Gourmet Power

In a forest shrouded in rain and mist, a massive wild boar raced wildly forward. Yet a stream of golden energy shot straight out of the fog, instantly piercing the head of the enormous boar, which stood nearly three meters tall.

The boar squealed twice before collapsing to the ground, twitching as foul-smelling blood spread everywhere.

Bai Cangshu approached with a frown. Light flashed in his hand, and a gleaming kitchen knife appeared in his grasp. Judging by the blade’s pattern alone, it was more beautiful than many swordsmen’s prized blades.

However, Bai Cangshu did not see an Auspicious Phoenix Pattern appear on the blade. In the setting of Cooking Master Boy, these Legendary Cooking Utensils had something similar to famed swords recognizing their masters. When held by their chosen inheritor, a special Auspicious Phoenix Pattern would appear on the blade.

Tch. This sort of thing was actually preserved in a space where strength reigned supreme?

Squelch—

Bai Cangshu possessed neither culinary skill nor particularly exquisite knife techniques.

But his strike was equally swift and precise. After a flash of bright white blade light, one of the giant boar’s hind legs was severed.

He did not process it in any way. He merely used the special cooking utensil to slice off a thin piece from the hind leg. In an instant, even without an Auspicious Phoenix Pattern appearing, the knife’s ability still took effect.

The meat was instantly purified, as though it had been cleaned countless times over. No bacteria could possibly remain within it.

Bai Cangshu put the slice into his mouth. The gamey taste was not particularly strong, and even the bloody odor seemed to have faded considerably.

You have consumed unprepared beast meat.
Ingredient Grade: Low
Deliciousness Grade: Extremely Low

Biological Enhancement · Gourmet Cell has not improved.

Milestone · Gourmet has not gained a bonus.

Bai Cangshu spat out the boar meat in his mouth with great inelegance and stared expressionlessly at the gleaming cooking utensil in his hand.

This Gourmet Power did not seem as simple as he had imagined. It was not the sort of thing that granted bonuses no matter what one ate.

Moreover, with his nearly nonexistent cooking skills, even armed with this "Legendary Cooking Utensil," the "boar sashimi" he made had not even met the Gourmet Milestone’s requirements for "gourmet food."

Even the Milestone he had specifically equipped had not granted him any beneficial status.

That was right. Bai Cangshu believed that, in a space with such a warped obsession with strength, ingredient grade would surely matter more than so-called cooking skill.

After all, hunting powerful creatures was more in line with what the space demanded of Reincarnators.

So in his original plan, he would rely on a Garuda Blade and the principle that anything could be made into sashimi to eat his way across the world.

He had not expected his very first attempt at cooking to fail.

Bai Cangshu rarely showed such a gloomy expression. He effortlessly carried the massive boar back to the campfire.

Seeing Mercenary Tao’s expression, Catherine thought he had learned that she had revealed information while hypnotized by Uchiha Shisui. Her face instantly turned pale, her heartbeat quickened, and for a moment, she did not know whether she should run.

Hiranaka Hana, who understood nothing of this, instead looked at the kitchen knife in Bai Cangshu’s hand and the enormous boar. After pondering for a moment, she took the initiative to speak.

"Are you… planning to cook this prey?"

Bai Cangshu was in a foul mood and could not be bothered to answer her. He was thinking that if Uchiha Shisui brought the tailed beast back now, should he eat it or not?

If it could not improve his Gourmet Cell, then eating tailed beast meat would bring him no benefit whatsoever. He did not expect to gain Nine-Tails Chakra by eating Nine-Tails flesh as Kinkaku and Ginkaku had.

Hiranaka Hana and the others had not eaten properly in quite some time. The harsh environment of the Land of Rain and towns nearly utterly destroyed by war had left few people gathered anywhere, while food was even scarcer.

After hesitating briefly, she stepped forward and took hold of the knife in Bai Cangshu’s hand.

"Let me do it. I know how to cook…"

Uchiha Itachi, whose bones throughout his body remained shattered, lay on a rock. His Chakra pathways had also suffered extensive damage. He could not even refine Chakra or activate his Sharingan, yet his expression remained calm as he continued thinking.

He could hear the conversation below as well. He was gathering as much information about Mercenary Tao as possible, trying to determine how much of what this person had told him before was true and how much was false.

Because of their excessively intense emotions, members of the Uchiha Clan often became extreme and quick-tempered. That was both the source of their power and the root of the calamities they brought upon themselves.

The reason Uchiha Itachi was completely different from the rest of his clan in Shisui’s eyes was that he was always thinking, burying most of his emotions deep within his heart.

But even Uchiha Itachi himself had not realized that the reason he kept contemplating Mercenary Tao’s words was because he, too, had been drawn in by their content.

If one considered this world solely from the perspective of ninjas, then peace and hatred were an unsolvable issue. War would always erupt, hatred would accumulate from generation to generation, and there would never be an end.

Ninjas like Shisui and Itachi always confined their thoughts to idealistic hopes. Shisui hoped that Itachi would change everything and entrusted his eyes to him. Yet in the end, Itachi could not resolve anything either. He chose to stand entirely on the village’s side, slaughtering his clan to preserve his younger brother’s life.

But Mercenary Tao’s words gave Itachi another way of thinking: to step beyond Konoha, beyond the Land of Fire, and even beyond the Ninja World.

If the wars of this world were all caused by interests, then whose interests were those, exactly…?

Uchiha Itachi seemed to have found a breakthrough—a point to which all the hatred that had never found anything to blame could now seemingly be attributed. More directly, it could be blamed on the owners of those interests.

The daimyos, nobles, and rulers of nations whom the ninja era served…

It was a terrifying line of thought, yet it showed Uchiha Itachi a breadth of vision he had never seen before.

Crackle—

Fat dripped into the flames and crackled. The scent of meat instantly filled the air. Though there were no seasonings, the boar meat treated by the Garuda Blade still gave off a rich, succulent aroma over the fire.

It even pulled Uchiha Itachi from his thoughts, and his stomach began to growl.

You have consumed a carefully prepared piece of roasted meat.
Ingredient Grade: Low
Deliciousness Grade: Average

Gourmet Cell has grown slightly.
Current: Lv0 (5/100)

Milestone · Gourmet triggered.
You have gained the temporary bonus · Enhanced Hearing.

Bai Cangshu raised an eyebrow, and the chill in his expression faded. He studied Hiranaka Hana.

"Sure enough, even the weakest people have their own talents."

Catherine also realized that this Plot Character was fairly skilled at cooking, but she said nothing. She only felt that Mercenary Tao was truly terrifying. Even the slightest shift in his mood made her feel afraid.

Staying beside someone like him was like standing beside a wild beast. There was no sense of security whatsoever. She completely abandoned any thoughts she had once had of seeking his protection.

As one of the more famous low-ranked Reincarnators in the space, Mercenary Tao had many Reincarnators who wanted to join him or form a team with him.

But Catherine now understood that someone like him probably would not have anything like a team. Even if he did, it would surely be an extremely warped group entirely under his control. Other than himself, everyone would be little more than tools.

Bai Cangshu first questioned Hiranaka Hana in great detail about the key points of roasting meat. Only afterward did he have Catherine help Uchiha Itachi up and heal him.

Aside from being poor at cooking, he was actually extremely adept at reading people’s hearts.

He had deliberately left Uchiha Itachi alone and allowed him to think. When the body could not move and one could only think, a person would become immersed in that mode of thought. As others put it, it was easy to get stuck in a dead end.

His theory was not sound, but Bai Cangshu had never intended to change this world. He was not a true Savior. He was merely imposing even stronger emotions.

Then, he would make those who had already been tortured beyond endurance by this world join him and make this world… feel pain.

Special Trial: Utmost Benevolence and Goodness progress updated.
Current: 4/7

Seeing the notification refresh, he knew that he would soon be rid of this burden and could go stir up chaos to his heart’s content. Well, the other party was no longer entirely a burden now. At the very least, she possessed some cooking skills.

Bai Cangshu knew that the Plot Characters he would encounter next would not be as kind and benevolent as Shisui. He had to wait until this mission was complete before steadily proceeding further.

Suddenly, Bai Cangshu’s ears twitched. He looked into the far distance, where several figures clad in black robes appeared without a sound.