The first thing I did when we got home was analyze Calista’s delivery. They were perfectly forged, wide silver skewers, but I needed to understand the magic Rhys had spent real money on.

  I focused my mana.

  [Analyze]

  Three distinct, elegant enchantments lit up in my vision:

  The runes etched into the metal were microscopic and impossibly elegant. How did an enchanter even carve something this precise? I couldn't even imagine attempting it. I set them aside with a sigh of awe. With these, I could finally cook Kubideh properly. But first, I had another culinary project in mind.

  The next morning, Oliver and Nora spent the entire walk to the Hut bickering.

  Nora wanted to gather the leeks herself, but Oliver adamantly refused to let her leave the safety of the village. Finally, they reached a compromise: Oliver would do the physical gathering, but he would strictly follow Nora's instructions from the riverbank.

  Once they dropped me off at the Hut and went on their way, I knew I had a window of opportunity. I wasn't going to let Alicia drag me into another torturous lesson. For the dish I was planning to make for Calista, I needed a proper paste. Since we didn't have a food processor, I had to do it the traditional way.

  When Alicia stepped out to collect me for my "torture session," I struck.

  "I need to prepare an ingredient for Calista's dish," I announced. "It takes time. We need to start right now."

  Alicia waved a hand dismissively. "Do it later. We have a schedule."

  "It has to sit for days," I insisted. "I need help."

  Alicia, probably assuming this was a simple five minute task, sighed and agreed to assist. Lily overheard and volunteered as well.

  "What do you need?" Alicia asked, crossing her arms.

  "A very large container," I said. "And knives. And tomatoes."

  "How many?"

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  "All of them."

  Alicia froze. "What are you going to use all those tomatoes for?"

  "You'll see."

  Ten minutes later, Lily dragged out a massive wooden tub. I handed them the knives.

  "We cut the tomatoes in half," I instructed cheerfully. "And throw them in. Yes, all of them."

  Alicia looked like she wanted to flee, but her pride wouldn't let her back out. Lily checked on the kids periodically, but mostly, the two women stood over the tub, slicing tomato after tomato. They both glared at me with barely concealed resentment. Alicia clearly thought I was wasting her entire stock. I just didn't understand why she actually went through with it.

  Just as we were about to finish, Nora walked in. She took one look at Alicia and Lily, exhausted, their sleeves soaked in red juice, and gasped.

  "Oh dear! Can I help?" Nora asked.

  "Yes," I said. "Put salt on them and cover the tub with a cloth. We leave it be, but we have to stir it twice a day for two to three days."

  "They'll go bad!" Alicia protested.

  "It will be fine," I assured her.

  Nora frantically apologized to Alicia, promising to pay for the "ruined" tomatoes. I just smiled. Watching the normally pristine elf looking dirty and tired was pure, vengeful bliss.

  That afternoon, I joined the foraging group in a great mood. My mission was simple: find slimes.

  I stayed close to the older kids, figuring they could help me take care of them if I got in trouble. But luck wasn't on my side. By the end of the day, I hadn't seen a single slime, and I barely gathered any herbs. Still, it was too early to lose hope.

  That night at home, Nora recounted the story of how I had bossed Alicia and Lily around. Oliver and Nora were both holding their stomachs, laughing until they cried.

  The next day in the jungle yielded the same frustrating lack of slimes. It was almost time to go when I heard a familiar thwack.

  I turned to see Silas casually stepping away from a puddle of brown goo. He had just crushed a slime and was walking away like it was nothing.

  "Silas," I called out. "Can I have the slime's core?"

  He shrugged. "Sure." He lingered, clearly curious to see what I wanted to do with it.

  I cleaned the core and placed it on a flat stone. I grabbed a handful of Blood Berries, squishing the acidic juice directly onto the hard surface.

  Hiss.

  The core began to tear. I leaned in, watching intently as it popped. Three distinct, faintly glowing particles zipped out into the air. They were incredibly fast. I lunged, trying to snatch one with my hand, but I was far too slow.

  I sighed.

  I looked up to find Silas staring at me, his head tilted to one side like a confused puppy.

  "What are you doing?" he asked.

  "I was trying to catch one of those lights that flew off the core," I answered honestly.

  Silas blinked. "There was no light."

  He looked so confused that he called the twins over. "Have you guys ever seen any light come out of the slime cores when they pop from the berries?"

  Freya and Finn shook their heads. "No light. It just gets hot and pops. That's it."

  I stared at them. Maybe they couldn't see the particles because they hadn't awakened their cores yet? Regardless of the reason, I realized it would be best if I didn't let anyone else know I could see them.

  The next day, sitting in Alicia's office, I decided to subtly test a theory.

  "Alicia," I asked. "Is there a way to see magic power?"

  "No," she answered flatly.

  "Even when using blessings or casting spells?" I pressed.

  "No."

  I sat back in my chair. But I remembered seeing Alicia use her blessing, and it was distinctly green. What did I see that others couldn't? Was it because I was reincarnated? Because of great vision? If nobody in this world had ever seen or named these particles before, it had to be something entirely unique to me. The only thing that made sense was Gabriel's blessing.

  I really do have a cheat ability, I realized, a grin spreading across my face. Nice.

  That afternoon, I skipped the jungle. The tomatoes in the tub were squishy and perfectly fermented.

  I enlisted Nora and Lily's help again. We pushed the tomatoes through a colander, discarding the skins and seeds. We poured the remaining vibrant red juice into a pot and boiled it over the fire until it reduced to a thick, rich consistency.

  Before nightfall, we had filled several jars with perfect tomato paste. I was officially ready to make Kufteh for Calista's challenge.

  Over the next week, my focus shifted entirely to finding cores. But despite my daily searches, the only core I had managed to get my hands on was the one Silas had crushed.

  Frustrated, I decided to venture much deeper into the woods.

  As I pushed through the thick underbrush, I noticed a distortion in the air. A mana trail.

  It was the exact same shimmering trail I had seen the day I found Lyra, the woman who had fled from a slave contract with a dwarf. We had taken her in because we knew she was innocent, but in the chaos, I had completely forgotten about the magical footprint that led me to her.

  I crouched down, tracing the edge of the heat like shimmer with my eyes.

  Let's see what the source of this mana is.