I Studied Mainly Textbooks! Chapter 25

Abel returned to his residence with a teleport after 'punis.h.i.+ng' Cain. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, and discovered an unexpected benefit.

'The soul energy is awesome!'

The quant.i.ty of soul energy seeping out from the cracked soul was immense. Not only did it provide enough energy to sustain Schrodinger's prison, he was even able to replenish his white mana with the excess energy. It was killing two birds with one stone.

Mana seemed to have evolved from the same roots as soul energy.
From the soul energy, which was considered the purest energy of all, he was able to extract white mana, which was also considered an energy of high purity.

'Should I switch jobs to become a black mage hunter? I'm especially  lacking in mana too….'

If he became an exorcist specializing in dealing with black mages, he would be able to gain an enormous amount of soul energy on a somewhat regular basis.

This was very tempting for Abel as he felt that his current pool of mana was sorely lacking.

'Nah, there probably aren't even that many black mages.'

Black mages were harder to come across than prospective gold mines. Abel considered forcing any black mages he came across in the future into the same prison. Well, they were all evil existences anyway.

'Haa, anyway. It looks like it's going to become noisy.'

He could have waited for the academy investigation team to arrest Cain, but he decided to take matters into his own hands and directly send him to 'h.e.l.l'. This was because Cain's father was a bigshot.

It was likely that Goel would take the blame without any proper investigation being conducted at all. He thus had to take the initiative and catch the culprit before any evidence was erased.

Actually… he might've simply been angry.

That was why he was able to notice that Cain was the real perpetrator. Though, he didn't expect it to be related to black magic.

The academy and the Junerheart family were flipped upside down.

-The third son of the Junerheart family is not waking up!

He seemed to be suffering from an unknown disease, with his heart still beating but he never waking up. He had become a vegetable.

Numerous mages and doctors of renown were called to diagnose him to no avail.

Duke Junerheart was more than willing to put money on the line. Anyone who made a correct diagnosis would be paid 500 thousand gold, with the promise of an additional 1 million gold if they were able to cure him. It was a large sum as expected of the greatest capitalist in the continent.

The academy investigation team was left in panic as well.

Boom!
"There must be someone behind this. it must have been done to silence Cain!"
Lucas slammed his fist down onto the round table in a fuming rage.

"You're jumping to conclusions! It may simply be an accident. We cannot rule out the fact that the awakened student would have lied out of the fear of being punished."

"Nonsense! Gauss, since when did we become so complacent? Did becoming a palace mage cloud your judgement all these years?"

"You're being rude, Lucas!"

Rumble.
Gauss's mana trembled in anger. As a result, the conference room shook violently. Then, a vortex of mana descended on Lucas's shoulders.

"Urgh!"
Lucas was a 6th circle mage while Gauss was a 7th circle mage. In the world of mages, the difference of a single tier was immense.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing!"
It was Lynitz, head of the swordsmans.h.i.+p department.

Swoosh.
Gauss retracted his mana when Lynitz spoke up.

"For this incident we shall conclude that it was Goel's 'indiscriminate attack due to mana overdrive."

Bang!
Gauss left after coming to a conclusion of his own. He kicked the door open and left in a fit of anger.

"Your words were reasonable, but you went too far as well… You should stop worrying about it too much. Don't we have other important things to do?"
Lynitz consoled Lucas.

Although the bad relations.h.i.+p between Lucas and Gauss seemed to have stemmed from the differences in their opinions, the majority of it was actually from the historical relations.h.i.+p between the palace mage order and the Northanc organisation.

Northanc was the strongest battle mage force in the continent. In the view of the Hela Empire, Northanc served as capable protectors, but at the same time, the palace was wary against it.

In this peaceful era, there was no need for an existence that overpowered the palace. As such, the imperial palace created an organization, namely the 'Palace Mage Order' to keep Northanc in check. The two organizations were thus perpetually at loggerheads with the other.

Helarion Academy, which was founded by the empire, kept a neutral stance on the surface, but the influence of the palace was more prominent. Except a select few, the past heads of the magic department had all originated from the palace mage order.

Lucas returned to his office. He still seemed to be angry as he activated the communication orb to contact Kyle.

"The investigation team… has concluded that it was a scuffle between students."

[What's your opinion?]

"I.. think there's someone behind this after all. Considering that they silenced Cain by infiltrating the academy… they should have grown considerably in size."
Lucas never imagined that it could have been Abel's work. This was the result of a lack of communication.

[Haha… looks like I should temporarily halt my research. I understand. You keep watch over the academy. I shall call you when I need to.]
As a consequence of Abel's "true" education, Kyle decided to exit his retirement.

No one knew what kind of storm Abel's little b.u.t.terfly would bring along.

Meanwhile, that little b.u.t.terfly had found its way to a faraway underground organization.

"How did this happen… Our trump card, Cain, was completely ruined. I am extremely apologetic."
This was the black hooded man that had given Cain the Suprenomicon.

"Not everything goes according to what we planned… Look for another way."
A masked man that seemed to be in a superior rank, replied. His voice was gritty and rough like a radio with a bad signal and static.

The underground organization Apocnaty's plan was originally like this – they would take over the Junerheart family using Cain as the gateway.

They would then use the infrastructure that the family had laid out all over the continent to approach and infect the first prince, who would later ascend to the throne. Cain's position allowed him to interact with the highest rungs of society, after all.

However, their plan was ruined from the get go thanks to Abel. They desperately needed a plan B now.

Ian had recovered to a certain extent. However, he continued to pretend to be sick and nagged at Abel.
"Do it again! That samgyetang thing. Didn't you say it was good for the body? Uurgh, it hurts. It HURRTTS!"

"There you go again. Fine, I'll prepare it!"

Though it was a bother… twas the wish of his friend after all.

Abel then revealed a whole chicken from his magic pouch. He had already asked the butcher to pull out the feathers.

'To think my Korean cuisine certificate would come in handy at a time like this.'

He had commuted to a cooking school 3 days a week in order to get the certificate. Though, it didn't end up contributing towards his career.

"This time it's nurungji samgyetang!"

"…..!"
Ian's heart pounded after hearing nurungji samgyetang. He didn't know what nurungji was, but it seemed to be an upgraded version of samgyetang.

"…Aqua!"
Abel doused the chicken in cold water to clean off the blood, while was.h.i.+ng jujubes and drying them. He also took out some garlic and onions to peel and chop..

"..Distortion cutter!"
He chopped the spring onions into small bits, diced the onions into large chunks, and bisected the garlic cloves. As this world didn't have ginseng, he replaced it with 'Luco flower roots' from 'Dubelvag' which was known to the locals as a supplement for good stamina.

He also took out some scorched rice (nurungji) he prepared last night and broke it into pieces. This wasn't Korean rice, but 'Brahe rice' from the southern kingdom of Brahe, the grains of rice were longer than he was used to, but the overall taste should be somewhat similar.

Now then, to begin the cooking.

He once again used magic to split open the chicken's belly, stuffing it with scorched rice, dried jujubes, garlic, and Luco roots, before crossing and the legs in an X shape. Finally, he sutured the chicken's belly with cottonseed.

Clang~
He took out a pot and a pot holder from his pouch. He filled the pot with water, onions and the stalks of spring onions he had chopped earlier.

Then it was time for the final secret ingredient. He sprinkled 'Riu powder', the end-all MSG powder of Kornos continent. He had personally obtained this from Bordeaux Garden.

"Asurabalbalta Fire!"

Abel started a fire beneath the pot. When the water boiled, he gently immersed the stuffed chicken and replaced the lid.

'It would have been best with an earthenware pot, but there's no such thing here……'

As there was no earthen pottery, he had to use 'Dunethan steel' which was known to retain heat for a long time.

Now, he just needed to boil it for 30 minutes.

But… was there a need to wait?

Tap… tap tap tap
Abel took out the Casio from his pocket and started pressing b.u.t.tons.

He accelerated time in a set area around the pot. Then, the dish was completed in 1 minute.

Psssssh.
The soup was milky white, and the small round blobs of oil drifting around the surface seemed like spring flowers floating on a lake.

Gulp.
Smelling the fragrant chicken stock soup, Ian was unable to stop drooling like a dog. He grabbed his spoon in bated expectation.

"Thanks for the meal!"
First, Ian thanked 'chef' Abel who had cooked this for him. Before delivering the chicken soup into his mouth.

Slurp.

"…….!"
This was the second time he ate it, but Ian was able to experience paradise once again. He felt the edges of his eyes moisten.

'Unbelievable!'

He had sampled plenty of stew-style dishes in his life, but they all were trash compared to this

Riiip.
After drinking some soup, he reached for a chicken leg and bit into it like a man from the stone age.

"Aaah…."
The chicken was unbelievably tender and moist. It melted away in his mouth like cotton candy.

Perhaps all the chicken dishes he ate until now were not chicken. In his eyes, all the ingredients that went into this stew would not have tasted good at all, but the results they produced together was phenomenal.

"Abel……"
Ian's eyes suddenly became serious. Abel looked back at him.

"I actually have a secret I haven't told you yet."

"And what would that be?"

"I think I can say it now after I've tasted this. Actually… My family is quite wealthy."

"What the heck?"

"I'll do the investment! You cook, Loki will be in charge of finances and marketing, and Reina… should do the serving since she's pretty! Isn't that the perfect combination? I think we'll earn 3 thousand gold a month! Three thousand per month!"

"That's a great idea! We'll be able to enjoy Abel's cooking everyday!"
Loki, who was quiet all this time, chimed in as well.

Abel rolled his eyes at the duo.
"……Look for another guy. I have a greater dream than this."
That great dream referred to opening the dimensional door to earth after reaching 9th circle mage. He easily forwent the business opportunity.

Reina looked at the three boys with a look somewhere between disdain and apathy.