While drying off, Ryan stepped into his bedroom and quickly got changed. Though, in this case, 'changed' just meant shorts and a short-sleeved button-up that he didn't bother to actually... button up. It was way to hot for that today.
Ryan would take a proper shower in the evening, since he was probably going to work out a bit more in the afternoon anyway. He would go down to spend some time with Liam in a moment, but while his hair was still drying a bit, he wanted to take the chance to check out some stuff on the internet.
For one, he wanted to check out his Hotchpotch feed a bit more closely. He saw something on his phone earlier that looked kind of interesting. And just as he had thought, it looked incredibly interesting.
"Won't you look at that..."
@Isayaaaaaah
Just went to the grocery store, and they have... Vampire drinks? Like, drinks meant specifically for vampires. So all that stuff wasn't just a joke? Vampires are actually real-real? That's so fucking cool
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Though the initial idea was to make the announcement back during Spirit Week, with everything that was going on, the press meeting to actually bring Vampires out into the world was held a few weeks after the dungeon closed. Some people thought it to be a joke or some kind of prank, but since it was personally announced by the official, highly-elusive head of the Aglecard Foundation, Runar Asamir Aglecard, things were given a lot of weight.
At the same time, they announced the new artificial blood that was meant to make up for vampiric consumption. You could now buy generic-tasting versions of this blood at every major grocery and convenience store chain, not just in Riveria, but across the entire continent, with plans to spread it throughout the rest of the world soon.
Vampires in need could also go to shelters run by the Aglecard Foundation and get up to a week's worth of this artificial blood. Of course, they're also working on getting out more stuff beyond the generic flavours, which are the ones that Ryan used to make the popsicle.
Really, Ryan wanted to figure out if there were ways to make actual 'food' for vampires. Like the popsicle, for example, though that was just a quick and easy thing he was trying out. Silvia got tons of those small DIY popsicle moulds, so Ryan figured he might as well give that a shot. But with some right thickeners that were found to not cause an issue to a vampire's digestion, or maybe even some alchemy trickery, you could thicken it up and make a great pudding. Those shakes already had a pretty smoothie- or milkshake-like consistency, so just thickening it up could do something great.
Ryan also knows that some vampires eat things from konjac - somehow, they don't get any negative effects from it. It's just that konjac is mostly water, and even a non-vampire physically wouldn't be able to eat enough of it to hit their caloric goals throughout the day. For vampires, who were sustained magically instead of calorically in the first place, the only thing that konjac did was allow them to appear like they were eating, while keeping their stomachs full, since konjac is surprisingly high in magic when compared to other similar foods.
It wasn't the kind of magic that vampires needed, but it was enough to at least make their body think they were eating something proper. Ryan had just ordered a big pack of those noodles made from konjac and try to use the artificial blood to make some kind of sauce. And if that worked, maybe you could use this all in other ways too.
Either way, as Ryan scrolled through the replies in the post, he surprisingly just saw positivity, which didn't happen often on Hotchpotch. There were some assholes mixed in there, too, of course. Saying some quite... worrying things. But Runar said that the foundation was on top of things.
Speaking of, with Runar now being publicly confirmed as the head of the Aglecard Foundation, everyone now knew that Ryan was connected to that family too, so nobody wondered how he could afford the house. So that was a plus. For a while, considering Ryan's history, people just assumed that he got involved with some kind of gang or other serious crimes. But nope, he was just a nepo-baby, that's all. Which he much preferred over being seen as a criminal.
After he finished scrolling through his feed, he quickly turned off his computer and got up, making his way downstairs again where Liam was watching TV, though not alone this time. Silvia was on the couch next to him, getting much more excited about the cartoons than Liam himself, while Modak was sitting at the dining table with a small tub of water and tons of small speakers, around the size of an orc's fist.
"What're you making? And why are you doing it here, not in the shed?" Ryan wondered, leaning onto the back of one of the chairs curiously.
The orc raised his head and grinned lightly, "I've been hoping to make synthesized magic work in any environment, so next I would like to make it work underwater. But so that I can actually test things, I need to make sure that the casings are properly watertight, so that's what I'm doing right now. I can't bring the tub into the shed right now because there's too much stuff there that could break if it gets wet."
"Ah, got it, got it," Ryan nodded, understandingly, "But why wouldn't it work underwater? As long as the user can cast it properly and use whatever chants are needed, water isn't usually an obstacle. Unless it's water filled with, like, tons of magic or something."
Modak looked up from the speakers, "With most systems of magic, sure, but this is specifically auditory magic. It uses soundwaves as a conduit to place mana into the air in specific places to form the needed patterns to activate magic," he started to explain, "But sound travels way faster through water than through air, and considering the distorting influence that currents, dirt, or even just water temperature can have on something that needs to be as precise as magic, I need to fine-tune things a lot."
Ryan narrowed his eyes, "Sound travels faster through water? That sounds wrong."
"Sound is just the air vibrating your inner ear, which is then processed as electrical signals. And those vibrations are moved along by a molecule vibrating the adjacent molecules, so since the denser something is, the closer those molecules are together, the more effectively vibrations can be passed on."
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"Huh, that's neat," Ryan shrugged lightly, and was about to turn away when he stopped himself, "Is... is this why you wanted a pool?"
Modak stopped tightening one of the screws on the speaker in his hand, not even daring to look up at Ryan, "Uh... N-No?"
"Traitor."
With a slight inward laugh, Ryan walked into the kitchen and grabbed something of the shelf. It was Chantora's recipe book. There were a few things that he wanted to try out for lunch today. He felt bad that Liam wouldn't be able to join, but hopefully Ryan could change that.
Anyway, he quickly got to work and grabbed some pans. He already got the rice cooker going and set up a timer so that it would get the rice cooking by now. It was bubbling away and had probably around twenty or so minutes on the clock.
A lot of the recipes in Chantora's book were super traditional. Shimar, Makita, Trilia... Chantora clearly travelled through the entire eastern part of the continent to learn about cooking. Ryan really wondered why he decided on opening a small, hole-in-the-wall noodle shop of all things. Well, he would have a chance to ask, anyway.
Chantora and Runar were surprisingly going pretty steady, to the point where Runar has apparently been thinking about telling Chantora about the truth behind the Aglecard Foundation. Him and Liam also got along great, so Ryan had no reason to object. Plus, Chantora's new restaurant in Oldtown would open up soon, so he was excited to go there. Apparently people started talking about the new restaurant opened by an Awakened Chef in that area, so it would probably get pretty busy there immediately. But since that chef in question was dating Ryan's uncle, he should be able to get a good table anyway. It wasn't just that he was excited about the boons that Runar's dating life could give him, obviously. He was also just happy for his uncle.
He had been changing a lot recently, or at least, he had been putting in the effort that showed that he actually wanted to change.
With the recipe book flipped open, Ryan walked back to the fridge, grabbing the large jar of kimchi that he made based on Chantora's recipe. It was great - spicy, tangy, and most importantly, just so tasty. Ryan had only ever bought those small jars of kimchi in the past, but making it on his own was actually pretty fun. Modak was able to give him some tips, actually. Both pairs of his grandparents came to Riveria from Makita, and his maternal grandmother ate kimchi with every single meal, so he knew a little bit of how to make it. This batch hadn't fermented all that much yet, but it was still great.
Beside that, Ryan grabbed some veggies from the basket next to the fridge, and quickly grabbed his knife. It was actually a housewarming gift from Chantora and Runar. Rather... it was a whole kit of kitchenware that Runar bought because he wanted Ryan to use to train his dexterity, and Chantora advised properly to make sure he had that good stuff.
Ryan's dexterity was 2.51 - his hands were at a point that even the best un-awakened chef wouldn't be able to reach. Of course, he was still lacking in techniques, but since he cooked every single day now, not just for himself but for Modak and Silvia too, he was getting better and better. His intuition actually played into his cooking ability quite a bit too. He barely ever got seasonings off, and when he cooked meat for himself and Modak, he never over- or under-cooked it. It was always at exactly the level that he wanted, which he knew he had never been able to do before he awakened.
Anyway, with some zucchini, bean sprouts, onions and mushrooms chopped up, Ryan, one after another, threw them into a pan at the exact right moment to make sure that each veggie was properly cooked through to the point he wanted.
In the other pan, he started frying up some cut-up pork that he had been marinating in the fridge since last night. Of course, to each pan, he added an assortment of different spices, some of which were sourced from the garden, while the rest were simply sourced from the local grocery store.
While the pans were cooking away, Ryan quickly started on the next side dish. Just a simple cucumber salad. So, cucumber, obviously, with some garlic, onion, chili flakes, sesame seeds, vinegar, salt and sugar. Super simple, but still incredibly tasty.
There were tons of other things that he had been prepping for, of course, but most of the other stuff was already prepped and in the fridge. Ryan liked to cook ahead so that Silvia and Modak, and most importantly he himself, had something decent to eat.
Everyone in the house had the tendency to sort of get lost in things that made them forget to eat. Modak with his inventions, Silvia with her art, and Ryan with training and research on spirits. Though, since Ryan was always sort of looking after the spirits and helping them out with things too, he got much better at building his own healthy habits, so he tended to just bring things to his friends when they had gotten sucked into anything.
And for Ryan himself, the fact that Tiar turned Ryan into an incredible glutton made it easier to want to keep things ready, since he didn't want to have to cook every time he got a bit peckish. Which was basically all the time, anyway. Eating only protein bars to fill that empty space wasn't good for Ryan either.
"Silvia, stop peeking and help me out, yeah?" Ryan asked, turning his head toward her. She clicked her tongue and nodded, coming out from behind the corner she was standing at.
"Fiiine, what do you want me to do?"
"Just portion up the side dishes and put them on the table. Just grab Modak's things and put them away yourself if he doesn't want to move."
"Oi! I heard that! Please don't touch my stuff!" the orc yelled out from the other room, so Ryan quickly yelled back.
"Then put it away! You know that we eat lunch around this time!"
"You're worse than my mom about this stuff," Modak groaned.
Silvia chuckled slightly to herself, "Mom? More like grandma."
"Hey, just because I want everyone to eat well, doesn't mean I'm a grandma all of a sudden."
"Eat well? You prepare a goddamn feast for us every day. Dinner basically every night, and both lunch and dinner on weekends."
Ryan shrugged, "It's fun, alright? Plus, I want to get through all the recipes in this book."
"I'm not complaining~!" Silvia whistled as she brought the platter with the different small side-bowls on it to the dining table in the other room.
Once all the fresh dishes were ready, Ryan brought them over, and then prepped bowls of rice for everyone.
And lastly, Ryan grabbed another bottle of the test vampire meal-drinks and poured it into a large glass with a straw for Liam, so that he could join them at the table while having his lunch as well.
He quickly brought the last bits over and put some water and dish-soap into the pans so that he could scrub them down and clean them properly later.
"Yo, you guys want something to drink?" Ryan asked, standing in front of the fridge. Both Modak and Silvia asked for a beer, so Ryan grabbed three bottles, and four glasses for some iced tea that he made early this morning.
"Thanks, grandma," Silvia grinned up at Ryan as he poured everyone a drink. Luckily, the specific tea that he used was safe for vampires, so Liam could have some when he was done with his meal drink.
"Shut up and eat already," Ryan sat down, and Modak laughed too.
"What's wrong, granny? Is it your back again?" the orc asked, as he reached out with his chopsticks to the stir-fried pork.
Of course, Ryan retorted, grabbing the exact piece that Modak was aiming for before he could, "Yeah it's my back, I've been carrying your guys' health ever since we moved in."
While Modak and Ryan were fighting over the pork, Silvia leaned over to Liam, "Are you liking your food as well?"
The boy looked up at her and quickly nodded, "Yeah! It's really good! I don't know what it is, but it's different to the strawberry one that I had earlier!"
Ryan glanced over and smiled, "Yup, that one should be peach flavoured. You can try one of those later too, if you want."
Liam quickly nodded, and Ryan smiled lightly. He felt bad that they were eating while he couldn't, but that was just how things were. Either way, now that people knew about vampires, hopefully, their lives would only get better and better and better.
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