Kaiser of the New World

Kai stared blankly at the stir-fry, wondering if he was imagining things. He had only been trapped in this cell for about a day and he was already seeing things, that probably wasn't a good sign of what's to come.

But no, when he reached out to grab the tray he was actually able to get a hold on it, pulling it closer as he realised that the stir fry was still steaming.

That left him with two possibilities. Either it was only deliverer a couple of minutes ago, or it had some sort of enchantment to keep it warm.

Not wanting to grab the bowl incase it was still hot, Kai looked around the tray and spotted a fork made of ice.

Not expecting much of the frosty utensil, Kai picked it up, expecting it to start melting as soon as it went into the stir-fry.

But it didn't, making Kai even more confused.

Did they seriously use the same ice that was used to make this cell to make a damn fork?

Digging into the stir-fry, Kai closed his eyes and let out a small moan as he felt his taste buds dance.

He wasn't sure if it was because he was hungry since moldy bread and broth wasn't exactly a filling meal, or if it was because he was actually a bad chef, but the stir-fry he was currently eating tasted much, much better than any he had made before.

Kai devoured it, nearly licking the bowl clean once he had finished. After he was done, he almost felt sad, who knew the next time he would get a meal like that?

But Kai knew that he had to get over the post good meal depression and start speculating.

Because the main question was who the hell had left him that stir-fry.

It couldn't have been Anastasia or her guards, considering that her idea of dinner was moldy bread and broth. There was a very distinct difference between that and a tasty stir-fry.

So who could it have possibly been?

Castillian? Probably not, especially after Kai insulted him the last day.

Ezekial? Possibly, they didn't seem like a bad guy, Kai wouldn't be surprised if he had snuck him down a nice meal.

The only thing that ruined that theory was the fact that he was completetly loyal to Castillian and Anastasia, making it a little far fetched that he would go behind their backs to give him some good food. It would also mean that the swordsman was aware of all that was going on, which Kai wasn't sure about, considering that they didn't seem to know he was under a hex.

Kai frowned as he continued to theorise. Someone had to have left that meal, but who?

...

The Second Queen?

To be honest, that sounded like the most realistic option. She was the one who had been paid for him to be brought here, but Kai had never actually met her. Was she feeling guilty about her decision and decided to feed Kai properly during his time in the cell or something? 

Possibly.

Of course, there was also the possibility that it was someone that he had never met who was working in the shadows, plotting something that Kai could be useful for in the future. While that may be a little far fetched, it honestly seemed more realistic than the idea of Castillian feeding him.

But after going over the who, Kai felt a shiver run up his spine.

He hadn't exactly been very open with his cooking skills when he had to. In fact, he had never even cooked when there was anyone else in the kitchen. It wasn't because he was embarrassed of his cooking or anything, it's just that it was always late when he cooked.

But all that meant that someone had been secretly watching him in the kitchen every time he got home. They watched him cook the stir-fry and watched him do god knows what else.

Kai glanced back to the ice tray with the empty bowl sitting on top of it.

Did this mean that he really did have an ally somewhere in the castle, or was it someone taunting him?

Kai then watched as the tray, bowl and fork all started to shimmer and vanish from existence, as if they had never been there in the first place.

Staring blankly at where the tray was just moments ago, Kai wondered to himself if there was some sort of magical chef class or something. It probably existed, it seemed like it would be more common than a Statshifter anyway.

"Oh well... back to work I guess."

*****

One week, well, seven sleeps later and Kai was still practicing his Statshifting and his level of control over Soul Flame.

To be honest, both were coming along really well.

Kai had started trying to up his control of Soul Flame while it was being limited so he could wrap it around his body to keep himself warm.

It took a long time in the beginning, and it also took a lot out of him. The first few times it took him over an hour just to coat his body in a weak flame. It did help keep him warm, so he wasn't struggling as much.

But there were also a bunch of things he discovered about Soul Flame that actually surprised him.

For starters, the Stat which he used to fuel the flame actually had different properties.

Over the course of the last seven sleeps, Kai always had to have a part of his mind concentrate on keeping the flames lit, otherwise it would die out and he would have to waste time setting the flame up again.

But when he used Soul Flame while only fueling Constitution, the flame had the ability to stay lit and stable longer, meaning Kai got more time out of each light, which also meant that Kai didn't have to waste as much mental strength keeping it lit and could focus on Statshifting.

But sadly, even after keeping his body wrapped in Soul Flame for seven sleeps, the ice chains tied to him and the ice collar around his neck showed no signs of melting. But that didn't deter Kai, as he had some newfound hope because of what always happened when he fell asleep.

While he was asleep, someone would always come and deliver a bowl of stir-fry to Kai, accompanied by a fork made of ice. One time they even left a glass of something Kai assumed was beer, but he wasn't really sure. Sadly, that was a one time thing.

Kai had tried a couple of times to stay awake and catch who had been leaving him the food, but he always ended up falling asleep and the food would be there when he woke up.

Still, Kai knew to appreciate good food, so he didn't mind if his secret chef wanted to remain anonymous for now. He was going to find out who they were one way or the other eventually.

Over the course of these seven sleeps, Kai also attempted to summon a variety of items from his soul and use a bunch of skills, he even used his Innate Ability.

Sadly, it was all a bust.

Using his Innate Ability with Umbra made him freeze. Even just trying to use it without Umbra as a base made him freeze, meaning his Innate Ability was completetly useless.

Trying to use Telepathy, Soul Sense and Soulcery all made him freeze. He was more than a bit upset that Telepathy didn't work because that meant he couldn't wake up Umbra by normal means, he would have to wait for her to wake up herself. It also meant that when she did wake up he wouldn't be able to talk to her. Luckily, Umbra was able to understand him just fine without the skill, it was just that Kai couldn't understand her.

Soulcery and Soul Sense, Kai wasn't as upset about those being nullified, they probably wouldn't have been of use here anyway.

As for items, his Pretty Good Boots, Fortified Bodysuit, Chrome Skin and Esurient were all locked. Even the Soul and Will of Ethania were locked, which was a little surprising, why bother locking those?

Of course, there was still a bunch of other things that Kai had to test. He still had Soul Link and Ignition, but he was a little hesitant to use those as he still had no idea how bad the backlash actually was. There was also some more items he had to try to summon.

He had also managed to improve his ability to Statshift quite a bit. He now had two ways to Statshift.

He could either be careful and move stats in smaller numbers, or he could move a large amount of stats in one go.

Moving a large amount of stats took more out of him though, it made him tire quicker and it was generally felt harder. The most stats he managed to shift in one go was fifty, which Kai had moved from Mana to Stamina.

If he were to be careful though, it now took him two minutes to move a single stat. A small but noticible improvement considering that it took him ten minutes to move three Stat Points before, meaning he would now be able to move five in the same amount of time.

He felt like his progress was slowing a little though, in the beginning he was able to cut down the time when shifting a Stat by seconds, but now it was only lowering by a second, if even. Still, progress was progress.

Sadly, not all was meant to be peaceful in his cell of ice. Anastasia had paid a visit to him on sleep five, which had not gone so well as Kai had ended up insulting her more than he would like to admit.

As a consequence of all that insulting, he ended up having both of his arms frozen up to his shoulders and even half of both his feet frozen.

It seemed a little stupid, but Kai didn't really regret it. The only downside was that it took a couple of hours for the ice to go away this time, meaning Kai missed out on quite a bit of training that sleep.

But it seemed that Kai might have to go through all that again sooner than he expected.

Kai sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall, letting the green flame that was wrapped around his body disappear. He didn't want Anastasia to know that he could still use some of his skills.

He heard the sound of her footsteps approaching from the left, her rythym strangely upbeat.

But Kai frowned when he heard two other sets of footsteps following behind her.