Infinite Mana In The Oasis

Eren got up from his bed and stretched his body. He had also reached the sixth stage of Meta rank with his real body. Eren felt like his body was filled to the brim with energy.

Drizzle. Bath. Beyond.

Eren quickly took a shower in his newly-purchased house for the first time. The clarity that had been brought by spending some time under the shower gave him a new perspective. He decided to at least paint the house anew. He could always ask Reece for help.

Eren decided to not unpack his things just yet. If he was planning to paint the house, unpacking his stuff seemed counterproductive. Just as he was about to head out to buy paint for his house, someone rang the bell.

"Reece!"

Eren knew who it was even before he checked up on his guest. He opened the door and found his guess to be right on the mark.

"Where are you going when I just got breakfast for both of us?"

Reece asked and pushed him aside before entering Eren's house. It was clear that she treated Eren's place as her own. The guy couldn't blame her after living under her roof for years.

Eren smiled bitterly before closing the door. He then had stressed expressions on his face as he asked Reece.

"Don't tell me you made it yourself."

Reece was heading to the kitchen where the Turners had left him a dining table. She frowned and turned back when she heard Eren's question.

"Yes. Do you have any problem with that?"

Eren shook his head in denial before answering dishonestly.

"Nope. No problem. I was feeling peckish anyway. Let's see what you got."

In his mind, Eren prayed for food to at least be gulp-worthy and said some silent prayers. Reece had all the qualities of being an exceptional ranker. But being able to cook delicious food was not one of them.

"Salad! I'll have a salad!"

When Reece retrieved the breakfast from her storage, the salad was the first thing Eren noticed and immediately latched on to. He felt a bit relieved that he could always fall back on a salad if any of Reece's other food turns out to be not-so-consumable.

Reece had a frown on her face. And she said some things under her breath. But she didn't say anything out loud.

Reece didn't act like she didn't know where Eren's apprehension about her cooking came from. She knew she was a bad cook in the past. But things change with time. At least she hoped they did.

Reece retrieved all the food and presented it to Eren. She had also brought utensils from home because she knew Eren didn't have any.

"Well, dig in. I'm not waiting for you."

Reece said she was taking her share of the plate. Despite what she said, she kept one eye on Eren to see his reaction.

The table was set with a loaf of bread chopped into slices, cold meat, and cubes of cheese sprinkled with some green herbs and black spice. There was a basket full of French toast.

For a change, Reece had also brought fried eggs from a Rank 1 mana beast. Eren knew the fried eggs alone would have cost Reece upwards of 50 Mana quartz.

Simple stuff.

Reece had stuck with simple recipes that were difficult to mess up. And that choice seemed to have paid off for her. The food looked simple but tempting. Eren had to admit that salad was the least interesting thing on the menu now that he saw the full course.

Reece had already sat down on the chair. She was already eating things. Or at least she made it look like she was eating. But she kept checking Eren's reactions from time to time.

Eren decided to give the food a shot. For some reason, he felt more apprehensive approaching the food than he had felt approaching Bulal Blood. If the food had looked terrible, he wouldn't have felt this way. But it actually looked tempting. That made his expectations rise.

Eren didn't want to make Reece disappointed by saying that the food was terrible. He knew she would know if he lied to her about it.

Eren gulped as he started taking a bit of everything. He then sat in front of Reece at the other end of the dining table and took the first bite of the french toast.

"This…"

Eren had incredulous expressions on his face as he took the first bite of the french toast. He looked more shocked than when he first learned that a world like Gilaahan existed.

Reece looked at Eren with stressed expressions as well even though she tried to mask them with a forced frown on her face.

"This… "this" what?"

Reece asked with a voice coated in anger and apprehension. Eren looked at her with wide-opened eyes before completing his response.

"This is surprisingly good. Did… did you really make this yourself?"

A french toast was thrown in his face in response. It landed right on his nose before falling right on his place. Eren didn't try to dodge the consumable object. His shocked expression changed to one of joy as he started laughing.

"This is terrific. Throw some more food. More for me that way. Haha"

Eren said before he began eating for real. Reece also broke into a smile before eating alongside him. Even she was surprised that the food tasted this good.

Eren and Reece started talking as they had their breakfast. Eren told her he wanted to paint the house, and she immediately agreed with his decision. She also started suggesting colors for each wall and corner.

He told her he wanted to paint his house a monochrome white from the inside out. Reece just told him to shut up.

After a lot of discussions and many suggestions, they decided to compromise and stick with Reece's choice of minimal colors. Eren just managed to shrink down the number of colors.

The breakfast that Reece had cooked and brought to Eren's house was no more. Eren had wolfed down everything that Reece had left behind. The girl was just happy that the mark of a terrible cook was no longer on her.