“Uncle Jason, this has your old chin.”
“He never told you the story of how we met?” Farrah asked.
“He said you all escaped some cannibal cult together.”
“Yes,” Farrah said. “I’ve seen some things in my career, but nothing like that kitchen.”
“Maybe skip that particular detail at breakfast,” Jason said with a shudder as he recalled the horrifying image of the Vane Estate kitchen.
“I think you’re right,” Farrah said. “I’ll take you through events from the beginning, at least from my perspective. For me, it started when my team was hired to investigate this family of reclusive aristocrats, living out in the middle of the desert…”
Jason had fed enough magic quintessence into his cloud flask that the houseboat could produce a more-than-adequate ritual room. Combined with the vortex accumulator gathering magic, it made for a space of balanced ambient magic, ideal for conducting rituals.
It also had an adjacent room with enclosed shower stalls for post-ranking-up needs. Water infused with crystal wash sprayed not just from above but all around, making for a cleaning experience second only to an undiluted supply of crystal wash.
Jason drew out the diagram for the essence ritual with a stick of chalk, the room allowing him to do so with minimal adjustments for ambient magic. Once again, Jason appreciated how good it was to have Clive making the same thing possible in the middle of the wilderness using his abilities.
Hiro, Ian and Erika were all dressed like it was laundry day, wearing a selection of old and faded ultra-casual wear. Jason had made it clear that whatever they were wearing, they wouldn’t want to wear it ever again. Emi was giggling at them as she stood out of the way with Farrah.
Mostly, though, Emi’s attention was on the party interface Jason had given them all access to. Emi’s status screen showed them that Jason’s power would let them know when Emi could safely absorb essences, saving them from a periodic, if cheap and simple, testing ritual.
“So,” Jason asked. “Who goes first?”
Hiro and Ian both turned to Erika.
“Oh, great,” she said.
“It’s fine,” Jason said. “I’ve done this before, Farrah’s done this before and it’s a nice, safe ritual.”
Jason picked up one of the nine essences on a table beside him and led his sister to the middle of the ritual circle, avoiding the lines and the small piles of spirit coins. He handed her the essence.
Item: [Feast Essence] (unranked, uncommon)
Manifested essence of bountiful consumption (consumable, essence).
Requirements: Less than 4 absorbed essences.
Effect: Imbues 1 awakened feast essence ability and 4 unawakened feast essence abilities.
You have absorbed 0/4 essences. Once absorbed, an essence cannot be relinquished or replaced.
“We’re starting with the feast essence,” Jason told her, “because we’ve chosen the order to do the best job of setting your powers in the direction we want them to go.”
Jason and Farrah had debated the relative merits of the common feast essence versus the higher-rarity hunger essence. Hunger was the more popular of the two because it had a stronger combat role, often producing an arsenal of drain attacks. For this reason, they had gone with the more broadly aspected feast essence, given the goal was a power set built around cooking magic.
“In isolation, for example,” Jason explained, “the knife essence, which is next, could very easily give you some mundane special attack. With a feast essence under your belt, though, that next power is more likely to go in the direction we want.”
“There aren’t any guarantees, however,” Farrah said. “We can try and guide the direction for the powers you get, but being too rigid will only backfire.”
Although they had already seen Taika go through the process, Jason’s family watched with fascination as Jason conducted the ritual and the essence cube melted, sinking into Erika’s flesh.
You have absorbed [Feast Essence]. You have absorbed 1 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 25% (1/4 essences).
[Feast Essence] has bonded to your [Recovery] attribute, changing your [Recovery] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all feast essence abilities to increase your [Recovery] attribute.
You have awakened the feast essence ability [Feeding the Multitudes]. You have awakened 1 of 5 feast essence abilities.
Ability: [Feeding the Multitude] (Feast)
Conjuration (boon).
Cost: Varies.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).
Effect (iron): You can replicate an amount of food up to a plate’s worth. Mana cost increases with each replication of the same food, with the cost significantly reduced if the food was prepared by you personally. The taste of the food is identical to the original, but nourishment and magical effects can only be copied by expending a spirit coin for each perfect duplication. You can replicate food made with normal or iron-rank ingredients, with the appropriate rank of spirit coin required for true replication.
“Right in the sweet spot,” Jason said. “That’s exactly the kind of power we’re looking for.”
Human racial ability [Essence Gift] has evolved to [Gourmet & Gourmand].
Ability: [Gourmet & Gourmand]
Transfigured from [Human] ability [Essence Gift].
Your senses of taste and smell are enhanced. You may have an additional enhancement effect from magical food without negative effect. You process the remnant magic from potions at an accelerated rate, allowing you to safely consume further potions of the same type after a shorter delay.
Jason and Farrah shared a glance. They immediately recognised that Erika's abilities were both heavy on resource consumption, a risk Farrah had warned of when they chose the feast essence. In the other world, it would not have been a problem. On Earth, she would be deeply reliant on Jason to supply her with what she would need. If her awakenings continued in this vein, it would add a new wrinkle to the discussion over Erika's family joining them on the return to Pallimustus.
The ritual room balanced out the magic as Jason cleared the ritual circle and drew a fresh one. Erika’s remaining essences were absorbed one after another, with results in line with what they were hoping for.
“As long as we aren’t too specific with our objectives,” Farrah said, “organising a general direction for powers isn’t that hard.”
“Clive told me much the same thing,” Jason said.
From the knife essence, Erika gained the power to conjure multiple knives of various types, from combative to culinary in purpose. From the dance essence, she gained the power to telekinetically control small objects and the ability to split her concentration over them. Her confluence essence, bounty, gave her the power to imbue ordinary food with magical effects.
“How do you feel?” Jason asked as her confluence essence appeared and was absorbed.