The golden light of Zafkiel enveloped the wilderness. With the Splendid Gate as the center, the surrounding hundred meters were flooded with brilliant radiance.
Shadow monsters flickered and loomed at the edge of the light, occasionally revealing hollow, shadowy beastly-faces before fleeing in panic.
A sense of urgency rose in Natsuyu's heart.
Encountering the spider warrior during the day had already made Natsuyu realize the danger of this "Don't Starve" world. At night, they had encountered even more terrifying shadow monsters. If not for the protection of the veteran Tokisaki Kurumi, they would have faced a total team wipe tonight.
But Tokisaki Kurumi could not protect them forever. Even if she were willing to do so, Natsuyu did not want to entrust his life to someone else indefinitely; it made him feel very insecure.
Natsuyu wanted to master the means of surviving the night himself. Without a doubt, the answer was to increase his strength.
'Tomorrow, I should take the initiative to hunt spider warriors.'
'Besides that, the only current way to increase my strength is through the gourmet achievement tree.'
Natsuyu turned his attention to the system.
[Congratulations on achieving the achievement "Tasty!". Please shout the incantation "I am the Divine Chef Little Xia You!" to claim your reward: A top-tier gourmet recipe for a specific ingredient, and 10 experience.]
[Gourmet Achievement Tree: ...Tasty! — Top-tier Chef (Craft Top-tier Gourmet Food) — ?]
Excellent gourmet food, like berry candy, already involved supernatural effects. The effects of top-tier gourmet food would certainly be stronger.
Without hesitation, Natsuyu stood in front of the furnace and shouted, "I am the Divine Chef Little Xia You!"
[You received the reward: A top-tier gourmet recipe for a specific ingredient, and 10 experience.]
[Natsuyu: Level 7 (Experience 11/45)]
"Eh?"
The girls all looked toward Natsuyu after his sudden shout.
Natsuyu gave a gentle smile, deliberately raising his voice as he spoke:
"Let's continue our picnic; don't let the monsters spoil your appetite."
"Divine Chef Natsuyu is about to begin cooking."
Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes flickered. Giving him an "I understand" look, she was the first to sit back down and said softly:
"Don't just stand there. If you don't eat soon, it'll get cold. Natsuyu, please continue making some food. We've consumed a lot of energy today and need to replenish our nutrition."
Natsuyu gave his good teammate a thumbs-up. "Alright!"
Sakuraba Ema was the second to sit back down, saying with a smile, "Natsuyu is working hard tonight. I'll eat every bit of the food he makes!"
Because Natsuyu often boosted morale, Kiana and the others didn't find it unusual. Only Yukinoshita Yukino realized Natsuyu was unlocking a new ability and helped provide cover.
After fooling the three girls, Natsuyu prepared another batch of cooked berries while pondering which ingredient's top-tier recipe to unlock.
Undoubtedly, the most abundant ingredient right now was berries. In the berry forest not far away, there were still many unpicked berries. If he unlocked a top-tier recipe, he could quickly craft a batch of top-tier delicacies.
But Natsuyu couldn't just look at the short term. Berries were seasonal fruits that only ripened during this period. Even if they found other berry forests later, if the season was wrong, they wouldn't bear fruit. Right now, there seemed to be many berries, but once they were used up, they would be hard to obtain again.
Therefore, he couldn't unlock a top-tier gourmet recipe that used berries as the primary ingredient.
Natsuyu thought about ingredients they could obtain long-term. Rabbit meat and bird meat both seemed viable. Especially bird meat—there were many birds in this area, and bird meat could be obtained at any time. However, obtaining bird meat in bulk was nearly impossible.
That left only monster meat.
Natsuyu fell into thought. Spider monsters dropped monster meat, and other monsters likely would too. This meant the yield of monster meat was huge and unaffected by seasons; it could be obtained wherever there were monsters. Moreover, Natsuyu currently had no way to use monster meat, so it was essentially waste material taking up backpack slots.
If a top-tier gourmet recipe could utilize monster meat, it would undoubtedly be the best choice.
Natsuyu decided—monster meat it was!
'I need a top-tier gourmet recipe for monster meat.'
[You have unlocked a new recipe: Top-tier Gourmet Food "Monster Pill".]
Monster pill... like an alchemical pill? How did xianxia cultivation get involved in this?
Natsuyu immediately checked the recipe that appeared in his mind.
[Monster Pill (Top-tier Gourmet Food): Requires 20 pieces of low-grade ingredient "Monster Meat", or 1 piece of intermediate ingredient "Essence Monster Meat". Bake for 60 seconds. Consuming it adds 1 point of experience. Cooldown time: 30 minutes. Freshness: Medicinal effects diminish after 1 day and become completely ineffective after 3 days.]
It can actually increase experience! I've struck gold, everyone!
Natsuyu was overjoyed, feeling exceptionally surprised. Not only did hunting monsters grant experience, but the drops could also be used to craft equipment to hunt monsters more effectively. Now, eating the monster's meat could also grant experience.
What was once useless monster meat had become a precious pill for power leveling. It felt like stepping on his left foot with his right to achieve a literal ascension!
Especially since Natsuyu's stock of monster meat was quite substantial.
Natsuyu thanked his past self for his completionist habit. He hadn't thrown away the monster meat despite its purely negative effects; he had even gone out of his way to mutilate the spider corpses, using an axe to hack them into monster meat for collection. Otherwise, how much experience would he have lost?
"Ema, give me the backpack you use for food."
Sakuraba Ema puffed out her cheeks while chewing cooked bird meat. Hearing this, she blinked. "The food backpack is already in Natsuyu's hands. The one I have left contains that poisonous meat. What does Natsuyu want with it?"
Though puzzled, Sakuraba Ema handed the backpack to Natsuyu as she asked.
Natsuyu: "I'm going to see what I can make with the monster meat."
Sakuraba Ema said softly, "Then use a different furnace. I'm worried about the poison."
Natsuyu nodded in agreement. He also found the appearance of the monster meat repulsive. If he used the same furnace for roasting, they certainly wouldn't have an appetite for any food made later.
Natsuyu walked to the side, crafted a new furnace, and then checked his inventory.
[Monster Meat * 140]
[Essence Monster Meat * 80]
A total of 87 points of experience!
Natsuyu's heart beat with excitement. He rubbed his hands together, no longer finding the strange appearance of the monster meat repulsive; this was his precious treasure for leveling up.
First, he stuffed 20 pieces of monster meat into the top of the furnace. The storage space of the furnace certainly wasn't enough to hold so many large slices of meat, but Natsuyu put all 20 pieces in anyway and stuffed a thick, meter-long log into the bottom.
Extra-dimensional space at its finest.
He waited patiently for one minute.
Using twig chopsticks, Natsuyu picked out a pale green bead, its surface steaming.
Monster pill.
It was about the size of a longan fruit. It looked as green as jade, but its texture was actually somewhat soft. The appearance of the monster meat, which had once seemed ominous, had turned into a smooth, glossy piece of art.
[Congratulations on achieving the achievement "Top-tier Chef". Please shout the incantation "As long as you have a heart, everyone can be a God of Cookery" to claim your reward: Cooking Pot crafting, and 15 experience.]
Natsuyu did not claim the reward yet; instead, he performed an appraisal on the monster pill.