"Kael's personal knife?"
The moment Megumi Tadokoro heard that, she and the others immediately crowded around. They'd seen Kael use a Chinese-style cleaver before, but they never expected him to have a personal, custom-made knife.
"That's right. My personal knife — the Hundred-Hole Knife."
Kael opened the case. Inside lay the knife, resting flat, and everyone instantly noticed the countless tiny holes covering the blade.
Good thing no one here had trypophobia, or they'd be screaming already.
"So many holes… I know holes help stop food from sticking, but this is way too many!"
Even Satoshi Isshiki looked confused. He'd seen plenty of strange specialty knives, but Kael's was on a different level entirely.
"These little holes aren't the only special thing about it."
Alice Nakiri smirked as Kael lifted the knife. Only then did everyone see its second feature — thin. Razor-thin.
"This… this is way too thin. It looks like a razor blade. Can you even cut anything with that?"
Soma Yukihira stared at the knife, shocked. He couldn't imagine using something that thin to prep ingredients. Wouldn't it bend from the slightest pressure?
"That thinness is the point. The elasticity is perfect."
Kael lightly pressed the blade against the table. It instantly bent. But what happened next made everyone's eyes widen.
In Kael's hand, the blade twisted and reshaped itself — bending one way, then rippling into a smooth wave.
Some of those shapes, maybe a normal chef could force out with enough effort… maybe.
But most of what they were seeing? Completely impossible for anyone without superhuman precision.
This was the power of Divine Touch. Without it, Kael wouldn't even be able to wield this knife. Anyone else in Polar Star would be totally helpless.
The Hundred-Hole Knife's true strength lay in this: with precise, delicate force, the blade transformed exactly the way the chef wanted.
By using the knife's ability to change shape depending on the ingredient — paired with proper technique — Kael could handle anything.
That was what made this knife terrifying. It looked simple, but using it was insanely hard.
No wonder that even in the world of Chuuka Ichiban! barely anyone in the Dark Cooking Society could wield it. Only a handful had ever mastered it, with Maoxing managing to recreate it once. The crafting wasn't the issue — the skill requirement was.
"Seriously, how are you making it move like that?"
Alice Nakiri had tried the knife before. She knew firsthand how impossible that level of control was.
"It's all technique. Micro-control of strength…"
Kael briefly explained the force application method.
Everyone shook their heads before he even finished.
"You're a monster. No normal human can do that!"
They were convinced only something non-human could pull this off.
"Training won't get you far with this knife. The skill requirement is on a different level entirely. I'll make lunch today — see for yourselves what this thing is truly made for."
With that, everyone's anticipation shot through the roof.
Afterward, the group split up, and Alice wandered around as well once the moving was done, touring the Polar Star facilities.
The garden area caught her attention — as a pampered young lady, she'd never planted anything before. The novelty alone had her smiling.
There was also the livestock area and Sakaki's fermentation zone. Everyone here had their own specialty, and Polar Star showcased all of it perfectly.
Alice gained a much deeper understanding of what made these people different from the rest of Totsuki.
When noon approached, Kael began prepping lunch. Everyone gathered at the kitchen door, staring him down. After all, this meal would be their first time seeing the Hundred-Hole Knife in action.
Kael picked up a fish, and everyone wondered how he planned to remove the scales with such a thin blade. It didn't have the thickness or hardness needed to scrape them off.
What happened next left everyone stunned.
Kael placed the knife flat against the fish. As he applied force, the blade rippled into waves, matching the exact contours of the fish's scales and locking into the gaps.
Then the wavy pattern shifted in an instant, spreading across the blade like ripples racing over water.
And the scales popped straight off.
One by one, neat and clean, flying in a steady stream as the blade advanced.
"If I didn't see this myself, I'd never believe someone could remove scales like this! And that speed—!"
Everyone was shocked. Who would imagine descaling a fish like this?
Not only was it precise, but unbelievably fast. In the blink of an eye, one side was done.
Kael repeated the technique and cleared the other side just as quickly.
Then he slit open the belly. A blade this thin shouldn't be able to cut something like that cleanly, but Kael's control hardened the blade instantly, slicing through effortlessly.
Using the knife's ability to shift shape according to the ingredient, Kael quickly broke down the fish — and even the small bones were flicked out cleanly.
For most chefs, removing fine fish bones was tedious and annoying. Some fish had so many tiny bones that every bite guaranteed several spikes of agony.
But Kael removed them like nothing, the Hundred-Hole Knife flicking them out in streams.
In anyone else's hands, the knife was useless.
In Kael's, it was a divine tool.
Everyone admired it, but they also knew one thing clearly:
No one here could ever control that knife.