Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 128

“Finally!”

After a 12-hour wait, the Dragon Oven Roast was complete.

It was torture holding back. The delicious smell, enough to drive anyone crazy, had been wafting out for hours.

‘Who would have thought the smell of roasting meat would break through the meringue and leak outside…?’

Fortunately, the meringue mostly contained it, reducing its potency.

The meringue’s effect has a limited duration. Cainchel inevitably had to use all his remaining aura to create it.

Normally, he would have saved some aura in case of an emergency.

But now, there was no need. A delicious chunk of aura was within arm’s reach.

Using the Gourmet skill allows you to absorb the aura contained within the ingredients.

At the same time, replenishment occurs naturally.

Opening the oven revealed the deliciously roasted dragon meat.

The beautifully browned skin emitted a fragrance that was not only rich but ecstatic.

“Hoo…”

Cainchel took out the dragon meat with trembling hands.

Even though he had become somewhat accustomed to the smell from guarding the oven, it was still this intense.

That’s how immense the magic power of the dragon meat was.

The meat was so tender that there was no need to use a knife. It was hard to believe this was the same tough dragon meat from before.

He brought it straight to his mouth and chewed.

“Gasp…”

He was shocked by the taste. The crispy skin melted the moment it touched his tongue, and the tender flesh burst with an amazing savory juice.

Closing his eyes and savoring it, the taste of the meat, enhanced with gem salt and various herbs, literally exploded in his mouth.

He had prepared buttered potatoes and consommé soup to eat with the meat, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch them.

Meat. Only meat.

That was enough for now.

Something hot flowed down his throat. It lingered in his stomach for a moment before spreading throughout Cainchel’s body.

Before he knew it, the entire roasted dragon was gone.

Cainchel licked the grease from his lips as if even that was precious and muttered.

“Well eaten.”

At the same time, the System informed him that his level had increased.

[You have tasted the 6-star dish ‘Roasted Dragon Tail’.]

[Due to the influence of the Gourmet level, you have absorbed some of the experience and aura contained in the dish.]

[Level up!]

….

….

[Level up!]

“What? Why am I leveling up?”

Cainchel swallowed dryly, surprised.

The Gourmet skill only allows you to absorb the experience embedded in dishes made by others. He could understand the aura in the ingredients, but why was he suddenly leveling up?

Checking, he saw that his level had increased by 10, reaching 67.

“Could it be…”

As the System emphasized, what he used as an ingredient was the dragon’s tail.

Phidelly had even mobilized a Sword Master to cut it off.

Perhaps the Gourmet skill treated even that as part of the dish?

“…Then it makes sense that my level increased so much. I gained the experience of a Sword Master. Wow, I’ve been carrying around an unbelievable treasure all this time?”

In fact, dragon meat alone was a treasure among treasures.

Cainchel took a slow, deep breath to calm his excitement. There was still the most important thing left.

– Aura (5000/5600)

He reflexively covered his mouth with both hands. Otherwise, a huge scream would have burst out.

‘F-Five thousand?!’

Before eating the dragon meat, Cainchel’s aura was only 600.

That was barely enough to maintain the Aura Sword for 10 minutes.

Cainchel looked down at his stomach. It was bulging as if it would burst, probably because he had eaten so much meat.

The dragon’s aura was raging inside.

Normally, aura accumulates in the dantian [energy center in the lower abdomen] or in the heart, but in Cainchel’s case, it was in his stomach.

‘Since it’s aura obtained through the Gourmet skill, I guess this is right…’

He wondered if it would end up digesting his own aura.

The dragon meat used in today’s dish was about 1/3 of what he had.

If he ate all the rest, he would gain an additional 15,000 aura.

‘Adding it all up, 15,000?’

That was far more than the 10,000 needed to become a Sword Master.

‘Unfortunately, I can’t do it right now.’

[You have eaten too much food.]

[It will take 29 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes to digest everything.]

He couldn’t use the Aura Blade right now anyway.

The Aura Blade currently has 4 slots filled.

One was from making Sand Worm dishes for the starving merchant, and another was added by curing the dwarf’s poisoning.

If he continues to cook like this, he will soon obtain the Aura Blade as well.

As Cainchel solved one of his problems, he heard someone’s voice.

“Al! Is Chef Al here!”

‘Bluemountain?’

Cainchel opened the door of the temporary kitchen where he had stayed overnight and walked outside.

There, he saw a dwarf shouting his name at the top of his lungs.

“There are still a few days left until the promised month. What’s going on?”

Bluemountain was breathing heavily with a flushed face. His whole body was soaked with sweat, as if he had run here in a hurry.

“It seems I need the change sooner than expected! In two hours… no, if we’re fast, the Ironforge’s furnace will be completely destroyed within an hour. Then the entire Ironforge will be engulfed in flames!”

Bluemountain was carrying a long sword at his waist.

It was too big of a sword for a dwarf. The traces of it being dragged along were long and continuous.

“First, take this.”

A simple appearance without any decorations.

“Could that be…”

“Roland’s sword, Durendal. A boy who can handle the aura of fire should be able to use this.”

Cainchel, who received Durendal, slowly drew the sword.

The blade, which was so white it looked blue, emitted an unusually cool energy.

“Listen as you follow. Moonlight is actually sunlight reflected. So Durendal, which contains the energy of moonlight, also has the ability to reverse the properties of condensed aura.”

“Reversal? What do you mean?”

“It means that if you inject an aura with the energy of fire, it will emit a freezing cold that freezes everything.”

The treasured sword Durendal, which turns fire into ice.

It was a sword with tremendous power, befitting the treasure of the dwarf clan.

‘So, if I make whipped cream with Durendal, it will freeze immediately and become ice cream?’

Cainchel started thinking about using Durendal for cooking.

Unaware that Cainchel was having such audacious thoughts,

Bluemountain explained the situation while moving his feet busily.

“…That’s what happened. Especially in the northern part, where residential areas are concentrated, we must never allow fire spirits to approach.”

Fire spirits were the elemental form of the burning flames themselves.

Fire spirits burn everything just by existing. That’s why they are dangerous.

“First, we must defeat all the fire spirits that are burning Ironforge and put out the fire remaining in the furnace. You should be able to do it with Durendal. The warriors will help you.”

If the embers of the furnace go out, the dwarves will be reduced to mere blacksmiths with a bit of craftsmanship.

Nevertheless, Bluemountain is trying to extinguish the embers to save those working in Ironforge.

Feeling Bluemountain’s strong will, Cainchel nodded silently.

And began to run towards the center of Ironforge.

@

Goooh-!

There were still hundreds of meters left to the furnace, but before he knew it, the distance was filled with burning fire spirits.

“What? Have they already come this far?”

Everything burns in the place where the fire spirit stays.

The stones became boiling magma, and the scorching air threatened to burn the lungs the moment it was inhaled.

It penetrated Cainchel’s fire resistance, which was over 60%, and quickly took away his stamina.

‘Is this the power of the fire spirit… But the heat in the kitchen is much hotter than this!’

Cainchel held Durendal in both hands and summoned the flames of Flambe [Cainchel’s fire-based aura technique].

Then, Cainchel’s aura disappeared as if it was being sucked into Durendal’s blade.

Jing-!

Durendal, which had swallowed all of Flambe, made a strange sound as if it was not enough.

“You want to eat more? Okay, eat until your stomach bursts!”

Cainchel continued to pour Flambe into Durendal. It was said to be a treasured sword, but it was a huge eater.

Durendal, which had devoured nearly a thousand auras, burped as if it was full enough.

Whoaaaaaa-!

At the same time, tremendous cold began to emanate from Cainchel.

The stones that had turned into magma hardened, and the embers attached to the burning building went out.

The cold emitted by Durendal swallowed ten fire spirits that were wandering the streets.

Despite doing such a great job, Cainchel didn’t look happy at all.

“But this old man… What? A Sword Knight can handle Durendal enough? Where are you scamming! How can a Sword Knight use a monster that eats a thousand auras at once!”

If he hadn’t increased the amount of aura by eating dragon meat, all of his life force would have been consumed by this attack.

It was said that treasured swords choose their owners.

Durendal was a sword that resembled Cainchel, who had the Gourmet skill, too much.

Cainchel, who had cleared the way to the furnace, moved his feet. Durendal was still emitting a faint cold. Maybe he met an absurd partner.

“Still, since it’s a treasured sword I got, should I use it well in the future? Oh, let’s call the cold attack using Durendal ‘Chabot’.”

@

To get to the furnace, you have to defeat the fire spirits blocking the way. Using Durendal, he could defeat ten of them at once.

But roughly, the number of fire spirits was over hundreds.

The last shot must be used to extinguish the embers of the furnace. Then, the maximum number of times Durendal could be used in the future was up to three times.

Fortunately, a dwarf warrior with a large axe was fighting against the fire spirit on the street.

It seemed to be the warrior Bluemountain said would fight together.

“Kuooh!”

When he swung the axe with aura, the flames that made up the fire spirit’s body became slightly blurred.

It seemed that even aura without coldness could defeat the fire spirit.

But when a strong wind blew from somewhere, the fire spirit began to burn again.

“Support is here!”

It was the chief blacksmith, Chelba, who was fighting the fire spirit. He widened his eyes when he saw Durendal in Cainchel’s hand.

“Du, Durendal? Ah, why does Chef Al have that sword?!”

“Bluemountain entrusted it to me. He told me to use this to extinguish the embers of the furnace.”

“Th, that sword is an aura-eating magic sword! If you’re not a Sword Master, you’ll be eaten by that sword!”

Cainchel shook Durendal lightly.

Then, the cold remaining on the blade emitted a cool energy.

“Fortunately, it seems I can use it about five times.”

“Heh, heh…”

Having seen it directly, he had no choice but to believe it. The one in front of him was someone who could handle Durendal.

“First of all, we must open the way without relying on Durendal as much as possible.”

“It’s not easy to defeat the fire spirit without Durendal’s coldness. Especially on days like today when the wind is strong, the fire spirit literally runs wild.”

“Wind…”

Cainchel’s eyes lit up. Wind makes the fire stronger. Then, if he could block it, wouldn’t the enemy’s momentum decrease?

A fire spirit wandering in the alley right next to Cainchel’s field of vision came into view.

Before he knew it, a bubble of aura, meringue, was being created at his fingertips.

‘This will block the wind blowing on the fire spirit.’

He sent it away as it was.

Goooh-!

When wrapped in meringue, the flames that made up the fire spirit’s body shrank.

But one meringue doesn’t last long. Cainchel swung his sword, looking at the meringue that was swelling as if it would burst right now.

“Onion Swordsmanship!”

Durendal, which had four blades, was fired at the fire spirit’s body.

Bang!

It was almost a lightning strike.

Chelba opened his mouth wide and muttered.

“Is aura basic for chefs these days?”

Into the Flames #1