Is That A Wisp?

Oclo couldn't help but feel impressed by Krune. He could tell that Krune didn't know those ingredients, but he still found his way to use them. Of course, Krune still failed a few times, but that was because he was trying to create something new.

Krune could have done better, but he couldn't control his Fire very well due to the difficulty of using Godly Energy. His foundation and wisp core are still far from reaching the first stage of the Transformation Realm, after all. Nevertheless, he did get it done.

Oclo's eyes lit up when he proved Krune new dish. It wasn't as good as his or the other chefs, but it was far better than he expected. As long as he trains well, he shouldn't take long to learn more. Besides, this was indeed a new dish that wasn't on their menu, so they might use it later.

"Very good. For now, you just need to help the others as you practice with your Fire. I can see that you are having difficulties to control it, but it should get better as time goes. Depending on the results, I don't mind paying you a few Godly Stones instead of letting you work for free during these thirty days."

Krune was delighted to hear that. He wasn't intending to get anything other than learning new dishes, so it was a piece of well-timed news.

That day, Krune helped the other chefs with whatever he could. His love for food was evident for everyone to see, so the other chefs quickly came to like him too. By the end of the first day, Krune could already go around on his own and make a few simple dishes up to the standard. 

Krune was impressed about something else, though. He was expecting that only the bottom level cultivators and demon beasts would come to eat. High-Level ones almost never care about food. However, he noticed that it was completely different in the Godly Path Realm. The Heavenly Tastes Restaurant received many Mortal Rejection and Godly Transformation Realm cultivators and demon beasts in human form. In fact, Oclo's dishes seemed to be very famous between those with the highest cultivations.

In the end, Krune couldn't help but ask why that is. Oclo laughed after hearing that question, though.

"Hahaha! Alright, wait for the Restaurant to close, and I'll prepare one of my dishes for you."

Without another choice, Krune could only do as Oclo said.

For Krune, the day passed in a flash. Sure enough, time passes faster when you are doing something you like. Finally, the Restaurant closed.

Oclo was pleased with Krune's performance, so he selected some of the yellow tag packs to make a dish for him.

"Have you never eaten Spiritual Food before?"

Krune shook his head.

"I have always used common ingredients."

Oclo already expected for it. He then passed a bow with the dish he prepared.

"This one here is called Golden Harcute Prawn Soup, try it out, and you will understand."

Krune nodded and quickly proved the soup. He only dealt with common ingredients during the day and hasn't eaten anything. So he still didn't know how good of an effect those meals of the Higher Realms would have.

Krune only needed one spoon to realize why Oclo's dishes were so famous. A powerful Godly Energy rushed from his stomach into his Wisp Core. But at the same time, it was very gentle. Usually, Krune would have suffered to absorb so much Godly Energy at once, especially since his Wisp Core and Foundations are far from the 1st Stage of the Transformation. It should have taken a long time to process this amount of energy. However, such a thing didn't happen at all! Not only that, but Krune felt that his Wisp Core and Foundation Transformations accelerated several times while he absorbed that energy.

"Impressive. If I'm not wrong, such a thing would be impossible with Godly Stones, no?"

Oclo smiled as he nodded.

"Spiritual Food Chefs are rare. However, they are also considered a Side Occupation. That's because we can transform the Godly Energy in our dishes so that anyone can absorb it easily. Simply put, a Spiritual Food Chef is highly regarded anywhere he goes. Sadly, this is an occupation that most of cultivators and demon beasts don't like. That's because it is very hard to become one."

Krune immediately nodded. He could totally understand why.

"If I'm not wrong, the ability to transform the Godly Energy of the ingredients into something like this is the main issue. It's not only about the control of your energies, but the energies of the ingredients. Not to mention that the chef's own senses are even more critical. Also, when I saw Head Chef Oclo cooking, I noticed that you also used your laws all the time, as if you were an alchemist."

Oclo nodded.

"Spiritual Chefs aren't that much different from Alchemists. However, each side has its own advantages. Alchemists' pills can be stored to be used at any given time. A Spiritual Chef's food can't. The longer you take to eat your food, the more of its energy will be wasted. It has to be consumed on the spot."

"However, a Spiritual Chef's food doesn't have any side effects after eating. Not to mention that compared to pills, Spiritual Food has taste! Isn't it infinitely better to eat Spiritual Food than a pill for cultivation? When we talk about benefits, Spiritual Food doesn't lose to Alchemists' Pills in any regard."

"Of course, Spiritual Food is mostly used for cultivation. Very few dishes have any other use than that. In that case, Healing Pills, Breakthrough Pills, Forbidden Pills, etc., are still necessary and highly sought out. That's also why Alchemists and Spiritual Chefs never had many problems with each other. Other than cultivation, our fields are quite different."

Krune drank his soup as Oclo spoke. When the Godly Energy finished being absorbed, Krune noticed that he saved at least one day of the Transformation of his Wisp Core and Foundation. He was deeply awed by the power of Spiritual Food. 

Right after, his eyes shined as he asked Oclo.

"Head Chef, how can I become a Spiritual Chef?"

Oclo didn't seem surprised by Krune's question. As a Spiritual Chef himself, he could at least tell who had a talent for the field and who didn't. All the Spiritual Food chefs agreed about one point. One can not become a Spiritual Chef is he or she doesn't love cooking. In Oclo's eyes, Krune's passion wasn't the least bit inferior to his own.

"We obviously have a Spiritual Chef Guild branch in our city. You can go there and apply to become a member. However, the Spiritual Chef guild works differently from the other guilds. The chefs rarely stay there to cook anything. All of them are travelers or manage their own restaurants. Also, don't expect to have anyone teaching you anything. A chef might use others' dishes for learning, but they must ultimately create their own."

"Furthermore, the categorization of our levels is different from the other guilds. To the other occupations, each level is separated by nine stars. So you often hear things like a Nine Stars Path Alchemist or Three Stars View Blacksmith, etc. However, Spiritual Chefs don't have sub-levels like the Nine Stars. We only have the levels themselves. For example, I'm a Semi-Divinity Star Chef. If I go up one level, I'll directly become a Divinity Star Chef."

Krune couldn't help but ask.

"Is the separation of a Spiritual Chef's levels done through the level of the ingredients they can cook?"

Oclo smiled and nodded.

"Exactly. Although I'm at the Divine View Realm, I can cook dishes made of Semi-Divinity meat or plants. Obviously, I'm talking about Demon Beast, Humans, or Plants that reached the Semi-Divinity Level. I can only be considered a Divinity Star Chef after cooking a dish that uses at least one ingredient at the Divinity Level. To be considered successful, you must be able to transform at least 90% of the ingredients' energies. Any less than that and the cultivators or demon beasts who eat it later might suffer side effects due to the remaining berserk energy."

"To prove your Star Rank, you just need to cook one successful dish with an ingredient of that specific level in the Spiritual Chef Guild."

Krune found it quite simple. But that was also good.

"Great! I'll put my all into it during the next month."

However, Krune remembered one thing.

"Oh, right! You said that we can't have an aversion to any type of food. But how come I haven't seen a single dish made with human ingredients?"

Oclo shrugged his shoulders.

"That's because I'm a human myself. So it feels uncomfortable for me to cook my own race. In fact, any Spiritual Chef Demon Beast usually would not cook their own races either. Of course, this is not a life rule. If there comes a day where I need to do it, I will cook the best dish possible."

"However, you won't really find many places with human dishes. That's because almost all demon beasts think that it tastes horrible! Humans are too skinny, and their bodies don't gather as many nutrients as other demon beast races. Simply put, there isn't much of a use to eat them."

Krune nodded. Back in the Mortal Realm, everyone also followed the same logic. If humans can kill demon beasts for their meat, then so can demon beasts. Still, Krune rarely saw a restaurant back there selling it. Not that they couldn't, but because it simply didn't sell either. Even the demon beasts back there didn't like it.

"Well, whether you want to cook it or not, I won't stop you."

Krune shook his head.

"I was just curious. I also haven't cooked human meat before."

His wife is human, so he never cooked one. In fact, Krune didn't cook any meat of the same race as his friends either.