21) Ready, set... bake!

It was truly a marvelous performance.

'How OP is that beast affinity I rejected huh? She can appear, disappear, has wings, god damm*t. I am stuck with some random *ss food spells.'

He was starting to regret his decision until he remembered how the mysterious chef made everyone so hungry to the point they almost lost their sanity. As in life, everything has pros and cons.

The crowd slowly emptied the tent as the show was now over. However, as he was following the crowd, he heard his name behind him.

"Mr. Ryker! Mr. Ryker!"

When he turned around he saw Lazmor, the mayor, walking towards him.

"Where do you think you are going, Mr. Ryker? You have to judge the baking competition. The entire town will be bringing their special pastries."

"T-the entire village? How many people are there in the town?"

"Well, there are around 10,000 but only around a thousand registered for this year's baking competition."

"A thousand?! Will I have to eat a thousand cakes?????"

"Well, you don't have to finish them but you do need to at least try them all and then score them from zero to a hundred. There are a total of five judges because, well, most people do not want to be a judge because it is a lot of food. That is why we have to put up a quest for the adventurer's guild. So thank you so much, Mr. Ryker"

A drop of sweat started forming on Ryker's forehead. He thought it would be some easy money, how hard can it be to judge a baking competition? But clearly, the universe hated him.

They turned back around and reached the stage again. This time, there were five different tables arranged in a semi-circular manner, each accompanied by a chair. The circus tent had also started to fold back on itself leaving them out in the open.

People started arriving with their respective pastries. They made five lines in front of the tables. All of this process was being guided by the mysterious voice that had presented Shila. Ryker assumed it was someone with a sound affinity as they could transmit their voice to everyone present.

The people participating would line up, they would wait their turn and when finished, they would go and wait in the next line. That way, all five judges would taste every dish but in random order. They were also required to drink some type of potion that removed any lingering flavors after every pastry to make the competition fair.

And so, the competition started. It would last around 5 hours but Ryker didn't have places to go so he was fine with it.

The first person that came up to Ryker's table had made a type of croissant filled with some wild berries. Aesthetically it looked nothing unusual but when he took a bite, he was pleasantly surprised.

[Blood Berry Croissant ingested]

[Strength +1]

'No way! My spells didn't level up but this is waaaay better! I have around a thousand more things to eat! If every single one of them will give me one status point, I will gain a thousand free status points just by eating! I take it back universe, I LOVE MY AFFINITY!'

It was a delicious croissant but it was kind of simple. So he gave it 75 points out of 100. He was considering giving it full points because of the extra strength he gained but he could have to take it seriously. He then drank the clear liquid in the huge bottle beside him and all the flavors he had tasted just now disappeared.

The next person came up and had some cookies with orange spots on them.

[Dessert Nectarine Cookie ingested]

[Willpower +1]

A score of 80 and a very happy Ryker. He had no way to take his smile off his face as he was over the clouds.

The next few hours passed steadily and amazingly enough, not one dessert was repeated. They were all different.

[Kluganger ingested]

[Speed +1]

[Fingo dumpling ingested]

[Strength +1]

[White Peach Gelatin ingested]

[Wisdom +1]

---------------

Not every dish gave him a status point, some of them gave him experience, so after only two hours, not only was he full, but his spells had leveled up twice and he had gotten around 230 status points, each stat had increased by at least 20.

'Alright, I think this is enough, I will probably try to free myself now, I won't be able to keep eating. I am not even halfway there.'

[WARNING! IF THE PLAYER RENOUNCES THE EVENT, ALL REWARDS WILL BE REVOKED]

'ARE YOU KIDDING ME?'

Everything comes at a price. Yes, it was an amazing and "easy" way of gaining strength for anyone that had the food affinity but the truth is there is nothing easy in eating thousands of desserts without rest. He looked at the other judges and realized the bites they were taking were so small it almost looked like they were just licking their desserts, he did think it was suspicious how everyone left his stand with a huge smile even if the score was not that high. It was because he had taken big bites out of everything and the people saw it as a compliment.

Right now he had no choice but to endure the torture, and probably hibernate for a few years afterward.

The hours passed by so slowly and he was suffering so much that when the final plate finally came before him, he had removed his shirt, unbuttoned his pants, had a pale greenish look, and was so bloated he looked like a ballon. He had managed to level up twice and gained around 560 status points in total. His spells were also level five.

Level 12 (9%)

Name: Ryker

Affinities: Food, neutral

HP: 1000

MP: 1430

Stamina: 1470

Strength: 100

Vitality: 82

Resistance: 64

Dexterity: 70

Speed: 77

Intelligence: 82

Wisdom: 61

Willpower: 51

Perception: 77

Charisma: 68

Luck: 97

Spells: [Power Shot], [Cherry Bombs], [Gummy Bear]

Free stat points: 0]

[Power Shot] level 5

[Power shot- The user shoots a concentrated basic attack, the mana/stamina usage and damage depends on the time the attack is charged. 7s cooldown. 1-10MP. Basic attack damage +55-75 damage. Cast time: 1-10s]

[Cherry Bomb] level 5

[Cherry bombs- The user throws two cherry bombs that explode after 1.5s. They deal damage in a 3m radius. The closer to the center, the higher the damage. 30MP. Cooldown: 9s. Cast time: 1s. Damage: 55-85 per bomb.]

[Gummy bear] level 5

[Gummy bear -Produces a giant gummy bear that can either protect or attack. If the user sends an attack gummy it will have the strength (+25) and speed (+25) as the user while half the vitality (+25) and resistance (+25). If the user sends a defense gummy it will have the same vitally and resistance but half the strength and speed. Only one gummy can be produced at a time. 50MP. Cooldown: 25s (after the previous gummy bear dies). Cast time: none. Damage: Depends on the user]

He had managed to become an incredible force just by eating. It was not easy, he preferred fighting. He suddenly remembered he had the sosage eating competition tomorrow and he felt the food coming back up. He had to swallow it back down as he didn't know if it would affect his status and he was not taking any risks.

He just muttered under his breath.

'F*ck my life'