The morning sun filtered through the Mother Tree's bioluminescent canopy, casting Erina and Hisako in an ethereal glow as they stared at Zed, their expressions a mix of disbelief and intrigue.
"Cooking school? Here?" Erina echoed, clutching her Melk Blade's scabbard. "We're already chefs!"
Zed leaned against the regeneration center's polished oak doorframe, arms crossed. "In your world, maybe. Here?" He tossed them a Gourmet Times magazine open to a spread titled IGO's Top 100 Chefs of the Human World. "The head chef at a third-rate bistro here could turn your God Tongues into amateur palates."
Hisako scanned the pages—dishes sculpted from Meteorite Marble Beef, soups brewed with Eternal Ice Crystal Broth, desserts that defied gravitational logic. Her shoulders slumped. "We're… outclassed."
"Not for long." Zed snapped the magazine shut. "You'll enroll at Gourmet Academia, the finest culinary institute this side of the Gourmet Tower. Its dean, Chef Lonnie—ranked 8th in the IGO's Human World Division—agreed to mentor you personally."
Erina's eyes widened. "The eighth-ranked chef? How did you—?"
"Regeneration Masters have pull." Zed tapped the IGO emblem stitched onto his jacket—a privilege of his status as Yosaku's protégé. "When Yosaku rebuilt the Flower Field for the Eight Kings' dessert course, half the IGO's upper echelon owed him favors. Chef Lonnie's husband? Regenerated his pancreas after a Black Pepper Scorpion sting."
The Gourmet Cell Gambit
Later, over a breakfast of Solar Flare Omelets (their yolks literally sparking), Zed outlined the plan.
"Gourmet Academia's curriculum is brutal—Capture Level 50 ingredients, pressure-cooking in active volcanoes, flavor profiling while skydiving. But it'll force your God Tongues to evolve." He paused, studying their determined faces. "There's… another factor."
He explained Gourmet Cells—their risks, their necessity.
"So every bite we take here," Erina murmured, prodding her omelet's shimmering edge, "could rewrite our DNA?"
"With a million-fold boost, thanks to the system." Zed activated his Calorie Vision, revealing the dish's cellular matrix—a kaleidoscope of supercharged nutrients. "Eat. Train. Survive. Your bodies will adapt."
Hisako swallowed hard. "And if we… change too much?"
Zed's gaze drifted to a framed photo on the wall—Yosaku mid-surgery, elbow-deep in a Wailing Titan Squid. "You'll still be you. Just… more."
The Gourmet Academia
Three days later, they stood before Gourmet Academia's gates—a towering archway carved from Golden Honeycomb Marble. Students in Heat-Resistant Chef Whites sprinted past, hauling cages of shrieking Inferno Clams.
Chef Lonnie greeted them in her office, a volcanic glass desk between them. Her Gourmet Cell tattoos coiled up her arms like living recipes.
"Zed." She nodded, appraising the girls with eyes that had dissected thousand-course banquets. "These the prodigies?"
"Erina Nakiri. Hisako Arato." Zed gestured. "Their tongues could map flavor quadrants you've never dreamed of."
Lonnie smirked, sliding two contracts across the desk. "First lesson starts now. Identify every ingredient in this Mystery Stew—" She slapped a bubbling cauldron— "—or scrub Lava Crab tanks for a month."
The stew reeked of primordial chaos. Erina's God Tongue spasmed.
Hisako gulped. "What's in it?"
"Hundred-Beast Broth base," Zed whispered. "Thunderbird talons, Glacier Moss, Singing Truffle spores, and… something alive."
As the girls hesitantly lifted spoons, Lonnie's laugh boomed. "Welcome to the big leagues, kids."