Emperors War

She wasn"t sure as she didn"t know anything about the poison in her body but the way she felt, she didn"t believe she would have two or three days left to live, so seeing Aker and Dr. Life & Death was really her last option. If they didn"t have a way to treat her then she was surely going to die.

Aker left her sleeping there through the whole shift. He figured she would probably sleep through the day and perhaps even longer. When he was leaving, he left written instructions about the woman for his Senior Brother Fenton so that he could care for her while Aker was off at the Blacksmith or the kitchen.

While working in the forge Aker continued hammering away at his metal. His routine was to spend the first hour in the forge working on building molds and then two or three hours hammering away. As Mavis would always tell him "A blacksmith should be swingin a hammer. If you don"t know what to make or what to do, go pick up a hammer and swing. If what your tryin to make aint workin go pick up a hammer and swing. There aint nothin that can"t be fixed with a hammer!"

If Mavis would have told Aker that when he first started in the forge, he probably would have rolled his eyes at him. But now Aker didn"t just listen to every word of Mavis, he tried to understand the importance of it. For Aker blacksmithing has become just as important as cooking and medicine, each day he looked forward to his time in the forge.

The truth was Mavis was a borderline sage. While his advice about swinging a hammer seemed trite and simplistic it actually had a great deal of wisdom. When Aker worked in the forge swinging his hammer, he was capable of dropping all of his concerns and problems. Swinging the hammer used so much stamina, muscle and concentration it didn"t leave your mind or body room to think about anything else. There was something almost therapeutic about the fire, the forge and swinging a hammer that excited Aker these days.

Finishing in the forge Aker headed over to the kitchen and just like normal he separated from Kara and started walking towards his reject station, however today there was a huge difference in the kitchen.

When Aker walked in, all the disciples were lined up and no one was cooking as they quietly stood at their station as if though they were waiting for something.

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"Today we find out if any of you are honoring the glory that is the art of cooking. For those that pay proper homage and respect you will advance. For those of you who have allowed for your barbaric and ignorant ways to prevent you from fully exemplifying the glory that is my kitchen you will be dealt with appropriately."

Sampson"s voice rang out through the room. Ever since Sampson had first walked Aker into the kitchen and explained the rules to him this was just the third time Aker had seen him.

Sampson"s eyes glared at all of the apprentices, his scowl raining down on them destroying the enthusiasm they were just displaying.

Only the new disciples were excited, for the existing disciples this was all old hat. They already knew that very few if any of them today would pa.s.s Sampson"s "test" to rank up to Novice Cook. Certainly, those apprentices that were currently level 1 apprentices could level up to 2 or even 3 depending on how they do, but trying to get Sampson"s seal of approval for Novice level was basically asking for the impossible.

It had been three years since the last time Sampson rewarded someone the t.i.tle of Novice Cook. This was especially difficult to so many apprentices because they would leave and join other kitchens and would advance to Novice Cook almost immediately. It was known to all of the apprentices that you came to learn in Sampson"s kitchen, but you didn"t advance in Sampson"s kitchen.

"This year I"m finally going to be the one to break his three-year running record and advance to Novice Cook. There is no way that Master doesn"t advance me to at least Novice Cook Beginner, but my skills have improved enough it wouldn"t surprise me if I made it all the way to Transitional." Confidence exuded from this disciple who had been working in a special station for the last year, his voice loud enough for every single one of the hundreds of disciples to hear his proclamation. Two years ago, this short and stubby guy in his late teens fell just short of Novice Cook advancing to Level 4 with Sampson giving him a "This is almost art" statement.

"If anyone here can reach Novice Cook it would only be Senior Brother. Watching you cook brings a tear to my eye as your moves are absolutely beyond magnificent. Just waiting for Senior Brother to serve his dish is like a form of torture that could be compared with the pains of having to fight in The Pit."

Aker hearing this disciple talk rolled his eyes and was ready to berate his moronic statements. Comparing having to wait on a delicious meal to the pain and suffering of fighting in The Pit? He wanted to walk right over and slap him, that was until he heard the Senior Brother respond back.

"I understand, many of the other disciples have said those same words and I have to agree. My cooking has advanced to a level where having seen and smelled it but not being able to dig in right away could be considered an absolute evil. I dare say I have perfected my art in cooking, but should I say that I am number two here I would like to see who would say they are number one."

Aker started thinking back to his medical books and came to the conclusion that confidence that has reached this level of moronic is not a disease, so it means this disciple is just an idiot. Aker lives and breathes The Pit all day every day. This place is now his home and has been for a while now and so he truly understands the horrors and pain of being a prisoner of The Pit.

Every day he gets a firsthand look at the awful and horrible torture of The Pit while working in the medic station. To hear someone, compare their food to the pain and agony that these prisoners go through every day, Aker truly felt his blood boil.

"I"m not sure if you are qualified to be number two or not but for certain I should be number one" A voice called out from the very furthest back of the room. This voice caused the entire kitchen to stop their whispered conversations and turn around.

To everyone"s surprise the voice that proclaimed that they would be number one in a room full of people who take cooking as their life was the kid no one dared look at who worked next to the waste pile at the reject station.

Silence dominated the room as everyone was left in a type of disbelief. Did this small boy not understand what was happening today?

He had just talked back to the most Senior Brother in the kitchen, Alfred Thompson, who came from a long line of Advanced Novice Cooks. The only reason he was here was because of Sampson. For some unknown reason Sampson, one of the most sought-after cooks in this part of the universe decided to cook in The Pit.

For Alfred getting acknowledged by Sampson would instantly raise his standing within his family and would open his future possibilities even allowing him to have his own successful restaurant.

Sampson"s cooking was famous and everyone within the cooking community knew the stringent requirements of Sampson to advance someone to Novice Cook. Sampson had almost started his own religion with its foundation food, ingredients and cooking and he took every aspect of it seriously.

Alfred who was already an established cook prior to coming into Sampson"s kitchen could have already been a Novice Cook Advanced level had he decided to go to someone else"s kitchen.

Someone with those kinds of skills and pedigree was just told that they were inferior to the kid cooking next to the waste pile at a cooking station literally called the reject station.

Could there be a funnier setup for a joke? Sure, if they were talking about battle power and "scary factor" Aker beat the whole room combined hands down. There wasn"t a single person who would dare stand up to Aker"s fist, but the reciprocal was true as well. There wasn"t a single person afraid of Aker if both of them were standing over a fire with their ingredients ready to go.

Aker who was staring down the entire kitchen from the back had a slight sneer on his face and he wasn"t even trying to hide his disdain for that Senior Brother and his entourage.

In truth Aker had never seen that Senior Brother cook as Aker was all the way in the back at the reject station and Alfred was as far in as you could get while still being an apprentice cook. He had just heard the comical statements boasting of his "heavenly" cooking and extreme torture and couldn"t contain himself.

Truth be told Aker rarely talked in this manner and in fact the last time he could remember taunting words coming from his mouth was during his fight with the Fire Ape when he shouted a couple of times "That hurt you more than me".

Today he had basically trampled on the dignity of the entire room as all the other apprentices were currently in the shadow of Alfred. Aker couldn"t help but overhear all of their belittling comments berating him and edifying Alfred.

Sure, there were a couple of apprentices that secretly thought that they were much better cooks than Alfred but none of them were brave enough or stupid enough to let those words out into the universe.

Alfred was already an established and known ent.i.ty within this kitchen and Sampson had already praised.... well almost praised his cooking during the last evaluation. Alfred would have only gotten better since then in theory, so he was sure to get the seal of approval from Sampson.

Alfred stared at Aker for a few seconds before turning around "Anyways there is no doubt that Master will recognize my glorious cooking and with his acknowledgment I"ll move up to the Station Chef level. Since you have understood how great I am I"ll allow you to study under me at my station."

Alfred had signified to everyone here that Aker"s statement wasn"t even worth his attention and he brilliantly ignored it and Aker. He continued speaking to that apprentice who had been flattering him as if though they were never interrupted at all.

Aker seeing Alfred"s blatant disregard for his existence couldn"t help but shake his head "Could facing off against these guys in here ever compare with even just one minute in the arena? Today I"ll make teacher taste my food and I"ll show that Alfred what torture truly feels like. I"ll show him something he"s never seen before."

As Aker stood there thinking this way Sampson began talking again...."Now for what I would like for you all to make..."