It seems that I’ve caught a sore throat. Let’s hope it doesn’t develop into anything nasty.

Also, I don’t think I’ll have a chapter for tomorrow, seeing as I’m probably going to be resting (due to trying to avoid developing aforementioned nasty cold).

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“Well, let’s see…how about this: if you pass the next test, then I’ll give you a rare elixir that will boost your cultivation directly to the next class. However, if you don’t then I suppose I’ll just keep it, since Thera isn’t interested in elixirs.”

Master Thales looked over at Thera, who had decided to ignore them and take out a book. It seemed she was ignoring them.

If it were normally, then Thera would have finished five books by now, due to her time-dilation barrier.

But, since a certain someone clamped a certain magic shackle upon her wrist, she had to read normally, and catch up on the homework she missed for the past few days.

“You’re on! I’ll pass it with flying colors, I tell you!” Laura said. Thera’s eyebrow twitched as she turned a page.

Getting motivated is all very well and good, but why do you have to involve me in this! She grumbled in her heart as she continued to read.

Finally, she couldn’t stand the noise level, and closed her book, moving once more into the heart of the forest to find some relative peace and quiet.

Around sunset, she had to give up reading, since she hadn’t brought a lamp. Reluctantly, she closed her book in the fading twilight and made her way back to the clearing. Something was beginning to smell good as well.

In the clearing, Laura sat, humming and stirring a large pot of food over the fire. She looked like she was in a good mood.

“Ah, Thera, is that you? Perfect timing! I was about to ring the dinner gong, but it looks like I don’t need it any more~.”

“Oy! Were you just going to go ahead and eat without me?” Master Thales asked as he too appeared in the clearing.

Laura waved her hands in front of her.

“N-no way! Why would I do a thing like that? I just figured that you were probably…probably close enough to call to supper, instead of ringing the gong.”

Thera looked over at Laura. She was looking away from Master Thales Oy! He totally knows that you’re lying, you know! There’s no way you can fool him with that lousy acting of yours. Or rather, you always were a bad liar. Thera began to smile at the thought.

Laura noticed Thera’s smile. Perhaps… “AH! Thera, are you laughing at me!”

Thera’s grin grew wider. “No way. Why would I do a thing like that~?” She mirrored Laura’s words on purpose.

Master Thales laughed. “Well, putting that aside, let’s eat!” He said as he picked up a bowl.

As things were, they ate without ceremony. Laura’s cooking wasn’t chef level, but Thera felt it was a bit nostalgic. She remembered the times when she did outdoor cooking. But…

After about three servings, Thera looked at the huge pot of food and finally asked.

“Laura, I appreciate you cooking dinner for us, but…isn’t that a lot for just three people?”

Laura looked at the pot. “Really? That’s odd. I thought for sure that you definitely ate a lot more than this at the festival we were at five years ago. Or are you only going to pretend now that you’re a proper noble with a butterfly’s appetite?”

Master Thales laughed. “And I thought I was the only one who noticed. Laura, there is no way that three people can eat enough for fifty men. It’s impossible.”

Thera looked at Laura, a bit surprised. She never thought Laura would remember something from that far back. “You know, that time was a festival! Anyone would eat as much as they could at a time like that, surely.”

“Which means…No way! Does that mean that I lugged this heavy pot and made all this food here for nothing!?” Laura asked no one in particular, as she put her head in her hands.

Thera sighed, and grabbed the ladle. “I’ve got no choice, huh? Fine, I’ll finish it up this time. Next time, make normal portions, okay, Laura?” She really couldn’t stand wasting good food like that, and poured herself another bowl.

Master Thales POV:

Master Thales was surprised. He never thought Thera would make a baseless claim such as finishing enough food for fifty men. He stared at the large mass of food inside the pot. Yep. Enough to fill the stomachs of fifty men. There was no way she could eat that much.

“Do you need my help?” He asked, finally.

“If you’re still hungry, feel free to eat.” Thera replied. “But not really, no.”

He admired her courage, but he sighed at her stubborn-ness. Was Thera like Laura, after all?

Master Thales could only shake his head. At most, she would only be able to eat about ten more bowls, surely! They would probably have to throw the rest to the wild beasts outside the treasure sanctuary.

But he stayed silent. One of the lessons people had to learn was to bear the consequences for their own actions.

He watched as Thera continued to leisurely eat the stew.

You know, you don’t have to put on an act, okay? You just had seven bowls. It’s fine to look troubled. Thera continued eating.

Which bowl was it? The ninth one? How long are you going to keep up this charade? If you eat much more than this, your stomach will explode. Thera still continued eating.

Finally, Master Thales watched as Thera poured herself the eleventh bowl.

Oy, oy! Are you seriously going to go that far for your friend!? Can human stubbornness go this far?

He watched as she ate and finished the eleventh bowl, astonished.

Thera noticed his stare. “What is it?”

“Aren’t you full?” he asked. “Aren’t you so full that you feel like you’re going to burst?”

“Not really.” Thera replied. She had just turned all the stew in her stomach into energy, so her stomach was rather empty at the time.

Master Thales watched in disbelief as she downed her fifteenth bowl, her twentieth bowl, her thirtieth bowl, and her forty-fifth bowl without slowing down. If anything, she was speeding up.

Finally, Thera put aside the bowl. Ah, it seems that forty five is her limit. Master Thales thought.

But he realized he was wrong when Thera lifted the pot, which had cooled after being off the fire for a while, and simply drank the rest down.

I’ve heard of second stomachs, but this one is ridiculous! Even if she had a separate stomach each for sweets, meat, desserts, wine, ale, and snacks, she would not be able to eat that much!

Thera then carried the pot over to a nearby stream to wash the dishes, since she hadn’t set up camp or made dinner.

Master Thales finally turned to Laura. “That…eating that much should be impossible, right?”

Laura giggled. “With the look on your face, right now, it was completely worth it! It should be impossible, yes. But somehow Thera is able to do it. It’s super interesting, right?”

Master Thales looked at Laura and realized that she had done everything on purpose in order to get Thera to reveal what she could do.

It seems he had to re-evaluate. Laura was not as foolish as he had supposed. In fact, she was quite shrewd in certain aspects. And Thera was certainly no ordinary genius of geniuses, either.

“Laura, watch the camp and keep the fire going. I’m going to go set up a few things for the test tomorrow.” Master Thales said, before disappearing into the night.

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When Thera returned to the camp, Master Thales had already disappeared.

Laura was busy tending to the fire. Even though it was warm during the day, the nights were still too chilly.

“Here. Your pot. I’m sorry that you had to lug it out here. You should have asked me about that, before making assumptions, though.” Thera said as she returned the pot.

“Think nothing of it! I got to see something interesting after all~!” Laura said smiling. “But, still, that is quite the neat trick, to be able to eat and eat and never get fat. Is it something that can be taught?” Laura asked.

“I have no idea. I discovered it completely by accident.” Thera replied.

“Is that so? You haven’t tried teaching it to anyone, have you?” Laura asked.

“Who would I teach it to?! A bunch of boys who haven't the presence of mind to listen to me? Besides, if I am being quite honest, then I completely forgot about it until a little while ago.” Thera replied.

“It’s because I’ve been working on making breakthroughs in magic, you see. Eating more food didn’t really help me when it came to cultivating mana capacity, or gaining proficiency in my spells, so...”

Thera shrugged. “I didn’t feel the need to use it.”

“But, there’s got to be some trick to it, right? You had to have had an inkling of what you were doing, right?” Laura asked.

Thera scratched her cheek with a finger and looked at Laura. “You want me to tell you?”

“Yes, please!” Laura answered, sitting at attention.

Thera sat down on a log bench.

“Fine, then.” Thera raised three fingers.

“There are three points to this technique:

1. Perception,

2. Transformation.

3. Absorption.”

Thera held up the first finger. “In order to use this technique, you need to know how to look at things. We eat food to replenish out energy. The whole reason for the stomach is to hold the food you eat while it’s being broken down. But, even after it has gone through the intestines, your body has only, at most, absorbed about 15-20% of the energy residing in the food.”

She raised the second finger.

“While just eating things normally is fine, but if you have too much, then you need to break the food down quickly. All food is made up of energy. What I do is I use the energy in my body to rapidly transform that food into energy. As opposed to the normal way, the whole mass of food is transformed, leaving nothing behind.”

She raised the third finger.

“Which brings us to the last step.

The energy, once it has been transformed, is completely identical to your own inner energy, and can be manipulated and absorbed as such.

If you can accomplish these three things in succession, then you would potentially be able to eat a mountain of food with no bad effects. And, there you have it.”

“This skill…perhaps it is a power booster skill?” Laura asked.

Thera smiled, slightly troubled. “It seems to be the case. I was able to reach red class due to my use of this skill three months early.”

“AH! I KNEW IT! I just KNEW you did something that day! There’s no way that someone could just breeze into red class like you did without a technique. So, that’s what it was, huh?”

Laura’s fighting spirit had risen to the point where she began to look a little scary.

“I don’t suggest extended use of it, though. Yeah, sure, you’ll get more powerful, but if you go too quickly, you’ll miss the important things, like the truths of the physical world. If you don’t go slowly and pay attention, all that power will be wasted in the future.” Thera quickly followed through.

“You’re right. This method is best for breaking through when you need more power, but it’s not good for tempering the eyes or the brain. I understand. I, Laura, will not use this skill very often!”

And so, Thera taught Laura the technique which would make Laura famous. In the future, she would be known as The Black Hole Beauty: the beautiful girl who had that impossible constitution where she could eat all she wanted and not get fat.

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Master Thales was miles away, that night. The tools had already been set up for the test.

But he had not brought them to this jungle just to test them. Master Thales quietly slid a knife out of its sheath. No, he was here for a different purpose.

Advancing upon what seemed to be a bandit’s group, Master Thales began to glow red as he let loose his martial skills.

His cape wrapping around him, he swooped upon the unsuspecting camp, the harbinger of death, seemingly.

Strangely, not a single cry rang out from the camp that night.