot. You should have been trained at a proper school or with a proper instructor. Your Synesthesia is only half learned. The dean should have caught this.”

“Caught what?” I asked.

Chef Mustafa growled and looked me over before answering, “Your Synesthesia should be Magical Synesthesia, a Mystic Skill, not a Rare Skill. Waste of talent on so many levels. Do you have any idea how amazing or how rare that skill is? No, no, don’t answer. You clearly don’t. I can tell by that bewildered look on your face. Such a waste.”

Chef Wu waved for him to calm down. “It sounds like it was on its way to evolving all by itself. Now that he knows, he can be guided to learn it faster.”

I’d never heard of Magical Synesthesia before. Then again, I’d never heard of Synesthesia before I learned it. “What’s the difference?”

“Mana is the difference,” Chef Mustafa replied. “You don’t just see the colour of the smell or taste or sound, but you see the mana mixed in with it. It means, if you develop the talent, you can see magic. See its structure. See its inner workings. I feel such great loss that Cooking is only an elective for you, the things you could do if you learned Magical Cooking. I weep for our loss.”

“I already have the Magical Cooking skill.”

All three Chefs were suddenly staring at me intently. Chef Mustafa stepped forward and gripped me by my shoulders to the point it was almost painful. “You already have Magical Cooking?” he hissed softly. “How? How did you hide this from the dean?”

“I didn’t,” I answered wincing slightly as the tigerman’s sharp fingernails started digging in. “I learned it just after the dean did my evaluation.”

“How is this possible? You advanced to Intermediate Cooking and learned Magical Cooking in the same afternoon? How?” Chef Mustafa demanded.

I winced as the grip on my shoulders grew tighter. “I had a skill stone.”

“A skill stone!” all three Chefs burst out together, drawing looks from some of the still departing students.

Chef Wayland gathered himself together first, prying Chef Mustafa’s hands from my shoulders. “What were the requirements? You must know?”

“When I got it, it said I was missing Intermediate Cooking, Mana Control, and Mana Infusion. It didn’t give me any other requirements,” I answered.

Chef Wayland sagged and cursed. “Another dead end. We, that is chefs, have been trying to figure out exactly what the requirements are for a very long time. It was low odds you wouldn't have had some of the skills already.”

“Sorry,” I said, trying and failing to comfort the lionman. There was something extra sad about seeing someone who was so proud, and overbearing being reduced like this.

Chef Wu patted Chef Wayland on the back in a soothing manner. “Not all is lost. We may yet discover the source of the skill stone.”

That perked Chef Wayland back up. “Yes, yes. That is a good point. Chef Burion, where did you come across that stone?”

“I got it while on an expedition with my father. I accidently fell into a Wandering Lair called the Provincial Spire. You probably would have liked it. It was all about provisions and gathering food. I think I got it because I had the Cooking skill when I went in. There were others with me, some of my father’s mercenaries, but I was the only one that got it. They didn’t have Cooking as one of their skills,” I answered, adding in the half lies to preserve my cover.

“Of course, it had to be a Wandering Lair, and one about food,” Chef Wayland complained, losing some of his fire. “However, it does give us a chance. You remember what the entrance to the Lair looked like, yes? Then we can catalogue it and notify the adventurers guild. I’ll even put a bounty on its location. With that, I can form an expedition. Yes, there is still hope.”

I spent a little time describing the entrance to the lair but made up a story about not knowing where it was because of my father. I couldn’t have anyone tracing that lair back to me.

They seemed to be done with me after getting that information, but I wasn’t done with them. “Seeing as I cannot add the Magical Cooking class to my schedule, would one of you be able to tutor me on one of the rest days?”

The three looked between each other before Chef Wu and Chef Wayland focused their gaze on Chef Mustafa.

“Fine, fine,” Chef Mustafa grumbled. “Consider it payment for information on the skill stone. However, we cannot use Academy resources. That means I’ll be coming to you, and you will need to supply the ingredients. I will give you a list of ingredients each week and it is up to you to acquire the ingredients and infuse them with mana. Agreed?”

I quickly agreed to his terms. I glanced at the clock and realised my hour for lunch was nearly gone. I hurried up to the third floor where the cafeteria was and ate.