Comrades, something wonderful just happened. So, the man, the myth, the legend, Allen Blaster himself, the author of diligence, read the first 8 chapters of cooking hero and said that, and I quote, "Gotta say, Cooking Hero is pretty good"

So I can now confidently say my fic is Alemo and Allen approved! Can't wait for the inevitable where I disappoint both of them by trying to hard and failing horribly, slowly loosing any confidence in myself all over again.

Anyhow, onto the next chapter!

"Cooking hero," Goron said.

"Chef Ransei," Clara replied.

"What is this?" he asked, pointing to the burnt thing on the plate.

"A burnt lasagna," Clara replied, close to tears. Goron picked up two pieces of bread and put them on the sides of Clara's head.

"What are you?"

"An idiot sandwich…"

"DAMN RIGHT YOU ARE! I SAID 375 DEGREES, NOT 3755 DEGREES! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! HOW DID YOU EVEN ACHIEVE SUCH A THING?!" Goron screamed, startling Clara. Hol groaned and clutched his head. He was going through a hangover from drinking all day yesterday, and was drinking as much pain relieving medicine as he could auto craft.

"Yeah, I think we're gonna need a new oven," Ellis said, poking the burned and melted pile of metal that used to be an oven. "Honestly, I'm impressed. I didn't think it could get this hot."

"Please… stop… yelling," Hol coughed out. His voice was hoarse, and he looked like he was about to fall over.

"I'm sorry," Clara mumbled, looking down at her dish. Goron picked it up and chucked it out the window.

"I would have told you to eat it anyway, but I think that would give dragons food poisoning!" Goron yelled, making Hol wince in pain.

"Won't that hit someone?" Clara asked, pointing at the window.

"Nah, we're over an ocean. It'll get picked up by a trash compactor," Ellis said. When he saw Clara's confused reaction he laughed and pulled out the crystal jar. A large fish with scales made or covered in trash popped up.

"Trash Compactor. It is a fish that will eat anything, and I mean anything. All kinds of trash gets devoured by that thing, and it makes its body stronger. It was called the Ruffish by the old hero and the name stuck around to this day."

Ruffish? Rubbish fish?

"Alright, don't get distracted. We're gonna start over, and this time you should carefully set the temperature!" Goron exclaimed. He opened up the large, wall sized window, and chucked the oven out of it. He slammed the window shut afterwards, as a bird monster slammed into the glass, causing Clara to flinch. She looked at Ellis and pointed to the bird, which slowly slid down the window.

"These are just random bird monsters. They sense heat, and hence dive bomb into any room with an open window," he explained.

She sighed and lowered her head to the table.

"What are you doing, newbie! Start over!" Goron yelled, slamming another batch of ingredients onto the table.

"Right!" Clara exclaimed, taking a deep breath.

==}—

Clara slumped down onto the couch of the break room and sighed.

"Well, third time's the charm as they say," Ellis said, sipping on a drink he put into his vassal weapon, which was now a thermos.

"Don't remind me," she groaned.

"You turned the first into coal, and dropped the second onto the floor. But at least the kitchen isn't on fire, so you're beating some interns Goron had."

"Wait, Goron's interns set his kitchen on fire?" Clara questioned.

"3 burned down the kitchen, one flooded it, one forgot to close the window and we all almost died from the birds flying in. One of them turned out to be a bat and Hol tried to eat it while drunk. That's how the pandemic started. Riala crashed through the roof, twice, and whatever else Hol did before I showed up,"

"How do you guys keep rebuilding the place if it keeps getting destroyed," Clara asked.

"Guess we have a great building crew," Ellis shrugged and plopped down on the couch next to Clara.

Clara sighed and glanced out the window. Her eyes widened and she shot up to get a better look.

"Woah! What island is that?!" she asked, pointing at the window.

In the air was a large island, one half glowing a light blue color, with brick houses made out of some white bricks, and a light blue glow in between them. The other half was a complete opposite, with houses made of black bricks with a mix of red and orange flowing in between, almost like lava. A fence made of the same material circled around the island, and a faint flowing dome with a yin yang pattern made of red and blue covered the island.

"That is Yin Yang island. Well, it's technically two islands, but they are so close to each other that you can jump over the gap in between them, so we just count them as one island. That island is the second richest island in terms of mana concentration, but the first is unlivable. So a lot of people come here to train their magic. OH!"

Ellis shot up so fast that the couch almost flipped over with Clara still on it.

"Woah! Careful!"

"Forget that! Let's go train at the island! This is the perfect opportunity!" he exclaimed, picking up Clara bridal style. Before she could even react, Ellis started running up the deck so fast her head began to spin. He stopped by the edge of the ship and pressed something on his belt. Clara looked at him in horror.

"You aren't thinking of jumping that, right?" she asked. Ellis ignored her and several small glowing pellets started to float around him. She saw a glow, similar to the one she and the other chefs received when they got a speed buff. But this one looked way more potent.

Ellis began to step back from the edge.

"Ellis! WAIT! DON'T DO IT!" Clara screamed, trying to push Ellis away, but it was like hitting a brick wall.

"Don't worry! I got this!" he yelled as he dashed towards the edge at such speeds that Clara could feel her stomach churn.

"ELLIIIIIIIIS!" she yelled, as the man jumped from the ship and flung them into the air. As Clara got a good look around, she made a horrible realization.

"WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT! PORTAL US BACK!" she yelled, clinging onto Ellis for dear life.

"Erst Contain! Second Contain!" Ellis called out the two skills. Two floating jars appeared before him like large platforms. He jumped from one to the next and then dove forward, turning his own jar into a bundle of rope.

"Dritte Contain!" Ellis yelled, summoning his third skill. He launched the rope's onto it and swung them forward at incredible speeds. Clara screamed and shut her eyes as tight as she could.

"E Float Container! Change Container!"

A large jar, similar to the purple ones Ellis summoned before, appeared around them and turned into a soft jar made of pillows. Clara felt them crash into the ground, and bounce around a bit before they finally came to a stop. The jar disappeared and Ellis slammed into the ground.

"Perfect landing!" Ellis exclaimed, scrambling to his legs.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Clara shrieked as she pushed him away. Her legs gave out and she dropped onto the ground.

"What? We lived so what's wrong?"

"WE ALMOST FELL AND DIED!" Clara screamed, her body trembling. Ellis looked down at her as guilt showed on his face. He sat down next to Clara and patted her on the back.

"Sorry. I may have gone overboard on that one, however, you'll unfortunately have to do stuff like this normally to fight monsters and such, so it's better to start early," Ellis tried to explain. He sighed and hugged the trembling girl. A few minutes passed and the adrenaline was finally beginning to leave her body. She took a few deep breaths as she calmed down.

"You good?"

"Yeah. Just don't do something like that again!" she yelled, punching Ellis in the shoulder.

*Clang*

"Alright, alright. I'll try not to. Now sit down comfortably, there is a reason I brought you here."

Ellis sat down in front of Clara and brought his hands together.

"Remember the time I pushed the mana out of your body? I want you to try to recreate that feeling."

Clara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She tried to remember the coldness, the way the mana left her body.

But nothing happened. She sighed and slumped down to the ground and silently cursed herself for not trying to do magic on her own.

"Alright, c'mon, let me help you," Ellis said, beckoning her to move closer. As she scooted closer to him, he poked her in the arm, draining the mana from her.

"Alright, try to focus and remember this feeling now," Ellis said, poking her arm. Clara shuttered as she felt the heat and energy leave her body, her mana bar depleting.

"How was it?" Ellis asked, letting her hand go. She rubbed her hand and frowned.

"It was weird. But I guess I was a bit more aware of it this time?" she replied.

"Well, I'll have to keep poking you until you can do it on your own," Ellis said.

"But won't it take forever for my mana to recover?" Clara asked, but Ellis pointed to something in the corner of her vision. She looked at it in confusion until she noticed her mana bar filling up rapidly.

"Woah! Why is it recovering so fast?"

"Remember how I said that this island is rich in mana? It helps people recover their mana at a super fast rate. Technically SP too, but that's exclusive to us heroes," Ellis explained. As soon as Clara's mana recovered, Ellis pulled it out again.

After a few times Clara began to feel the mana leave her body.

20 times helped her feel the mana recover and fill her body.

47 times and Clara could feel the mana stored inside her body.

"How are you feeling?"

"Feels so weird. It's like feeling the blood flow through your veins," Clara shuttered, waiting for her mana to replenish.

"That's one way to put it. Trust me, you'll get used to it," Ellis assured her, patting Clara on the shoulder. "Now let's keep going until you can move mana around."

56… 72…93?

Clara lost count of how many times her mana was emptied. Her body felt tired and sore.

"Huff… huff…"

Clara slumped down onto the ground as her mana was depleted once again.

"Don't worry, you got this!" Ellis cheered her on, waiting for her mana to replenish.

"Give me -huff- a second -hah-…" Clara sighed and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "I feel like I just ran a marathon backwards!"

"Yeah, getting your mana drained and refilled like that will take a toll on your physical body," Ellis explained. "We'll actually have to stop soon or it might become dangerous."

"Wait! I think I'm starting to get it. Give me a second to recover."

"Alright. Tell me when you need help."

Clara nodded and closed her eyes. She felt for the mana inside of her. Clara tried to will it to move, even a little. A minute passed. Then two. And finally…

"*Ghasp*!"

Clara felt her mana begin to move out of her fingertips and slowly drain her mana bar.

"Let's go! Progress!" Ellis exclaimed, jumping up with excitement. "Ok, next step, try to push that mana into a small ball!"

Clara nodded and pushed her hands together, trying to squish the mana together. But it kept flowing out of her hands and scattering all over the place. Clara tried again and again, but she was almost completely drained and collapsed from exhaustion.

"Well, I think we should stop for today. The wave is tomorrow, and we still need to stop by the queen's place and get you registered at the hourglass. Can you move?"

Clara tried to push herself to her feet, but her legs have fallen asleep from sitting too much, coupled with exhaustion from all the mana use.

"I… I can barely feel my legs," Clara mumbled. Ellis picked her up again and teleported them back to base. He carried her to her room but Clara lost consciousness half way there, falling asleep in Ellis' arms. He dropped her off in her room and quietly tiptoed out of the room.

*Ping*

Ellis pulled out his crystal tablet and looked at the sender. He pressed a few buttons and the face of the queen popped up on the screen.

"Hey little queen. You sleeping alright?" Ellis asked, looking at the screen. The queen grumbled and moved the camera, showing a huge stack of papers.

"Does it look like I have time to sleep?!" she exclaimed, slamming her hand into the top of the stack. "The amount of paperwork I have to fill out is unbelievable. First I have to deal with the transportation of materials, then try to calm people down after the waves started, and these monster stampedes aren't helping!"

The queen sighed and dropped her head onto the pile of papers.

"I can get you a coffee if you want," Ellis suggested.

"Yes please, get me 5," she perked up at the mention of coffee and looked at the screen with hopeful eyes.

"So what did you call me for?"

"Oh shoot, right! I need you to go take care of another stampede. Teleport to Tiger Fang and take a Thundercloud from there to Ground Zero and cut the monsters off at the hourglass area. The monsters are starting to move just a bit east from under the Magma Island.

"Gotcha. I'll be on my way once the skill recharges."

"Alright. How is the cooking hero doing by the way?" the queen asked, sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Pretty good. I took her to the Yin Yang island for a bit of magic training and she seemed to be getting the hang of mana. She can already use mana flow!" Ellis exclaimed, leaning back on a chair.

"That fast? How long did it take you to be able to use mana on your own?"

"3 days. I could cast a spell on the fourth. However I didn't have access to the Lunar of Solar Island at the time. My guess is Clara will be able to throw a light ball at people right after the wave. Maybe she'll even be able to do it mid wave? But who's to know," Ellis smiled.

"I see. This is much better progress than you or Hol had," the queen said with a smile.

"Look, in my defense, I'm pretty sure Hol already started before I showed up. And your antics didn't help at all," Ellis fired back, crossing his arms on his chest. Elora's face flushed with embarrassment as she her face behind a piece of paper.

"I thought I told you not to mention that!" she sputtered out.

"Ha ha ha. C'mon, it was pretty funny back in the day. You running around, trying to rebel against some rules. Hol being the responsible one, me helping you out from time to time. Remember the time we booby trapped an abandoned house to try to stall Hol, but after a few traps he just blasted his way through until the house collapsed?"

"Don't remind me! The scolding I got was pretty… harsh…" Elora suddenly paused and looked down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to br-"

"It's ok. I'm.. fine," Elora said, clutching the paper in her hand.

They tried not to make eye contact as they sat down awkwardly.

"Well, anyways, do you think you and Clara could meet tomorrow? She's been here a week and she should meet you at least once before the wave," Ellis questioned. The queen nodded and picked up a piece of paper.

"I have several knights who can come with you. Now that we know what kind of threat we are facing, we should be able to prepare ahead of time," she said, pressing something on her tablet. A notification popped up in Ellis' tablet and he saw the list of nights and information on them.

"Hm. Nothing too impressive, but at least we got one level 40 knight in here," he mumbled, scrolling through the list.

"Unfortunately with the knights spread out to prepare for the waves this is all we could gather in such a short period of time. Now that we confirmed the teleportation function of the holy weapons I should be able to send support your way."

"Alright! Then I'll go place an order to the tailor for Clara while my skill recharges, stop the stampede, and stop by for a cup of coffee," Ellis said, standing up and walking through the ship's hallway.

"I'll be waiting, Jar Hero," Elora said in a teasing tone.

"You too, kid,"

"DON'T CALL ME A K-!" she tried to yell, but Ellis already hung up.

"Alright, let's check a few things off of my list now, shall I?"

PS, Please review.