Home/I Became the Heiress of a Top-Tier Guild /ch70

Chapter 70

Water slowly filled her cupped palms.

Then the leaf floating on the water swayed left and right with the ripples.

Sol-a carefully opened her eyes.

On her empty palm, the leaf was slightly lifting and dancing.

'It's not absorbing any energy at all.'

Sol-a's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

The leaf soon fell back onto her palm as if it had never moved.

Geum Seong-hwan stroked Sol-a's head.

"That was a good attempt."

And he gave her a small hint.

"Try thinking this time about infusing the leaf with power. Like blowing up a balloon with your breath—transfer your energy into the leaf through your fingertip, for example."

Following his advice, Sol-a held the leaf and closed her eyes.

Imagining channeling her power through her fingertip, she felt the waves inside her body move.

And when she opened her eyes—

Paaat!

The leaf she was holding between her thumb and forefinger expanded, momentarily emitting a faint blue light.

The light quickly faded, and the leaf returned to its original shape.

"My daughter is a genius!!"

Geum Seong-hwan lifted Sol-a up in a hug.

Blinking, Sol-a looked at the leaf in her hand.

'What? Did I actually manage to implement the ability?'

She was bewildered, but Stage 2 was a success!

"It's over!"

Lifted in the air, Sol-a looked at the sun already setting.

'How did an entire day pass when I barely did anything?'

It felt like she'd done nothing, yet it was already over.

---

After training.

Geum Seong-hwan and Sol-a didn't go down the mountain right away.

Because he had prepared a camping setup to spend time with his daughter.

"Sol-a, you worked hard, so just sit back and watch."

Geum Seong-hwan rubbed his item storage ring, and a tent and camping gear rolled out.

With the appearance of a state-of-the-art luxury tent, Sol-a let out a sigh.

Even the complicated-looking tent setup was done in just a few minutes.

"All that practice overnight paid off."

Geum Seong-hwan said, pretending to wipe sweat.

"Dad, you're pretty cool, aren't you?"

"Yeah, my dad's the best!"

Seeing Sol-a's thumbs-up, Geum Seong-hwan smiled proudly.

"You must be hungry. I'll cook you something delicious."

"Dad...? Are you sure?"

Setting aside his combat prowess, she'd never seen Geum Seong-hwan cook before.

There was always a skilled chef on standby at the Geum residence.

'Shouldn't I stop him?'

Having been traumatized by Su Ji-hyun's cooking, fear came first.

Watching Geum Seong-hwan prepare to start a campfire, Sol-a braced herself.

'First, I'll fill up on water...'

Crackle! Flash!

"Startled me..."

Who starts a campfire with lightning?

Kugugung—

A delayed thunderclap echoed across the rocky mountain area.

Sol-a stared in disbelief at the campfire Geum Seong-hwan had lit.

Crackle crackle.

Literally 'lightning fire'—the firewood was blazing fiercely.

"Sorry, did I scare you? Haha. I figured this way would take all day otherwise."

Geum Seong-hwan tossed the torch far away and said.

Anyway, as long as the fire was burning well.

A griddle, prepared for the occasion, was placed over the roaring flames.

"Actually, my specialty isn't lightning—it's cooking."

"Huh...?"

What kind of talk is this, like choosing between majors in college?

"I can finally let Sol-a taste the dish I used to win over your mom, Ji-hyun."

Chap chap! The spatula moved skillfully over the griddle.

Geum Seong-hwan's griddle cooking was amazing.

Flames rose over the griddle.

With his dexterous hands, the ingredients cooked, giving off a delicious aroma.

Today's main menu: butter-grilled prawns and Hanwoo steak.

You could tell from the magnificent visuals alone.

Ah, this was a dinner that absolutely couldn't fail.

"Today, I've left out all the vegetables Sol-a hates."

"Nice!"

This was dad-power.

The prawns Geum Seong-hwan had carefully peeled went straight into Sol-a's mouth.

As she bit into the fresh prawn, directly sourced from the west coast, the rich, buttery flavor spread in her mouth.

"How is it?"

"Fantastic."

Sol-a gave two thumbs up.

She felt like giving every possible thumbs-up, even lifting her feet.

Next came the Hanwoo steak, seasoned with olive oil and herbs, with beautiful marbling.

Geum Seong-hwan said it was marinated with his special secret, but she didn't care—it was delicious.

Each cut had a distinct chewy texture and juiciness, making her exclaim with every bite.

"I hereby recognize you as the King of Cooking."

Sol-a clapped until her palms were red.

No wonder she'd sometimes heard the kitchen bustling at night.

'So they were just having secret feasts, just the two of them.'

Now she understood why Su Ji-hyun had fallen for him.

It was so delicious she almost felt sorry for Su Ji-hyun, who had worked so hard to make her pancakes.

'From now on, the cooking will be done by the head chef and Geum Seong-hwan.'

After the enjoyable dinner—

"Sol-a, the night sky is bright tonight."

Lying side by side, just their faces poking out from their sleeping bags, the father-daughter duo was busy stargazing.

The tent's roof could be opened, revealing the clear night sky.

Stars scattered across the sky sparkled in various colors.

"See that brightest star? What's its name?"

"A satellite?"

"...Probably not?"

"Right. The Big Dipper is over there!"

"...How did you know? Are you a genius?"

Hello. This is Kim Sol-a from the Cassiopeia class at Milky Way Kindergarten. Above is the Orion class, below is the Ursa Major class.

The constellation knowledge she'd learned in kindergarten was finally paying off.

"Hmm. Then..."

He was rustling around, and it turned out he had a piece of paper with notes.

Sol-a glanced over his shoulder at the note.

[Event for Sol-a after her first training]

· P.S. Make sure training ends on a good memory—don't scold, only praise!

1. She'll be hungry after training, so prepare a delicious dinner — Griddle cooking sounds good (with top-quality ingredients!)

2. Dad's constellation and space stories — I heard they're good (I need to study up!)

   The Big Dipper is...

   .

   .

'...When did he prepare all this?'

Sol-a buried her face in her sleeping bag and giggled.

It felt strange.

The small, meticulously written notes, packed on a palm-sized memo pad.

Each pressed letter was filled with care.

His wish that his daughter's first training would be a good memory...

She could gauge just how deep his feelings for her were.

"So if you connect those two stars, hmm. That's not it."

Even though his constellation knowledge was lacking.

"Here, Dad, look."

Sol-a decided to take the lead so as not to ruin all the time he'd spent preparing.

"See the ladle-shaped Big Dipper right there? If you look a little wider, it becomes the Great Bear. The Big Dipper is the tail part of the Great Bear. Um... and if you go a bit further, there's another similar ladle shape! Right there! That's the Little Bear. The star at the tail tip of the Little Bear that shines particularly bright is the North Star. See?"

"Oh, I see it. When Sol-a points it out, it's really clear."

Constellations were surprisingly not difficult. If you followed the lines connecting the stars branching out from the Big Dipper, the constellations completed themselves one by one.

"Our Sol-a is so smart."

"I just learned it in kindergarten."

Ahem. Her shoulders inside the sleeping bag puffed up with pride.

"How was today's training?"

"It was fun!"

At first, she couldn't get a feel for it and her head hurt, but looking back, it was like a dream—wondrous moments.

"Just like Sol-a connects the stars to form constellations, training is the same. If you keep at it steadily, all your efforts will connect, and those experiences will come together to make a great Awakened."

Listening to Geum Seong-hwan, Sol-a quietly gazed at the starry sky.

"From now on, we'll train like this every weekend."

"Why not every day?"

"There's still a long way to go. Rushing things can make even possible things impossible."

'True, she'd heard that reaching the level of creating skills takes the longest.'

<Energy Manipulation Domain 3 – Skill Application>

The final Stage 3, skill application—skill creation—was the most difficult hurdle for many Awakened.

Once Awakened could freely handle their power, they would create skills using their abilities, but that required precise energy control.

That's why many Awakened gave up on Stage 3 altogether.

'It'd be nice if I could get them as easily as in novels or games...'

Training is the only way to gain skills.

But once you overcome that wall, you can reach a level where you can freely use any technique you desire.

Just like Geum Seong-hwan here before her.

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