There is Something Wrong with This Game

B008 – Dark Food

Meanwhile, at Sealed Mausoleum.

Seven players were exploring the dungeon together. Of course, those players were the top of Genesis Guild, namely the leader, Leon; and 6 of the Seven Stars: Astrid, Grim, Shuna, Emilia, Kazu, and Rena-cchi. 

Currently, they were killing undeads at B3F of the dungeon.

"INCITE WAVE! Everyone, I'll distract the enemies at this direction!" (Astrid)

"Then, I'll take the one in this direction. INCITE WAVE! BATTLE HEALING! Come here, you suckers!" (Leon)

Astrid, who has the most tanky defense in the party, used her skill to pull 3 Death Knights at the path leading to the front. Nearly the same time, Leon also used the same skill to face 5 Wraith Deads at the other direction.

Although his defense wasn't high as Astrid, but as a Templar, his defense wasn't too bad either.

"SONIC BLOW!" (Kazu)

"CHARGED SHOT!" 2 (Shuna & Emilia)

"DECEIT FIRECRACKER!" (Grim)

While the two tanker busy pulling the mobs, the other members weren't idle. They used their skills to deal damage to the mobs drawn by the two "tankers". Their weapons and arrows already soaked with a high purity Holy Water for a night beforehand.

Then, as they whittled the mobs' health little by little, Rena-cchi quietly prepared her spell.

"O, Sacred powers! Cast your purifying light upon this corrupt soul! SANCTUS NOVA!"

As soon as the spell casting is over, the surrounding area quickly bathed by a blinding of light. All of the undeads in the range instantly received enormous damage and most of them crumbled into dust. Those who managed to survive wasn't getting any better as Leon and Astrid slashed them down.

"Okay, this is good!"

Rena-cchi was satisfied with the result of her new spell.

After the meeting the day before, each of them had finished their own preparations for today's practice raid party. Especially Rena-cchi, she had her stats and skills reset to change her build from support build to offensive build. 

Of course, she can still heal and buff the party as usual, but the result wouldn't be as sophisticated as before. But, without the Healing Wand, there's no point in maintaining a support build. It would be better to change to offensive build that can bring judgement to the enemies.

Especially Black Phantom!

Thirty minutes later.

"Okay, let's rest for 10 minutes before continuing further." (Leon)

At the signal of Leon, the party stopped hunting and immediately searched for a suitable place to rest. 

Leon also take a rest by sat down and leaned against one of the broken pillars. As he sit, Leon opened his game interface and take a look at the EXP gain from this party today. And sure enough, he found out that the EXP gain from today's party was exceeding his usual solo hunt by a large margin.

Killing level 120+ monsters while still below level 110.

This leapfrogging challenge by more than 10 levels really grants them a lot of EXP!

Looking at the almost full EXP percentage bar, Leon couldn't help but let out a smile. At this rate, he felt that he could get 2 or 3 levels tonight. Not only that, by his quick calculation, he and all of the Seven Stars would most likely be able to reach level 120 after a week.

This leveling speed definitely can make other pioneer players cry!

'I can't thank Hecate enough for this. Without her info, I wouldn't know this good leveling place exist.'

However, this hunting ground was not an easy place. Even Leon and company had a hard time staying alive in this floor. The main reason they were able to survive was because of Leon's high commanding ability and the party members high cooperation. If they were replaced by normal party members, they probably wouldn't last more than 10 minutes. 

This means, this floor can't be used to power level his guild members.

'Oh well, I'll just be content with just us. Besides, they can still use the previous floors for hunting.'

Leon glanced at his party members and looked at what they are doing.

• • "Anyone who needs to replenish potions, come here!" (Grim)
  • "Everyone, bring your equipment to me. I'll repair it! (Shuna)
  • "Then, please repair my armor. Grim, I need 50 bottles of Hi-Potion later." (Astrid)
  • "Grim-cchi! Do you still have snake blood wine? Give me 1 bottle please?" (Rena-cchi)
  • "What the heck do you need that for? Okay, 50 bottles of Hi-Potion is on the way!" (Grim)

Grim took out his portable alchemy kit and was busy synthesizing potions. Shuna took out her repair kit and did maintenance on everyone's equipment. Rena-cchi took out her cooking kit and started cooking.

They were very hardworking. Even now, they're still doing their best to raise the proficiency of their subclass skills.

Then, Leon moved his sight to the other members.

Astrid switched her armor to light armor and just meditated quietly. Because she wears heavy armor, she has large STA consumption and have to take frequent breaks. As a fellow heavy armor user, Leon was well aware of this. In fact, Astrid's armor was heavier than him, so she bear more of the STA consumption penalty.

Kazu didn't rest, but was busy picking up the loot dropped by the monsters. And Emilia was on full alert, her eyes scanning the surrounding area with vigilance.

Leon has seen each of the Seven Stars, except one person.

There's no Hecate's appearance in this party.

If Hecate was here right now, perhaps what Rena-cchi touch wouldn't be that cooking set. Rather than cooking, Rena-cchi would prefer molesting Hecate with all her heart's content. Hecate would make a troubled expression, but she never resisted. Then, everyone would just smile watching their antics.

That girl was never an active person, but her presence alone was enough to brighten everyone's mood.

'As I thought, without Hecate, Genesis Guild is incomplete.'

Leon could only let out a sigh. He started to miss this loli very much.

And just this morning he received Hecate's temporary leave notice in the group chat. Because of this the mood of the Seven Stars, or more precisely, Rena-cchi's mood turned gloomy, and it was affecting the entire Seven Stars.

Hecate did not say an exact date for her return. But she assumed that it would take about a week to complete her quest. To think this gloomy mood would last for a week made Leon quite depressed.

Not long after, Rena-cchi's voice snapped Leon from his thought.

"Everyone! Meal is ready! Hurry up before it cools down." (Rena-cchi)

Hearing her voice, the party stopped their current activity and walked to Rena-cchi's direction.

Food also play an important factor in this game. If people, both players and natives did not eat for a long time, they would eventually become hungry. Its also possible to die of starvation. Therefore, they are required to maintain a sense of satiety by eating food.

However...

What awaited before them was something they called an abomination of food. Inside the pot, was a purple stew of doom that let out a very strong stench of rotten meat. Everyone was stupefied by the horror.

The first one who break the silence was Emilia.

"Rena...? What is this?" (Emilia)

"Why do you ask? It's a meat stew, isn't it obvious?" (Rena-cchi)

Rena-cchi answered innocently, as if it was very obvious thing. Looking at the expression of hers, everyone suddenly had a bad feeling. They had simultaneously thinking in their mind.

'Urgent! Because there's no Hecate, Our nanny is going crazy!'

Rena-cchi's affection towards Hecate was already turned into an open secret. But now, Hecate had temporarily left. Perhaps, to stabilize her mind, Rena-cchi couldn't help but indulge into something else.

And this something that she chose most likely, dark food research!

Oh NO!

"M..meat stew? Why does it look like that? No, in the first place, what meat did you use?" (Kazu)

Hearing Kazu's question, Rena-cchi only let out an embarrassed laugh.

"I don't know..." (Rena-cchi)

"Heh?" (Kazu)

"I just remembered today that I got this 8 (eight star) meat from Hecate-cchi a few days ago." (Rena-cchi)

If Hecate had been here, she would probably have recognized that this meat was the flesh she scraped from the corridor walls within the spider ruins.

"This meat has extremely strong flavor. When I tried to smoothen the flavor, somehow it turned like this. Tehee~"

As she talked, Rena-cchi poured the stew into 7 bowls and distributed them to everyone.

The last bowl was for herself.

"Go ahead, eat it before it gets cold. Despite the appearance, I guarantee the taste...Probably?"

Looking at the bowl in front of them, everyone's expression was like they were suffering from constipation. They didn't even know if the thing in the bowl can really be considered an edible food or not.

But one thing that was certain, no one want to put that thing into their mouth.

It was Grim, who saw the item notification that break the silence.

"Unexpectedly, this mystery stew is a 6 (six star) dish?! If that is so, then it might work!" (Grim)

A dish that has been rated by the system as a 6 means the dish already entered the advanced realm. Such a dish is unlikely to have a problem with its taste.

Perhaps, this was also the reason why Rena-cchi dared to serve the stew.

"Eh, Grim-san? You want to eat that?" (Kazu)

"As a Thief-originated class, my Poison Resistance skill is maxed. This is nothing! Itadakimasu!" (Grim)

Grim boldly stuffed a spoonful of the stew into his mouth. He already prepared for the upcoming horrible taste that will come short after. But, the moment the stew collided with his tongue, he found out that the taste... wasn't that bad.

On the contrary, the taste can be considered delicious!

"Hmm, this is unexpectedly good, Rena-cchi!" (Grim)

"Right? You shouldn't underestimate my skills as a Chef!" (Rena-cchi)

Hearing Grim's compliment, Rena-cchi couldn't help but let out a smug.

With the Grim as the precedent, the others also ultimately followed suit and ate the purple stew.

"Ah, what you said is true. This is delicious!" (Astrid)

"Really, this is very tasty despite it's horrible appearance!" (Kazu)

"You really can't judge the book by it's cover." (Leon)

As they savored the stew, various opinions were thrown out. Whether they was complimenting or teasing, it was just a slight difference. But, one thing was for sure, the atmosphere was getting brighter.

"Muu~! You all are so rude! The reason why it looks bad is because I concentrated on the taste first!"

Only one person, Rena-cchi herself who got dissatisfied because her dish has been teased.

"But next time, I will definitely improve the appearance. You all can look forward to that day."

"Yeah, sure. We'll look forward to that da... Hmm?"

Grim who had finished his stew couldn't help but comment on Rena-cchi's promise. But, he suddenly stopped his words. His expression suddenly became strange.

"What's wrong, Grim?"

Leon who noticed the change on Grim's expression couldn't help but asked. However, Grim did not answer, nor was there a need to answer. Because just a few moments later, Leon also knew the answer himself.

As the stew effect started to work in his stomach, Leon received a system notification. Not only Leon, but everyone who ate the stew also received the same system notification.

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned awkward.