Chapter 591
Chapter 591 - 571: Material
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7 min read
The beast tide during the riot period itself symbolized chaos, and yet near the entrance and exit of the 21st floor, a bonfire surrounded an already established campsite.
The silver armor had been disassembled, and by the side of the grill on the bonfire, the humanoid form that the "armor" transformed into was humming a tune and happily cooking.
When there were outsiders, Zhi Xi, as a "smart machine," would usually disguise herself as animated armor. But now that she was asked to come out and cook, she could no longer hide.
"...It’s better not to touch anything below the fourth-tier..."
Lu Ping’an tried a piece of roasted petrified lizard meat and then advised those students who were dizzy from hunger.
Zhi Xi used heavy seasoning, relying on Lu Ping’an’s high resistance, so the "polluted" content in the food was always excessive... Lu Ping’an warned them, whether they would listen or not was another matter.
Most of the students swallowed their saliva and then gnawed on their dry rations.
However, two third-tier students hesitated and finally tore off a piece of meat to try.
"...This junior is also a third-tier, isn’t he? Even if he has a stronger resistance due to his gourmet part-time, we should be able to try it too."
The next moment, they vomited on the spot, and this was considered a fast reaction.
In a sense, magic monsters are a type of "crystallization of pollution," their stability is not reliable at all. To turn them into food that can be absorbed by the human body, "rituals" and "supplementary drugs" are necessary in the cooking process.
[Host consumes "Burnt Petrified Lizard Roast (Brass Upper)", successfully digested, gained a small amount of petrification resistance (Duration about 3 hours), weak physical regenerative ability (Duration 24 hours), moderate accelerated stamina recovery (Duration 1 hour).]
By using specific ingredients and techniques, the unique traits of the chosen materials become more pronounced, but in a way, the concoctions made are also "more poisonous."
Just like the gardener’s grafting, which can promote or degrade magic plants, the cooking techniques of a chef can also enhance or weaken their properties.
An excellent chef strives to reduce their toxicity while enhancing their specific functions.
The better the chef, the more "material properties" they can retain. But the most important thing is always to push the material’s potential to its limit based on the "gourmet’s" limits.
Zhi Xi’s processing was quite crude. With her strong taste and Lu Ping’an’s absurdly high resistance, her cooking style was quite heavy in flavor.
Being an indiscriminate "gourmet" naturally makes the chef happy; the dishes made by Zhi Xi were heavily treated, activating three properties with not a short duration... The side effect was a slightly high degree of pollution.
Lu Ping’an said, "Don’t touch if you’re below the fourth-tier," not because "you can touch at the fourth-tier," but rather "you kids, don’t touch."
𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
He actually didn’t know if the fourth-tier could digest it, but it was certain that the third-tier couldn’t....
".... I told you not to touch."
Looking at the two poor souls who seemed to have even vomited their stomach juices, Lu Ping’an shrugged his shoulders without saying much.
Zhi Xi’s cooking skills were not bad, so these people really missed out on the delicious food.
"Don’t any of you have a chef among you?"
The dishes Zhi Xi made were more domineering, but it didn’t imply that the flesh on the petrified lizard was inedible. If they had other chefs, they could save some and make some low-level dishes.
The effects would definitely be much worse, but at least it wouldn’t be life-threatening.
Lu Ping’an’s inquiry, however, was met with a unanimous shake of their heads.
Chef system is not popular, and the threshold is relatively high (Scholars’ advancement), mainly logistics at the beginning, like gardeners, so it’s normal for front-line adventurers like them not to have chefs.
Of course, the most important thing is that the "gourmet system", which is a partner with the "chefs", is not highly welcomed during the novice stage... Novices can’t afford the overly expensive materials, and the gourmets’ ability to enhance the basic abilities is far less useful than other cool battle-profession abilities at the early stage.
Lu Ping’an didn’t really care, as eating "delicacies" had already become part of his daily routine.
Although the chances were low, occasionally, he would receive a permanent increase like "Your physique has increased slightly."
For Lu Ping’an, who had a rather average breathing technique and overall attributes, this was an alternative way of gaining benefits.
As a Gardener, Lu Ping’an was quite unconventional. He hadn’t managed to develop his "Magic Alchemist" profession yet and didn’t have much experience with consuming various potions. His lack of "hard attributes" compared to top professionals was quite evident.
"It seems I need to find a solution... My hard attributes are already affecting my advancement."
[Current status: Physique (Middle Brass), Reflex (Black Iron middle-rank), Spirit (Middle Brass)]
This panel was quite luxurious for a newcomer who had been a professional for less than half a year, but it was full of weaknesses for a ruthless character with Decree-level combat power.
Breathing techniques require time to polish, Gourmet System requires more prey and digestion time, Magic potions... well, they were too expensive to consider before, but perhaps it’s time to indulge now.
Lu Ping’an munched on the grilled meat, his mind filled with thoughts.
With such attributes, he couldn’t meet many of the professional requirements for third-tier jobs, which had become his real weaknesses.
In terms of Physique, the improvement was relatively easy. Breathing techniques and eating were quite useful. Physique-related Magic Potions were the cheapest, so he could expect gradual progress.
Reflex... was beyond saving. Thankfully, his Sun Vine symbiont had a Brass Upper reflex, which could make up for some of his own weaknesses.
Spiritual power is the main attribute for "magic-based" professions. Whether it’s a Gardener who manipulates life energy or an Element Manipulator who plays with fire, they all need spiritual power to control elemental forces.
However, spiritual power involves the soul and is the most difficult to improve.
Ignoring the fact that the magic potions were extremely expensive, they often came with a host of side effects.
The most obvious way to improve spiritual power, "meditation", is the expertise of the Awakener Path... There are some similar abilities on other paths, but Lu Ping’an couldn’t get access to them in the short term.
These high-level advancements usually required high spiritual power as a threshold, and Lu Ping’an’s weakness was his spiritual power. The improvement from breathing techniques was too slow.
"Forget it, every little bit helps."
Compared to ordinary newborn magical monsters, those "old monsters" who lived longer were more exquisite ingredients for his gourmet dishes.
Newborn Petrified Lizards usually only had standards of 2-tier strength, but this one had three times the size of a normal lizard, a clear indication of a mature, old monster.
Zhi Xi’s crude cooking skills could turn its flesh and blood crystals into Brass Upper-rank dishes, which testifies to its strength.
"It’s a pity that I only took the heads of its two brothers..." At this moment, Lu Ping’an felt slightly regretful.
He had underestimated the value of Wisdom Demons, thinking they were ordinary creatures and cutting off their heads after easily defeating them... but along his journey, he realized that their numbers were scarce.
However, there was no need to worry. The current beast tide had only just begun.
Lu Ping’an’s gaze fell on the not-so-distant area, which was filled with the scent of wild creatures. Perhaps, it was the time for a great harvest.
"Junior Brother... um, boss, do you want to go up there too? Can you take us with you? We will pay you." Captain Yan bravely approached Lu Ping’an amidst the expectations of his companions.
Upon hearing this, Lu Ping’an looked at them in astonishment.
"What? You’re planning to walk away from this big opportunity?"
— End of Chapter 591 —