“Bring the wounded over here!”
“Han-il is badly injured. Treat him first.”
“Got it!”
Once outside the warehouse, we retreated to a nearby safe location.
Two healers rushed over to treat the wounded.
In the anti, other squad mbers sat down on the ground to catch their breath.
“What’s our plan?”
As I took a mont to catch my breath,
Sergeant Min-jae approached and asked.
“The monster is stronger than we anticipated.”
Min-jae spoke while looking towards the warehouse.
“Indeed, it seems challenging to subdue with our current strength.”
Gwang-il chid in, supporting Min-jae’s statent.
“I propose a retreat.”
“A retreat?”
“It’s to facilitate easier planning for future operations by securing resources. It’s not imdiately necessary. We don’t need to incur unnecessary losses.”
Min-jae suggested the retreat.
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
What about your eyes? You can figure out the enemy’s weakness just by observing them, right?
“Judging from Young-joon’s silence, perhaps his skill didn’t work?”
“No, it did.”
As he said.
My skill, “Chef’s Eyes,” reveals so of the target’s handling thods and characteristics.
With this skill, I’ve identified many monsters’ weaknesses.
“I’ve also figured out what type of monster it is.”
“Really? Then, couldn’t we use that information to formulate a new strategy?”
“I’d like to do that too, but this ti might be a bit difficult.”
“Difficult?”
The skill certainly worked.
However, the information obtained in this manner.
[Junior Grade Cooking Secret – Enlightennt of Mac Preparation]
[Mac” is a type of creature with a sturdy exterior that protects its fragile body by surrounding itself with nearby objects]
[The handling thod is quite simple. Remove the shell first, then cut the flesh inside into bite-sized pieces]
That’s what it says.
The monster’s na is ‘Mac’.
Its core is weak, but it protects itself by surrounding itself with nearby objects.
“It’s probably similar to a hermit crab.”
Perhaps that dark energy-like thing is its main body.
It rely took on the form of a giant bear using the tal objects lying around.
Its body is extrely vulnerable.
But the problem is the creature’s weakness.
How to handle it…
“Remove the shell sohow and cut it into bite-sized pieces.”
“….”
The soldiers, hearing my words, looked at with blank expressions.
It’s a monster that even the buffed-up soldiers couldn’t harm.
The shell.
In other words, removing the steel covering its body.
“Can that be counted as a weakness?”
If we had the strength for that, would we be struggling like this?
If we could remove the steel covering its body, we could have just beaten it to death.
‘I shouldn’t misunderstand my abilities…’
Chef’s Insight is a skill that reveals handling thods for ingredients.
To be precise, it doesn’t reveal strategies or weaknesses.
In most cases, the handling thod and the weaknesses matched.
So far, I’ve used it effectively to identify weaknesses.
“But there are rare cases when it doesn’t.”
“Then, is retreat still the answer…?”
The other leaders all seed to lean towards retreat.
As Min-jae said earlier,
Resource acquisition isn’t essential.
The cost of this operation isn’t too high.
Moreover, there should be other tal warehouses elsewhere.
Retreating seems like the right choice.
But…
One thing that’s holding back is, “I can’t just turn back, even if it makes angry.”
Furthermore, there’s one thing that bothers .
“That guy. At first, I thought it was just a monster made of scrap tal.”
“Hmm?”
“Like, why iron? You know what I an.”
Not all monsters are necessarily living beings. So could be machines made of iron or sothing similar. Such monsters could exist.
“So, I was wondering why it rejected my cooking.”
If it were such a monster, I could understand why it wouldn’t eat the at I threw at it.
If it’s a creature that doesn’t need to consu food in the first place, cooking wouldn’t matter.
But that wasn’t the case.
“Based on my skill’s analysis, it seems to be an organic being for now. If that’s the case, it would need to eat sothing. So why did it refuse my cooking?”
Actually, this is one of the main reasons why I hesitated to retreat.
A monster that rejects my cooking.
I feel like I need to understand the reason behind it to move on.
And then it happened.
“It would need to eat sothing….”
“Huh?”
I heard Corporal Lee Gong-woo’s voice.
He seed to be mumbling sothing softly.
“Gong-woo? Do you have any guesses?”
“Well? Um, it’s nothing special, really.”
“Anything will do, just tell . Even if it’s not particularly helpful.”
As I pressed him, he finally spoke cautiously.
“Well… you know those tal pieces lying around inside the warehouse?”
Finally, Corporal Lee Gong-woo cautiously opened his mouth.
“So of them seed to have traces, as if sothing had gnawed on them.”
“Gnawed on them?”
“Yes. So of the intact tal pieces seed to have been nibbled away, little by little.”
Hearing Corporal Lee Min-jae’s words, Sergeant Lee Min-jae said, “Could it be rust or sothing like that?”
“Hmm, probably not. Engineers have a basic characteristic of material identification. From that perspective, those traces are definitely not sothing that typically occurs.”
“It would be fascinating if it were true.”
“But it probably won’t be much help, right?”
According to the other mbers of the squad it wasn’t particularly helpful.
Even Corporal Lee Gong-woo, who brought it up, seed to share the sentint.
But my thoughts differed.
Traces like sothing had gnawed on them.
“That’s it.”
“Huh?”
“I think I might have been mistaken all along.”
After all, that thing wasn’t human; it was a monster. So, if that’s the case…
It rejected the at because it wasn’t a suitable food…!
“It eats iron.”
It’s like serving at dishes to a vegetarian and then getting angry because they didn’t eat it.
It’s absurd that soone claiming to be a chef wouldn’t even consider this basic possibility.
“So, it rejected my cooking because of that.”
“Now that I think about it, there’s no contradiction like this.
Confidently, I shouted towards the resting soldiers.
“Hong-su! Are you there?”
“Lance Corporal Hong-su, Sir!”
The soldier I called was Lance Corporal Jang Hong-su.
His occupation was that of a fire mage.
“Can you make a fire here?”
“Um…? Oh. Uh, yes, I can.”
With his help, we lit a small fire on the ground.
Then, I took out a small pan from my military bag and placed it on top.
From the sa bag, I retrieved another item: a small glass bottle containing a yellow liquid.
“What are you planning to do, Young-joon?”
People asked, surprised by my sudden actions.
I casually replied, “Well, they say everything tastes better when fried, even shoes.”
So, I thought…
“If frying shoes makes them taste better, what about frying tal sheets?”
“…Wil that even taste good?”
The soldiers asked incredulously.
“Well, I don’t know?”
I’ve never tried eating a fried tal sheet.
It’s just a thought, a “might as well give it a try” kind of thing.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but we’re dealing with a monster that’s hard to defeat in combat, right?”
“That’s true.”
“So, we might as well try sothing before retreating. After all, there’s nothing to lose at this point.”
“Hmm… That’s also true.”
Before long, all the soldiers gathered around started to watch my cooking.
“Well, the problem lies in the ingredients.”
“Oh, if it’s about that…”
The monster appeared after I gave the order to retrieve materials.
“Here it is.”
“It was rolling on the ground, so it’s a bit dirty.”
As soon as the order was given, soldiers picked up items rolling on the ground. Among them, one relatively clean item was chosen and thoroughly washed.
“Let’s see… the temperature should be about right.”
anwhile, Lance Corporal Jang Hong-sou continued to raise the temperature of the oil.
Since there was no worry about the ingredients burning, it just needed to reach a suitable temperature.
Carefully, I placed the clean tal sheet (iron plate) into the oil.
Splish.
There was no typical sizzling sound when you put sothing into hot oil because we didn’t coat it with batter.
“Is it even appropriate to call this frying?”
But then again, coating it with batter seed pointless. Would a monster that doesn’t even eat at be attracted to breadcrumbs?
Ultimately, all I could do was to maintain the appearance of “cooking” as much as possible. There was probably a low chance of success, but it was worth a try. After all, there was nothing to lose at this point.
“… ”
Amidst the silence, everyone’s attention was focused on the tal sheet floating in the oil.
After so ti passed…
“I think this should do.”
I used tongs to remove the tal sheet from the oil.
A tal sheet soaked in oil.
And then I brushed my finger lightly on it.
“Chef’s Special Sauce” was sprinkled on the tal sheet.
“Well, it’s finished… but.”
“Hmm.”
“It doesn’t look like anything has changed.”
The finished fried tal sheet.
It only seed to have gained a bit more shine on the surface.
It just looked like a tal sheet soaked in oil.
“Is it a failure?”
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
“There’s also a tal store near the military headquarters. It’s risky, but maybe we can use that later—”
While everyone seed to be anticipating failure,
Ding!
“No.”
“Huh?”
Along with the familiar sound, ssages appeared before my eyes.
[The dish has been completed]
[Deep-fried tal sheet filled with a sense of defat of a Junior Chef]
[It has beco an alloy dish mixed with magic, providing a deeper flavor]
[This is a pretty simple dish. The effect is slightly reduced]
Grin.
“It’s a success.”
“…!”
ssages filled my vision.
Information about the completion of the dish flowed into my mind.
Since it was a dish prepared by , it obviously contained several buffs in it.
But those weren’t important.
What mattered was one thing: This greasy tal sheet was recognized as a dish!
[This is a dish that goes beyond the concept of existing cuisine.]
But the ssages didn’t end there.
[For the very first ti in human history, a new horizon in cooking has been discovered!]
[Many chefs fail to realize the limits of cooking]
[That limit is none other than the limitation of ingredients!]
[No matter how skilled a chef is, attempting to cook with ingredients considered inedible is extrely rare]
[The endless potential of cooking has been overshadowed by small biases]
[Many great chefs have been trapped by these limits, unable to progress to the next level, only to despair]
[But not you]
[A reward will be given to those who are ahead of others]
[Reward: The limitation on ingredients disappears]
“…?”
It seed like a grand ssage, yet the reward was just one line.
“What does it an that the limitation disappears?”
As I pondered the aning of the reward…
“Oh my…”
Soone exclaid in awe.
Turning my gaze in that direction, I saw Corporal Lee Gong-woo.
He was staring intently at the tal sheet I was holding.
“Corporal Lee Gong-woo?”
“Do you sense sothing different?”
“Huh? Oh, uh…”
It seed I wasn’t the only one who heard his amazent. So soldiers also began to question Corporal Lee Gong-woo.
After being lost in thought, he finally responded.
“Well… as I ntioned earlier, engineers like us have a characteristic called ‘material identification.'”
Material identification, huh? It’s probably a similar characteristic to my ‘ingredient identification.’ Like how I can discern ingredients, he probably can discern materials.
“Based on that, that tal sheet…”
Corporal Lee Gong-woo continued, his expression showing disbelief.
“It seems like an entirely different item from the tal sheet before that went into the oil.”
“Entirely different?”
The soldiers’ expressions lightened upon hearing his response. Their gaze turned to the tal sheet in my hand.
Outwardly, it just seed like a slightly wrinkled tal sheet.
“Wait a minute.”
Could it be?
“So, did it beco a sturdier tal sheet?”
If that’s the case…
With this ability, if I could enhance all materials…
“Huh? No, it didn’t.”
“Oh.”
“It seems like its efficiency as a material actually decreased. It’s practically unusable now.”
“Oh, I see.”
I wondered if I could reinforce the tal sheet with my cooking, but contrary to expectations, it seed impossible.
“This is not sothing to just overlook! The fact that a substance changes just by being put in and taken out of oil? There’s no other word for it but a miracle! Maybe it’s possible because of the Sergeant’s profession, but really…”
His astonishnt seed to be limited to that aspect.
Excitedly, he began to explain how unbelievable it was. Of course, it wasn’t helpful from my perspective. I let his words go in one ear and out from the other.
“Is it important?”
After all, it wasn’t a dish ant to aim for that aspect in the first place. As long as it fulfilled its role as a dish, that was enough.
Handing the completed dish to the soldiers, I said, “This should be fed to the monster.”
“Is it the debuff food you showed us last ti?”
By the way, most soldiers still didn’t know that my cooking could stir emotions. Since it’s not a desirable ability that should be known publicly.
So, thanks to that soldiers had so peculiar misunderstandings.
The food I fed to monsters when we descended the mountain.
They understood it as debuff food.
“To be honest, I’m not even sure if it can be considered food.”
“It’s food. Well, also a debuff food.”
Since the results were similar, I decided to leave the misunderstanding as it was.
Regardless, the dish was completed.
So…
“Let’s begin the operation.”
***
Thunk…
We stepped back into the warehouse, but this ti with fewer soldiers than before.
Most of the group consisted of shield warriors with outstanding defensive capabilities.
Since we deed direct assault impossible, only warriors with exceptional defensive abilities were brought along as a precaution.
“This…”
“It’s back to its original state.”
Upon re-entering the warehouse, we saw the scattered tal pieces on the floor.
Apart from the rearrangent, it was a ss just like when we first arrived.
“I was wondering why it was such a ss when we first arrived.”
A monster that gathers materials and forms a gigantic form when it discovers an enemy.
But does that form itself consu power?
After repelling the enemy, the gathered materials seed to scatter randomly.
We stood near the entrance, scrutinizing the interior of the warehouse.
“Where’s its main body?”
“Hmm. Can’t see it.”
What we needed to find was the monster’s main body, the black shadow that manipulated the tal pieces. But could it be buried sowhere, hiding?
No matter how much we searched, it was nowhere to be found.
“Seems like it’ll only show itself when we approach a bit more.”
“It will likely assu the sa giant monster form as before.”
Ideally, I wanted to ascertain its location in this state. But it seed difficult.
“Well, we can’t do anything about it then.”
I confidently stepped forward.
As we took a few more steps into the warehouse…
Grrrr…
“There it is!”
The vibration sound, that we had already heard once, resonated again.
It seed the sound ca from the vibrating materials.
Accompanying the sound was the spreading black shadow throughout the warehouse.
Warriors raised their shields, guarding against the floating tal pieces.
“Stay cautious, everyone!”
“Even if we fail, we must protect Sergeant Shin.”
The warriors assud a defensive stance, protecting .
From the perspective of soone who was being protected, it was quite reassuring.
Within this protection, I closely observed the black shadow.
Particularly, I focused on the center of the shadow.
Where the shadow condensed the most.
That place was surrounded by hardware, as if to protect it from external enemies.
“Is it there?”
That was probably where the monster’s main body was located.
Observing the almost completed form of the giant monster…
I gripped the tal sheet I brought along.
The gleaming tal sheet, shimring with oiliness.
The heat still lingered, scorching hot.
If it weren’t for my fire-resistance, my hands might have suffered.
Yet, there was a reason I brought the tal sheet in such a heated state.
“It’s best to eat it warm for better flavor.”
With the tal sheet gripped firmly in my right hand, I ford an L-shape by extending my left hand forward.
It was a throwing stance I learned, reminiscent of a grenade throw.
I’ve never tried baseball before, and this was the only thing that I knew about it.
“Throw!”
Unlike in training, this ti the target wasn’t the enemy’s base but the area near the monster’s main body.
The shimring tal sheet sliced through the air.
As I observed it, I thought, “Last ti, you attacked my food rcilessly, didn’t you?”
Thanks to that, my pride took a hit.
But this ti it was different.
The tal sheet fell around the monster’s main body.
The black shadow hod in on the spot where the tal sheet landed.
Thud.
The shadow adhered to the tal sheet.
The tal sheet, guided by the shadow, was drawn towards the presud location of the main body.
“There it is!”
Confirming the sight, I shouted to the soldiers, “Retreat!”
“Fall back, fall back!”
“Mission accomplished, everyone, retreat!”
The objective was achieved.
Without hesitation, I turned and fled along with the soldiers.
Glancing back, I saw the monster observing us with a sowhat bewildered expression.
Was it due to mood swings?
“Do you want to fight?”
The soldiers were brought along just in case.
Combat wasn’t part of the plan from the start.
Before the fully ford monster could attack us, we completed our retreat.
From a distance, the monster watched us and the soldiers, still in the warehouse.
We knew it wouldn’t pursue us.
“We’ve managed to evade sohow.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.”
The monster likely saw the warehouse’s tal as both a protective shell and a source of sustenance.
The warehouse, overflowing with tal, was the perfect sanctuary for it.
There was a possibility of soone looting the food if left unguarded.
There was no need for the monster to pursue invaders who retreated, considering humans were inedible and useless for it.
“We sohow managed to shake it off.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.”
After completely escaping from the area of the monster, the soldiers spoke.
The soldiers were anxious about whether the operation would go well.
Although we succeeded in delivering the dish.
In the end, the operation could only succeed if it ate the dish, and the effect takes place properly.
I understand their worries.
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It’ll be fine.”
“Really?”
Unlike the anxious soldiers,
I was confident that it would go well.
“You seem very confident that it will go well.”
“How can you speak with such confidence?”
“Huh? Well….”
To the soldiers’ question,
My answer was simple.
Because I have faith that it will succeed.
“Who do you think made the dish.”
“Oh.”
Of course, it will turn out well.
And
My belief was not wrong.
“Mmm… Mm….”
What’s this?
Looking at it like this,
“It’s pretty cute, isn’t it?”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Translator: One Force
TL Note:
This is the first additional chapter of the day (For NU 30 votes milestone completion)
[post-views]
User Comments
0 comments from readers