"Professor Kennedy, is this a library? Do you usually live here by yourself?" Ayrin couldn't help but ask as he followed behind the old arcane master.
The building they had entered as rather quiet, as if no one else was present, and contained several extremely spacious rooms within, giving Ayrin the impression that it was some sort of big library.
"It is not a library. It is a laboratory," Kennedy replied in a tone much milder than before. It was evident that he had a much better impression of Ayrin than Stingham.
"It's a laboratory? How can a single person have such a large laboratory? Professor Kennedy, you must be an extremely, extremely powerful arcane master?" Ayrin cried in admiration.
"Hmph! Such flattery. But this kind of bootlicking is too obvious to work on an old man like him," Stingham quietly muttered to himself behind them.
"Good eyes!"
Much to Stingham's disbelief, Kennedy's face immediately brightened as he turned around, chuckling, and replied, "Ayrin, you really have a pair of good eyes!"
"It must be true since your laboratory is contained within a top academy, River Bend Academy," Ayrin added, causing Kennedy's face to brighten even further until it seemed like it was glowing.
Kennedy's laughter grew even more animated as he exclaimed, "Youth, your future is looking bright."
Wily looks appeared on the faces of Liszt and Ciaran. So it turned out that Professor Kennedy enjoyed being flattered.
"Professor Kennedy, what kind of special training have you prepared for me?" Ayrin asked in great anticipation. Flames burned in his eyes.
"What? Neither of you told him?" The smile atop Kennedy's face abruptly disappeared as he looked suspiciously at Liszt and Ciaran.
Liszt giggled as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and said, "We were afraid that he would get too excited if we told him. After all, not everyone can receive guidance from someone as great as you."
"Of course!" Kennedy agreed as his face lit up once more. "Indeed, no one from River Bend Academy has ever been trained by me before."
"Then it must be a super intense special training!" Ayrin exclaimed, his eyes brightening.
"Ha ha… I'm sure its killer." A crafty look appeared on Stingham's face. Led by such a strange old man, this training had to be extremely painful.
"Just what kind of special training is it? I can't wait any longer," Ayrin shouted.
"Of course it is super intense!" Kennedy boasted. "The special training I have prepared for you is to let go and eat!"
"What?" Stingham shouted as he tripped over his own feet.
"Eat?" Ayrin's eyes glazed over as his stomach rumbled loudly.
"Ayrin, Professor Kennedy is the only master of nutrition in the Kingdom of Eiche. And this laboratory we are standing in now is the kingdom's only nutrition research center." Liszt struck while the iron was still hot as he continued in a grandiose manner, "He knows how to make many delicious dishes which are also extremely beneficial for arcane masters. Furthermore, his personal pantry contains numerous rare ingredients, including several which have gone extinct in the wild!"
"Eh? Doesn't that just make him a chef?" Stingham said blankly.
"What did you say?!"
"I didn't see wrongly. You are indeed an idiot!"
"A master of nutrition is completely different from a chef!"
Sparks created from arcane energy danced in the air as Kennedy was angered by Stingham's words.
The overwhelming strength of his arcane energy fluctuations almost caused Stingham to kneel down and beg for mercy.
"Professor Kennedy, your special training will definitely allow me to greatly increase my strength!" Ayrin abruptly shouted. After a short pause, he asked curiously, "But how can eating mindlessly allow me to greatly increase my strength?"
Kennedy glared at Stingham , and then turned and looked kindly at Ayrin as he said solemnly, "Do you not get hungry very easily? Any slight movement and you feel starving. And do you ever feel full, even when you eat a lot?"
"It is like that." Ayrin's face reddened as he embarrassedly scratched his head and replied, "Even right after eating, I'm often so hungry that I do not want to walk anymore."
"Definitely the bloodline of a giant food monster," Stingham muttered scornfully.
"Shut up, idiot!" Kennedy shouted menacingly at Stingham before turning back towards Ayrin and genially saying, "This is occurring because your is greatly lacking nutrients. It is like an incomplete sentence."
"Lacking nutrients? Like an incomplete sentence?" Ayrin repeated blankly.
"Correct." Kennedy nodded. "Let me make a simple analogy. If we consider your body, and those of your peers, as houses, they would look pretty much the same on the outside. But on the inside, the furniture in their houses would be complete, whereas yours would all be missing parts and pieces. The nutrients you absorb by eating will allow your body to produce these missing parts and pieces."
Ayrin became totally stupefied as he said, "So what you are saying, Professor Kennedy, is that my body still hasn't finished growing yet?"
"You can take it that way," Kennedy replied with a nod after a short pause. It seemed like he could not think of another way to explain.
"I should have eaten more in the past?" Ayrin spoke in a remorseful manner. "In the past, I would starve myself to use my dreams of food to drive myself to train harder."
"I already heard about this during my earlier conversation with Liszt and Ciaran. But fortunately, your decision to do so was actually correct."
Kennedy's face was full of praise, masking the strange, fanatical glint which flashed through his eyes as he said, "It's good that you did not eat too much junk. Just think about it. There's no way that the muscles and flesh created from eating junk would be the same as that created from eating good food. Furthermore, you kept your body in an extremely hungry state, so even though you were eating all that junk, your body was processing it more efficiently, allowing you to integrate more of the useful nutrients and less of the unnecessary ones."
"I understand!" Ayrin shouted excitedly as if he had suddenly seen the light. "What you mean, Professor Kennedy, is that my body's foundation is still incomplete, and that by eating the things you give me, I will be able to complete it, allowing me to gain greater strength."
"It is a profound field of knowledge. But if one were to describe it simply, then yes." A look of satisfaction appeared on Kennedy's face.
"It's actually just eating? And eating delicacies at that?" Stingham's eyes widened as he quickly snuck beside Liszt and Ciaran and tugged their sleeves as he whispered, "Teacher Liszt, Teacher Ciaran. I'm also always hungry. My body must also be incomplete. Can I also eat some good food?"
"We originally brought you here to see if we would be able to get you some food as well…" Liszt replied in a sympathetic manner, "But you and Professor Kennedy just don't seem to have any fate between you. Furthermore, you have provoked him several times. I don't think it will be possible anymore."
"……" Tears streamed down Stingham's face.
"Let's start the special training then, Professor Kennedy!" Ayrin shouted excitedly.
"We can start right away. But first, let me open the eyes of this little idiot so that he won't call me a chef again!"
Kennedy replied as his gaze landed on Stingham once more. "After all, my first laboratory, Hell's Kitchen, is right before us. I hope it widens your horizons!"
"Your laboratory is called Hell's Kitchen. What are you, if not a chef?" Stingham cried out in his mind.
Kennedy pushed open an unusually heavy looking black door.
Stingham's pupils trembled.
The room before him was covered with raging flames.
The vast majority of them were black and radiated an unusual amount of heat.
Within many of these flames were strange crystal jars which held objects reminiscent of monster parts and other oddities.
In the very center of the room, atop a large and long narrow table, was an enormous head
The head was over two meters long and its open maw was still covered with blood, giving off the impression that it was about to swallow them whole.
"Is that the skull of a Black Hell Dragon?!"
Ayrin asked excitedly, "Can I eat it?"
Ayrin salivated as he looked at the completely black head before him, which looked like a dragon's head. He had wanted to taste dragon meat since a long time ago.
"How could the head of a Black Hell Dragon compare to this?"
A scornful look appeared on Kennedy's face as he said, "The head of a Black Hell Dragon doesn't contain any nutrients whatsoever. What you have before you is the head of an Abyssal Monarch! Look carefully. Can you see how it combines the features of a wolf, dragon, and bat, but is distinct from all three? The head of an Abyssal Monarch contains a lot of meat, and is rich with the various elements required for strengthening the body. If a seventy year old man ate a piece of its meat, he might even think about taking another wife…"
"Cough cough cough…" Sensing that Kennedy's words were becoming inappropriate for the children, Liszt began coughing.
"It must taste amazing!"
Ayrin's stomach rumbled as saliva drooled from the corner of his mouth.
"You are willing to eat something as hideous as this?" Stingham's face was green with disgust. Even if he was given a piece, he would not eat it.
"You have good taste!" Kennedy shouted as he saw Ayrin's drooling appearance. As if he had met a fellow connoisseur, he excitedly added, "In a moment, we will start with the head. I'll use it to make you a nice soup!"
Ayrin nodded vigorously.
Afterwards, as his gaze swept across all the jars placed amidst the flames, he couldn't help but ask, "Professor Kennedy, do those containers also contain delicious foods?"
"Correct!" Kennedy replied proudly. "Contained within those jars are the rare ingredients which I have spent decades collecting from the Hell Abyss. Each of my thirteen labs contain rare ingredients from different places."
"Decades?" Stingham almost tripped over his feet as he shouted, "Haven't they expired?"
"Get the f*ck out of my laboratory!" Kennedy roared, his voice like thunder. "Do you think I am an idiot like you?! Do you think I am spending so much energy and time keeping these black hellflames burning just for show?!"