You think that Twilight Chef Black’s buffed dishes are not that good?

No. Black, the Twilight Chef, was clearly an outstanding chef. He was even considered as one of the top chefs in the world. Even the buff effect, the shelf life, and the preservation time of his dishes were ridiculously high. Crow was willing to be a testament to this fact.

“Are you serious?” Ace asked incredulously. This was the normal reaction of anyone who heard Minhyuk’s words.

Minhyuk had checked the information regarding Twilight Chef Black’s dishes on the official homepage of Athenae. He could tell that Twilight Chef Black’s dishes had a lower amount of buff compared to his, even when using the same ingredient grade.

“Yes.”

“Uhm...”

The guild members hummed in disagreement while Genie interjected and said, “Crow, why don’t you taste Minhyuk’s dish first?”

“Then, let’s do that.”

In a way, it felt like he was taking one for the team. However, in reality, Crow preferred solitude. He would even buy other people’s buffed dishes if he was not able to buy Twilight Chef Black’s dishes.

‘Good. Let’s see. I wonder what delicious food I’ll be able to eat through Crow?’ Minhyuk thought. After all, he could eat with him. Then, he used his Create a Recipe skill.

[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

[You can now check the recipe for Curry Rice.]

[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

‘Ooooooh. Curry rice!’

Minhyuk smiled slightly. Curry rice. It was a yellow-ish steaming dish with plenty of vegetables and meat. A very tasty dish that was perfect with rice! Minhyuk quickly checked the recipe.

(Curry Rice Recipe for Crow)

Required Ingredients: Red Pig’s Tenderloin, Curry Powder, Aveinro’s Broccoli, Onions, Moonlight Potato, Carrots.

Expected Dish Grade: Unique~Legendary

Expected Effects:

•Dramatic increase in Crow’s EXP Acquisition Rate.

•Great increase in Crow’s Spearmanship Mastery.

After Minhyuk checked it, he thought, ‘It was the same as last time too...’

Minhyuk knew that his Create a Recipe skill was incredible. Based on what he had seen, the recipe will give out buffs that the person truly needed at that moment. To prove his assumption, Minhyuk asked Crow. He said, “By any chance, are you desperately trying to level-up these days?”

“...That’s right.”

“As expected.”

“What was expected?” Genie asked, a bit confused.

Minhyuk explained, “I have a skill that allows me to see a recipe that the other person wants the most.”

The Create a Recipe Skill was literally like that. It would show Minhyuk what the other party liked, or wanted to eat the most. Then, Minhyuk said, “Crow, do you want to eat some curry?”

“H…how did you know that?”

A few days ago, Crow wanted to eat some curry so badly. However, Crow lived alone so the only curry that he could eat was the three-minute instant curry pack. What he wanted to eat was real curry, the one with potatoes, carrots and meat, not just instant curry.

“And you like broccoli in your curry, right?”

“Gasp!” Crow gasped in surprise. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Broccoli in curry was a debatable ingredient. However, it was something that was entirely dependent on the person’s preference. However, Minhyuk could tell because of the recipe that was created.

“Th…that’s right.”

“But Minhyuk, how did you know that Crow desperately needed to level up? Crow actually has a lower level compared to others in the guild.”

The bounty hunter, Crow! He was someone that was more interested in bounty hunting than increasing his level. He was a great damage dealer and was necessary for the group. But these days, the effect of his damage was almost negligible thanks to his low level. That was why Crow thought of increasing his level here in the Northern Continent.

“Because there’s a buff that’s related to increasing the level for Crow in the dish that I will make.”

“Oh. That’s good,” Crow said. He looked like he was satisfied when he heard that part.

“By any chance, can you bring me the ingredients that I ask for?”

“Yes.”

“Red Pig’s tenderloin, curry powder, Aveinro’s Broccoli, Moonlight Potato, onions and carrots.”

“Huh... Uhm, wait...” Crow said, flustered at the ingredients. The carrots, onions and curry powder seemed like they were normal ingredients. However, the other ingredients sounded unfamiliar to them. However, all of them were fully aware that all of the ingredients that he said could be found in Athenae.

Crow quickly searched for the ingredients. He first looked for the Red Pig’s tenderloin. The Red Pig was a pig that only grows in Adred Village and is an A-grade ingredient. It was said that it was juicier compared to other meat and its texture was soft and chewy. Then, there was Aveinro’s broccoli, it was said that it could only be obtained from Aveinro. From what Crow read, Aveinro was a man that had been growing broccolis for four generations. And the Moonlight Potato was a mysterious potato that was nurtured and grown under the light of the moon.

“Th…these ingredients. Are there simpler ingredients?” Crow asked. He was a bit embarrassed since he did not expect the ingredients to be more expensive than what he expected. If he failed, he would lose money. That was something that he could not afford.

“Well, if you don’t have the ingredients, we can replace them with regular ingredients. However, the maximum grade and the buff effect of the dish will drop. Ah, right. I should also let you know that you can only taste my dishes once per month.”

“Hmm...” Crow hummed. He looked around when he heard that the buff effect would also drop.

“Do you guys have any of these ingredients?”

“Huh? I think I have Aveinro’s Broccoli?” Locke said, rummaging through his inventory. Then, he pulled out a broccoli saying, ‘Tadah!’ and showed it to them.

“It’s here!”

“Oooooh. Locke. Thanks!”

“Just thanks? Pay up.”

“...I’ll pay you with our guild member’s D.C.” Crow said, grabbing Aveinro’s Broccoli from Locke. He said that he received the broccoli from a strange quest and that Aveinro’s Broccoli had a strange ability wherein it would not be spoiled or damaged even after a long time. Aveinro’s Broccoli was an A-grade ingredient and since it was a material, it was not owned by the guild and their guild members.

“Then, take this one first.”

In fact, Crow was not really expecting much.

‘Still, the price for Aveinro’s broccoli…..’

He traded Aveinro’s Broccoli with Locke for 20 million gold.

Minhyuk nodded as he began substituting the rest of the ingredients with regular ones. After he had finished that, he finally began to cook. The rest of the members of Legend Guild were originally going to hunt or look for quests, but they stayed back and watched him cook. After all, Minhyuk had been so confident with himself, and based on his tone, it seemed like he truly believed that Chef Black’s cooking was nothing noteworthy. If he did not meet their expectations, he had to pay the price.

‘I wonder how much the satisfaction level will increase with this?’ Minhyuk thought as he cooked. However, the satisfaction level was just the satisfaction level, what he was truly looking forward to was eating curry. After all, the dish contained Aveinro’s Broccoli.

The first thing Minhyuk did was season the pork tenderloin with a tablespoon of cooking wine, two pinches of salt, and some pepper. Then, he cut the potatoes and carrots into small cubes while mincing the onion and cutting the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. After finishing all of his preparations, Minhyuk greased his pan with cooking oil and heated it with fire. He also sliced the seasoned pork tenderloin before placing them inside the frying pan.

Sizzle!

Once the pinkish meat had turned white, he added the vegetables and stir fried them together.

[This is the best time to add water and curry powder.]

Food God’s Cooking Skill assisted him again today. Perhaps it was because the cooking felt a bit more special today, compared to other days. There was also a delicious curry. Minhyuk knew of a better way of eating curry, but he felt that the other members of Legend Guild were still a bit wary and distrustful of his skills, so he refrained from telling them. He felt it more especially from Crow, the person whom he was cooking this dish for. Therefore, Minhyuk wanted to feed him delicious curry to prove it to him. Of course, it was also because he could taste it together with him, so he was doing his best for this dish.

Minhyuk poured water into the pan before adding the curry powder and letting it boil. Once the powder was completely dissolved in the boiling water, he stirred the dish as it began to thicken.

[This is the best time to turn off the heat.]

The magical ability that was attached to Minhyuk’s frying pan automatically turned off after the notification. The curry rice was finally finished. The spectacular colors of the vegetables in the bright yellow curry could make anyone’s mouth water. At that moment, a series of notifications rang in his head.

[You have completed a Curry Rice.]

[Crow’s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

[Trance. It’s a dish that has your ‘soul’ poured into it.]

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Unique Grade.]

[You have gained 2 DEX.]

[You have gained 4 REP.]

[You have gained AP.]

The passive skill Trance appeared once again. Triggering the skill Trance was quite difficult since there were a lot of different factors like mindset and circumstances. When he cooked for Chef Len before, Trance was triggered because he felt that he wanted Len to be happy and regain his lost sense of taste with the first dish that he made. Right now, it seemed like it was triggered because he wanted to feed Crow delicious food and prove to the guild members his superb skills and make them ‘feel the joy of cooking’.

‘Buff effects are better when Trance is triggered!’

After confirming this fact, Minhyuk smiled.

‘With this...’

Minhyuk was sure that Crow would be satisfied!

“Wow. It looks really delicious!”

“I…I just want to eat the meat right there.”

The guild members of Legend Guild were in awe as they looked at the piping hot curry over the steaming rice. Curry rice was usually served in large quantities but this dish was made only for Crow!

“Well then, we can’t leave out the kimchi, pickled radish and seaweed.”

“Kghk! Minhyuk, you have the same taste as me!” Crow said as he admired the dish. Crow liked eating curry with kimchi. Even wrapping the curry rice in seaweed would bring about a different taste. However, before he ate it, Crow first checked the dish’s information.

‘Shall we look at the buff effect that he’s boasting about?’

(Curry Rice)

Material Grade: A

Rank: Unique

Restrictions: Only Crow could have the buff effects.

Shelf Life: 12 days

Preservation Time: 12 days

Special Effects: 

•Spearmanship Mastery +2

•EXP Acquisition Rate +23%

Description: A dish made solely for Crow. This dish had the power of Chef Minhyuk’s Trance which enhances the effect of the buffs.

“...!”

Crow remained silent, his body trembling widely.

“Huh? Huh...”

Crow was holding a spoon earlier in excitement, but the spoon had now fallen to the ground.

Clang━

‘This is impossible. I can’t breathe.’

Crow took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“W…what’s wrong? Crow Hyung!”

“C…Crow?”

The guild members looked at him curiously. Meanwhile, Genie smiled lightly. She thought, ‘I know that feeling better than anyone else.’

When she first saw the dish made by Minhyuk, she also could barely believe her eyes. Not long after, Crow finally opened his mouth. He said, “Th…the buff... is really high. A +2 on my spearmanship mastery and my EXP... my EXP...”

The words were stuck in Crow’s throat. He could not bring himself to speak, that was how unbelievable it was. He had paid four platinum coins before to eat a dish that gave him a 13% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate for 8 days. However, the dish in front of him right now would be giving him almost twice the amount for half the price.

Earlier, he completely ignored what Minhyuk said, believing in what the members of the Louvert Guild said about the price of the ingredients being expensive. Back then, the dish made by Twilight Chef Black also had A-grade ingredients. It had at least around 2~3 A-grade ingredients. He knew this since players could see the rank of the ingredients used in the dish. However, Minhyuk clearly used only one A-grade ingredient, and he was able to exhibit such an effect.

“C…Crow... Tell me! What about the EXP?!” Ace urged Crow as he gulped at the sight of the curry rice that Minhyuk made.

“The rate increase is up to 23%... It also has a 12 days’ shelf life and a 12 days’ preservation time. That’s on top of the +2… on my Spearmanship Mastery!”

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”