The King of Beast Trainers

141  Chapter 99: A Beast Trainer Who Can't Cook is Not a Good Forging Master_1

The six of them sighed softly.

It was indeed bad luck.

However, no matter what the task was, the task had to be diligently completed.

After all, the people entering the Breakthrough Secret Realm now, if not 100%, then definitely more than 90% were doing it for the upcoming Beast Trainer competition.

If they missed this breakthrough opportunity, they'd fall far behind the other Beast Trainers of their batch.

At this point, a Beast Trainer dressed in casual clothes, his expression shifting, finally spoke up, "I feel like the competitive aspect of this breakthrough task isn't very fierce. Why don't we all cooperate? Maybe then everyone could complete the task."

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is 'Calling a Deer a Horse,' a reserve member of the Official Guide Group. If I remember correctly, to this date, very few Beast Trainers are matched to the early phase of the Beast Training Empire, Beast Training Era year 265. Although it's not particularly early, it still has great potential for exploration."

"If we can team up, even if we don't complete the breakthrough task, we're bound to gain many other benefits from the Breakthrough Secret Realm. This era has 'rare resources' that have become extinct in later ages. If we can bring some back to Blue Star, that would also be a nice haul."

Everyone looked at Calling a Deer a Horse; he did have a point. But your ID... doesn't exactly inspire trust, does it?

Snake Skin, dressed in a white lab coat, said, "Little Horse is right. Allow me to introduce myself as well. My name is 'Snake Skin,' a member of the Medicine Pavilion Guild." His identity made the others take a second look.

To think he was a member of the Medicine Pavilion Guild.

"Then, can you cook medicinal meals?" Bai Ling asked him.

"I know a bit, but it's just home cooking level," Snake Skin said. "And the taste isn't great."

"Speaking of which, are you really Bai Ling, the big shot?" he asked curiously about the armored woman's identity.

The others turned their attention to Bai Ling. Number one on the Divine Pet List, she was quite the superstar.

However, that was combat strength they were talking about; this test was about cooking... No wonder she was cursing.

"Yeah," Bai Ling, who had prepared herself for being recognized, said with a sigh. After all, she was too well-known in the number five Infinite City. "Four Saints Gang, Bai Ling. I'm not very good at cooking. I've come to terms with it this time, so let's leave it to fate. If worst comes to worst, I can just explore the world instead."

"It's the same for me... I usually go to restaurants or order takeout," the refined woman said helplessly. "My ID is Ibis, and I'm currently holding an official position..."

"Does the Ibis Pet Shop have anything to do with you?" Calling a Deer a Horse found the name somewhat familiar.

"That chain pet shop is mine," the refined woman admitted, revealing her identity as a wealthy and beautiful entrepreneur.

Owning a famous chain pet shop and actively cozying up to the officials during the Beast Training Era, she truly seized the era's benefits.

Lu Ran was silently listening on the side. Indeed, none of the people who could enter the Breakthrough Secret Realm at this stage were simple.

"I'm 'Mountain Explorer,' from the Mountain and River Guild," said the young man in explorer's attire. He usually just ate instant noodles and ready-to-heat meals, rarely cooking. This time, it seemed he had fallen into a trap.

After everyone else had introduced themselves, only Lu Ran was left. Lu Ran appeared to be the youngest among them, showing the youthful features of a high school student.

"I'm called 'King of Sudden Death,' student..." Lu Ran began, not intending to reveal his true identity. Although the competition in this Secret Realm didn't seem intense, Doctor Gu had repeatedly reminded him that his identity was sensitive and that he should get into the habit of using aliases in various places in the future.

Thankfully, due to Lu Ran's low profile, few recognized him as the top-ranked individual on the Divine Pet List of Infinite City.

Just as the group was about to engage in further conversation, suddenly, footsteps emanated from a room within the courtyard.

As the door was pushed open, a young woman with a charming figure and a certain elegant charm walked out, wearing a white dress with a broken pattern and a wine-red coat.

"Is everyone here?" She spoke with a distinctive local accent, her voice melodious, "I am the manager of Frost Moon Tower, my surname is Tong, you can call me Manager Tong."

"Since you've paid a great price to come to Frost Moon Tower to study, I will properly train you."

"However, let me be frank: passing the special chef examination of the Culinary Hunter Association is not so easy, and even in Frost Moon Tower, there are very few special-grade chefs. I can't guarantee your success."

Frost Moon Tower?!?

Their expressions remained calm, but their hearts bloomed with joy.

Nice!

Lu Ran and company could discern that Infinite City hadn't been too heartless.

They had not been left without a bit of guidance in becoming special-grade chefs.

Here it was; they had been given the initial identity of chef's apprentices.

Following the normal process, all they had to do was study at this establishment that seemed to be an inn, Frost Moon Tower, and then they might possibly pass the examination, right?

"Manager Tong, may I ask what exactly does the special chef examination involve?" the Mountain Explorer asked quickly, getting into character fast.

This had to be a guiding NPC for new players.

Manager Tong was taken aback and looked at him as if he were a fool, saying, "You came to study without even knowing what the special chef examination involves? Are you here to mess with me?"

The others dared not speak; truth be told, while they had done their homework and learned a lot about the history of the Beast Training Empire, they really didn't know much about the Culinary Hunter Association.

If Lu Ran's guess was correct, this organization only existed for a short while before disappearing; it was a unique product of this era. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Well, for the sake of money... Firstly, you all need to understand a concept, there are many chefs with special-grade Culinary Art, but not every chef can become a special-grade chef recognized by the Culinary Hunter Association. Why is it not called the Chef's Association, but the Culinary Hunter Association?"

"In our Beast Training Empire, we started with hunting, hunting wild beasts, hunting resources, and then cooking the hunted ingredients into food to fill our stomachs. That was the way of life for our ancestors."

"At first, our processing of ingredients was very crude until Emperor Yan Sizhen opened the way of the culinary arts, and then people began to pay attention to cooking techniques and ingredient pairing."

"Therefore, the special chef examination of the Culinary Hunter Association combines hunting and cooking, divided into three stages. The first step is the preliminaries, where candidates must demonstrate certain culinary skills, whether it's cutting or Firework Skills, any cooking technique will do, as long as it wins the approval of the examiners, one can pass the preliminaries."

"The second step, as I mentioned earlier, lies in the word 'Hunter.' Special-grade chefs must have the strength to hunt their own ingredients in the wild. The Hunter's Association will take you to the designated venue when the time comes."

"You'll need to observe which ingredients are suitable for cooking and which are not, and also, have the ability to acquire them on your own."

"The third part, which is also the most critical step, is that you need to use the ingredients you've hunted to make a dish within the time limit. This dish can be for humans or for Pet Beasts,"

"As long as the quality of the dish meets requirements and gets the acknowledgment of the examiners, that's considered passing the special chef exam."

"Once you pass, carrying the certificate of a special chef recognized by the Culinary Hunter Association, no matter which city you go to in the Empire, you'll have the ability to open a booming restaurant..."

Manager Tong looked at the six people with a smile, "Speaking of which, I still don't know much about you all. Let's hear it, what are your specialties? That way, I can assign you to suitable mentors who will help you train your cooking skills."

"The exam is just half a month away. Your time... is not much."

As Manager Tong finished speaking, Lu Ran and the others exchanged glances.

So that's how it is.

The people present were all smart and quickly figured out the key to their success!

The key lies in the second part!

In the exam, they had to hunt their own ingredients and then cook them.

The key to becoming a special chef was to create special dishes.

And to create special dishes, one must have either superb cooking skills or rare quality ingredients—at least one of the two.

For cooking skills and such, beginner Beast Trainers probably struggle.

Unless someone was really lucky, with outstanding culinary talent who just happened to enter this Secret Realm, but chances were slim.

However, for obtaining rare quality ingredients, it seemed strength would do the talking.

In other words, as long as one is strong enough, it's possible to get rare quality ingredients.

Then, as the saying goes, if your cooking skills aren't enough, ingredients can make up for it—with superb ingredients, often the simplest cooking methods are needed...

The special chef exam would then be well within reach.

Having analyzed this much, everyone's eyes shone with hope feeling like they had a chance again. They thought so—breaking through the Secret Realm as a beginner wouldn't be too difficult for them.

This was clearly two paths, one relying on culinary skills, the other on strength.

Of course, they couldn't be too lacking in either aspect, but as long as one was particularly outstanding, it should be possible to complete the task.

"You start," Manager Tong said skeptically, looking towards the Mountain Explorer.

The Mountain Explorer, with an embarrassed expression, said, "My cooking skills aren't that great, but I do have plenty of wilderness exploration experience and my strength is passable... "

"As I thought," Manager Tong sighed and quickly sentenced the Mountain Explorer to 'death', "then I'll find you a mentor to teach you basic cooking skills."

"Alright..." The Mountain Explorer felt like crying without tears, feeling belittled. But it was fine, let it be; love passing or not. At least this breakthrough quest seemed not dangerous; it was just a month spent learning to cook.

After all, from now on, he would be a Beast Trainer who could also cook!

For this month, there was nothing to lose.

"And you," Manager Tong asked one by one, looking at the owner of the pet shop.

"...I know a bit about nutritional combinations for Pet Beasts food," Ibis spoke up. After all, as a chain pet shop owner, he might not understand his own cooking, but he needed to know about the nutritional combination of pet food.

"Hmm, better than that guy," Manager Tong said, continuing to the next person.

"I've had a bit of exposure to medicinal cuisine..." Snake Skin from the Medicine Cabinet Guild spoke up. His family owned a medicinal snake breeding farm, so he had cooked a few dishes with snakes but felt it wasn't much of an advantage...

"My strength is pretty good..." When it came to pointing at a deer and calling it a horse and Bai Ling, the two were both embarrassed and could only comment that their strength was pretty good. Although they weren't sure if their strength in the second part would allow them to hunt good ingredients, they had no other strengths at the moment, so they might as well start by learning basic cooking skills.

Otherwise, even if they hunted rare ingredients, they might ruin them by cooking up some 'Dark' cuisine, wasting the good ingredients.

Hearing this, Manager Tong kept sighing, feeling like she had encountered the most difficult apprentices to teach.

"If your Pet Beasts are of the Fire Attribute, excellent at controlling heat, that counts as an advantage. Do any of you have Fire Attribute Pet Beasts?" she added.

However, dishearteningly, among this wave of Beast Trainers, not a single one owned a Fire Attribute Pet Beast...

Manager Tong, without much hope, turned to the youngest, Lu Ran.

While others were introducing themselves, Lu Ran had been deep in thought.

After much contemplation, Lu Ran decided to proactively face this Breakthrough Secret Realm, hoping he could exceed the task and earn better rewards.

If that were the case, just like playing a game, he must perfect every single step.

Firstly, he needed to show his abilities and get the most impressive, most awesome Chef to teach him.

All in!

A Beast Trainer who can't cook is not a good Forging Master. What's wrong with learning an extra set of cooking skills?

He raised his head and with a bit of bluffing said, "My strength's not bad either..."

Everyone: ...

"And, my knife skills are strong. I have mastered a special culinary technique 'Ice and Snow Cutting'. With a single slash, I can minimize the impact of heat on the ingredients, preserving them as though chilled, retaining the best quality..."

PS: I recommend the book "Beast Training: Let the Players Overturn the World."