Chapter 364: 364

Leaving the academy, Noctis and Unlucien stopped to think about what kind of food to get since Alexander wanted it for Michelle.

The two hunters were no hunters, and Michelle was a special case.

She could be said to be a hybrid of a human and a monster.

Monsters could eat human and beast meat, while humans ate monster and beast meat.

So, for Michelle, it was the most optimal to get where the two sets met, which was beast meat.

But there was another difference in monster and human food.

Human food needed to be cooked, but monsters, on the other hand, rarely ate cooked food.

Most of the time, their food was raw.

The only monsters that cared about their food being cooked were the humanoid ones that lived amongst humans.

And even among them, not all cared.

It was actually just a fraction that did care.

Finally, there were also monsters like Noctis and Unlucien, or most of the monsters from the Dark Palace, who sometimes ate the food raw, even still bloody, and sometimes cooked.

So, to think what food to get Michelle, the two had to think about how they themselves ate.

There was actually a difference in how their bodies reacted to cooked and uncooked food; mostly when it came to meat.

Because though monsters mostly ate meat, which made nearly everyone think they were carnivores, they could actually eat plant food.

And there was the same difference between cooked and uncooked food as with meat, but it wasn’t as drastic.

Well, and as for the difference in itself:

When monsters ate cooked, but unseasoned, food, the spirit energy they got from it was much less, but their bodies absorbed it way better—smoother.

Practically, that meant that when a monster ate cooked food right before it would reach a bottleneck in cultivation, the smooth absorption of the spirit energy would make it so they would overcome it much easier.

On the other hand, eating raw food gave them an explosive amount of spirit energy, but it would be harder and take longer to absorb.

Of course, the full amount of the spirit energy depended on the size of the food and the rank and level of the creature, or theoretically plant, the food came from.

Considering that, Noctis and Unlucien decided to just get some raw meat, and then, depending on what Michelle or Alexander said, they would either leave it, or cook it.

Because though it could sound crazy to some, most shadow guards knew some basics of cooking because of the duality in their eating habits.

Though neither Noctis nor Unlucien were hunters, they were very efficient killers.

So they quickly spotted a beast and killed it.

What took them a bit longer was cleaning the carcass, but together, they still worked somehow efficiently.

When the two returned to the academy, to the guest teacher’s residence, they saw Michelle lying in Alexander’s bed, her arms wrapped around his waist, as she rested her head on his lap.

She was using it as a pillow, and clearly, Alexander didn’t mind it the least bit, just rubbing her back like she was a child with trouble sleeping.

To Noctis and Unlucien, it was extremely uncomfortable to watch.

In their minds, Alexander wasn’t a gentle man; he didn’t take care of others or let them use him like Michelle was.

Alexander instantly noticed his subordinates’ presence, but he didn’t pay them much attention, keeping his attention on Michelle.

She probably wasn’t even aware of it, but he could see that she wasn’t being her normal self, most probably because of the hunger she had mentioned.

Unlike Alexander, the moment Michelle sensed Noctis and Unlucien’s presence, she propped herself up to look at them.

“You have the food?” she asked nearly instantly.

Unlucien reached into his space and took out something like a pouch.

All over the upper and heavenly realm, people were using that to cleanly transport and preserve food, but not for too long periods of time.

But a big disadvantage of those pouches was that they couldn’t block out, or rather keep in, the smell of the food.

So, a moment after Unlucien took the pouch out, the scent of raw meat wafted over to Michelle.

And in an instant, she could feel her mouth water and her salivary glands tighten.

Painfully.

It was the same reaction she had when she had entered the bloody bathroom of her dorm when she returned to the academy.

While Michelle salivated at the scent of the meat, Alexander had a brow raised.

“It’s raw?” he wasn’t exactly expecting that, but it also wasn’t anything that really surprised him all that much.

Looking over and seeing the state Michelle was in, Alexander understood that so it seemed she would be eating the meat raw.

She didn’t even look repulsed at the thought of it.

And, in fact, Alexander wasn’t even sure if it was because of the hunger clearly affecting her, and when she woke up from it, Michelle would be repulsed, or if she wouldn’t mind it even if everything was alright with her, especially in her head.

Unlucien handed the pouch over to Michelle and she opened it, reaching inside to take a piece out to eat.

As she did it, Alexander watched her the whole time.

While she only reached into the pouch, her expression was the same, quite calm, but when her fingers grasped the flesh, her expression flickered, her brows shivering for a moment like they were about to furrow into a frown.

Seeing that, Alexander grasped her wrist and pulled her hand out of the pouch.

“Raw food will do you no good…” he spoke calmly.

After that, he took the pouch and threw it back at Unlucien.

“Cook it!” he ordered.

Unlucien caught the pouch and disappeared from the room.

Noctis also disappeared, but that was probably to get into a higher point up in shadows and stand guard as he usually did.

When Unlucien disappeared with the pouch, Michelle tilted her head to look at Alexander.

“That was my food…” she really looked like a whining child.

“Why did you take away my food?” she added.

Alexander didn’t like the way Michelle was acting.

She wasn’t being herself.

It really felt like her mind had degraded into that of a brat.

And Alexander didn’t really know how to deal with children.

The only thing he could think about was lying down next to Michelle and wrapping his arms around her tightly so she couldn’t move.

So, when Unlucien returned after a while, he saw Alexander with his arms wrapped around Michelle as she glared at him.

But the moment she sensed Unlucien’s presence, like a child waiting for a gift, she turned at him.

“You have the food?” she asked with her eyes big with curiosity.

Unlucien took out a new pouch and stretched his hand out with it towards Michelle.

This time, the scent was very subtle, of cooked meat.

Michelle struggled against Alexander and he let go of her.

She instantly grabbed the pouch from Unlucien and opened it.

A moment later, she was already munching on some cooked meat, sitting against Alexander.

Slowly, her behavior returned to normal.

“Are you sane now?” Alexander leaned over her to look at her face.

Being spoken to, Michelle flinched like she just woke up from a trance, before quickly turning her head to look at Alexander.

She clearly didn’t know what was going on.

But her strange reaction was also a kind of proof that she was finally back to her normal self.

“Wha— a—…” she wanted to speak, but she realized a piece of meat was in her mouth.

If she opened her lips a bit more, the meat would fall down.

So, she quickly took it out of her mouth.

“What am I doing in your room?” she finally asked what she wanted to know.

From her confusion, even a fool could tell she didn’t recollect what had happened.

“Where do you remember being last?” Alexander asked.

“I was just leaving the cafeteria,” Michelle was sure of it.

To her, it felt like she had been teleported to Alexander and someone put the meat into her mouth.

“Were you still hungry when you left the place?” Alexander continued asking.

Michelle nodded. “Quite a bit. The food in the cafeteria did nothing to help with my hunger.”

“What about now?” Alexander watched her expression closely.

Michelle frowned a bit.

“The hunger’s gone,” she answered honestly.

“But not completely…” she added.

As she said that, she looked down at the piece of meat in her hand.

When she came back to her senses, that was in her hand, so was that what quenched her hunger?

Thinking about that, she bit down on the meat.

Its taste wasn’t all that distinct, but for some reason, it made Michelle want more.

“So… how did I end up here…?” Michelle asked with her mouth full.

Alexander explained to Michelle what had happened, so she wouldn’t be all that confused.

But after she heard what Alexander said, she was still quite confused.

She couldn’t understand why she would be acting and whining like a child.

Also, the fact that she apparently tried to eat raw meat made her frown.

She didn’t like the thought of that.

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