NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: Breakthrough
6 hours have passed since Adventurers entered the Labyrinth.
"Finally, I got the second challenge. I knew there had to be one at the peak of this mountain. It made me reach level 100 as well."
Ainen looked at a small tree with glowing pink and blue leaves with patterns.
'This looks good. It's one of the top challenges. Although there are 50 challenges on this floor, there should be a few that are tougher and give more rewards. This is one of them.'
'Now, that sounds fun.'
Ainen grinned. 'Then should I get a power-up before going in?'
'You must. You are very strong, but this challenge will have Adept-rank difficulty that will exhaust you fast and put you in danger. Usually, a party of at least three should go in these challenges, even if such three Awakened-rank Adventurers are talented like you, but you are alone.'
Ainen nodded.
'I don't want to take meaningless risks as well. Since I can, I will break through.'
Ainen took out his restaurant near the tree and activated its barrier.
Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea jumped and started playing with Ron and Syl, who came out.
Ainen used one more feature of the Limitless Kitchen.
[Hell's Kitchen Transformation]
Effect:
—> Transforms the food dishes placed in the cupboard into hell-themed monsters. Once used, they will disappear after a set amount of time or if killed.
—> The strength of these monsters depends on the rating of the food dishes placed here.
Cost: none.
Cooldown: 1 usage every week. The uses will not stack even if not used.
He had put 10 dishes in it. Seven B-rated, two B+ rated, and one A-rated.
The recipes were Cs and Bs, but the food dishes were rated higher based on his cooking performance.
And higher-rated dishes transformed into stronger monsters!
'Let's use some Cook Points to strengthen the result. I haven't used any of them yet.'
Ainen spent 1000 Cook Points, giving 100 Cook Points' worth of enhancement to each dish.
Shortly, hell-themed monsters started appearing.
"W-What is this, brother Ain?!" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs, seeing a four-legged gold-plated mantis with four arms, each having a crimson-wave laced scythe.
[ Infernal Golden Reaper Mantis ]
Rank: Adept
Level: 200
"There's more!" Syl exclaimed, her eyes shining as she saw a three-headed wolf with infernal horns, a strange four-winged skeleton sparrow with blue flame in their sockets, and other hell-themed monsters.
"They are our new friends." Ainen chuckled.
'This one is strong.' Saffa sniffed the Mantis and sized it up.
The Mantis looked at her, but just slowly started walking in 'stand by' mode. Everyone was an ally here.
'Not as strong as us, though,' Clovelle said.
'Of course, that's obvious. We have to protect Master and his family ourseleves,' Fraisea stood like a protector overlooking the family.
'Okay, stop with that posing, sis.'
'Let me stand like this! Don't disturb, go.'
'You're so cute, Sisfrai.' Saffa laughed.
'H-Humph.'
…
Ainen sat down after summoning ten monsters, which was the limit of this ability, for now.
The skills would upgrade when he levels up his class.
'Now then.' Ainen looked at his status.
[Chef Ainen]
Level: 100
Liferank: Awakened.
—Magic Core: Pentatronix Dynamo.
Class: Mystic Chef (SSS)
Innate Talent:
—> I Cook Limitlessly.
—> Arsenal of Arcane.
Stats: 324
—> Vitality: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Strength: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Stamina: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Agility: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Cognition: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Arcane: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
—> Mana: Ⅱ 100 Ⅱ + 30%
In the last cooking session he had an hour ago, he cooked dishes and ate to finally hit 100 in all stats without using stat points from leveling.
'Once I break through, I'll immediately use stat points and boost certain stats a lot to give myself an early edge. Arcane and Mana mainly.'
'Good idea.' Lord Black agreed.
Arcane, the stat responsible for determining the potency of his Mana, which in turn determines the potency of his skills.
Mana, the stat that determines the size of his Mana Pool. The higher the Mana, the higher the maximum output. Not to mention, Ainen's Mana recovery and proficiency of Mana itself were higher than all people present in this Labyrinth, solely due to his high magic talent and S-rank Fire Manipulation, with which he could release great output at lower consumption of Mana due to high mastery.
And his Magic Talent was once again reflected in the activity he was currently doing.
Refining the Magic Core.
The breakthrough requirements of Adept-rank were reaching level 100, reaching 100 in all stats, and refining the Magic Core to 100% completion.
Refining one's Magic Core required one very important resource—Mana Stones, and Ainen had tons of them.
Magic Core Refinement was a process of infusing a huge amount of Mana into their Magic Core.
One must infuse Mana until their Magic Core starts cracking, but must also prevent it from cracking.
If Magic Core cracked, it'd be over. Death was not uncommon because the explosion of one's Magic Core was lethal.
As such, when one's Magic Core starts cracking, they must quickly control the infused Mana and properly suppress it.
Suppress it constantly until the Magic Core, from its cracks, absorbs all the Mana that was infused and mends itself, refining itself, which results in the Magic Core becoming stronger. The Stat Bonus it provides increases.
'Wow, I am halfway done, and the bonus is quite good already.'
'It's an Epic quality Magic Core, after all. But your weird Magic Core is versatile. Once you change the catalyst with a better dish, it will be a Legendary quality.' Lord Black couldn't help but smile wryly. Ainen's Mana Cultivation Method was truly enigmatic.
[ Magic Core — Pentatronix Dynamo (50% refined) ]
Stat Bonus:
—> Natural Mana Recovery +300% -> 450%
—> +300 -> 450 Omni-Elemental Resistance.
—> +30% -> + 45% in all stats.
—> +30% -> 45% extra potency in Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning attributed skills.
'Once I reach 100% refinement, I'll double what I initially had.' Ainen grinned. 'And I'll have broken through as well.'
He couldn't wait to feel that new realm of power. It was going to be a big jump!
As Ainen took out a new pile of Mana Stones to absorb and refine his Magic Core, another half an hour passed by.
Lord Black couldn't help but sigh upon seeing Ainen completely refining his Magic Core in an hour.
Average people would have to be careful in this process, and they only do it like 10% every day, even if they have enough Mana Stones.
Though most Adventurers would need to earn Mana Stones since Ainen just burned down 10,000 low-grade Mana Stones to make his Magic Core reach 100% refinement.
And without him doing anything else next, the breakthrough started as all the stars were already aligned for it.
[ Congratulations. You have successfully broken through to Adept rank, taking one more step in the path of the arcane. ]
[Chef Ainen]
Level: 100
Liferank: Adept.
—Magic Core: Pentatronix Dynamo.
Class: Mystic Chef (SSS)
Innate Talent:
—> I Cook Limitlessly.
—> Arsenal of Arcane.
Stats: 324 -> 162
—> Vitality: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Strength: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Stamina: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Agility: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Cognition: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Arcane: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
—> Mana: Ⅲ 10 Ⅲ + 60%
'Awesome.'
While Ainen had just broken through, two unaware groups of people from different parties were about to reach the peak of the same mountain.
One from the front, one from the back.