Earth's Alpha Prime

By the time Jay reached, the rest of the Earth's Alpha Chosen had gathered on the ground floor, chatting and cheering as Dante cooked for them.

The intense atmosphere that was supposed to be there before the Tournament's last Round was nowhere to be seen, and instead, it looked more like they were on a holiday trip.

"Oh man!! How is this soo good?! I have to give it to Dante; his cooking is the best I have tasted so far." Henry exclaimed while licking his oil-greased fingers.

Even the usually silent Kensei chimed in, "Indeed."

It wasn't just those two; the rest of the Earth's Alpha Chosen enjoyed the food Dante prepared for them, everyone except Andrea.

With a chunk of meat in his mouth, Kasim garbled, "I am telling you, Andrea, you are missing out on something your tastebuds would thank you for."

"No thanks. I am a vegetarian and do not wish to change that. You guys proceed without me."

Andrea replied with a straight face, but deep inside she wondered if the monster meat really tasted as delicious as the others made it look.

On the side, Dante was done with the starters and went on to cook the main dish.

Although Dante didn't show it on the surface, the glow on his face didn't hide the happiness from their praises.

Still, he didn't take all the credit for himself, "If it weren't for this Cookware that allows Spirit Energy infusion, the food I made wouldn't taste so other-worldly no matter how skilled I am."

Back when Dante travelled to other Trial Zones with Jay and Akor, they used to eat monster meat, and he was the one who cooked for them.

They resorted to monster meat not because they didn't have any other food on them but due to the boost in recovery and the nourishment it brought to maintain one's body in a top-notch condition.

Later, MJ made a set of cookware for Dante based on the ones commonly used in the rest of the System-assimilated Universe.

The special cookware uses Spirit Energy to bring out temperatures high enough to cook monster meat. Due to the characteristic of absorbing Spirit Energy and the enriching taste, monster meat was the most sought out food choice.

The higher the monster's Tier, the greater the Spirit Energy its meat can absorb, the tastier the meat, and so were the benefits to the consumer.

Although the Earth's Alpha Chosen knew about that, they still praised Dante for his effort.

At that moment, Jay walked in on them, and none of the Alpha Chosen said a word, except for Dante, "Come on, Jay, join us."

Among them, Dante was the one who would casually talk like that to Jay. A few peeked at Jay, waiting for his answer.

"I have other matters at hand. You guys continue without me."

Jay's reply didn't come as a surprise to them as they were long used to his stern and aloof behaviour.

"Alright, when you are done, feel free to have a bite."

Although Dante put on his usually cheerful face, there was a tinge of sadness in his voice. That didn't escape Jay, who was privy to all their thoughts.

He paused by the stairs and hesitated before flicking his finger at a meat kebab skewer, which flew into hand.

Jay took a bite at it and called for Dante before resuming his steps, "Pretty good, but with Tier-3 High-Phase monster meat, it would taste even better. No need to reserve that for me anymore; use it for everyone without any qualms."

To others, it was a rare moment to see Jay interact the way he did with Dante. From the way he was from the beginning, it was evident to them that Jay built walls around himself.

It wasn't hard for them to guess Jay must have had a bitter past when it came to trusting others, but when it came to Dante, those walls weren't as high as they did for the rest of the Earth's Alpha Chosen.

Jay's words wiped the bitterness on Dante's face and brought back his usual cheerfulness, if not even more.

Dante brought out a large lump of Tier-3 High-Phase monster meat from his storage ring and exclaimed, "You guys are in for a treat. In terms of taste, if I have to rate the Tier-3 Low-Phase monster meat we just had as '1', then this would be a '10'!!"

Meanwhile, Jay made his way to his room and started testing Akor's Exclusive Innate skills one by one, starting with <Acceleration Buff>.

As the user, it would cost him 10% of his Spirit Energy to cast it and another 10% for being the target of the buff.

At a total expenditure of 20% Spirit Energy, the skill activated, but there wasn't any change in his stats.

The only discernible difference was the azure film that blanketed Jay's entire body, similar to the one Rex had when he fought against Akor.

Aside from that, a lithe sensation washed over him, making his body feel lighter than ever.

Jay tried taking a step, but he crossed over four steps unbeknownst to himself despite any extra effort.

He tried the same again with a single long stride, and his feet whizzed past four meters. Jay then went with a quick jog, but that ended up with him almost bashing into a wall.

So, instead of tuning his speed up, Jay kept his movements as minimalistic as possible to get a hang of the newfound movement speed.

If Jay had to get used to it by himself, that would take several hours, if not days, to master it. But to him, there was a way to hasten the process.

Using the 'XIII Minor ORIGIN SIGIL' he had granted to Rex, Jay synchronised with Lv.30 <Minor Runner Mastery>.