Chapter 31: Cooking Session
For others, the meat of these monsters could only be used for normal food, but in Ainen's hands, it could transform Legendary-grade food with heavenly taste that also gives crazy buffs and permanent stats!
Ainen took out his restaurant, surprising Naresh and his party again.
"Wait here, I'll go and cook. It'll take half an hour, so take it easy here," Ainen stored the monsters that weighed over five tons easily and entered the kitchen.
"What the fuck?" Henil couldn't help but curse in disbelief. "Is he going to cook in that small-ass wagon?"
The others were also speechless.
"Boss, are we really going to play along with him?" Henil sighed.
"What do you want me to do?" Naresh calmly shot him a glance. "I can't beat him."
"..."
"Leader, is his outfit that strong?" Lokam, the bald guy of the party, asked, curious. "Surely, if all of us attack together, it can work, right?"
"Boss said it's not worth it," Remia said with a smile as she looked at Naresh. "You must have some reasons, right?"
Naresh's eyes glinted as he nodded. "You all saw his battle."
Everyone's eyes flickered.
Yes, they saw and wouldn't be able to forget that anytime soon.
"You think any of you can defend against that arrow, except for Jason?" Naresh turned to the dark-skinned man, looking in his late twenties, who was the same age as Naresh. "Jason is the strongest Awakened-rank of our party. Let's hear from him about that attack."
Jason was silent for a second before he dryly smiled. "His magic potency was low, meaning his Arcane stat is not that high yet since he just recently broke through; however, that offense of his Fire, which also had some Sand element mixed in it…"
"I'm afraid he can beat the three of you, purely because you three can't keep up with his speed even if you have high stats, and your defense can't hold against his attack."
Naresh nodded. "Indeed. Jason has a rather good movement-type skill, and having far superior stats, so he can dodge and keep up with Ainen for now, but when that guy levels up and increases his stats a bit more, even Jason won't be a match for him."
Remia blinked and asked. "Leader…you want to recruit him to our party?"
Naresh smiled. "He has legendary fire affinity. I am almost sure that his Fire Manipulation is already at S-rank and quite possibly at the peak of S-rank."
"What?!" Everyone was shocked.
"No way!" Henil shouted, not wanting to believe it.
"Having S-rank element-system skills is a dream of many, and one of the biggest challenges for Adventurers. An Adventurer isn't a powerhouse without an S-rank elemental manipulation skill," Naresh said and turned to the restaurant, "But now, we have encountered someone who has it, a once-in-a-million prodigy with high affinity for an element. It's given that he will rise stronger, so how could I resist inviting him to the party?"
"And his class is Chef…" Remia said as she looked at the Wagon. "Let's see what kind of food he will cook."
"But that building is too small…"Lokam said, his voice tinged with doubt. "It can't house a single monster from the pile he just took from us. How is he going to cook?"
"..."
"…"
Even Naresh had no words.
"Let's just wait."
As time passed, five minutes had gone by, and the chimney of this tiny restaurant started releasing smoke, as well as aroma.
"This smell.."
Everyone's nose twitched, and the more they smelled, the more their nose twitched.
"What the fuck…" Henil mumbled.
Growl!
It wasn't a monster. It was their stomach growling.
Just by smelling the food, their appetite was going crazy!
Gulp!
"What is he cooking? My mouth is watering already…"
As time passed, the torture only increased as they smelled different types of aromas.
A bit over twenty minutes passed by before Ainen finished cooking.
"You two stay here, okay? I still don't trust them, so I can't take you out."
"Okie, brother Ain!"
"And eat this slowly. It's stronger, so if you eat a lot at once, you'll get hurt."
Ron and Syl nodded.
"You three…" Ainen looked at Saffa and others.
"We'll eat later," Saffa said despite her stomach rumbling.
The cute beasts transformed into the outfit for Ainen.
Ainen smiled.
He kept 60% of the total food for the foxes separately in the Inventory.
Seeing Ainen, Naresh, and others felt antsy.
They wanted to eat!
"Sorry for the wait. Here, dig in."
Ainen waved his hand, taking out a bunch of different food dishes.
Naresh and others couldn't help but gulp as the explosions of aroma hit them when a tableful of food appeared before them.
Ainen had emptied all of his herbs and other stuff with this, so he would have to collect more later.
Fortunately, there were many herbs and plants everywhere that people didn't actively harvest. They weren't magical, but they could be used to enhance and shape the taste of food in various ways.
For this cooking session, Ainen tried a new approach, and it rewarded him.
The four recipes he came up with were all C+ rated!
"Hey, B-rank Fire Manipulation guy, you should try that dish. It might help you." Ainen pointed at a rather dangerous hamburger steak, with the meat-bread having tiny holes that released fiery orange sparks.
[ Blazing Burner Hamburger ]
Rating: C+
Effect:
—> Made with meat of Fire-attributed monsters and plants, as well as Fire energy of S-rank Fire Manipulation, this steak has a chance to help those with lower-ranked Fire affinity to acquire an understanding of the Fire element.
"My name is Henil!" Henil snorted and looked at the steak. "What do you mean by it might help me?
Suddenly, Remia screeched loudly, startling others, but only Jason wasn't startled by her screech because he was in a similar state of shock, as he was the only one who had taken the first bite from the dish in front of him aside from Remia.
Ainen grinned. 'And it starts.'