In the customs of the Divine Realm, the New Year is considered the point of age growth.
And the Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in the Divine Realm. The specific time is no longer traceable, but on that land, it has been passed down for thousands of years.
The Spring Festival signifies bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new, and family reunions.
Although other countries do not have the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival, at St. Freya Academy, or rather, within Takatsuki's main group, there are at least two people from the Divine Realm.
Even if there wasn't such a custom originally, many times it's not about the festival itself, but rather the need for such a reason.
A long time has passed since Takatsuki returned from his trial, and it was natural for him to receive some "punishment" for his previous actions upon his return.
However, if one were to truly count, the biggest impact was still the matter of his daughter.
In the kitchen, Takatsuki watched the graceful figure gently swaying in front of him and quietly walked over.
"Hmm? Are you hungry? Really…"
Mei stopped what she was doing at the sudden embrace around her waist, smiling dotingly as she picked up a side dish.
"Haha, I'm not Kiana."
Even as he said this, Takatsuki still ate the side dish from the chopsticks.
"Let me help, there's still a lot to prepare later."
Although Takatsuki's cooking skill level had been greatly reduced because he had drawn a large number of character cards to gather the materials needed to ascend to heaven, he hadn't even drawn any S-rank character cards, let alone A-rank ones.
However, due to their sheer quantity, lower-level cards actually surpassed A-rank character cards in overall value.
All of this is thanks to the existence of the Disassembler.
After all, a large number of B-rank and even C-rank character cards cannot be equipped at the same time, but after being disassembled, although a lot was wasted, some common life skills were still maxed out.
This includes skills like cooking and car driving.
There were even useless skills like gardening, electrical work, and swimming, but because they were just sitting there, Takatsuki used them himself.
But even with such outstanding culinary skills, he was still driven out of the kitchen by Mei.
As expected of the Herrscher of Thunder, the cook of the house…
However, even so, she couldn't surpass the max level of cooking skills.
As for why it is said to be above, it is necessary to mention the pitfalls of the system skill level, because the so-called max is not the limit of the skill but the limit of the system, and to break through the max level, one must rely on oneself or other external forces.
For example, in the case of cooking, it wasn't Takatsuki himself who broke through the limit of the cooking skill, but because he drew an S-rank character card with no combat power while hoarding character cards.
[Special Chef Liu Maoxing] [S]
[Divine Talent (Cooking): Beyond human taste, smell, and vision allow for better analysis of ingredients and techniques through various methods.]
[Simulation Deduction: Can simulate the entire cooking process in the mind to confirm feasibility.]
Liu Maoxing's skills did not include a cooking option, but it wasn't really necessary; with the talent of this character card, even a complete novice could quickly grow.
And under a series of various factors, this character card is not in Takatsuki's hands now…
"Takatsuki, just wait there. Rita will be here to help soon."
Rita, huh…
Durandal's Stand ability allows her to borrow the power of those with whom she has a causal link.
And the most suitable power to borrow is Takatsuki's.
So she borrowed Takatsuki's [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] ability, and because it was borrowed power, it shared Takatsuki's anchor point.
After all, Durandal usually lives in the Anti-Entropy headquarters, under Otto's nose.
Although he wished he could punch Otto and flatten his Soul Steel face, for other matters, such as borrowing the power of Anti-Entropy to strengthen himself against Honkai, or retrieving his mother's weapon, Abyss Flower.
"Alright, Takatsuki, hurry up and go greet the guests."
Saying that, Takatsuki was pushed out of the kitchen by Mei and saw Durandal and Rita arriving through their abilities.
"Good evening, Mr. Takatsuki."
Rita bowed slightly to Takatsuki. During their time together, Rita had clearly come to realize the power this young man possessed.
Although in her heart, Bishop Otto was still the most dangerous man on Earth and the most hopeful person to defeat Honkai, this did not prevent her from pleasing both sides at the same time.
After all, Bishop Otto's order was to protect Durandal's growth…
"Good evening, Rita."
Although he greeted Rita, Rita could clearly see that Takatsuki's attention wasn't on her, so she simply bowed slightly: "I'll go to the kitchen to help Mei first."
Even Rita, who prided herself on being the most perfect maid, had to admit that Mei's cooking skills now completely surpassed hers, which gave her a lot of frustration, but a perfect maid would not just fall like that.
"Sorry, Takatsuki, Otto recently asked me to investigate some disappearing Honkai incidents, specifically information about YoRHa, so it wasn't convenient for me to come over."
Durandal apologized to Takatsuki.
"No need to apologize, after all, this was my suggestion to you. But have you gotten the Abyss Flower now?"
Durandal nodded: "However, because it can't be discovered, I put it in the equipment vault with Twilight Paladin."
The Honkai Impact 3rd world doesn't have convenient spatial equipment like the Gate of Babylon. Although there are some folding technologies, it's still difficult to apply them to people for storing equipment.
"It's alright, my plan will probably begin in July. You can leave before then, or do you, Durandal, have other plans?"
Durandal shook her head: "As long as we can defeat Honkai, it's the same no matter where we are, but…"
Durandal hesitated: "Can we really meet?"
"Just trust me. After all, you've experienced it, haven't you? You could say you're the most experienced person in this world."
The two laughed, chatting about things others couldn't understand.
"Sister! Stop chatting and come help me!"
Perhaps she couldn't bear to watch any longer, Kiana ran over and directly grabbed Durandal's arm, pulling her in another direction.
Durandal didn't resist, waved to Takatsuki, and followed Kiana away.
Takatsuki didn't say anything, just waved back, looking at the lively villa.
"It's so peaceful. If only it could always be like this. I always feel like something is missing."
"Of course, we're missing a child, Dad!"