Chapter 331: Chef (A+), Deployment Begins!
"Lee Seon-hu wants to see you."
Lee Chae-rin hesitated slightly but eventually spoke.
In her eyes, the vast majority of her huge family were incompetent people who only knew how to eat and drink—a bunch of trash who were just born lucky. Even her own father, she believed, only possessed a bit of talent for maintaining the status quo.
But her grandfather, Lee Seon-hu, who single-handedly pushed the Samwol Group to its current status, was different. Although stubborn and arrogant, he had moved in the correct direction during almost every major transformation of the conglomerate.
Now, even without knowing the truth about Reincarnators, he accepted it far faster than those uncles of the second generation in the family, directly demanding the conglomerate transform into a new field.
He was an old man with truly astonishing talent... just like the guy in front of her.
Lee Chae-rin sipped her coffee, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the lean man wearing only a pair of shorts. Fortunately, after arriving at the estate, he hadn't done anything excessive to her again.
"Lee Seon-hu? Then tell him to come see me later."
Kaito Shirogane remained composed, listening to music with headphones on.
Lee Chae-rin hesitated for a moment, then continued:
"This time, our conscription times are identical. It's very likely we'll be deployed to the same mission world. Wouldn't it be better for you to establish a team..."
Although they had a Slave Contract, they didn't belong to the same team, and their mission progress was originally completely different.
But this time, although the Space notification nodes were a day apart, the deployment time was exactly the same. Combined with rumors in the Space, Lee Chae-rin guessed they would likely be deployed to the same world.
Therefore, she suggested Kaito create a team so they could be deployed together.
But Kaito sneered twice. Looking at the woman with her hair tied up, dressed increasingly beautifully and maturely, he mocked:
"What? Are you afraid..."
"Since we're going to be deployed to the same world anyway, why bother forming a team? Ha~ Do you think you could betray me without a team contract?"
Lee Chae-rin suddenly realized his thoughts and stopped speaking.
She had cleared everyone from the estate early in the morning, leaving only herself and Kaito to wait quietly for the mission to begin.
As the conversation ended, the two fell into silence. The clock ticked, quickly approaching the deployment time.
Both were enveloped by a stream of information simultaneously, returning to their Private Spaces in an instant. They would begin deployment after final preparations.
Kaito returned directly to his stall. He saw a rather interesting offer: a Reincarnator codenamed [Skylark] wanted to trade a Silver Plot Equipment of the Taijutsu side for the [Dust Release] secret technique manual.
[Krillin's Weighted Undershirt]
[Quality: Silver Plot Equipment]
[Description: A special training undershirt from the Dragon Ball world and its derivatives. Extremely heavy texture, absorbed quite magical power.]
[Equip Requirements: Strength > 20, Constitution > 15]
[Effect 1: Upon wearing, Strength -2, Agility -2, Constitution -2]
[Effect 2: Upon wearing, Taijutsu-type Specialization Level -1]
[Effect 3: After taking off this item, All Attributes +5, Taijutsu-type Specialization Level +2 for ten minutes.]
This was a training uniform in the style of a completely black undershirt. Its effect was quite unique. Kaito guessed it was a special Silver Plot Equipment forged by absorbing the [Information] of the Turtle School members always wearing high-weighted training uniforms for training and combat, and taking them off to boost combat power when at a disadvantage.
However, after considering for a moment, Kaito didn't accept this offer.
Instead, he accepted another offer. A Reincarnator codenamed [White] hoped to exchange a special ability crystal for [Ryuchi Cave Sage Art] and [Dust Release], or [Ryuchi Cave Sage Art] plus a B-Grade Singularity.
[Special Ability · Chef (A+): Arbitrarily control the deliciousness of food cooked by oneself]
This ability looked very mediocre at first glance, but the ability rating was surprisingly high—an A+ rating, same as [Divine Finger].
But Kaito knew that in a sense, the potential of this ability was even more terrifying than Divine Finger.
This was a special ability from the That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime world. Although [Chef] appeared to be a support ability allowing one to cook delicious food, only usable in conjunction with other special abilities like [Gourmet Cells]...
In essence, [Chef (A+)] was actually a terrifying ability capable of modifying reality and rewriting causality.
Under that mediocre description, this ability could allow the user to 'cook' a pile of shit and make it delicious.
Even if such a thing could never be associated with deliciousness, the result would be that it became a delicacy in everyone's heart.
In the original work, this ability was considered capable of potentially ending Rimuru, who had surpassed the Creator God.
Kaito didn't feel this trade offer was too high. On the contrary, he felt the other party seemed to be giving him a gift.
"I can trade now."
He contacted [White] through the offer. Soon, light flashed in the Space, and a Reincarnator looking like a young girl appeared in front of the stall. Her long white hair almost covered her ankles, her figure was slender, and she floated in the air.
Her two eyes were one red and one blue. Even as an [Avatar], her posture was very special, almost unlike a real living creature.
Kaito instinctively felt that the other party was likely a Reincarnator powerful beyond imagination.
"Trade."
[White] sounded like a robot, her voice devoid of intonation.
[You lost Ryuchi Cave Sage Art Cultivation Method x1]
[You lost B-Grade Singularity x1]
[You obtained Ability Crystal · Chef (A+)]
Kaito naturally wouldn't trade away the [Dust Release] ability as a B-Grade Singularity. He paid another B-Grade Singularity from Lee Chae-rin's stash, combined with the Ryuchi Cave Sage Art, to obtain this special [Chef] ability.
For Kaito, ignoring the potential of modifying reality and rewriting causality, this thing was urgently needed right now.
He hadn't forgotten that in the Naruto World, he relied on that mediocre cooking ability to barely gain enhancements from [Gourmet Cells].
This [Chef] ability would allow him to fully utilize the characteristics of [Gourmet Cells] in various worlds. If he wanted, he could even feed anything to the Gourmet Cells bit by bit for upgrades.
[White] obtained the [Ryuchi Cave Sage Art Cultivation Method]. Those special eyes glanced at Kaito, then she spoke:
"Beware of [Fatalism]."
"This is a gift for the trade."
In the next moment, [White] vanished.
Kaito frowned and consulted [Black Butler], but the other party said he didn't know there was such a powerful Reincarnator in the East District. The only one matching that appearance description was [Solomon], the leader of the [Far East Magic Society], but Solomon was undoubtedly a male avatar.
The style of action didn't match Kaito's description either.
Kaito recorded the name [Fatalism] in his mind, then rejected all other offers.
The most valuable items in his stall right now—a Crimson Drop Card of [Kirinji] and a Dust Release cultivation manual—were things that would usually cause most Reincarnators in the Shantytown to fight over them.
But because of rumors about the impending bloody large-scale deployment, a large number of Reincarnators put their resources into life-saving abilities. The [Scapegoat Scarecrow] for Chosen Ones had been bid up to nearly Double-B Singularities, yet supply still fell short of demand.
His two items, on the contrary, attracted little interest.
Kaito had no intention of selling them cheaply. He swept through the Shantytown quickly. Almost all healing items and abilities had disappeared, and prices were jacked up very high.
Conversely, other types of items and abilities didn't see price increases.
He spent C-Grade Singularity x1 and 5000 Dimensional Points to obtain a special item.
It was a black disc.
[Ghost Disc · Destiny Bond]
[Quality: Rare]
[Description: A disc recording a special ability from the Pokémon world and its derivatives. Possesses magical effects.]
[Effect: After crushing, link yourself with any visually captured target into a Destiny Bond state. Damage suffered by one party will be inflicted on the other.]
This was a special item usable only once, but the effect was quite powerful.
Especially for a Reincarnator like Kaito who possessed a certain degree of immortality, this thing had many application scenarios.
Kaito even wanted to buy a few more, but was told the seller didn't have any more.
[Special Reincarnator Ex051, deployment is about to begin. Please ensure environmental safety.]
With a thought, Kaito returned to his Private Space. He also put the Devil Fruit [Paramecia · Pyero Pyero no Mi (Pyro Pyro Fruit)] (Heart Fire Fruit), which he hadn't eaten or listed for trade, into his backpack.
[Deployment starting now]
[3...]
[2...]
[1...]
A silver-white stream of information submerged Kaito's body in an instant. The loss of consciousness this time seemed unimaginably long.
The excessive amount of information made Kaito feel as if he had lost all perception.
Only when a slimy sensation roamed over Kaito's body surface did his eyelids tremble twice, and the stiffness of his body gradually disappeared.
Squelch!
Kaito tapped casually, and foul-smelling blood sprayed out.
A black snake swimming on Kaito's body surface snapped in half as if a force exploded from within.
After fighting with that Mercenary Tao for a long time, Kaito's Martial Arts Specialization had advanced further. Enhanced by Mercenary Tao's pink robe, it had reached Lv8.
[Martial Arts Specialization Lv8: Realm of a Martial Arts Master where internal force flows freely. Internal force is continuous and can be exploded arbitrarily within dozens of meters.]
He merely tapped it, and thousands of pounds of force exploded inside the snake's body multiple times. The snake's body couldn't withstand it and was torn apart directly.
Kaito moved his limbs. It was pitch black all around, and his feet seemed to be stepping in some kind of liquid.
In the silent darkness, only the sound of mollusks swimming could be heard.
Kaito clicked his tongue secretly. The deployment location this time was so 'fresh.'
In the next moment, crimson luster emanated from Kaito's eyes. Snakes were marked out in the darkness one by one. Golden Qi lit up instantly at his right fingertip.
Hiss!
In the darkness, a large number of snakes were stimulated instantly and began to writhe. Borrowing the light of the Qi, Kaito saw that this place was like a sewer. More than a dozen pale corpses were floating in the sewage.
There was no stench, and the corpses hadn't rotted. They just had their eyes wide open, staring at Kaito.
[Ghosts roar, Heroes sing their swan song]
[World loading complete: Secondary World B711 (World Distortion 31%)]
[Mission Type: Team Survival]
[World Difficulty: High ~ Purgatory] (Reincarnators please explore carefully while ensuring survival)
[Time Limit: 30 Days]
[Note: Based on the effect of Proof of Sin, your appearance and identity information have been modified (Appearance and identity will receive Hidden Stats correction).]
[Note: You have been granted permanent Language Comprehension in this world.]
[In this world, you can obtain and unlock the following Milestones. Milestones will affect mission rating and Title acquisition.]
[Martial Arts Grandmaster (Rare): Create any school of martial arts and obtain over 1000 disciples.]
[Monster Slayer: Kill over 20 monsters.]
[Evil Gourmet: Cumulatively consume over 50 Dark Dishes in different worlds.]
[Exorcist: Eliminate over 10 Vengeful Spirits.]
[UFO: Contact aliens.]
[Hero: Save over 30 civilians in any event.]
...
Kaito could sense a thing or two about the complexity of this strange world from the nearly hundred unlockable milestones that appeared.
However, the more important matter at hand didn't seem to be those...
[Main Mission Start: Survive for 30 days]
[Mission Reward: Obtain B-Grade Singularity x1, Dimensional Points 10000]
"Ah!"
A miserable scream rang out above Kaito's head. Simultaneously, Kaito felt a cold sensation drifting over his head. He looked up and saw only a pale phantom skimming over him.
[You triggered Side Mission · Cursed Asylum]
[Mission Details: Within seven days, find a way to leave the Cursed Asylum and successfully escape.]
[Mission Reward: Randomly obtain Material x1]
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 2 extra chapters
Every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter