ARIFURETA: Cooking to be the Strongest?

Yue was now settled comfortably in front of Shin, a newfound cheerfulness radiating from her small frame.

Her crimson eyes sparkled with anticipation as she eagerly listened to Shin, ready for the continuation of his tool demonstration.

The aftermath of their shared meal had created a comfortable, almost domestic atmosphere in their temporary cave sanctuary, a stark contrast to Shin's usual silent and gloomy base.

"Alright, so you've seen the knife,"

Shin began, a faint smirk playing on his lips

 "Now for the other two. Let's start with this."

He extended his hand, and with a familiar shimmer, a wooden sword materialized in his grasp.

"A wooden sword?" 

Yue tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Yep, though you must have already seen this many times during the battle,"

Shin confirmed.

"Here, take it."

"But won't it just vanish if you let go?"

Yue pouted, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Having experienced the disappearing obsidian knife, she was on high alert this time, determined not to be playfully tricked again.

Shin didn't reply, simply letting go of the wooden sword.

To Yue's astonishment, it remained solid in her hands; it did not vanish.

"Mmm, eh?... It's not vanishing?" Yue's bewildered expression was a mix of surprise and mild exasperation.

"Well, among the three I currently have, the obsidian knife seems to be the only special case, I guess?" Shin said, a small smile playing on his lips as he enjoyed Yue's reaction.

"Mmmph,"

Yue mumbled, pouting again.

She had been successfully pranked despite her vigilance.

With the wooden sword now firmly in her grasp, Yue started testing its weight, turning it over in her hands.

"It's really light, and I can't sense any special aura about it?" 

It looked like any ordinary, well-crafted wooden sword, perhaps made from a dense, dark wood, yet it felt strangely inert, devoid of any magical aura, and indeed, incredibly light.

"It might look normal,"

Shin explained, observing her careful examination

 "but this one's got some unusual properties. It's incredibly durable, almost unbreakable, but it can't cut anything."

To demonstrate, Shin reached for a piece of the scorpion monster's carapace he'd set aside earlier, along with some of its thick monster bones from the one-eyed gorilla monster and a crudely fashioned bone sword he kept as a test weapon.

He first took the bone sword.

With a practiced motion, he brought it down sharply against one of the scorpion's bones.

A clean crack echoed through the cave as the bone split, but the bone sword itself immediately chipped, a piece breaking off its brittle edge.

"Usually, this happens when I use a normal sword or this bone sword," Shin explained, showing her the damaged edge.

"Though the cutting power is decent, it really breaks under my strength, so I prefer not using these things unless I have no other choice."

"Mmm," Yue nodded, her eyes fixed on the large bone that had split cleanly in two under Shin's demonstration.

Then, Shin took the wooden sword from Yue's hands.

"But with this sword..."

He swung it with surprising force, bringing it down squarely onto another piece of the monster bone.

Instead of cutting, a dull THWACK! reverberated, and the bone didn't just break; it pulverized, shattering into fine fragments and dust.

Yue's eyes widened in astonishment.

The raw, blunt force was astounding for a simple wooden weapon.

Shin then turned to a larger section of the scorpion's carapace armor, a piece that had resisted even the initial attacks from his wooden sword during their fight, only being chipped by his most powerful blows.

He swung the wooden sword again, bringing it down with all his might onto the impossibly tough chitin.

A solid THUD resonated, and a small, almost imperceptible chip flew off the carapace. The wooden sword, however, remained completely unscathed, not a single scratch or splinter.

"If I were stronger, or had more time to train with it, I'm confident I could smash this entire armor with just this,"

Shin stated, a glimmer of determination in his eyes

 "It's all about applying enough force. It doesn't cut, but it hits really hard."

He then offered the wooden sword back to Yue once more.

"Here, you can check and examine it properly again."

Yue took the wooden sword again, this time carefully examining it, her fingers running along its smooth surface.

"Mmmmrggh!!" Yue hummed, a comical grunt escaping her as she struggled, trying with all her might to test the wooden sword's resilience.

She tried to bend it, to twist it, but it held firm, surprisingly rigid for wood.

It was an enigma, a tool that defied conventional understanding of its material.

She really could feel no magic, no enchantments, just an inert, unyielding resilience.

Shin watched her comical attempts—a girl barely the height of a middle schooler trying to break his wooden sword.

She even tried casting magic on it, but the mini blue fire Yue threw at it simply dissipated, leaving the wooden sword unharmed.

While Yue was still absorbed in examining the peculiar wooden sword, Shin manifested his final tool.

This time, it was an old book.

"A book?" Yue said, her attention immediately snapping to the worn, leather-bound tome that had appeared in Shin's hand.

"Yes, a book," Shin confirmed with a smile.

Yue gently set the wooden sword aside, her curiosity now fully captivated.

"This old book of mine is quite peculiar and incredibly useful,"

Shin explained, holding it up.

"Though it's not directly useful in battle, its utility for exploration and information gathering is unmatched."

With the book in his hands and Yue's full attention, Shin began to explain its properties.

"Its most basic property is its infinite pages. It seems to be able to gather endless information. The paper itself is incredibly tough—hard to cut, and almost impossible to burn out, even with a strong flame."

He started showing Yue, flipping a number of blank pages to demonstrate.

"The pages also regenerate after being cut,"

Shin added, rubbing his chin, a nostalgic look on his face.

"Perfect as a replacement for fuel. The first time this thing manifested to me, I used one of its pages to cook raw monster meat."

He chuckled softly, remembering that desperate first fire he'd ignited in the Abyss.

He then paused, looking at Yue expectantly.

"But its real value lies in its utility."

He leaned closer to Yue and handed her the book.

She received it carefully, her fingers tracing the faded symbols on its cover.

Its pages, though ancient in appearance, felt surprisingly durable.

Shin then flipped to an empty page, and from a small vial he produced, he dropped a few drops of blood from the scorpion monster and the one-eyed gorilla he'd fought earlier onto the blank page.

Immediately, the book began to "scribble" on its own, drawing detailed images and compiling information about the creatures.

This surprised Yue, watching as the previously empty page filled itself with data before her eyes.

Shin, however, did not stop there, continuing his explanation.

"The other function of the book is its ability to automatically map areas I've been to. If I go anywhere, it maps it."

"It's actually how I found the hidden room where you were sealed,"

Shin added, a hint of his earlier frustration with the labyrinth's endless nature returning.

"The map function showed a peculiar, uncharted void in the map of this current place, which is usually covered with a vine forest.

So I checked it before proceeding to the next floor. And then I found you."

Yue listened intently, her fingers already flipping through the book's pages.

Hearing that the book was the direct cause of Shin being able to find her, she grew immensely fond of it.

As someone who already had a natural fondness for books, her connection to this one became much stronger; it belonged to Shin, who had saved her and set her free, and it was also the reason why she was able to find him.

As Shin spoke, she found herself gazing at meticulously detailed illustrations of monsters—creatures she vaguely recognized from fragmented memories, most likely the very beasts Shin had hunted during his long, solitary journey through the Abyss.

The book provided intricate details about their anatomy, their weaknesses, and even their behavioral patterns.

The maps, though simple, were surprisingly accurate, showing routes and anomalies within the labyrinth.

She continued to flip, absorbing more and more information.

She flipped past detailed bestiaries, then maps, then geological formations of the labyrinth.

She kept turning page after page, each one filled with fascinating information.

But then, a peculiar problem arose.

Her fingers reached a deadlock.

She tried to turn the last page, but only the back cover could be seen.

She tried again, applying more pressure, but it was as if the pages beyond simply ceased to exist. She checked the page number: 2000.

The book had abruptly run out of pages for her.

"Mnn?" Yue murmured, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"It stopped. I can't flip past two thousand pages."

"Hmm, that's weird?" 

Shin murmured, taking the book back, a puzzled expression on his face.

He began to flip through the pages himself.

His thumb glided effortlessly past the 2000-page mark, page after page appearing as if from nowhere, continuously generating new empty pages.

He flipped several hundred more pages, then handed it back to Yue.

"Try again," he urged.

Yue took the book, tried to turn the page, but again, she met the same invisible barrier.

She could not move past the 1000-page limit.

The book stubbornly did not generate more pages beyond that point for her.

She looked at Shin again, a bewildered expression on her face, a silent question in her crimson eyes.