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On the night he decided to adopt Skye, after returning to his room, Fini drew his second skill. However, the result was somewhat unsatisfactory.
Compared to 'Ars Magna,' the second skill was worlds apart. This made Fini realize that this system could truly draw absolutely anything as a skill.
[Sumire Karaage Roll]
Source: Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
Description: Food so delicious it feels as if one has been drugged.
When Fini saw the skill he had drawn, he almost thought he had misread it. He never expected to draw a fried chicken roll, and the experience gave him a profound taste of life's ups and downs.
It took a great deal of effort for Fini to suppress the urge to uninstall this broken system—though he wouldn't even know how to uninstall it anyway.
Later, after some secret testing, he realized that this skill wasn't quite as useless as he had imagined.
Unlike 'Ars Magna,' the 'Sumire Karaage Roll' could be used immediately upon being drawn, and it had two modes of release.
First, he could buy the ingredients himself and follow the steps to cook it in a kitchen.
Second, he could summon it out of thin air. That's right—no raw materials required, no kitchenware needed. Just by using the skill, he could manifest a roll within a one-meter radius in his line of sight, and it even came with its own packaging.
Fini's first thought regarding this skill was that if he ever encountered an emergency in the future, at least he wouldn't have to worry about starving.
At the same time, when making the Sumire Karaage Roll—whether by hand or by summoning—he noticed that the experience bar, which had been emptied once again, actually increased by a tiny sliver. Though the progress was almost invisible to the naked eye, it was at least slightly faster than natural growth. This confirmed his theory: the system's experience bar was indeed linked to skill usage.
Even though the experience gained from each 'Sumire Karaage Roll' was pitifully small, it still made Fini happy. At least it provided a glimmer of hope for progress.
For a long period afterward, Fini spent almost every day researching these two skills. He tried his best to recall the sensation from the night he summoned Skye, hoping to use 'Ars Magna' again.
From "Loki has no 'little brother'" to "Hulk has a good temper," Fini gradually lowered the bar for what could be manifested. It wasn't until he stared at a single strand of hair, wishing for it to float for nearly a minute, that he successfully used 'Ars Magna' again.
Though the power was terrifyingly weak, Fini was so happy he nearly jumped for joy. Compared to the previous seven years of total silence, this was a massive improvement.
He now had a clear path forward: use skills to gain experience, and then draw again.
After several tests, he also discovered a few key points to using 'Ars Magna.' First, one's mind must be pure, free of too many distracting thoughts. Second, verbalization helps increase the success rate because spoken words can condense the thoughts in one's heart, making the command clearer.
For example, while it took nearly a minute to make a hair float just by thinking about it, using a 'command' could make it float in just three seconds.
Unfortunately, the experience gained from using 'Ars Magna' wasn't that much either; even the experience from floating a hair wasn't as much as making a chicken roll.
This made him wonder why bringing Skye into his life had granted so much experience. By his calculations, that event was equivalent to about five years of natural growth.
Although the Sumire Karaage Roll provided more experience, Fini didn't dare to use it recklessly. Buying ingredients to cook was fine, but if he summoned large quantities out of thin air, he wouldn't be able to eat them all. Throwing them away would easily lead to people noticing something abnormal, and if S.H.I.E.L.D.—or rather, Hydra—found out, it would be no laughing matter.
Then there was the issue of skill consumption and progress. Fini found that overusing 'Ars Magna' led to a splitting headache and mental fatigue, but using 'Sumire Karaage Roll' cost almost nothing, and his proficiency improved rapidly.
When he first got the 'Sumire Karaage Roll,' it took about ten seconds to use the skill and he could only make one at a time.
Now, eight years later, he had reduced the production time to one second, increased the manifestation range to five meters, and could produce two at once. He believed that no matter which world he was in, there was likely no one who could make fried chicken rolls faster than him.
Based on an eight-hour workday, if Fini made chicken rolls without stopping, he could produce over 50,000.
Forget the laws of physics, the conservation of mass, or scientific logic—Fini's 'Sumire Karaage Roll' was pure magic.
Even after eight long years, Fini still hadn't completely filled the experience bar for the third draw. It wasn't that he wasn't working hard enough, but rather that the experience gained through the 'Sumire Karaage Roll' was simply too minuscule.
He couldn't just find a random spot to mass-produce them indefinitely, which led to this result. Fortunately, after all this time, the bar was nearly full. It wouldn't be long before he could obtain his third skill.
This also showed just how much experience that first success with 'Ars Magna' had generated.
Fini decided that if the third skill was still useless for combat, he would have to find ways to rely on the original items of the Marvel world to increase his strength.
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Fini looked at the silent Skye beside him and sighed. "Let's go to the shop first. When we get there, I'll tell you exactly what happened just now!"
Still affected by the previous topic, Skye didn't say much. She started the car and began to drive.
The "shop" Fini mentioned was a small snack shop he had helped Skye open after she graduated high school two years ago.
The shop wasn't large, but it was located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Even if the location was a bit secluded, it was still incredibly rare given how expensive land was there.
Arriving in Manhattan, where skyscrapers stood in rows and goods were displayed in abundance, the first thing Fini saw through the car window was that iconic building: Stark Tower. It served as a constant reminder of the world he lived in.
One more year. In one year, that currently flamboyant playboy would kick off a new era.
Arriving at the shop, Fini looked at the sign hanging on the door that read "Irregular Business Hours." He gave a helpless look to Skye, who put on an innocent face, and reached out to take it down.
"Hey, Fini, Skye! You're finally here."
"We've been waiting for ages, hurry up and open the door!"
As soon as they arrived, a group of people appeared out of nowhere, greeting them excitedly. They rushed to the front of the shop and began lining up to wait for the doors to open.
"Fini, you're half an hour late today." The man closest to the door watched Fini unlock it and immediately urged him with dissatisfaction.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Doork. There was a little something at school today!"
Fini greeted him with a smile. Although he ran a snack shop, he actually only sold one type of food—the Sumire Karaage Roll he had been making for eight years.
"Alright, alright, stop chatting. I'm starving to death."
Someone further back in line saw Fini's leisurely pace and shouted irritably, before adding expectantly: "Fini, if you ask me, you should just quit school. We'll invest in you, and you can turn this chicken roll of yours into a chain store. I guarantee it'll be a hit all across America."
"Yeah, yeah, I'd definitely invest in you."
The crowd in line echoed the sentiment, looking eager to hand over their money. On the side, Skye silently rolled her eyes; she was used to this by now. However, she had to admit that the chicken rolls Fini made were the most delicious food she had ever eaten.
"Alright, alright, I've said it before: this is just a hobby. I have ideals, you know."
Fini shook his head helplessly and went into the shop to start setting up. Although the shop was listed with irregular hours, he made it a point to come every weekend to practice his skill. Because of this, he had gathered a large following of loyal diners.
(End of Chapter)