Setting Out to Meet Grandmaster
"Godmother, how did you turn into a frog?"
Li Yan's eyes widened. Flamme, who had been sitting in her seat, had turned into a frog as big as a head.
The next second, Li Yan felt the world spin around him. His body began changing without his control, his hands and feet slowly shrinking and his skin turning green. His junior sister stared in surprise, her mouth slightly open, as she kept flipping through the Magic Tome.
After a day of farce, Li Yan looked at himself, human again, and felt that the world of magic was quite dangerous, as his junior sister's cooking had just demonstrated.
The moment Flamme returned to normal, a big bump appeared on Frieren's head. When Frieren brought out the culprit, the Magic Gourmet Grimoire, Flamme gnashed her teeth in anger.
Li Yan picked up the Magic Gourmet Grimoire, which Flamme had placed on the highest shelf. When he saw the ingredients inside, he finally realized how strange the things he had eaten were.
It was a grimoire on Magic Item Creation, containing knowledge about Magic Food. Three large characters were engraved in the author's name field: Serie.
"Frieren, you don't have to cook anymore. Your senior brother can handle the meals from now on. He was the one who brought you back, after all."
Flamme spoke with dark lines across her face. It was the first time she had seen anyone use a Magic Tome to make lunch. The foods in Magic Tomes generally had their own unique properties.
"Exactly. Frieren, stay out of the kitchen from now on."
Li Yan spoke solemnly, placing Serie's Magic Tome on a shelf Frieren was too short to reach. He absolutely could not let Frieren see the book again.
Frieren touched her little index fingers together, looking aggrieved, and nodded her little head earnestly.
That night, Li Yan cooked himself: stir-fried pork with chili peppers, egg drop soup, and stir-fried tomatoes with tomatoes. Flamme couldn't stop praising the Chinese dishes, while Frieren kept drinking water as she ate, clearly stung by the chilies.
"A Yan, the dishes you invented really do suit my taste." Flamme laughed and pulled Li Yan into her arms, cuddling him.
Feeling Flamme's affection, Li Yan could only puff out his cheeks and accept the soft, ample flesh pressing against his face.
Frieren drank cold water with her tongue sticking out, but she still couldn't bear to put down her chopsticks. The stir-fried pork with chili peppers was spicy, but it really was delicious.
The stir-fried tomatoes with tomatoes were also especially delicious with chili peppers added, giving the dish a spicy, sweet-and-sour taste.
After the filling meal, Frieren was assigned to wash the dishes, while Li Yan began his daily exercise routine. As a Magic Warrior, training his body was the most important thing. Ten thousand push-ups and thirty thousand pull-ups every night were mandatory, and he occasionally trained his back strength and legs.
Flamme liked to sit on Li Yan's back and read Magic Tomes while he did push-ups. Compared to those cold, hard stools, her godson's back was much more comfortable.
Frieren finished washing the dishes with a bitter look on her face. She hated washing dishes, and she had to do them all by herself every day. She wanted a spell that could clean every dish and utensil in an instant, so she could be lazy and avoid washing them herself.
After completing the day's workout, Li Yan let out a stale breath. If his magic level was 38, then his physical strength had already reached 50. He only spent a few hours exercising his body occasionally. Perhaps this was the talent of someone born into the greatest warrior family, though he had also put in considerable effort.
Every day, he faithfully soaked in the medicinal baths his family specially provided for him. The food he ate was all top-grade demon beast meat, and his supplements included dragon hearts and dragon blood. Those weren't from some second-rate dragons, but from True Dragons.
"A Yan, finished exercising? Go take a bath. There's still hot water. Your junior sister and I just finished bathing."
Wearing a bathrobe, Flamme picked up a handkerchief from the table and wiped the sweat from Li Yan's body.
"Mm, I know."
Li Yan loosened up his body, then drank all the Warrior's Secret Medicine prepared on the table. These were supplements his family had sent him. He was still a child and needed nutrition.
That night, after his bath, Li Yan gazed at the bright night sky while Flamme used her Hot Air Magic on his damp hair. The spell was especially useful for drying hair after a bath.
"A Yan, we're going to see your grandmaster tomorrow. Make sure you speak sweetly when you meet her. Your grandmaster is a little childish."
Flamme gently stroked Li Yan's hair, a hint of longing appearing on her face. She missed her own master too. Perhaps this amount of time was nothing to her venerable master. After all, to elves like them, a few human decades were only enough to study and gain a deep understanding of one spell.
"Mm."
Enjoying Flamme's gentle strokes, Li Yan answered softly and comfortably.
Early in the morning, Li Yan held the thoroughly bewildered Frieren's hand and followed close behind Flamme. Grandmaster's home was rather far away, so they needed to travel by carriage. Upon entering town, Flamme rented one, and their journey to see grandmaster officially began.
Sitting in the shabby carriage, Frieren curled up with a Magic Tome in her hands, so engrossed in it that she forgot everything else.
Li Yan leaned against Frieren and glanced at her Magic Tome out of the corner of his eye. It was a Magic Tome about cleaning dust from a room. Simply put, it described a spell that blew and sucked up dust. To a combat mage, it was the most useless spell in the world, but for everyday life, it was a nifty little skill.
It could easily clean a dusty room with just the time it took to cast a spell.
The Magic Tome was rather dull, and Li Yan couldn't think of anything to do, so he leaned against Frieren's shoulder and drifted off. Frieren turned her head to glance at her lazy senior brother, then looked at Flamme driving the carriage ahead. Finding nothing the matter, she silently lowered her head and resumed absorbing the knowledge in the Magic Tome.
The road was full of potholes; it had to be said that it was a dirt road riddled with holes. Frieren found it very inconvenient to read on this road, but when she saw that her senior brother Li Yan was still sleeping soundly without a care, she understood that no matter how difficult something was, as long as one didn't deliberately dwell on it, it would naturally be resolved with ease.
Having understood this principle, Frieren studied the Magic Tome intently. Even when her senior brother's head fell onto the boards of the carriage, she did not tear herself away from the ocean of knowledge.
She admired her senior brother. Even after his body had fallen onto the carriage boards, he was still asleep, undisturbed by the outside world.
"A Yan, A Yan, wake up. There's a big fellow blocking the road. Go take care of it."
Still groggy, Li Yan was awakened by the familiar voice. Looking at Flamme's face, he rubbed his blurry eyes. Ahead of the carriage, a winged Giant Lion Demon was staring fiercely at the carriage he was riding in.
"What a nuisance... disturbing my peaceful sleep."
Li Yan frowned and took the Holy Sword from his pack. Magic wasn't enough to quell his anger, but the Holy Sword was just right for the job. The moment he swung it, a vivid look of terror appeared on the Giant Lion Demon's face...