"Yeah, but she became a mage goddess by breaking through the grand archmage.
She doesn't even have a temple or anything... She barely cares if people believe her or not."
Alex's answer made Meiya fall into silence for a second, but she quickly recalled what she saw in the capital.
"But faith is a real thing. There's a reason why your continent has so many churches with gods and goddesses fighting over people's faith."
"You're right... I never really thought of that."
Alex murmured as he suddenly remembered the textbook stating faith as an abstract energy, similar to mana.
---
An hour of extra training later...
As the three of them walked back into the living room, Meiya handed Alex back his sword.
"Ahem, I added Qi into this sword... And since you said it's a little bit too big, I made it a little smaller for you."
"Thank you."
Examining the longsword, Alex could feel it had shrunk almost a third of its size to more of a shortsword.
It was now going from his waist to his feet rather than having it from his chest to his feet.
"Actually, can you cook us dinner first?"
Alex let out a sigh as he opened the door before the two quickly followed him back home.
When he arrived at the doorstep, he was surprised to see a dark figure sitting in the living room.
As soon as he opened the door, all of his concern disappeared as it was Amelia sitting in the living room.
"Hey, Amelia." Luqing and Meiya waved as they walked into the house behind Alex.
"Hey Luqing and Miss Meiya... Alex, you didn't lock the door?" Amelia asked as Alex waved to her.
"I don't have a key... If I lock it, then I won't be able to come back home." Alex replied as the three of them sat across from Amelia.
"Your mom will be real mad if she learned you didn't lock the door..." Amelia pointed out, seemingly ignoring Alex's reasoning.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyway, what makes you show up here today?" Alex straightforwardly asked.
"Luqing, Miss Meiya, can I talk to Alex in private for a second?"
"Sure."
The two of them headed straight to the storage room before the door of the back entrance could be heard being opened.
"Alex, have you felt any different since yesterday morning?" Amelia asked as she pulled out a clipboard and pen.
"Not really... I feel my mana regeneration is faster than before... That's pretty much it."
"That's good... At least the direction was right. I just needed to cut all those ingredients out."
After Amelia noted her comment, she quickly entered it into her pocket dimension before turning back to Alex.
"Ahem, Alex... I want you to be honest with me. I just want to ask you a question."
Seeing Amelia's serious face, Alex nervously nodded as his heart started racing.
"You... You aren't exactly a boy, are you?"
"Don't worry about it... Actually, wait, do you want to be a boy or a girl?" Amelia suddenly asked.
"What do you think?" Alex rolled his eyes as he stared right into Amelia's eyes.
"Nevermind... Ahem, just another question. Are you attracted to boys or girls?"
"Are you just making fun of me or what?" Alex asked, starting to get a little annoyed by her question.
"What? I'm being serious. I won't shame you if you like either one. I quite frankly know a few people who are attracted to their own——"
Before Amelia could finish talking, Alex suddenly got up from the sofa and walked over to her.
Her face fell into shock as Alex kissed her on the lips before quickly running back towards the storage room.
"Alex, you!——"
"Miss Luqing, Miss Meiya, you can come back in now!" Alex yelled as he opened the back entrance.
Amelia stopped as she stood by the storage room doorway, her face blushing red as the other two walked in.
Out of shame and embarrassment from being played by a kid, a shroud of darkness appeared before she vanished from thin air.
"Huh? Did she just disappear?" Meiya curiously asked as she could see the dark particle in the air.
"Yeah... I'll go cook dinner now, Luqing. Do you want to help me?"
"Sure."
"wait, let me help too!" Meiya yelled as she tried to get into the kitchen, wanting to be with Luqing.
"No, thank you. Please just stay on the sofa and wait for the food." Alex replied as he closed the kitchen door.
---
When Alex and Luqing finished cooking, Katherine and the other two had also returned home.
The cooking session was forced to be extended, as Alex didn't account for three more people.
Fortunately, they also got a new helper, Katherine, to help with managing the cook.
Alex went on backline duty, directing the two from cutting the ingredients to the amount of seasoning and fire temperature.
After almost an entire hour of cooking, the three were finally done with cooking a six-man meal.
"Okay, please try out our Slow-Braised Beef Stew... It might look a little weird, but I can promise it tastes good."
Alex replied as Katherine carried an entire pot to the dining table, with Luqing carrying plates of pasta to the table.
Sophia and Mary both didn't hesitate a single bit as they picked a small piece of beef before eating it.
"Yum! It's so good!" Sophia commented as she quickly picked up another piece.
"It's perfect!" Mary excitedly murmured as she picked up another piece of the beef as well.
Meiya finally joined in as she picked up a piece and ate it down, only to have her face shocked by the taste.
"Alex, how are you so good at cooking this young?" Meiya curiously asked as she picked up another piece.
Alex only awkwardly smiled back and scratched his head as he didn't have any response to the question.
"Let me just give you guys a portion of it."
Katherine interrupted the three of them from getting more as she picked up a serving and started splitting it into each of the plates.