Leonel sighed hearing Aina's question. Quite frankly, he didn't know how to respond.
Was he alright? Well, technically, there wasn't anything wrong with him. His life wasn't in danger, his future wasn't exactly bleak… Truthfully, he didn't have very much to worry about at all.
Of course, if the members of Shield Cross Stars heard these thoughts of his, it would be hard to tell how they would react. After all, no one had ever had such a nonchalant response to being designated a Tier 3 Criminal.
To put matters into perspective, to even be labeled a Tier 9 Criminal was enough to have bounty hunters breathing down your neck. To leap from a Tier 4 Criminal to a Tier 3 was the equivalent of being a felon that could be sentenced to consecutive life sentences. Leonel was quite literally only short of individuals known for destroying worlds, solar systems and galaxies. This was how serious this matter was.
Yet, Leonel hardly spared a thought toward this matter. In fact, ever since his conversation with his grandfather, it was all that had been on his mind. He couldn't find a reason to care about anything else.
If it wasn't for the fact that Leonel had already sworn to himself to find a cure for Aina, he might have had no other purpose but to lounge around in depression at the moment.
Maybe the harshest truth of it all was that Leonel didn't feel that this matter was even as serious as that. Depression was often something a person couldn't control, an imbalance in the chemicals of the mind that caused up and down swings in mood. Leonel couldn't say he was going through such a thing, but what he did know was that he felt everything that had once been in his control was slowly but surely slipping away.
Leonel sighed again.
"I just don't feel like I have as much of a grasp on things as I once did. I find it laughable that I thought I understood anything to begin with."
Aina gazed toward Leonel, unsure of how she should answer.
She didn't feel as strongly about certain things as Leonel did. The deaths of the common folk of Earth? She didn't spare them a thought. There were some things about this cruel world that she was just numb to. If it wasn't for the fact it was someone she cared about feeling this way, even to this point she might not have spared a thought toward those matters.
However, at the same time, she didn't want Leonel to keep running from his own thoughts. She was herself while he was him. They would never be the same. While she found it easy to ignore such things, Leonel wasn't the same.
That said… Aina felt that there was something off about how much Leonel cared, almost as though he was trying to cling to ideals that weren't his own while he ran from an even larger problem.
Unfortunately… Maybe the one things Leonel had never told Aina was about his conversation with Coach Owen and the truth surrounding his birth. Whether by coincidence and subconsciously, or on purpose and consciously, she didn't have the final piece of the puzzle that she needed.
"Did you always know how to cook this well?" Leonel shook his head, quickly changing the subject.
Aina realized what he was doing, but there were some things that couldn't be pressed. If Leonel didn't want to talk about it, forcing him to do so would only make him shut down.
"No," Aina replied with a smile, "Usually it was Yuri who always took care of the cooking. I was bored so I thought I would try my hand at it."
Aina waved off her efforts with a hand. But, Leonel's silent smile seemed to see right through her.
"I think it's more than just that." Leonel said after Aina began squirming in her seat beneath his gaze. "There was something special about your cooking, as though it had its own unique flow of energy. It was definitely beyond anything I've ever eaten before."
Aina couldn't help but smile at such praise. Just that sentence alone seemed to make all her efforts worthwhile.
"I'm not sure… I only relied on my ability to tell me what combinations would work well. In the end, this was the product."
"Your ability evolved?"
"Mm." Aina nodded. "Beyond self-healing and my training intuition, I can tell what resources I need to consume to improve myself…"
Leonel's gaze glowed. Even without knowing much about the Dimensional Verse, Leonel felt that this ability would most definitely be exceptionally rare. If just a few days of experimentation allowed Aina's cooking to have such effects, what if she put in more effort than that?
"Have you ever thought about becoming a Force Pill Refiner?" Leonel suddenly asked.
"Force Pill Refiner…" Aina was stunned.
They were called a lot of things. Force Pill Refiners, Alchemists, Potionsmiths, Elixir Crafters…
In truth, their products didn't always come in the form of pills. Sometimes it was Elixirs and Potions, sometimes it was ointments and topical creams, and yet other times it could come in the form of brews or… food.
Though they came in many different variations, their core principles were similar enough to be lumped into a single group. But, much like languages across worlds, they often had different methods of communication to accomplish the same goals.
This was why Leonel was so certain that if Aina could do this, translating her ability to create pills, elixirs, or ointments wouldn't be too large of a leap. Even if she only wanted to focus on food it wouldn't be a major loss, albeit a waste of her talent.
Aina smiled. "You know about such things?"
Leonel almost blushed if it wasn't for the fact his skin was so thick.
Aina wasn't wrong. Usually, it was her teaching him about things like this. He was about as ignorant as it came when it was in regards to matters of the Dimensional Verse. It could be said that the only reason Leonel knew about this profession at all was due to the introductory Crafting lessons his father had given him.
"But you're right." Aina continued after teasing Leonel. "I think that learning more systematically rather than relying on my talent will help me improve faster."
In Aina's mind, all that mattered was if she could grow stronger. Becoming a Force Pill Crafter was definitely one such method. It would definitely help her self-training reach a completely new level.
Just as Leonel was about to respond, his ring began to vibrate.
'Huh… Valiant Heart Mountain…? So soon?'