Chapter 297

Rudra continued observing from behind the tree.

Down in the clearing, the slaughter was over.

Iris stood in the middle of it with blood and blue ashes scattered around her.

She held a pistol in each hand. They looked remarkably similar to the Desert Eagles from his original world, but etched with faint, glowing alchemical lines. Right now, those lines were pulsing rapidly. The metal barrels hissed, sending white smoke into the damp air.

Rudra deactivated [True Silence].

He stepped out from behind the tree. His heavy boot came down in the wet mud with a loud, deliberate squelch.

Iris spun.

Both of her heavy pistols snapped up and locked directly onto his face. She didn't flinch nor hesitate. Her posture was perfectly balanced, ready to fire and step off the center line simultaneously.

Rudra didn't reach for his staff. He held his hands up, palms open and empty.

A green name tag floated above her head was finally visible to Rudra.

[Iris #00325]

And he knew she was reading his tag at the exact same moment by the way her gray eyes flicked to his name tag for a fraction of a second.

[Rudra #00001]

He waited for the reaction. It usually happens right about now. He wasn’t proud of it but he was quite famous. After all he was the Zenith and the undisputed 1st Ranker on the Unified Rankings. He was the player the entire world unofficially considered to be the first legendary class holder. When the other players identified him,they all had some kind of reaction. 

Iris did not react. Her expression didn't change a single inch. There was just a flat, icy expression.

Rudra tilted his head. Nothing? Really?

"I'm not with the poachers," Rudra said. He kept his voice light and easy. "The Valiant Orcs Tribe asked me to check on you. They were worried that this many armed poachers would be difficult for just you to take care of."

Iris didn't lower the pistols. She glanced at the drifting blue ash around her.

"I am fine," she said.

Her voice was strikingly clear. It was a beautiful, ringing tone, completely at odds with the freezing temperature of the words.

"I can see that," Rudra said.

He opened his system interface with a quick thought. He kept the glowing screen angled away from her. He navigated to the Class Rankings. He then navigated to the Marksman class.

He found her name instantly. Rank 1.

He checked the public details.

[Level: 264]

Rudra stared at the floating number.

Level 264. That didn't make any sense. He had just watched her dismantle a hundred poachers without taking a single hit. Her control was absurd. It was easily one of the, if not the best he had ever seen. At least in terms of control, she seemed superior to even the top 10 rankers he encountered before like Red and Yura. Someone with that kind of godly control should have been easily over Level 300 by now.

Why was she, 1st Marksman ranker, stuck in the 260s? Rudra could only attribute it to some class constraints for now.

He closed the status screen.

"You're good," Rudra said. "Really good, I recently created a Guild. Genesis Guild. It has a lot of benefits as a part of joining. Would you like to join?"

Iris didn't even blink. "No."

She kept the guns leveled at him.

Rudra dropped his hands. He realized talking wasn't going to de-escalate this situation, much less be able to recruit her in this manner. So he did the one thing, he was sure would be able to convince her.

He reached into his inventory.

Iris's fingers tightened on the triggers.

Rudra pulled out his [Protean Crafting Cauldron].

[The item 'Protean Crafting Cauldron' has been activated.] 

[Select the desired form.]

"Flat iron skillet," Rudra said.

The metal block shifted and snapped into the shape of a wide, heavy frying pan. Rudra pulled out a portable, mana-fueled campfire block that was created by the [Tower of Miracles]. He set it down in the mud and tapped it with his boot. A clean, blue flame sprang to life. He placed the skillet over the fire.

Iris stared at him. She didn't lower the guns, but the sharp tension in her shoulders shifted into slight confusion.

"You look hungry," Rudra said. "I'm cooking."

He pulled a slab of premium cow meat from his inventory.

He tossed the beef onto the hot iron.

Sizzle.

The sound was loud in the quiet swamp. The smell of searing fat hit the humid air almost instantly, cutting right through the stench of sulfur and stagnant water.

Rudra didn't look at her. He focused entirely on the pan. He pulled out a small wooden shaker of basic rock salt and crushed black pepper. He sprinkled it generously over the meat.

"You're a chef," Iris said.

She finally lowered her weapons completely. With a smooth, practiced motion, she slid the metal guns into two leather holsters strapped to her thighs.

"I'm a lot of things," Rudra said. He used a pair of iron tongs to press the meat flat. "Chef is the one I actually like."

He poured a sense of safety, recovery, and warmth into the pan, letting his [Empathic Cuisine] skill do its quiet work. He grabbed a metal spoon, tilted the skillet, and basted the meat in its own rendered fat.

[You have created an Epic-rated Grilled Steak!] 

[You have already reached the Stat-Limit for this recipe!] 

[Effect: Recovers Health, Mana, and Stamina to 100%.] 

[Effect: Increases Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration by 10% for 3 hours.]

Rudra stabbed the steak with a wooden skewer, transferred it to a clean tin plate, and held it out.

Iris stared at the plate.

She looked at the perfectly seared meat. She looked at Rudra. She looked back at the meat.

She walked forward. Her footsteps were completely silent in the mud. She stopped an arm's length away and took the plate from his hand.

She didn't sit down immediately. She stood there, holding the tin plate in one hand.

Then, she reached up and wiped a streak of black gunpowder off her cheek with the back of her wrist.

The movement shifted her head just enough. The afternoon sunlight, breaking through a gap in the dense canopy, caught her face.

Rudra stopped wiping down his skillet with a cloth.

She wasn't just pretty. He had met Alex, whose beauty was the peak of innocent beauty. He had met the Vampire Duchess Marie Rose, the peak of devilish beauty. But Iris was different. Her features were sharp, clean, and entirely unadorned. There was a fierce, cold competence in her eyes that made the rest of her face striking. She reminded him of a sword. 

Rudra cleared his throat and looked back down at his pan.

Iris took a bite of the steak.

Rudra watched her out of the corner of his eye. He leaned on his staff, waiting. He expected a surprised reaction regarding the taste or the absurd buff that she got upon eating the food. This was the usual reaction by the other who ate his food. But Iris seemed to have surpassed his expectations again.

Iris just chewed.

She swallowed. She took another bite. She didn't close her eyes to savor the juices. She didn't smile. Her stoic, cold facade didn't break for a single second.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her clean wrist.

She looked down at the empty tin plate. Then she looked at Rudra. Her gray eyes were completely flat.

She shifted the empty plate exactly two inches toward him.

It was a silent demand. More.

Rudra stared at her. A twitch of genuine annoyance hit his chest. His pride as a chef flared up. She wasn't going to say anything? Not a single compliment? Not even a surprised noise about the stat gains?

"You're welcome," Rudra said dryly.

"It is adequate," Iris said.