Monster Integration

"11 out of 100, no have no technique, no finesse, the only thing you have is a little bit of control." He said as he took a drink of my soup.

His expressions are the worst; his face looks like he had eaten a shit. I know it is bad but never expected this bad to make him contort his face like he had eaten the shit.

I took a spoon beside me and tasted the soup I created; I am quite stumped when I tasted it. It is the best thing, Ive ever cooked, but when I compared to what I tasted before, it tastes like shit.

"You have made many mistakes, and I will tell them to you one by one." He said before he directly looks into my eyes. 

"At the start, you have directly cut through the central node of Kelche, not only of it, but you have cut the central note of other materials too and may many minor nodes."

"Next you…" 

He stated all my mistakes one by one, half of them I hadn't realized I had made. 

"Now, let me show you again, this time I will take very slow and explain everything; you can even ask questions mid cooking." He said, and he started to cook again.

This time he took real slow; he made his energies even more prominent; not only that, but he also started to give me tips and tricks of doing things which I had immediately committed to the memory.

"Now, try again." He said, after swatting my hands and making soup disappear. I could taste one dish only one time; I have to commit the taste to the memory.

I again started cooking, and this time too, I made the same mistake and cut the central node, but I did not stop; I continued. 

I continued, making fewer mistakes and repeating the same mistakes that I had made previously, but one thing is clear, Ive made progress.

"18 out of 100, progress but not much, there are still mountain worth of mistakes." He said before he started explaining everything again, I asked him to explain something in more detail, and he did.

I observed that as long ask him a question about cooking; he will answer; as for other things, he will straight up ignore.

After his explanation, I again tried, and this time, I made the same mistake and got a score of 21, which was little improvement, but as he said, not much.

Time passed by, and it is now my eleventh try. After trying so hard, I learned so much; under the guidance of this being, my control had improved tremendously in a short period.

This being must be immensely powerful that the shadow or runic program he left behind is this powerful. The teacher had provided me with guidance in energy control and other things, but her guidance was never this deep.

This being is directly finding the root of my problem and finding a way to fix; he does not directly tell me what to do, just showing me the way.

There is also one thing, I do not have to copy him completely. Everybody's style is different, and if I copy him, I will never be able to move forward.

After the 8th attempt, I started to experiment with my style; I am following the recipe but in my way. The first experiment was a total bust, but after that, my progress was rapid.

I already had everything I needed to cook the recipe; the problem was that I was trying to follow him completely and not focusing on my way.

This was my best attempt yet; it was the first time I could control my energy enough that I had not cut the central node of all three materials, which I did in every try.

"Try it," I said as I finally put off the fire; I have made a change in the fire too, and instead of using one from the counter, Ive been using my fire, which I usually use and more familiar with.

"56, you have made great improvements in this attempt, but there are still obvious mistakes." He said and again began to point out my mistakes, which were small but very difficult to fix.

I need to get eighty points from it, and only then will I have to move to another recipe that is slightly more difficult than it.

In this Tome, there are 1000 Recipies, with each one getting slightly more complicated than the previous. When I was able to cook all the 1000 dishes perfectly, I would call myself a cook, which is of the lowest level; they were his words, not mine.

I tried by another three times and got a score of 64 before finally deciding to go out as I have started to feel tired and just remembered, and I had been in the book for more than twelve hours without care for what is going on outside.

Some monster would have gotten inside and had killed me, or it had already attacked me, and I am bleeding on the floor; I can't sense anything about the outside of this book.

I willed my mind and got out of the book immediately there. I found myself in the same position as I was when Tome had sucked me inside it.

"Gasp!"

The first thing I did was check on time; I wanted to see how much time I had spent on the book, and when I looked, I couldn't help but gasp loudly.

I am entirely gobsmacked; there is barely any time had passed though Ive seen time when I opened the book, but I don't think more than fifteen minutes has passed.

This couldn't help but put a bright smile on my face; the book taking less time means many things. I could now spend hours practicing where there are barely minutes had passed here; it is such a good thing.