Leonel sighed hearing Aina's question. Quite frankly, he didn't know how to respond.
Was he alright? Well, technically, there wasn't anything wrong with him. His life wasn't in danger, his future wasn't exactly bleak… Truthfully, he didn't have very much to worry about at all.
Of course, if the mbers of Shield Cross Stars heard these thoughts of his, it would be hard to tell how they would react. After all, no one had ever had such a nonchalant response to being designated a Tier 3 Criminal.
To put matters into perspective, to even be labeled a Tier 9 Criminal was enough to have bounty hunters breathing down your neck. To leap from a Tier 4 Criminal to a Tier 3 was the equivalent of being a felon that could be sentenced to consecutive life sentences. Leonel was quite literally only short of individuals known for destroying worlds, solar systems and galaxies. This was how serious this matter was.
Yet, Leonel hardly spared a thought toward this matter. In fact, ever since his conversation with his grandfather, it was all that had been on his mind. He couldn't find a reason to care about anything else.
If it wasn't for the fact that Leonel had already sworn to himself to find a cure for Aina, he might have had no other purpose but to lounge around in depression at the mont.
Maybe the harshest truth of it all was that Leonel didn't feel that this matter was even as serious as that. Depression was often sothing a person couldn't control, an imbalance in the chemicals of the mind that caused up and down swings in mood. Leonel couldn't say he was going through such a thing, but what he did know was that he felt everything that had once been in his control was slowly but surely slipping away.
Leonel sighed again.
"I just don't feel like I have as much of a grasp on things as I once did. I find it laughable that I thought I understood anything to begin with."
Aina gazed toward Leonel, unsure of how she should answer.
She didn't feel as strongly about certain things as Leonel did. The deaths of the common folk of Earth? She didn't spare them a thought. There were so things about this cruel world that she was just numb to. If it wasn't for the fact it was soone she cared about feeling this way, even to this point she might not have spared a thought toward those matters.
However, at the sa ti, she didn't want Leonel to keep running from his own thoughts. She was herself while he was him. They would never be the sa. While she found it easy to ignore such things, Leonel wasn't the sa.
That said… Aina felt that there was sothing off about how much Leonel cared, almost as though he was trying to cling to ideals that weren't his own while he ran from an even larger problem.
Unfortunately… Maybe the one things Leonel had never told Aina was about his conversation with Coach Owen and the truth surrounding his birth. Whether by coincidence and subconsciously, or on purpose and consciously, she didn't have the final piece of the puzzle that she needed.
"Did you always know how to cook this well?" Leonel shook his head, quickly changing the subject.
Aina realized what he was doing, but there were so things that couldn't be pressed. If Leonel didn't want to talk about it, forcing him to do so would only make him shut down.
"No," Aina replied with a smile, "Usually it was Yuri who always took care of the cooking. I was bored so I thought I would try my hand at it."
Aina waved off her efforts with a hand. But, Leonel's silent smile seed to see right through her.
"I think it's more than just that." Leonel said after Aina began squirming in her seat beneath his gaze. "There was sothing special about your cooking, as though it had its own unique flow of energy. It was definitely beyond anything I've ever eaten before."
Aina couldn't help but smile at such praise. Just that sentence alone seed to make all her efforts worthwhile.
"I'm not sure… I only relied on my ability to tell what combinations would work well. In the end, this was the product."
"Your ability evolved?"
"Mm." Aina nodded. "Beyond self-healing and my training intuition, I can tell what resources I need to consu to improve myself…"
Leonel's gaze glowed. Even without knowing much about the Dinsional Verse, Leonel felt that this ability would most definitely be exceptionally rare. If just a few days of experintation allowed Aina's cooking to have such effects, what if she put in more effort than that?
"Have you ever thought about becoming a Force Pill Refiner?" Leonel suddenly asked.
"Force Pill Refiner…" Aina was stunned.
They were called a lot of things. Force Pill Refiners, Alchemists, Potionsmiths, Elixir Crafters…
In truth, their products didn't always co in the form of pills. Sotis it was Elixirs and Potions, sotis it was ointnts and topical creams, and yet other tis it could co in the form of brews or… food.
Though they ca in many different variations, their core principles were similar enough to be lumped into a single group. But, much like languages across worlds, they often had different thods of communication to accomplish the sa goals.
This was why Leonel was so certain that if Aina could do this, translating her ability to create pills, elixirs, or ointnts wouldn't be too large of a leap. Even if she only wanted to focus on food it wouldn't be a major loss, albeit a waste of her talent.
Aina smiled. "You know about such things?"
Leonel almost blushed if it wasn't for the fact his skin was so thick.
Aina wasn't wrong. Usually, it was her teaching him about things like this. He was about as ignorant as it ca when it was in regards to matters of the Dinsional Verse. It could be said that the only reason Leonel knew about this profession at all was due to the introductory Crafting lessons his father had given him.
"But you're right." Aina continued after teasing Leonel. "I think that learning more systematically rather than relying on my talent will help improve faster."
In Aina's mind, all that mattered was if she could grow stronger. Becoming a Force Pill Crafter was definitely one such thod. It would definitely help her self-training reach a completely new level.
Just as Leonel was about to respond, his ring began to vibrate.
'Huh… Valiant Heart Mountain…? So soon?'
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