How Much is Too Much?

"That steak was so tender that it feels like it melts in my mouth," said Angelica. She has eaten a lot of foods in known restaurants before, including steaks.

The steak that Ray made was on the level of the most succulent steak that she ever had before. So her words can be stated as a fact because those steaks that she had eaten in the past cost around 500 thousand Rupiah or more with the same level of taste.

Angelica's parents were known to have an international company in more than 30 countries. The reason she was working as a waitress and cash register were because her parents wanted her to feel how to work directly with customers before making her the heir of the company.

In the future, Angelica's little brother will be the heir because she will be working under Ray directly. But that's a story for another time.

"With the right preparation, everything can be delicious." Ray was proud of his dish. Though he can be considered cheating because of his ownership of the [Cooking] skill, that's beside the point.

"Next time, I want you to lead this kitchen," said Greg. That was just him saying empty words because he already intended to give the whole cafe to Ray anyway.

Everyone nodded from Greg's words. Even though Ray's steak last time tastes heavenly, they somehow knew he was still holding back his true potential.

It is true that he was still holding back, but his true potential lies somewhere else and Artoria knew that.

When she saw how Ray started cooking, he has an air that every knight in her round table has. She knew that Ray's true potential lies in his fighting abilities. But with the modern world that he lived in, that potential will never be fulfilled, until now.

She desired to see how far Ray can come and surpass her.

"Haha, you make a good joke, owner." Ray dismissed Greg's empty words.

"It is time to continue our talk. Chika and Budi, do you have any ideas for the design?" Ray continued the discussion while serving each of them either a coffee or a tea.

"I think I have a plan, though I want to take each and every one of your opinion about the theme of our cafe," said Chika.

"Personally, I wanted it to be soothing. Like sitting while surrounded by nature. Or something simple like a regular gray wall with the room adorned with light brown furniture." Ray was imagining a cafe that he visited before in his past life. That cafe has simple designs, some greenery here and there with gray walls adorned with some posters. Some of the tables and chairs required the customers to reach using stairs like what an auditorium has. It was simple yet beautiful.

"I agree with what Ray said. Since I targeted this cafe to be available for both high school and college students, something similar to nature would be best so they can come to the cafe and forget about their stress," said Greg.

Everyone voiced their opinions. After some hours of discussion, they have decided on the design.

While they were discussing, Ray took out his Microsoft Surface from the bag, hiding the fact that he took it from his [Inventory], and started copying his website mockup design so he can present it to other employees first before coding it.

Ray completed copying the website mockup while the rest were still discussing the design that they want. So he waited for them to finish.

His design was quite simple, a home page that introduces their cafe, a menu list, and a page about how to contact them. Only 3 pages, but even after all of the employees including Greg, saw it, they didn't voice any complaint.

In Ray's mind, the website is checked on his to-do list. He just needed to code it and present it again in front of them before he hosts the website in some online hosting.

"I think we need to discuss this tomorrow since its Saturday. I'm going to come here tomorrow afternoon, is that okay owner?" Ray wanted to go back because he wanted to start training with his teacher.

"Tomorrow is not supposed to be your shift but you can come."

"Well, thank you, everyone. I'll see you all tomorrow. Let's go, teacher." Ray waved his hands and went out of the cafe with Artoria.

They were talking for a bit while walking.

"So, what's your opinion, teacher?"

"I think that they were honest people, though the owner is too soft-hearted."

"You are right about that. I hope with my help, the cafe can prosper." Ray was hoping for the best. He didn't want to feel like his past life. Sometimes, his throat throbbed every time he was thinking of the past. He didn't want to encounter something like that again.

But, it was a guarantee that he won't feel anything like that again. With Excalibur, Avalon, Hana, and Artoria on his side, he won't feel lonely anymore.

After they entered the boarding house, they immediately went into the [Training Ground].

Ray didn't forget to ask Hana to set the time dilation into 1 hour outside equals 1 year inside.

They started doing warm-up exercises to prepare Ray's body. After that, Artoria started to introduce her way of using swords by instructing Ray to do the same combat forms that she uses.

After some time, they started sparring. Well, more like a one-sided beatdown by Artoria. Even though she held back quite a lot, it was still too much for Ray. But he didn't complain because he can feel himself getting more powerful each time he woke up from his unconsciousness.

After only she and God knows how many beat downs, Artoria decided to train him in a different way because she knew Ray's form was still too low for her standards.

"I overestimated you. I'm going to have to train your body so it is flexible enough to respond to your mind." Artoria knew when they were 'sparring', he was trying his best to dodge the almost impossible angle of her attacks. She was purposely trying to use unusual angles so she knew how his body responds towards her attacks.

Since in the [Training Ground], there's an obstacle course, she told him to do laps in that course. After she saw Ray accustomed to the course, she started to throw rocks towards him.

By the end of their session, he was so tired that he slept the moment his body touched the ground. Ray took a moment to check his stats before sleeping on the ground.

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Name: Ray Purnomo

Race: Human, *Sealed*, *Sealed*

Strength: 20

Endurance: 23

Agility: 17

Luck: 13

Magic: 5

System Points: 146.447

Skills:

[Eidetic Memory: ?] [Cooking: C] [Instinct: E] [Programming: G]

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Artoria, seeing that Ray was sleeping on the ground, walked to him and sat on his right.

Meanwhile, Ray was having a mysterious dream. He was in front of a big cave that was surrounded by a variety of trees. One was huge trees that span into the sky, almost like Yggdrasil in Norse Mythology, one was a flaming tree, one was a transparent tree that the only invisible part was the trunk, and the list goes on.

It was as if each tree was signifying one of each element.

Even though he was surrounded by the mystical trees, he's concentrated on the cave for some reason. Without fear, he went in.

He was greeted by crystals upon crystals, which when he went deeper into the cave, the crystal became more transparent as if there were no impurities inside the crystal whatsoever.

By the time he reached the cave's end, there was a sleeping dragon that literally breathes fire every time it exhales out.

The dragon was quite large, similar to a mansion from one of those nobles in anime. The scales were red, and the horns have similarities to an Oryx, albeit with the end of the horns resembles a circle.

As if the dragon can sense the little human's presence, it opened its slit eyes.

Somehow, Ray feel really calm in front of the dragon, no fear can be seen in his eyes.

"So, you have come." said the dragon.

"You know me?"

"Of course, how could I not know myself?" This question confused Ray. How can the dragon speak as if it was Ray himself?

"This is not something like I'm your future self and whatnot. I'm, in fact, you, or at least the power that was hiding inside you."

"You kidding?"

"How can I be joking? I'm always with you even before you meet that God."

'But I'm on-'

"If something like multiverse or realms exist, how can something like me not exist on your Earth? Though I never walked there... or have I?" The dragon was confused by his own words. It was true that the dragon in front of Ray was himself so technically the dragon has walked the Earth.

"Anyway, now you know who I am and I don't need to know about you since, well, I'm essentially you, that means you are here because of a reason. But what- oh, I see." The dragon continued his talk but stop in the middle of its sentence since he tried to sense the inside of Ray.

There is a core inside Ray, not surprising since Ray was technically the dragon. But what made the dragon stopped his sentence was because the core simultaneously generates energy and suppressed itself with the said energy.

The energy felt divine, like the God that Ray had met earlier.

"So he even decided to temper with 'that', what a nice old man." said the dragon, grinning with his largemouth.

Ray was totally confused about the situation. But when the dragon said 'that', it piqued his interest. So he decided to ask.

"What do you mean with 'that'?"

"Well, since I'm you and you are me, then you are unmistakably a dragon, a True Dragon. From what you know about dragons, they have a core inside their bodies that produces mana. I don't even have to explain that because you already know what I was going to say, right?"

Ray nodded. Since he was a dragon, or at least has the potential to become one, what the dragon in front of him saying was that he has a core inside him too. And also, since in some stories, dragon 'purifies' the environment just by existing, he too did the same.

It was solving some of his questions. Since he, and the rest of his family, never have any sickness since he was born.

But he was still confused about what the dragon meant with 'that'. Does the dragon imply something else?

"No, what I'm referring to 'that' is your core was different in the sense that it produces divine mana. But the unusual thing is that your core suppressed itself so that it won't harm you. If it didn't suppress itself, you will explode shortly after the mana reached the inside of your body."

Ray quivered. He didn't think that he was bringing a 'self-destruction device' with him all the time.

"Don't worry, by the time you have enough strength and a stronger soul, it will start to give the produced mana to you."

"But that means that this divine mana that you were talking about was stored?" Ray still had some fear. If the core that he has cannot store any more mana, it means that it can still explode.

"That is why you need to get stronger faster. You don't have to think about how to make your soul stronger because Excalibur is still currently doing its job. By the time you hit 20 years old, you will basically turn into a God by how purified your soul is."

Unknown to anyone, except the creator, Excalibur will strengthen the soul of its user, not because it wants something in return, but because if the user of Excalibur has a strong soul, it will strengthen Excalibur as well.

So it is a mutualism symbiotic relationship. The same could be said in Artoria's case.

And the same could be said with Avalon. Though it was more of symbiosis rather than mutualism. Because Avalon gives both Ray and Artoria limited immortality and also creating a 'barrier' that will block any kind of attacks, even from Gilgamesh's Enuma Elish from Fate Universe.

Except if they received an attack that can influence both the world and Heaven at the same time.

Ray, hearing that from the dragon, felt more grateful to Excalibur and its sheathe than ever.

As if Excalibur and Avalon can sense its user's gratitude, it released a warm feeling to tell Ray that they were happy to be of service.

While Ray was feeling the warmth coming from both of his companions, his body slowly turned into particles of light.

"It seems that the time is up. The next time you visit, I will instruct you how to release and control that draconic part of your strength."

Ray smiled and said, "Thank you", before he departed from the cave.

"How can you say thank you to your own. Well, I guess that's how you do things." The dragon smiled and went back to its slumber.

Inside the [Training Ground], Ray opened his eyes and saw his teacher sitting on his right.

"Good morning," said Ray.

"Good morning," replied Artoria.

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Hello there.

I think I need to clarify something. In this chapter, there is a paragraph about the dragon being Ray himself and confused by his own words. Ray and the dragon are both the same existence with the same soul, though with different personalities. Since, in most cases, a soul can only occupy one body, that means that the dragon have already walked the Earth. I don't know how to explain this but you just need to understand that both of them are the same with one another.

And about the ending, I know it was weird that I end it there, I can't help but end it there since I don't know how to end it with. And I need to stop typing end so sorry, I'll end this now...

Thanks for reading