"Long time no see, Yuuki. Not bad, looks like you haven't slacked off on your physical fitness either."
Upon arrival at the Totsuki Resort, Gin Dojima, who had received prior notice, was already waiting. After they met, Dojima's right hand landed directly on Yuuki's shoulder, much like a friendly arm-around-the-shoulder gesture between pals.
Hearing this, Yuuki felt a bit speechless. His physical condition was indeed very good, all thanks to Gin Dojima. According to Dojima, a good chef must have sufficiently good physical fitness.
So, when Yuuki was young, Dojima had constantly urged him to exercise more. It was precisely because of this that Yuuki's physical fitness was considerably better than that of an average person.
Now, after learning Food Honor, he was even more formidable. To an average adult, he was practically a mini-superman.
The two chatted as they walked towards a kitchen. It was now necessary to test the specifics of Yuuki's special ability.
Although Dojima knew Yuuki wouldn't deceive him about such matters, he still needed concrete data to report to Senzaemon Nakiri.
"Here we are. This is the kitchen. According to your description, your ability can release high-temperature steam and enhance your sense of touch. So, we'll mainly test these two aspects next."
Upon entering the kitchen, several people were already inside. These individuals had been arranged by Dojima and were responsible for recording Yuuki's test data.
Seeing this, Yuuki's expression turned a bit odd. If it weren't for the abundance of cooking utensils, ingredients, and various equipment here, he might have thought he'd walked into some kind of research institute.
"So, which aspect should we start testing first?" Yuuki asked.
"Let's start with touch. The ingredients here—touch them and give us the specific data. Then, the others will perform measurements," Gin Dojima said, gesturing towards the large quantity of ingredients beside him.
Hearing this, Yuuki nodded directly and walked over to the ingredients. The moment his hand touched an ingredient, its specific information was fed back to him.
Weight, size, internal condition—in just an instant, the ingredient was thoroughly analyzed.
Yuuki directly relayed the data he obtained to everyone. The person responsible for recording the data quickly jotted it down.
After the recording was complete, another person used other equipment for verification.
"Weight and size match perfectly! Even the internal structure is identical! This... this is basically a tactile version of the God's Tongue!"
After a series of measurements, everyone present was astonished. The strength of Yuuki's sense of touch had surpassed their understanding, making them feel as if they were witnessing the scenes of Erina Nakiri undergoing various tests back then.
"Yuuki, continue! One ingredient isn't enough!"
Although Dojima was also very surprised, he had at least heard about it from Yuuki beforehand, so he quickly recovered and told Yuuki to continue testing.
To ensure the accuracy of the data, multiple tests were necessary.
Yuuki, of course, complied. As data for various ingredients was completed, Yuuki even tested various cooking utensils, tables, chairs, and some prepared dishes.
Although Yuuki only knew a small portion of the materials, the data regarding weight and size was never wrong.
"The result of every test is perfect. This special ability is comparable to the God's Tongue!"
Ultimately, everyone reached this conclusion. Whatever the God's Tongue could do, Yuuki's sense of touch could also do; it was just a matter of touch versus taste.
They even felt that Yuuki's sense of touch surpassed Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue.
After all, it wasn't clear if this sense of touch had any flaws, and it was supposedly only part of his special ability. Therefore, in their view, Yuuki's ability completely transcended Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue.
"Then, let's begin the second part of the test. Are you ready, Yuuki?" Dojima asked.
"Ready. But the commotion might be a little big later, so don't get scared!" Yuuki said with a smile. The Inferno ability could create quite a disturbance. Not even mentioning igniting flames, just releasing high-temperature steam could turn the area around Yuuki into a death zone.
Once flames were ignited, it was even more terrifying. As long as there were enough combustible materials, someone with the Inferno ability could create a sea of fire at any time.
"Don't worry. Even if you destroy this kitchen, it's fine," Dojima said with a laugh. His words were just a joke; he didn't actually think Yuuki could destroy the kitchen.
In reality, burning down a kitchen would be laughably easy for Yuuki, given his perfect control over Inferno.
Alkan could melt iron chains even while submerged in water, let alone him. However, Yuuki wasn't some kind of pyromaniac and naturally wouldn't do such a thing. He also didn't plan to reveal the full extent of Inferno.
As the test began, Yuuki picked up a piece of firewood. The next second, a large amount of high-temperature steam was released from his right hand. Normally, igniting a piece of firewood would take time, yet the firewood in Yuuki's hand now seemed like a matchstick, instantly catching fire.
Although he was holding the flame-engulfed firewood, Yuuki could ignore the burning sensation—a benefit of the Inferno ability.
While Yuuki wouldn't claim to be immune to all fire damage, ordinary flames couldn't harm him at all.
"It ignited in an instant! Just how high is the temperature of this steam?!"
Seeing the firewood flare up like a match, everyone was startled. The speed at which the wood ignited was simply too fast.
Before they could fully process their surprise, the flames burning on the firewood in Yuuki's hand seemed to come alive, directly forming a ring of fire above his right hand.
Actually, while the Inferno ability could control fire, it couldn't achieve such fine precision as Yuuki demonstrated. Yuuki was able to do this entirely because of the enhancement from Food Honor.
With the boost from Food Honor, his control over energy was effortless, allowing him to manipulate flames in such a manner.
And this was just basic Food Honor. As his Food Honor continued to improve, his control would become increasingly stronger. At that point, never mind simply changing shapes; even using flames to draw would be a simple task for him.
"To be able to control flames with such precision—his advantage in fire control is unparalleled!"
As a chef, and a First Class Chef second only to Special Class, Gin Dojima clearly understood the benefits such fire control ability brought.
He understood that Yuuki was already invincible in terms of fire control; No one could compare to him in this aspect.
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~# Keep the chapters coming — Support with Power Stones!
~# Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter