Book of Culinary Kills

What in the world are 'Blue Balls'? And why on earth is the dragon called Long Wang? Is he trying to brag about something or maybe compensate for something? And what's the deal with this skeleton? It's just sitting out here in the middle of nowhere, holding a box of tissues and something that looks like a TV. What on earth happened in this place?

You know what, never mind. I've got enough on my plate already. Let's just get out of this sticky situation. I turned around, fully intending to leave that place, but...

*sighs*

I let out a sigh. I couldn't just leave it like this. I felt a strange compulsion to do something. So, I decided, why not burn this place down? At least that way, no one will ever know the bizarre things I've stumbled upon. I walked outside and set fire to the whole house, with the skeleton still inside.

"Farewell, fallen soldier. I'll take your secret to my grave," I muttered to no one in particular. With that, I turned around and walked away, clutching the blue ball in my hand, just in case.

…..

After that strange event, I got back to my hunt and took down another forty enemies in no time. With just ten remaining, I was feeling pretty confident. But then things got weird. The Bloody Axe Rex suddenly started shaking like crazy and, weirdly enough, it dragged me along with it. I tried to fight it, but that thing was seriously strong.

Before I knew it, I was deep in the forest. The shaking stopped abruptly, and I looked around to see something mind-boggling—a huge, black metallic submarine. Yeah, you heard that right. A submarine, in the middle of the forest.

Now, I'm not a submarine expert, but even I know they're made for underwater travel, not forest decoration. It didn't make any sense. I was scared, sure, but also really curious. So, I decided to be brave and check out what was inside.

When I went close to take a look something caught my eye it was a name, NS Scorpion. Is this the name of the submarine? What does NS mean? I decided to explore further I somehow managed to reach the top of the submarine and tried to open the hatch surprisingly it was easy to open.

I went inside it was dark well, I kind of figured. So I planned to go with a different approach.

"Skill Share - Mana Sense"

I used mana sense to explore this thing, I went inside different rooms but I had no idea what most of those things were, and finally, I went to a room that looked like some kind of a private quarter, there was a photo on top of a table.

I walked up to the photograph and examined it closely. It showed a man around his thirties with a black eyepatch over one eye. Standing right beside him was a German shepherd holding an axe in its mouth. The axe looked strangely familiar, though I couldn't place why.

Driven by curiosity, I decided to dig deeper in the room. My search led me to a drawer where I stumbled upon a book. Its title was "Book of Culinary Skills," but someone had scribbled over "skill" and replaced it with "kills," making it "Book of Culinary Kills."

Intrigued, I flipped through the pages. The recipes inside were just as altered as the title. Words had been scratched out and changed. I noticed dishes like "Final Fried Rice," "Nightmare Nacos," "Paralysis Pizza," and more. It was getting weirder by the minute.

What the hell is this? This doesn't look like a recipe for a cookbook, this is more like a book to make some kind of homemade biological weapons. Then I looked at the book of the cover once more there was a name written below the book name, Francis Slander.

Is this Francis Slander guy some kind of a chef? I don't think he did this to his own book, it looks like someone else vandalized his book. Is he the guy in the photo? I am kind of intrigued by this book I will take it with me. With that decision, I put the book inside my inventory and decided to leave.

But when I was about to leave something hit my foot, It was very painful and I crouched down because of that and I found the culprit, it was some kind of metallic box it kind of reminded me of one of those military trunks that you see in the movies.

I opened the box and saw preserved ingredients like rice, soy sauce, and more. There was even a pan and cutlery inside. I wondered if they belonged to Francis Slander. Was he a chef? But should I take these things?

Getting hungry, I thought about making fried rice. Maybe I could try the "Final Fried Rice" recipe from the book? Why not give it a shot?

I decided to go for it. I went outside, gathered wood, and started a campfire. Following the recipe, I cooked the Final Fried Rice. When it was ready, the smell was amazing. I tasted it, and then everything went black—I heard myself hit the ground.

*Thud*

…..

"Wh-what happened? Where am I", After some time I woke up. The sun was starting to set the last thing I remembered was tasting that Final Fried rice thing, What happened after that? I looked around I was still near that Submarine. Then I looked at the remaining fried rice near me.

"Is this the reason I passed out? Is it because the ingredients are old but even if they are there's no way for me to pass out just from a single bite", I was talking to no one in particular but myself. Then the book, Book of Culinary Kills caught my eye.

"Th-this thing is really a recipe book for biological weapons, disguised as a cookbook or the Francis Slander guy is a terrible cook", again I was just muttering to myself but once these words left my mouth the Bloody Axe Rex started to shake violently, unlike the last time this time it was very powerful.

It suddenly started floating in the air and was looking in my direction. For some reason, it almost seems angry. Suddenly it launched itself at me.

"What the hell is happening? Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?" I barely managed to dodge its attack, but it kept coming, relentless. Instinctively, I sprinted toward the submarine. Once again, it charged, and I just narrowly dodged it. But this time, its target was the submarine.

The moment the axe struck the submarine, a blinding light erupted from both the axe and the submarine. It was so intense that I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Gradually, the light faded, and I took a peek.

The massive submarine was gone as it vanished in thin air and what's more, was that the Bloody Axe Rex was still floating giving off a faint glow. Suddenly the familiar blue screen popped up.

*Condition Has Been Met Bloody Axe Rex Is being Evolved to Axe of ???*

*Evolution Successful Bloody Axe Rex has Successfully Evolve to Axe of ???*

*A new Hidde Skill has been added*

*Hidden Skill: The appraisal level is insufficient to reveal this option.*

Wh-what the hell is going on the axe evolved? And what's with the name it's called the Axe of question marks. What the hell does that even mean? And what happened to the massive Submarine?

I looked at the Axe that was still floating in the air emitting a faint glow, I approached it with caution. And lifted my hand to grab it, but once I grabbed it nothing happened. I was kind of expecting the Axe to try attacking me again but no, it was just like how it was before even the look of the axe was the same.

What is going on here? Suddenly I heard the rustling of leaves, I was shocked and cautiously looked at the source of the noise and it was a monkey, Now that I think about it I need to kill ten more of these, let's continue the hunt. I will deal with the axe later once I return to the Random Town.

After a few minutes, I managed to kill ten more monkeys. Once that was done the Statue Screen popped up once again.

*Quest: Hunting*

Hunt 500 different monsters from the Verdant Grove and collect their Energy stone.

Number of Monsters Hunted: 500/500

Number of Energy Stones Collected: 500/500

Quest Completed!

Reward: 2000 P.O.W.E.R Points have been granted to the user.

Great I somehow managed to kill nearly Five hundred monkeys in a single day, I am very tired now let's go back to Truck-Kun and return to Random Town. I decided that and started walking towards Truck-Kun.

After a few minutes of walking, I suddenly started to hear something It was like a piece of music. The music was like a storm, fierce and unrelenting. It echoed with the courage of warriors, each beat a call to arms. It surged, matching the intensity of the battle, a soundtrack to their struggle. And just as suddenly, it fell, leaving a charged hush, a prelude to their impending victory.

Wait it's almost like," Why do I hear Boss Music?", Once these words left my mouth I felt a chill down my spine.

"Skill Share - Mana Sense"

I activated the mana sense unconsciously, and suddenly I felt something coming toward me at high speed, I jumped to dodge it but it still grazed me between my legs, I fell down holding my crotch in pain and then I saw it.