Nick donned an apron and started sifting through the fridge.
He hadn't bothered to check it the previous day, since he was so busy dealing with the drama involving he and his sister moving, and in such a rush to get back to the Beast Domain afterwards, that he had completely neglected to check the amenities that were provided with the apartment.
Thankfully, it seemed Kai had some foresight after getting Nick's call and left the two of them with a fully stocked fridge, easing some of the pressure off of Nick's shoulders for at least the first week.
'God bless that man!'
"Let's see here… Eggs, some greens…" Nick made a list of everything in the fridge, and even made note of some vegetables he didn't even know the name of.
There was no meat though.
Normal meat like beef, chicken, fish etc was rare on Terminus due to a lack of livestock farming and the land required to rear animals, which made any such meat that was available way out of Nick's price range.
In fact, before entering the Beast Domain, Nick had never tried meat before…
It seemed that despite his generosity, even Kai wasn't going to fork out the money to buy some normal meat for him.
Eggs were his limit, it seemed, though they were still exorbitantly expensive.
However, Nick didn't need to worry about normal meat anymore.
He could just go hunting any random Mundane beast in the Beast Domain and his meals for the day would be covered.
The only problem was whether his sister wanted to eat meat.
Contrary to normal meat, beast meat was rather cheap on Terminus.
Over 50% of Terminus' population were people who still had ambitions of increasing their strength by hunting in the Beast Domain, so there was a steady supply of Beast corpses being sent back to Terminus every day.
This was fine, for the adults who had been Altered.
But for people who hadn't entered the Beast Domain, such as children like his sister, eating such meat could very well be a problem.
Mundane meat was the limit for these people, and only in small quantities at that.
As their bodies weren't enhanced, the latent energy left inside the meat was enough to cause severe damage to their bodies.
'I don't have any Mundane meat at hand, so I guess this'll have to do.' Nick thought as he picked out the eggs and various other vegetables.
30 minutes later, Nick wiped sweat off his brow and let out a prideful sigh.
'This looks pretty good!… Considering I cooked it.'
He took a bite out of his omelette without any hesitance, and his face lit up with surprise.
'Tastes pretty good too!'
He glanced at the clock on the wall before picking up the other plate and made his way over to Luna's bedroom.
The door was left half shut, the way Luna liked it, and Nick gently pushed it open to let some of the light from outside filter inside.
A gentle smile formed on Nick's face when he noticed Luna's peaceful sleeping face, and he made his way over to the side of her bed.
He placed the plate down on the bedside counter, before stroking Luna's hair.
"No matter what happens, brother will be there to protect you…" Nick muttered aloud in a barely audible voice.
"Ungh…"
At that moment, Luna gradually opened her eyes and let out a grunt as she stretched her arms.
Only after a few seconds passed did she notice the silhouette next to her bed, gently stroking her hair.
Her face broke out into a cheerful smile when she noticed it was her brother.
"Morning, sleepyhead." He spoke in a low, but spirited voice.
Light started filtering into the room from her window, as Nick had already turned the dimming function off when he noticed Luna was waking up.
He took the freshly cooked omelette he made for her and placed it on her lap.
"Here, eat your breakfast. After you're finished you should get ready for school — it starts soon."
Luna's face blanked when she found a sudden plate of delicious smelling food in front of her. And then, her shock showed on her face.
"Eggs! Brother, where did you get these!? Don't… Don't tell me you stole them?"
To be truthful, Luna had never had the pleasure of tasting any kind of animal related food, not eggs, meat, or even any artificial replacements.
So to suddenly find an omelette, made from not just one egg, but multiple, right in front of her — she was shocked to say the least.
Nick just laughed at her reaction and shrugged her remarks off.
He pull up his shirt's sleeve and flexed his bicep in a joking, sarcastic fashion.
"You know brother has been working hard in the Beast Domain recently! Very soon, we'll no longer have to call our selves poor, that, I guarantee!"
His face looked full of pride.
"Watch this!" He suddenly spoke, before standing up.
Whoosh!
Out of nowhere, he broke out in full sprint, crossing the whole length of their apartment and back to his original spot in less than a few seconds.
Luna was left in her bed, watching him, gobsmacked.
"See that? Brother's powerful now. I've just acquired a Mutant Beast Armament that gives me a speed boost. Do you know how much one of those cost? Lots, and lots of credits! More than we've ever had before!" He boasted shamelessly in front of his normal, unaltered little sister.
Nick only told the half truth, not wanting to tell her that it was actually an Awakened Beast Armament with the power of a Mutant one.
He usually wouldn't keep secrets from his sister, but in this case he would. Even though he trusted her more than he trusted himself, he knew that revealing such information to her wasn't the best idea.
She would never intentionally reveal such a secret, but she was a child. Nick knew all too well how slippery their mouths could be when it came to keeping secrets.
However, Luna's reaction to his comical display of power was very different from what he was respecting.
Instead of excitement or joyful laughter, her smile faded, before tears started to fall.
"What's wrong, Luna?"
Nick quickly grew worried.
"I… I don't want brother to die!"
Luna was unable to hold her emotions in and burst out sobbing.
Only now did Nick realise his mistake.
'I shouldn't have mentioned the Mutant Beast Armament.'
Luna wasn't a fool. She had been taught about beasts and how powerful they were, especially the difference in ranks between them, so she knew how powerful Mutant Beasts could be.
She also knew their financial situation, and there was no way in hell Nick could have bought a Mutant Beast Armament, which could only mean he had hunted one himself.
Nick had essentially just told her that he was putting himself in great danger every day, as it wasn't a secret that he was a relatively weak Altered.