novelraw Chapter 105: An’s "Treat"
Chapter 105: An’s "Treat"
[You have learned White Pigeon Perception Lv1]
[You have learned Charm of Shadows Lv1]
A flood of knowledge surged instantly within Chen Qi’s mind.
Both skills could be upgraded. Chen Qi checked the accumulated spiritual energy points.
The spiritual energy points gained from the dimensional rift, plus those saved from his daily tasks, and those spent upgrading the meditation method — he now had a total of 5,000 spiritual energy points!
He could upgrade both skills.
Chen Qi decisively consumed the spiritual energy points to upgrade the skills.
[Your White Pigeon Perception has increased to Lv3, gaining a small passive perception effect, improving perception ability.]
[Your Charm of Shadows has increased to Lv3, gaining a small passive dark concealment effect, enhancing concealment and affinity.]
In an instant, 4,000 spiritual energy points vanished like smoke.Chen Qi felt the overwhelming knowledge in his mind.
Two skill cards — one enhanced his perception ability, the other improved his concealment!
Of course, the most important gain from this dimensional rift trip was still the profession card promised by the Navy Admiral Old White Pigeon.
Although he had gone a bit heavy-handed, it could still be considered a successful completion of the commission!
A prompt appeared.
[The dimensional rift will close in one hour.]
After tidying up, Chen Qi prepared to leave the rift.
Unlike normal rifts, after parking, all the shadow affinity monsters on the No. 8 Train would become restless.
Therefore, on the way back, he would still encounter quite a few shadow monsters.
However, these monsters were nothing more than a single slash to Chen Qi now.
He cut his way from the front carriage all the way to the last carriage, earning 1,000 spiritual energy points.
Half an hour later, he arrived at the initial carriage.
He pushed open the carriage door and stepped out of the No. 8 Train.
Chen Qi raised his hand, blocking the dazzling sunlight.
After getting off, a breath of fresh air greeted him.
He took a deep breath, the cool air instantly filling his lungs, sweeping away the stuffy atmosphere inside the carriage.
This world was truly comfortable.
Chen Qi smiled:
“At this time, it’s about right to return to Damarro Town, rest for a night, and maybe find An to mooch a meal.”
He drove the small houseboat toward Damarro Town.
...
...
Damarro Town.
The daylight gradually faded; the sky was dyed a warm orange-red, reflecting beautifully with the sea surface, like a magnificent ink painting.
At this moment, on a large grassy field near the dock, a big pot was set up along with many cooking tools, seasonings, and various luxurious ingredients.
Thirteen people were gathered around.
They were all Hammer affinity craftsmen who had been building Damarro Town’s defensive works and meteorological tower.
After discussion, to celebrate the preliminary completion of Damarro Town’s defenses, they decided to have a luxurious feast tonight!
At this moment, An was sitting quietly on a stone, reading a book and calmly waiting for Chen Qi’s return.
A white-haired craftsman with a big beard, resembling a dwarf, was looking around.
A second-tier Hammer profession dwarf — this was a profession card that influenced appearance. Dwarf craftsmen were not uncommon in Beiguo.
The hungry dwarf craftsman said:
“Teacher An, what are you waiting for? If we start cooking now, we can eat directly tonight!”
“Please wait a moment, everyone. I want to wait for a chef friend...”
The dwarf craftsman’s eyes widened: “Teacher An, isn’t your father running a tavern? His cooking should be pretty good. Why not have him come?”
An frowned. Her usually calm face looked as if she had seen a terrifying demon:
“You won’t want to eat the dishes my father makes.”
An closed her book and explained to everyone:
“That is a chef friend of mine, and an extraordinary chef who’s been featured in newspapers. If we can wait for him, we will have a delicious feast tonight.”
“A chef featured in newspapers! Is that so...”
Everyone rubbed their stomachs.
Extraordinary chefs were very rare!
The lead dwarf craftsman swallowed his saliva. He had heard that recently at the Moonstone City dock, there was a super affordable and delicious Water Spirit restaurant with reasonable prices and amazing taste.
But unfortunately, due to building the meteorological observation tower, they could only stay on Damarro Island!
The food in Damarro Town was terrifyingly bad.
It was either salted fish or more salted fish!
If an extraordinary chef was cooking, they were willing to wait!
The dwarf craftsman waited three minutes, then anxiously asked:
“Teacher An, may I ask, what is this extraordinary chef doing? How long will it take for him to arrive?”
An answered quietly:
“He went to deal with the No. 8 Train dimensional rift. If all goes well, he should be here in about two hours.”
“Two hours... No. 8 Train!”
The dwarf craftsman immediately exclaimed.
That rift had already caused many deaths!
He suspiciously asked:
“Are we really going to find someone? I heard that someone who escaped the train said there was a humanoid monster that could wield shadow affinity power inside the rift!”
“Humanoid monster?”
An’s pupils contracted slightly. The information she had given Chen Qi contained no mention of a humanoid monster.
She immediately asked: “Can you be more specific?”
The dwarf craftsman stroked his thick white beard and murmured:
“That person told me in terror, just as he was about to clear the level, he met a crying youth who transformed into a monster.
The monster’s strength had already reached the level of a third-tier supernatural!
Can you believe it? A rift that only first-tier supernaturals could enter actually had a second-tier monster.”
“Second-tier supernatural...”
An’s frown deepened.
If it were a normal No. 8 Train, as long as the spiritual energy was high, one wouldn’t even need to distinguish differences — just observing the spiritual energy field was enough to clear it.
Therefore, she believed that with Chen Qi’s spiritual energy, he could easily clear it.
But if there was a second-tier humanoid monster, the situation was completely different.
Had she been too confident?
An felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn’t known this information.
She should have spent more time gathering intelligence before letting Chen Qi enter the rift.
What if this information caused Chen Qi serious injury?
An bit her nails in regret. As the novice mentor of Damarro Town, she had clearly been negligent.
“Hopefully, nothing will go wrong...”
Just then, she heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Teacher An, may I ask what you’re planning to eat tonight?”
Chen Qi smiled and greeted everyone.
“Ah!?”
An turned around, her deep blue eyes staring blankly at Chen Qi:
“That’s fast...”
It wasn’t even dark yet, and he was already back!
An asked curiously:
“How was it?”
Chen Qi rubbed his aching shoulder:
“It was a bit challenging, but luckily I’m skilled enough to barely clear it!”
“Cleared it...”
An’s mouth slightly opened, then she smiled. Apparently, her worries had been unnecessary.
Chen Qi’s development might be better than she had imagined.
The dwarf craftsman and others also widened their eyes:
“You’re not joking, right? You said you cleared the No. 8 Train?”
The dimensional rift affected the establishment of barrier-type defense facilities.
Therefore, recently they had been troubled by the No. 8 Train rift and knew well its terror.
They never expected that something many had failed at, a chef could clear so casually.
Chen Qi looked at their astonished expressions and calmly said:
“As long as the spiritual energy is high, this rift is not difficult.”
“Is that so...”
The craftsmen looked at each other in shock.
After eating, they definitely wanted to go see the No. 8 Train rift.
“After clearing the rift, the first thing is to celebrate with a delicious meal.”
An stood up and took a bird corpse from her backpack card:
“Qi, you’re just in time. I wonder if you have time to eat with us. We really need a chef.”
I knew it — no free meals... Chen Qi rubbed his hands and agreed to An’s request.
Since he got ashore, the usually calm An had been looking at him like a delicious meal.
After eating Chen Qi’s cooking, An felt even more that the food in Damarro Town was terrible.
An happily said:
“Trouble for you, but as payment for the meal, how about half a Celestial Firebird?”
“Celestial Firebird?”
Chen Qi was suddenly shocked.
Like the Ghostfire Fish schools, the Celestial Firebird was an extremely dangerous monster.
In terms of danger, it was even on par with the Coastal Apex Predators.
The Celestial Firebird was extremely cunning, liking to attack from high altitude at a distance.
It only descended to capture prey after confirming the target was burned.
If Chen Qi’s small houseboat encountered a Celestial Firebird, it could only accept bad luck.
At the same time, Celestial Firebird meat was delicious and a rare ingredient.
After cooking, it could grant small fire resistance and physical constitution improvement!
It was also one of the best ingredients for an extraordinary chef.
Chen Qi asked in surprise, “Teacher An, where did you get the Celestial Firebird?”
An calmly replied:
“Because I bought new spellbooks, I’ve been short on money lately. I originally planned to hunt the Coastal Apex Predators, which often appear in the open sea, to get some of their scales.
But unfortunately, I didn’t find any Coastal Apex Predators, and there was no news of them at sea. In the end, I was lucky to encounter this Celestial Firebird.”
Coastal Apex Predators... Chen Qi kept his expression steady and swallowed.
An actually wanted to hunt Coastal Apex Predators!
For an ordinary third-tier supernatural, it was very difficult to defeat a Coastal Apex Predator.
But An was a top graduate of Beiguo Royal University.
One must know, the current Coastal Apex Predator was just a child. If it really encountered An, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Fortunately... Chen Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
Recently, the Coastal Apex Predator had been staying in his White Tree Shallows, eating fish feed he bought every day, almost becoming a homebody dragon.
Its activity frequency in the open sea had also greatly decreased.
Therefore, the possibility of An encountering it was low.
Chen Qi took the Celestial Firebird and smiled:
“That really is lucky. The Celestial Firebird is a rare extraordinary delicacy!”
Why could you two make such extremely difficult things sound so easy?
The craftsmen were stunned — one could easily handle a Celestial Firebird, the other casually cleared the No. 8 Train.
At this moment, the dwarf craftsman watching the scene frowned and warned:
“Teacher An, I advise you to give up on hunting Coastal Apex Predators quickly.
Haven’t you read the newspapers? Recently, a monster from the Sea God Pirates wiped out an entire steel steamship together with a Coastal Apex Predator!
Even if you can beat a Coastal Apex Predator, if you anger the existence behind it, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
An whispered: “True.”
Wait, that monster from the Sea God Pirates — could that be referring to me?
Chen Qi never expected that his affairs could be known to the craftsmen in Damarro Town.
That was the influence of newspapers.
However, if An really angered the terrifying existence behind the Coastal Apex Predator, the consequences would indeed be unimaginable!
I might die... Chen Qi picked up the kitchen knife and began chopping vegetables at this outdoor cooking site.
It was time to show off his cooking skills again!
The craftsmen immediately salivated uncontrollably.
An didn’t say anything but sat quietly on the stone, patiently waiting for Chen Qi to cook.