Chapter 8

Chapter 8
008. Stats Increase When You Eat My Cooking
A soft sensation brushed against my forehead.
What was that… lips?
My consciousness slowly returned, and I opened my eyes.
“Ugh…”
My head felt slightly heavy and dizzy, as though I had a mild hangover.
I looked around.
I was still inside the tent at the campsite within the Rift.
It had been night before I passed out, but now daylight had arrived.
“Ria…?”
I called out for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
She was not outside the tent either.
The small wood stove inside the tent still held half-burned logs, as if they had been added recently.
‘She must have left only a short while ago.’
Perhaps she stayed beside me until I regained consciousness, worried that a Monster might attack.
The meat I had marinated was also gone.
When I smelled the brazier, there was a faint scent of cooked meat.
It seemed Ria had made the jerky herself during the night and taken it with her.
‘She looked experienced with wilderness living. Jerky must have been easy for her.’
At least she would not starve.
So she really had left.
I surveyed the campsite.
‘The tent should be folded for now.’
A Monster might wander in and destroy it.
It would be better to store it neatly somewhere until Ria returned.
Everything else I stored inside Arkresia.
I did not plan on returning for a while.
After finishing, I turned back once more before leaving the Rift.
“I hope you return safely.”
I gently touched my forehead where that soft sensation had lingered, then stepped out of the Rift.
***
Back at the country house, the first thing I did was check my condition.
First, the status.
[STATUS: Strength 39 / Agility 55 / Dexterity 103 / Mana 121 / Vitality 71]
Every stat had nearly doubled.
Dexterity and Mana had exceeded 100.
Even though I had absorbed only part of the magic stone’s mana, the increase was tremendous.
‘I can clearly feel the difference.’
Power filled my entire body.
Even more distinctly than after my first Awakening.
Inside the house, I stood before a full-length mirror and removed my shirt.
Defined abdominal muscles appeared, along with lean but sharply defined muscles across my entire body.
“This is better than when I was training seriously.”
The Second Awakening had created a body that normally required intense training and diet.
Why exercise when you can simply awaken?
I picked up an old fifteen-kilogram dumbbell lying in the corner.
“Is this really fifteen kilograms? It feels like one of those pink two-kilogram dumbbells.”
The weight felt like a toy.
I set it down and opened the skill window to examine the new skill obtained through the Second Awakening.
[Blessing of Dexterity: Depending on the quality of something crafted by hand, random stat bonuses may be granted. The probability increases when rare materials are used.]
Something crafted by hand.
Would that include cooking?
I decided to test it immediately.
I grilled a beef tenderloin steak in the yard.
The result…
“Nothing appeared.”
There was no change even after eating it.
The internal temperature had been perfect, and the steak was flawlessly cooked.
“Then again.”
I tried again, carefully preparing another perfect steak.
Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.
Five consecutive failures.
“It was definitely a high-quality steak. Does cooking not count?”
If cooking did not count, this skill would be useless to me.
There was no helpful tip message this time either.
“Damn it. I will try again.”
I refused to change the dish.
Steak was a chef’s pride.
Yet again—failure.
“Should I change the ingredient?”
The skill description clearly said the probability increased with rare materials.
Then I would use drake meat.
I took a drake loin from Arkresia.
‘Since I am cooking steak this time, I should neutralize the odor differently.’
A method I had encountered in the Middle East during my travels came to mind.
Cumin marinade.
It was extremely effective at removing gamey smells.
I mixed olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper over heat.
After cooling the marinade, I soaked the drake meat in it.
‘This time it must work.’
Two hours later, I placed the meat on the grill.
I added smoke using the fruit-tree chips from the Rift.
First came a high-heat sear.
Then resting.
Afterward, I reduced the charcoal heat and flipped the steak every two seconds to cook it evenly.
Two seconds per side.
Rest.
Repeat.
‘The so-called grill sous-vide method.’
Technically it was not sous-vide.
True sous-vide involved slow cooking in low-temperature water.
Grill sous-vide required tremendous skill.
There had once been a contestant on Youngflix’s cooking survival show who attempted it and was eliminated due to uneven cooking.
It took over forty minutes to finish a single steak this way.
I inserted a needle into the steak, removed it, and pressed it to the bridge of my nose.
A method used by chefs with excellent temperature sense to measure internal temperature without a thermometer.
My margin of error was usually within 0.2 degrees.
‘Fifty-seven degrees.’
The point between rare and medium rare.
My favorite steak temperature.
When I cut the steak open, the interior displayed a uniform pale pink.
A perfect medium-rare grill sous-vide steak.
As I plated it, I felt a tiny consumption of mana and a system message appeared.
[Master’s Drake Steak]
[Upon consumption – Blessing of Dexterity effect: Strength +1]
A message appeared beside the plate.
“Yes!”
The surge of dopamine felt comparable to the moment I received the call confirming Pungjeong’s Michelin three-star rating.
Another system tip appeared.
[TIP. For dishes affected by the Blessing of Dexterity skill, repeated stat gains using the same primary ingredient are reduced to one-tenth.]
So if a drake dish granted Strength +1, the next dish made with drake granting Strength +1 would instead grant Strength +0.1.
Even that stacking was absurdly powerful.
“Then I might as well eat it for breakfast.”
But what about the failed steaks?
In truth, they were not failures.
They were excellent steaks made from high-quality beef.
They were just cold now.
‘Should I share them with the neighbors?’
No.
Serving cold steak was unacceptable for a chef.
Better to cook something fresh instead.
I stored them in Arkresia for later.
Then I ate the blessed steak.
“The taste is not different.”
Apparently the skill did not enhance flavor.
It tasted exactly as I had cooked it.
When I swallowed the final bite—
[Blessing of Dexterity effect: Strength +1.]
My Strength had now reached 40.
That alone might qualify as at least C-rank combat ability.
My current rank was still E.
I considered requesting reevaluation, but dismissed the thought.
There was no way to explain such sudden growth.
“Next—Arkresia.”
My Mana had exceeded 100, triggering the Second Awakening.
Apparently that was the requirement.
Arkresia had also advanced in rank.
From unranked to Ancient C-Rank.
[Arkresia additional effect: Nearby objects and targets can now be absorbed.]
Previously, items had to be placed at its entrance to be stored.
Now, proximity alone allowed absorption.
If used on a Monster—
It might function as an attack skill.
Inside Arkresia, time remained frozen until something was released.
Testing time.
“Arkresia.”
The appearance had not changed.
I targeted a plate of steak.
The portal pulled in the plate precisely.
“Oh? Convenient.”
However, it consumed additional mana beyond summoning the portal.
If mana dropped too low, overall stats would decline temporarily.
Excessive depletion could even cause death.
“I will head to Seoul tomorrow and find a party. I should also buy a proper weapon.”
Given my rank, I would likely join as a porter.
Sitting on the wooden porch, I looked toward the storage shed.
“Thanks to you, Ria, I gained a lot.”
She claimed she was repaying a debt.
Yet I had benefited far more.
Perhaps I was the one who owed her.
“I will repay it with food.”
Perhaps one day I would repay it fully.
***
I went to Seoul to search for a party.
It was not easy.
Most Hunters belonged to guilds.
Even porters were usually guild members and accompanied their own guild teams.
“Damn it. I wasted the whole day.”
Back in the hotel room, I collapsed on the bed.
I had expected difficulty.
Parties trusted established teammates with their lives.
“I cannot enter the Rift alone as an E-rank.”
The Rift Management Bureau allowed solo entry only for B-rank Hunters or above.
Lower ranks required a party of at least three.
Even without that rule, I could not reach the second floor alone.
‘The Hunter community might be my best option.’
Only verified Hunters could access it.
Younger Hunters used it more frequently.
They tended to be bold and reckless.
Accident and death rates were higher.
‘I wanted to avoid it… but.’
Life was a single coin.
Late that night, I browsed recruitment posts.
Most were for hunting weak Monsters on the first floor or mining magic stones.
‘Should I just sleep?’
I refreshed once more.
A new post appeared.
[Looking for an E-Rank or higher porter to accompany a party heading to the second floor.]
Departure in two days.
Estimated nine-day expedition through the Paju A Rift.
The composition was ideal: one tank, one damage dealer, one healer.
The only issue was their rank.
Two D-ranks and one C-rank.
‘Only one C-rank going to the second floor…?’
The recommended average was C-rank.
Still, with my Second Awakening, perhaps it was manageable.
‘I nearly died to a superior harpy once… but that hardly counted.’
Back then, I had been prey.
Still, I suspected that even during my First Awakening I could have handled lower Monsters alone.
Now, after the Second Awakening, perhaps even mid-level Monsters.
Joining a slightly weaker party might be a good test.
If the post remained tomorrow afternoon and I still had no party, I would apply.
There was no need to rush.
With that thought, I set down my phone and slept.
***
By three the next afternoon, I still had not found a party.
The porter recruitment post was still there.
‘I have no choice. I cannot keep wasting money on hotels.’
Some comments mocked the party, calling it a suicide mission.
Half mockery, half concern perhaps.
In the end, I filled out the application and sent a private message to the poster.