The Military Chef of a Ruined World

FWAAAAASH!!!

The vast interior of Bimana.

And even within it, the dining hall was an exceptionally enormous facility.

It might seem a little strange that one of the largest buildings inside a military fortress was a dining hall.

Some might think nothing of it, considering how many people had to eat there.

But most of the dining hall’s interior was not occupied by space for eating.

It was space for making food.

The kitchen.

[Cooking begins.]

An enormous amount of water flowed into some part of the kitchen.

And gigantic flames surged up everywhere.

BOOOOOOM.......

The massive flames emitted heat surpassing even the superheated furnace in the forge.

It was enough heat that ordinary humans who were not awakened could have quickly melted away simply from being unable to withstand the kitchen’s temperature.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Mana Water]

[Water created through elemental cooking by liquefying immense mana.]

The water being boiled in such tremendous heat without immediately evaporating was not ordinary water either.

And that was not all.

[Otherworld Cooking Method - Dasmur Style]

The letters engraved into the dining hall’s walls began to shine.

Various lights spilled out from them.

[Elemental Cooking]

The power engraved into the dining hall through my knowledge.

The mana of elemental cooking filled the entire dining hall.

And that was not all.

[Otherworld Cooking Method - Green Mane Style]

[Otherworld Cooking Method - Karstein Style]

[Otherworld Cooking Method - Serajin Style]

[Otherworld Cooking Method - Morzan Style]

The many worlds I had encountered.

Among those worlds, worlds with a [Chef] were rare, but cooking itself existed in every world.

Though they had not reached the realm of awakened abilities, every world possessed many different forms of cooking.

As the Legion’s awakened gathered the knowledge of those worlds, they had also obtained their cooking methods.

This dining hall contained facilities capable of recreating every one of those dishes, as well as facilities capable of implementing even more advanced cooking methods created by combining all that knowledge.

And.

When preparations to operate those facilities were complete.

I looked at the ingredients that had been prepared.

[Heart of a Lesser Dragon]

[Holy Blood of a Forgotten Saint]

[Core of a Thousand-Year Glacier]

[Dewdrop of the World Stone]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng]

[Brain Fluid of an Ancient Sage]

[Seed of a Netherworld Flower]

[Heart of a Lava Giant]

[Single Horn of a Heavenly Demon]

[Bone Powder of an Ancient Death God]

On one side were ten top-grade ingredients.

'I cannot touch those yet.'

The dish I had to make with them had already been decided.

But those were not what I would be working on first.

If someone asked what was most important when cooking.

Many people would probably name the ingredients first, or the chef’s skill.

But there was something else nearly as important.

'The chef’s condition.'

Regardless of my skill.

I could not cook those unless I brought myself into perfect condition.

So the first dish I needed to make was something else.

[Dragon Pearl of One Who Refused Ascension]

......I needed a restorative dish for myself.

A dragon pearl created in order to become a dragon and ascend to the heavens.

But its owner became a dragon and refused to ascend.

Thanks to that, nearly half of the power originally left within it still remained.

CRACKLE.......

Just extending my hand toward it made me feel tremendous repulsive force.

Mirinae had given it to me out of goodwill, but this was originally a crystallization of pure power created to reach transcendence.

The immense power and rank contained inside it exuded the arrogance that no ordinary being would be capable of handling it.

Those top-grade ingredients.

And Mirinae’s dragon pearl.

Each and every one of them was practically a byproduct of a transcendent being.

They were ingredients from a realm that belonged only in mythology, far more difficult to handle than even the byproducts of divine beasts I had seen in the Dasmur chef’s memories.

In truth, no matter how talented a chef might be, properly handling these ingredients would likely be impossible.

At least among the chefs I knew, there was no one capable of such a thing.

Even containing the power inside this dish would be difficult with ordinary facilities.

It was a dish that had to be handled only after making the best possible preparations.

However.

[Trait]

[Demigod-Tier Cooking Proficiency]

Fortunately.

I was a chef who had surpassed the level of being merely ‘exceptionally talented.’

[Dining Hall Lv.13]

[The chef’s proficiency receives an adjustment.]

[A bonus is added to the finished dish.]

And this place was a dining hall.

'The reason I did not prepare the cooking in advance down south.'

The first reason was that the recipes had not yet been properly completed.

The second reason was.......

'Because handling ingredients of this level requires the best possible preparations.'

And.

Since it was difficult to arrange such perfect preparations multiple times.

[Master of Infinite Mana]

[Fragment of Morzan]

Taking care of everything at once whenever the preparations were ready.

Was what military efficiency was all about......!

***

PLOP-

The dragon pearl containing immense power entered the dining hall’s gigantic pot.

However.

No change appeared on the hard outer surface of the dragon pearl.

“The fire is too weak!”

“But Senior, it is already at maximum output......!”

“No!”

I shouted while looking at Howard, who was controlling the heat.

The flames were already powerful enough to melt anyone nearby.

But to a chef, there was nothing less acceptable than cooking in an environment where the fire was too weak.

“Raise the heat!”

“......!”

CREEEEAK.......

After hearing the order, Howard pushed the pot’s heat control lever.

The lever had already reached its maximum setting.

CRRRRACK.......

When the pot’s support could no longer endure the heat and began melting.

The lever advanced past the melted support.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The heat rising beneath the pot.

The already scorching flames became even more intense.

“Senior...... the kid and I cannot stay here any longer!”

“Raise it to maximum output and get out!”

Heat that [Dining Hall Lv.13] was never meant to withstand.

Mana it was never meant to withstand.

But I was not worried.

This heat was certainly intense.

Even the heat of the black barrier that once divided the world would have been weaker than this.

However.

[Trait : Demigod-Tier Flame Affinity]

Chefs were strong against heat.

And besides.

The mana we lacked.......

[Infinite mana dwells within you!]

Would be supplied by my old friend.

WHOOSH-

The atmosphere inside the enormous kitchen rapidly changed.

The space had been filled with heat.

The air itself had been burning, creating an environment where even breathing was difficult, but it suddenly became dense, as though we had entered the depths of the sea.

Objects nearby began floating gently into the air.

No.

It was not only the kitchen.

The dining hall outside the kitchen.

And even the vast fortress outside the dining hall.

“......This mana!”

An absurdly immense amount of mana filled the entire fortress.

And even that was not enough.

It continued gathering endlessly, compressing until.

It became dense enough to possess tangible physical force.

CRRRRACK.......

And.

After forcing that immense amount of mana into it, even the pot holding the dish finally melted.

The mana water continued pouring in, but with the pot gone, it was about to fall onto the floor.

THUD.......

A gigantic hand appeared.

And positioned itself beneath the falling mana water and dragon pearl.

The hand of a blue giant.

Once.

It resembled the hand belonging to the giant from those ancient memories...... whom I had seen in the underground mine.

'......A form created as the result of infinite mana being compressed without end.'

When mana gathered and compressed until it reached the absolute limit beyond which it could no longer condense.

That was the form it naturally assumed.

FWAAAAASH!!!

I caught the water that had fallen from the vanished pot with those two gigantic hands.

The liquid contained within the two hands continued boiling, and as much as boiled away was immediately replenished.

'Hotter.'

Like that.......

'Hotter!'

At a temperature so intense that no mineral could withstand it.

After continuing to double-boil it.

SQUISH.......

The dragon pearl that had been hardened solid.

The dragon’s inner core softened slightly.

'......Now!'

SWISH!

Toward the softened inner core.

I swung my knife in a single stroke.

CRRRRACK.......

Though it had softened, it was still a dragon’s inner core.

Normally, even the sword of an exceptional hero should not have been able to cut it easily.

However.

[Trait : Demigod-Tier Dagger Proficiency]

[???-Tier Martial Art - Food : Lv.56]

As long as I treated it as an ingredient.

There was no ingredient my kitchen knife could not process.

That military base tucked away in a remote corner of the high mountains of Gangwon Province.

It had been several years since I began there as a level 1 chef and obtained lowest-grade cooking proficiency.

During those years, I had continued honing my cooking.

And endured endless struggles.

'This is the result.'

The result of my efforts and struggles accumulating over a long period of time.

I had now reached a realm where I could even cook a dragon’s inner core.

A realm far beyond that of the Dasmur chef I had once witnessed.

As far as I knew, there was no chef greater than me.

'It is still not enough.'

However.

I was a rather greedy bastard.

'I am aiming even higher.'

And.

That missing part.......

'Through this dish.'

Would be filled by what I was about to make.

SHHHK.......

The blade of [Dokgogusik] followed the edge of the dragon pearl and began shaving the round inner core into one long strip.

The orb was carved away into a beautiful shape.

As its condensed form unraveled, the energy contained within it burst outward.

'Do you have any idea how precious this ingredient is?'

BOOM!!!

I could not allow even the slightest amount of the energy contained within it to scatter.

The blue giant’s hands appeared again and wrapped around the orb.

Then.

Through the hands enclosing that energy.

Through the connection of mana flowing out from within me, I could sense what was contained inside.

'Mirinae’s memories.'

A small being born as nothing more than an insignificant creature.

The memories and experiences that being had accumulated throughout an entire lifetime.

Living alongside other lives, sometimes laughing, sometimes being hurt.......

Learning martial arts in order to become an immortal, finally gaining the qualifications, yet abandoning ascension because of a love for the world.

'......The achievements accumulated over the lifetime of one who had earned the right to become an immortal.'

And.

'The System said that only after accumulating enough achievements could one obtain the next level...... the next ‘rank.’'

To reach a certain rank or higher, a sufficient number of achievements was necessary.

Achievements were the history accumulated throughout someone’s life.

They were the very materials used to build a higher rank.

'This is precisely.'

These memories.

This life.

The materials required to form the rank of transcendence.

KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK......!

Such materials could not be carelessly wasted.

I swung the knife with the greatest sincerity I could muster.

The emotion to place into this knife work...... had already been decided.

'The greatest possible gratitude.'

I carved and decorated the orb with the utmost devotion.

CRRRRACK.......

Unable to withstand the immense heat, even the dining hall’s walls began melting away.

Through them, I could see the Bimanars fighting the enemies outside.

Howard and Doyun, who had gone outside, were also swinging kitchen knives and frying pans to stop the enemies approaching the dining hall.

While watching that scene.

I continued my knife work without wavering.

And as a result.

[The dish has been completed!]

A single completed dish appeared before me.

[For the first time among the human species, you have completed a ‘Mythic-Tier Dish’!]

[A reward is granted to one who pioneers an unprecedented path toward completion.]

[You have acquired the title - ‘Mythic Chef’.]

[Title - Mythic Chef]

[Beyond ordinary ingredients, special ingredients, high-grade ingredients, elements, souls.......]

[After experiencing every form of cooking that previously existed, you have reached an uncharted realm no one has ever attained before.]

[A title granted to one who has begun pioneering a new path that no one has ever walked.]

[From now on, every path you walk will become a new path without precedent, and every one of your deeds, every dish you create, will become a new history.......]

[And will be recorded as myth.]

The orb had possessed absurd hardness and immense power.

The dish created by shaving and carving that orb.

[Dragon Pearl Lotus Infused with the Demigod Chef’s Utmost Gratitude]

The completed carving had taken the shape of a flower.

If Mirinae, an existence completed after devouring countless stars, was worthy of being called the Milky Way.

'This is what came before she devoured the stars.'

Back when she cultivated martial arts in pursuit of immortality.

The path originally walked by the master of that martial hall.

The result of cooking the crystallization of that path in the most natural way possible...... was this single flower.

A memory like a flower that had struggled through the earth to sprout.

Growing one step at a time, building itself up while waiting only for the day it would bloom.

A dish containing an entire myth in and of itself.

“......Then.”

And.

I lifted the dish.

“Thank you for the meal.”

With a small expression of gratitude.

I lightly placed it into my mouth.