Book 5: Chapter 42

Aaron was slightly concerned when he spotted several figures waiting for him to return, but it quickly dissipated when he spotted Ernest amongst them.

“There you are. How did the mission go?” Bucky asked as Aaron and Zero touched down.

“Completed, I think.”

“Looks like their numbers are already thinning,” Kirill said as he surveyed the shrinking stampede.

“Good news. You’re just in time to meet our guests,” Bucky said, gesturing to Ernest, who was already walking toward Aaron.

“Hey, mate! About time you showed up. I was starting to get worried I’d have to do it all myself.”

“I thought I’d be generous and give you a head start. I didn’t want to steal your glory.”

“Ha, okay. You might want to watch your words, Ernest. I have a competitive streak that can be hard to control.”

“You’re already making me feel bad for the enemy,” Bucky said.”

“Not a bad setup you’ve got here,” Ernest said. “Most of my guns are up in the tower. If you need to call in the artillery, just hit up my relay stone. I should be able to hit just about anywhere from there. If you can give me coordinates, all the better.”

“Coordinates? I can…” Aaron said, remembering his [ Pinpoint Accuracy ] Skill, which provided a System overlay that had all kinds of information, including coordinates.

“Of course you can do that,” Bucky said, shaking his head. “By the way, the councilors from the World Alliance want to speak with you when you’ve got a moment.”

“They do, do they?” Aaron groaned. “Great.”

“Ha, so I take it this isn’t your first time dealing with them? You could have given us a warning.”

“Don’t blame me. This is all on Ernest. Why’d you bring them anyway?”

“They insisted. And I figured their soldiers would come in handy. And I’m not listening to your whining when I was the one that had to travel alongside them,” Ernest said, taking a long puff of his cigar.

“Sorry to hear that,” Aaron patted his back. “Oh well, I guess I might as well get this over and done with.”

The councilors were being led around the settlement defenses, poking and prodding at anything that looked a little rushed, but they were happy to return immediately the moment they heard Aaron was back.

“Just who we wanted to see,” Councilor Lark said. “Come, we have much to talk about.”

“Like these shabby defenses,” the old pruny one said.

“Well, they are trying. Let’s not be too harsh,” one of the older councilors said. “Sure, things could be better around here, but we can’t expect them to thrive as well as we have. That said, we do expect a little. If we’re to put troops placed under our command into the line of fire, we need some assurances.”

“Yes, they’re right,” Lark said. “You know I’ve always been fond of you, Aaron. I put my hand up in defense of your kitchen back in our great city, if you remember. But you put us in a tight spot here. Enemies on all fronts. It’s a slaughter waiting to happen.”

“Yes! We need you to improve your situation. Do something about the beasts. If that front was removed, we’d feel a lot more confident in your chances of victory.”

“What she means to say,” Councillor Lark continued. “Is that we think you should head out and take the beast king down yourself. That way adequate manpower to defend the World Core can be maintained. And once the beast leader is defeated, the beast front would either be greatly weakened, or even collapse. And we would feel much more confident about our troops fighting for your cause.”

Aaron didn’t particularly like the idea of the World Alliance rocking up and giving orders, nor did they necessarily need their troops. However, they did bring quite a few. In fact, they probably had more troops than any other individual faction. Also, he was considering doing something along those lines anyway, now that Ernest had arrived and reinforced the defenses. And he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

It was one thing to potentially get stuck in a fight against the beast leader and weaken their defenses by not being available. But Ernest was one of the strongest on their world himself, and between him and the other top rankers defending the World Core, he wasn’t sure even Darius would be able to fight his way through. At least not quickly.

“Okay, you got a deal.” Aaron extended a hand. “I’ll go deal with that beast, and your men support our defense.”

“Excellent,” Lark said. “Oh, and feel free to take the Zero with you. The enemy will struggle to even get close to this place with Ernest up in the tower.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Will do But–” Aaron said. “I need a moment.”

“Huh? A moment?”

“Additional requests will require us to rewrite our formal alliance,” the pruny woman said, going over a massive scroll.

“If I’m going to head out and deal with the beast leader, I need to restock my supplies. I don’t have a lot of food left, and who knows what’s waiting for me out there. It won’t take me too long. Just a little cook-up.”

“Fine, fine. Take your time to cook. Then head out and deal with that beast. We’ll be waiting for you,” Lark said.

“Who’s going to sign these papers?”

“Um, Bucky better do that,” Aaron said. “He’s the formal commander.”

As the councilors rushed around making changes to their paperwork, Aaron slipped out.

Just beside the front, he set up his kitchen and got to work. There was an absolutely gigantic amount of meat to go around thanks to all the dead beasts, and with a devilish gleam in his eyes, he decided it was time to barbecue

Even just picking up the closest corpses, he could tell that he would fill his storage in no time at all. So, he figured he might as well cook for the troops while he was at it.

As roasting and smoking meat filled the air, and nearby defenders began to salivate, they happily marched out into no-man’s-land and collected more beast corpses for the cook-up of gigantic proportions.

As an endless stream of meat poured in, even Aaron started to get overwhelmed. He was pushing himself to cook at great speed, rushing around like a blur. But it was a difficult feat, and soon dozens of Desert Pythons joined his makeshift kitchen, and spits, coals, and every other form of barbecue imaginable spread out around them.

But it was no ordinary meal he was cooking. Like always, Aaron was pushing himself to the limits of mind, body, and soul. Not just relying on Skills, but embracing his mana anchors, dosing energy into his dish with both aether and mana.

There was more to cooking than just Skills and high-quality ingredients, and he was eager to see just how far he could push the boundaries of what was possible.

However, there was an exception. He kept the lobster for later. Partially because he didn’t have the ingredients he wanted to cook it with, and because he wasn’t planning to share it.

Hours went by in a flurry of activity, meals being sent out of his kitchen in quick succession, and Aaron could feel all the experience pouring in.

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Ding!

[ Deathly Spirit Chef ] has LEVELED UP!

133 → 139

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Current discovered upgrade paths:

Focused Mana Anchors (45%)

Streamlined Mana Anchors (30%)

Combined Mana Anchors (25%)

There was no wonder he gained so many levels. Even if the dishes were not the greatest he had ever cooked, as he lacked truly rare ingredients, he was spoiled for choice. There was every meat one could think of, and he made sure to treat every sample with the proper respect it deserved.

And increasing the power of multiple anchors was a pretty hefty bonus.

Aaron’s grin widened. It was more than just levels and mana anchors he was happy about. The results spoke for themselves. The troops along the front felt stronger than ever before. They were fighting at several levels above what they normally did, boosted by stats and special abilities granted to them by the food. And that wasn’t all. Aaron had built up a huge stash of food for the entire settlement, and he couldn’t fit a single extra meal in his storage.

What had been intended as a plan by the beasts to weaken them with a steady flow of combat, attacking nonstop every hour of the day to weaken them, in turn strengthened the camp. They had more food than they could hope to eat, and it gave all manner of buffs.

Even without the support of the troops from the World Alliance, he had substantially increased their combat power from cooking alone.

And had done so in the most delicious way imaginable. The slightly sweet, smoky aroma of meat permeated the region for miles in all directions as literally dozens of beasts were cooked in tandem across different barbecues.

And it wasn’t just strength that the food provided. The barbecue raised spirits. Soldiers were laughing and relaxing as they ate tender, crispy meat and shared stories and drinks.

Not only that, but it seemed to demoralize the beasts that were still attacking. They seemed slower and weaker, and a few even turned and fled. And since the chaos caused by Aaron and Zero when they attacked had already weakened the stampede significantly, the barbecue proved the final nail in the coffin, and they were soon halted altogether.

That said, Aaron knew it wasn’t over. It was good to have removed a problem, but stampedes were just expendable beasts.

“They’re having a real blast,” Bucky said. “Even Kirill has a smile on his face. You don’t see that often. You sure know how to put on a cook-up, I’ll tell you that much. I should know, I’m from Texas. I didn’t think I’d ever eat meat as good as back home. But this, wowee. How’d you get the bark like that?”

Aaron started to explain what he did, all too eager to get into the details of cooking meat.

“This is quite good,” Kirill said as he joined them. “I’m not sure what’s more valuable to us. Aaron the warrior, or Aaron the chef.”

“Ha, and I didn’t even stir with my toes this time.”

“You do that?” Bucky raised a brow.

“Ha, joking…”

Spirits were high, but Aaron’s gaze fell upon the horizon. The councilor's words had gotten to him a little. Perhaps they were right. The last thing they needed was for both armies to attack at once. They needed to head out and deal with the beast leader quickly.

Aaron waved Zero over, who was gnawing on a bone.

“We should probably get going.”

“As you command, master.”

They said their goodbyes and rushed out toward the beast army.

A pulse of energy rushed through his invigorated body, sending them zooming toward their enemy. Aaron couldn’t help but feel like something was off. Between chasing Ikran around for weeks and the undead army just sitting there, something had to be brewing, and the faster they got rid of the beasts, the sooner they could deal with it.