Toriko: Canon SL. Chapter 23: Food Honor pt.2

And so, the fourth day of training came. But before they could start with food Zen meditation, master Chin wanted to talk to them. as the three of them sat down he asked, ‘did either of you feel different as you worked yesterday? During the hunt and the cooking?’ Mathew nodded, ‘I did. I wanted to start with less strength, preserve more power for later. Yet my first attack was stronger than any drill punch I had thrown before, faster too.’ Seto nodded, “and as I cooked, while the lion was a special preparation ingredient, I noticed how easily I managed to prepare it.”

master Chin nodded, ‘I’m glad the two of you have noticed that, Mart and Slob. That’s what food honor does for you. by concentrating as much as you have done, your body starts cutting back on useless movements. And as it does that, it takes less calories when you fight. As for when you cook, it makes difficult ingredients easier to prepare. So, with the basics having been taught, let’s move onto something more difficult. I’ll increase the difficulty of your training from here.’

as Zen meditation started, they now had to meditate for an entire hour. And like before, master Chin added a torchorsetail every five minutes. and they started with nine. It was still somewhat difficult, but it was getting easier to focus on nothing but gratitude and have nothing else come to mind. at the end of the hour, both had 21 torchorsetails in front of them and both had 17 of those burning.

next up came getting the food from their jars; rice among eggs, flavor beans and ice eels. However, they now needed to do this with longer chopsticks. They had to handle the rice among eggs with one meter chopsticks. The flavor beans needed to be taken out with ten meter chopsticks. And the ice eels had to be caught with one meter icy chopsticks. So for this, they needed even greater concentration than before. and where it had been difficult before, it had become much more difficult.

after they finished getting themselves some breakfast, Mathew and Seto moved onto bowing in front of those cacti again, with the camel pudding on their heads. But this time, as they stood and bowed, master Chin placed a plate of pudding on both their shoulders. To bow without moving just one pudding on your head was difficult. This; even more so. Even so, barely any needles hit them and the puddings all kept their form.

and for a snack to finish the morning with; three roast flower seeds for both of them. instead of growing one flower, they now had to grow three at the same time. And even though this took more concentration, it only cost both Mathew and Seto one and a half hour. After this, they repeated the process from the beginning, with food Zen meditation four an hour with added torchorsetails.

the following day had the same training program, but it went much easier this time. And as the sixth day arrived, master Chin took the hunter and chef to the swamp, where the Lernean Hydra, a capture level 90 monster, with the ability to grow stronger. but, as it grew stronger, it also grew tastier.

it was an enormous black snake with silver scales on the back of all nine of its necks. It had large sharp yellow teeth and shining green eyes. As it moved around and hissed and roared, three heads spat out poison, three others spit out acid and the final three heads spat out fire. Mathew took a calm breath, focused on gratitude, before walking toward the enormous reptile. As one head smelled him, all nine heads turned toward him. all of them opened their mouths and spat out a combined stream of fire, poison and acid.

Mathew jumped around it, ran at the beast and hit the body with a drill punch. But as it was pushed back, it spun with the drilling effect, shaking it off, before coming after Mathew again. but Mathew had noticed, his drill punch had increased in power once again since the battle with the Nemean Lion. The food honor had cut back on more of his useless movements, increasing his power while it also cost him less calories.

as the Hydra reached him, Mathew unleashed a wind tiger claw, sending out five wind blades. Two heads dodged, but three other heads were cut off. as the falling heads hit the ground, the hydra’s body grew larger and two new heads sprouted from the severed necks, causing the beast to have twelve heads. Seto, warning Mathew through his soul touch, “as it gained new heads, it grew stronger. I think each head might stand for a capture level 10. So now it is a capture level 120. But I think that doubling its original power would be best, before taking it down.”

Mathew nodded, avoided charging and biting heads, bashing them aside with his claws and his fists, before jumping back. Its speed had increased, along with its strength. Mathew knew he could now last longer in a battle and his power was greater. But fighting a gourmet world level creature still was quite difficult. Even so, Mathew was looking forward to eating this beast!

Mathew threw himself at the attacking monster, unleashed his claws and started crushing the heads and cutting the necks. But after cutting of two more necks, it started flexing its scales and muscles, forming armor whenever Mathew hit or cut it. and with four extra heads removed, it now had 16 heads, thus a capture level of 160. And it had grown in size again. as it attacked again, its speed had increased once again. and with it having learned how to better defend, it turned harder scales into offense, bashing Mathew around between necks and heads.

Mathew blocked them as best as he could, but couldn’t avoid taking damage completely. Mathew was thrown into the swamp water, before all 16 heads opened their mouths and unleashed a massive wave of acid, fire and poison. Mathew dove down, swam to the hydra, jumped out of the water and used two different techniques at the same time; his phoenix wing blade and his turtle stomp drill punch. He cut of one more head and crushed another with his fist.

Mathew jumped back and saw the snake grow larger again, as well as two extra heads, for a total of 18, making it a capture level 180. Seto nodded, “well done. Now you have to take it down.” Mathew nodded, thinking; easier said than done. As the hydra came at him again, Mathew avoided the heads, the poison, acid and fire and delivered powerful blows, before learning that, in his food honor training, it was more about delicate movements. So he had to try something that was both delicate, as well as destructive.

Mathew jumped back, put his hands together, bowed again, focusing on gratitude. And as the hydra attacked again, Mathew countered and went in for a finishing move! he jumped into the air, spinning around, before sending out his wind tiger claws, with both his hands and feet, sending out twenty wind blades. With delicacy increased, all 18 heads were cut off. but as the heads started to regrow, Mathew used his burning phoenix wings, unleashing a scatter shot of burning fingers; 18 of them, hitting the eighteen necks, scorching them and stopping them from re-growing the heads. The enormous body moved around, squirming, before dropping.

Mathew lifted the body, carrying it out of the swamp and handing it over to Seto. Just like the lion skin, they kept the hydra scales. Seto noticed that, where normally he might have some difficulty with a creature like this, he now cooked it easily. And as they ate, they enjoyed a second incredible meal. Master Chin nodded, ‘very well. I think I can speed up your training. From here on out; one day of food honor training, than a hunt. And so on until the remaining twelve ingredients have been obtained.’ The hunter and chef nodded.

the next day the food meditation continued with added torchorsetails, getting eggs among rice with two meter chopsticks, flavor beans with fifteen meter chopsticks. And ice eels with two meter icy chopsticks. The pudding bowing in front of the cacti got an increased difficulty level, as master Chin bound boards to their elbows and placed a plate of camel pudding on those as well. with a pudding on head, shoulders and elbows, it became more difficult to bow the right way, without moving the puddings as well as to not be hit by the cacti needles. And finally the roast flowers, from which both Mathew and Seto now had to grow seven. And this was done twice a day.

the day after that, Chin took Mathew and Seto to a large forest with high grass and big trees. Here Mathew would need to capture a creature called the Ceryneian Hind, with a capture level of 120. It was a large female doe with antlers and it was known for its incredible speed. it could cross a kilometer in ten seconds. And, while running at top speed, it could also make incredible leaps, with which it could jump across three kilometers in five seconds. Master Chin advised Mathew to capture it alive.

as Mathew went into the forest and encountered the hind, it ran from him the moment it saw him. Mathew immediately went into beast mode and chased it, but found it was still faster than him. he unleashed strength mode as well, increasing his own strength and speed, making himself eight times faster than normal. This allowed him to catch up to the hind, but its speed was still just a little bit greater.

even so, Mathew had never run as faster as he was doing now. The food honor had increased his overall physical capabilities. But the best part; he didn’t feel the draining effects of the combined modes at all. The speed hunt lasted about the entire day and took both creatures through the entire valley, until they finally came back in the large forest. Mathew was now feeling that his energy was being drained, but he could still go on. and, through the many hunts he had been on, he could predict how this hunt would end.

Mathew faked a left dash, causing the Hind to head to the right. As Mathew had faked that left, he quickly jumped right with all his might, right at the Hind. And with his increased strength and speed, he pinned the hind to the ground. He gently knocked it, as it had proven a worthy prey, before picking it up and carrying it to Seto and master Chin.

as Mathew put it down, he looked at master Chin, ‘why did I have to capture it while it lived?’ master Chin nodded, ‘well Martholeo, it’s meat tastes rather plain and gets worse the longer its dead. But, let it live and let it go, it will reward you with something that’s delicious.’ Mathew nodded and undid the knocking. As the Hind woke up, Mathew patted its neck, ‘you’re free to go.’ The Hind jumped up, looked at the three little humans, before nodding with what appeared to be a smile, before lowering its head and crying eight tears.

Seto, using his soul touch and hearing the voice of the ingredients, sensed the great flavor in those tears. He caught them with his wind control and stored them safely. That night, the three of them drank a cup of Ceryneian Hind tears. Each of its tears had been the size of a basketball and they had seven of these tears. So tonight they could drink an incredibly flavorful drink. And it returned Mathew’s energy rather quickly.

the next day it was back to normal training, which had increased. One and a half hour of food Zen meditation with increasing torchorsetails. Eggs among rice had to be picked up with three meter chopsticks. Flavor beans with twenty meter chop sticks. And ice eels with three meter ice chopsticks. By the bowing in front of the special cacti, boards were now also attached to their knees and pudding was placed on those boards as well, for a total of seven puddings. And both Mathew and Seto now had to grow ten roast flowers. And this was done twice a day.

master Chin was watching over the hunter and chef as they trained, impressed by their progress. Normal and even great hunters and chefs would have difficulty with this training. But these two, who seemed to have always looked to challenge themselves, were taking on the strenuous training and were succeeding, as well as taking on and cooking gourmet world creatures. by the time they would reach the twelfth task, both of them would be more than ready to go and obtain the bubble fruit. But until then, he would continue to challenge them.

the day after that, it was time for another hunt. The Erymanthian Boar, capture level 130. It was big, strong, destructive, powerful tusks and muscles and tough dirty fur that clung together in bundles, making it a strong shield, especially when it charged something. It would be some good eating.

as Mathew started the hunt, he soon found himself being the hunted. This boar was ferocious and ate meat as well as all other things that crossed its path. But where Mathew had become the hunted, he had not yet become the prey. The wild boar get charging after him, bashing everything in its path, trees, bushes and other animals, aside with its mighty tusks. Mathew tried to attack with his lightning dragon fang and his wind tiger claw, but both attacks were brushed of easily by the stampeding beast.

Mathew jumped into the trees and jumped from tree to tree. And the boar kept following him. Mathew than dove down, hitting the boar with a burning phoenix wing blade. But the fur was so tough it withstood the impact and didn’t catch on fire. And with him having gotten close, the boar swung its tusks at Mathew, before trying to bite him. Mathew dodged the tusks, before grabbing them and pushing the boar back, stopping it from biting. Mathew used all his strength here, as the boar wasn’t letting up with its strength.

Mathew took a quick step backwards, sunk through his nkees, rolled back by the boar’s strength, before rolling the boar over himself and kicking it off into the air. The massive boar came back down to the ground, crash landed, jumped up and charged at Mathew again. Mathew than charged the attacking boar, jumped into a tree as the boar swung its tusks at him, before jumping down, hitting the boar with a turtle stomp in the back of its neck, breaking its neck.

Mathew lifted up the boar and brought it back to Seto. The chef had a difficult time getting passed the clingy bundles of tough fur. But as he finally reached the meat beneath it, skinning the boar became easier. And, like they had done with the other two skins, they kept this one as well. the boar meat of that evening was an amazing and outstanding meal. It had many calories and a great nutritional value. This caused Mathew’s and Seto’s hair to grow longer. But Mathew also felt that his strength was increasing quite a lot. With four tasks down, they only had eight more tasks to go.