Chapter 794: That, Too, Is a Good Ingredient

In the past.

After finishing the matter at that Church, when my level reached 60.

I became a demigod-class chef.

Quite a grandiose name.

But at the time, I did not feel any great difference from it.

‘That was only natural.’

My vessel was empty.

My stats were already absurdly high.

Even if my level rose further from there, there was no way I could feel any major change.

[You have succeeded in becoming the first among the awakened to reach the possibility of transcendence.]

[Temporarily, a portion of the System’s authority is granted to you.]

......But, even so.

There was one distinct change.

[You acquire an Authority.]

That was precisely this.

An ability called Authority.

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

As light burst out from my body.

Avaritia frowned upon seeing it.

=This is.=

The reason was simple.

=How can one who has only barely reached the threshold......?=

This.

Was a power that, ordinarily, someone at my current level should not have been able to wield.

‘A power that should ordinarily become usable only after reaching transcendence.’

Naturally, I could not ignore that condition either.

But...... in my case, perhaps I should say I was somewhat fortunate.

This world had circumstances that were somewhat different from those of other worlds.

‘The creator of our world...... the being that was the original form of the [System], vanished without even leaving behind its name.’

However.

The memories contained within the flesh of that System.

The invader who had invaded our world, whom I saw within them.

He was the same being I had seen in Morzan’s memories.

But.

He looked somewhat weaker than he had in Morzan’s memories.

Because of that, he fought the master of this world for a long time, and suffered severe wounds.

And even after defeating the master of our world in that manner.

=Was he unable to devour it all......!=

After devouring only its essence, including its name.

He was forced to leave this world before he could consume the rest.

To a divinity, a name was what defined that existence.

At the moment it disappeared, the creator of our world certainly vanished.......

Even so, many parts of him remained.

His will guided his remains in a direction that would help the living beings who would remain in this world.

And his flesh became the beginning of the power that supported us awakened...... the [System].

And one more thing.

[Activating Authority.]

That was precisely Authority.

Originally, it belonged not to me, but to the System.

But the System had temporarily yielded it to me.

“Sorry, but.”

[Authority - ‘Declaration of Divine Domain’ is activated!]

“This land is our territory.”

What the former master of this world had left behind.......

Was the right to this world.

***

‘Those demons are skilled at invasion.’

The Demon Realm consisted of those who had resolved to fight together.

Moreover, they were the ones who first created the concept of ‘evil’ in this universe.

Those who created that concept obtained authority over it, and thanks to that, they possessed an advantage greater than anyone else when it came to invading other worlds.

But, even so.

‘In the universe...... there were far more worlds that had not been destroyed by them.’

It was true that the number of destroyed worlds was also enormous.

The night sky I had seen.

No matter how enormous the size of the galaxy called the Demon Realm was within that night sky.

There were far more stars that did not belong to the Demon Realm.

They were those who moved together in groups rather than alone.

On top of that, they possessed an advantage in invasion.

The reason why they had still failed to conquer the entire universe despite being such beings...... was simple.

‘Because the defending side has a far greater advantage!’

To the point that even with an advantage that great, they could not win.

Because the defending side was far more advantageous.

[Authority - ‘Declaration of Divine Domain’ is activated!]

In the end, a battle between divinities was a battle of handling laws.

It depended on which side could handle the laws of the world better.

And in that battle, the defending side possessed one unsurpassable right.

[Authority as the rightful ruler of the world.]

The rightful master of the world.

An Authority granted only to the legitimate king.

[The zeroth law, which stands above all things, is enforced.]

In that battle of laws.

It allowed one to establish a single law that took priority over everything else.

[The status of a demigod responds to the granted authority.]

......Well, naturally.

It was not possible to establish that law however one wished.

If it truly could be established however one wished, then it would have been possible to create an absurd law stating that every invader would immediately vanish.

[Your soul determines the law that will be imposed upon the world.]

This Authority...... this right was granted as a divinity.

Therefore, the law was also determined by the identity of that divinity.

‘......But the System lost its name.’

The one who had originally been the master of this world lost its name, and its identity also vanished.

It still possessed the rights it had held as the master of the world.

But it had lost the name required to exercise those rights.

Therefore...... the System decided to pass that authority on to someone else.

To the one among all the awakened who was closest to becoming its successor.

And.

The one closest to becoming the successor of that System.......

[Authority - ‘Kitchen Domain’]

The Authority created from my identity was precisely this.

[Zeroth Law]

[The declared divine domain becomes the kitchen of the one who declared it.]

[Everything within the kitchen can become a ‘cooking ingredient’ under the authority of the chef.]

It was an Authority that turned the area declared through this power into a kitchen.......

An Authority that seemed somewhat ambiguous.

‘At first, I wondered what this was supposed to be.’

It said I could use anything as a cooking ingredient.

I was already someone who saw everything...... even humans, as ingredients.

I wondered whether an Authority like this was completely meaningless to someone like me.

They said the Authority was determined purely according to the name of its holder, and yet of all things, I had ended up with something this useless...... I had thought that as well.

But I was wrong.

=Even if you have obtained that right.=

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

=Know that even those who possessed that right knelt beneath my spear.=

Having sensed the anomaly, Avaritia moved.

As I watched that enormous spear rush toward me at tremendous speed.

Swoosh.......

I carefully raised my hand.

And looked at the scenery visible in the distance.

The city had disappeared, revealing the sight of countless mountains beyond the limits of my vision.

A river cutting through them.

The sea that I could sense beyond the limits of my perception.

“Mountains, rivers, and the sea.”

With my eyes closed, feeling all of them.......

“They are good ingredients.”

I.

[Cooked] them.

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

The enormous mountains, the river water, and the seawater visible far in the distance.

[The dish has been completed!]

All of them vanished in an instant.......

And in their place.

[Mountains, Rivers, and Sea Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Class Chef]

Only a single dish remained.

***

FWAAAAAAAAASH!!!

The enormous spear rushing toward me.

Looking at that spear, I moved the completed dish.

[Force-Feeding]

The vanished river and mountains.

The food resting above them, resembling a small star formed by gathering mountains, rivers, and the sea into a sphere.

That food rushed toward Avaritia, the being holding the spear.

[This is a dish that gathers the greatest elements composing the world into one place.]

[This dish, which perfectly embodies the form of the world, rejects those who have come from a domain different from this world.]

And when the dish touched Avaritia’s light and melted away.

=......!=

The power contained within the spear.

Its speed, light, and laws also clearly weakened.

CLAAAAAAAAANG!!!

I swung the Legion’s light and once again deflected the spear.

The impact was still strong enough to make my hand ache.

‘But it is more bearable than before.’

That impact.

Was clearly weaker than the slash I had deflected just before.

CLANG, CLANK......!

=How dare you......!=

The enraged Avaritia continued swinging the spear and sword.

And I, too, confronted those attacks while wrapped in the Legion’s light.

As the spear and kitchen knife continued to collide in that manner.

I heard the soldiers on the ground muttering.

“......Just now.”

“What happened.”

The soldiers moving according to the formation.

They continued moving in order to manipulate this energy in response to my movements.

But even while doing so, their gazes remained fixed on the distance.

“The mountains and river.......”

“Disappeared......?”

It was only natural.

The mountains and river that had been visible far beyond the battlefield.

All of them had truly vanished in an instant.

‘I feel bad for nature.’

What was more, although the Legion soldiers here could not see it.

Right now...... an enormous amount of seawater was evaporating from the distant sea, and gigantic waves were surging in to fill the empty space.

Perhaps because of that.

=What a bizarre right......!=

Even Avaritia.

Displayed a slight trace of bewilderment in the sword strikes he swung.

It went without saying.

Ordinarily, no matter how exceptional a chef I was.

The distant river and mountains, and even the sea.

It should have been impossible for me to cook such an enormous area.

But now, I was able to cook all of it with a single gesture.

The reason was simple.

‘I had always considered everything to be my ingredient...... but that was only my unilateral perspective.’

Those who had become my ingredients.

They would not have considered themselves my ingredients.

Not only in their thoughts, but according to the actual laws of this world, they were not ingredients...... they were beings possessing their own complete identities.

‘Not anymore.’

The zeroth law of the world.

As a law standing above all things.

[Everything within the kitchen can become a ‘cooking ingredient’ under the authority of the chef.]

If I called something a cooking ingredient.

Its essence would become fixed as an ingredient within this world.

‘Ordinarily, in order to turn things that were not ingredients into ingredients, I needed enough power to overcome the resistance of the target substance.’

But now.

I felt no resistance whatsoever from the substances being cooked by me.

Now that their identities had been determined as my ingredients, they had become incapable of offering even the slightest resistance to being cooked by me.

There was something called a superconductor.

A substance with zero electrical resistance. Because electricity flowing through it encountered no resistance at all, no heat was generated, and no energy loss occurred either.

It could only exist under extremely limited circumstances...... but if it became usable in everyday life, it was considered a concept that could write a new page in human history.

‘Is this what that feels like.’

The sensation I was experiencing now was exactly like that.

The resistance of the ingredients had become zero.

Even when I poured mana into them in order to cook, there was no resistance at all, so no loss of mana energy occurred.

It meant that the efficiency of my cooking rose to an extreme level.

On top of that.

[Body Reformation]

[Dragon Heart]

FWAAAAASH......!

The new body I had obtained by cooking Mirinae’s inner core.

Its performance exceeded my imagination.

Merely by lightly imagining that I would ‘cook the mountains’, every organ in my body responded and manifested my will into reality.

But.

CLAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!

“......Hm!”

Even after creating a debuff dish and feeding it to him in that manner.

The burden created by the attacks we exchanged was still considerable.

Although that golden light had weakened somewhat, it remained brilliant, and the power contained within him still seemed endless.

And.

Looking at that brilliant light, I thought.

“Gold, huh.”

That light had once been terrifying beyond measure.

I still vividly remembered struggling desperately not to touch that light when I first escaped from North Korea.

A power that twisted the laws of the world.

The breath of a transcendent being that belonged solely to the divinity called Avaritia.

“It is a little extravagant, but.”

Not anymore.

Now that it had entered my territory, within my Authority.

The breath of Avaritia.

The golden light originating from him as well...... was placed beneath my laws.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Avaritia’s Golden Radiance]

Whether he wished it or not, it was something he had no choice but to obey.

That was why it was a law.

There was no method of resisting this law.

“Even that.......”

Within this domain.

The identities of the beings I designated became fixed as my ‘ingredients’.

RUSTLE-RUSTLE-RUSTLE-RUSTLE!!!

“Is a decent ingredient.”

Just like this.

=You dare......!=

The energy Avaritia was emitting.

Light burrowed into that brilliant golden radiance.

=You are attempting to ‘cook’ my light!!!=

His golden light.

Began to be cooked in my hands.