Chapter 13. The challenge.

Li Chen, upon seeing the Xingling man, instinctively took a step back, fear gripping him.

Even though Li Chen knew the Xingling man was akin to an NPC, a creation left by the tower's architect for challengers, and posed no real threat, the sight of a beast ten feet tall was hardly comforting.

Fortunately, the Xingling man remained still after appearing, standing only a few inches from Li Chen, silently waiting for him to initiate the challenge.

It was then that the system presented a list of about thirty dishes for Li Chen to select from. His eyes skimmed the list until they landed on the demonic inferno stir-fry delight.

Without any hesitation, Li Chen made his choice.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

You have selected the demonic inferno stir-fry delight.

Would you like to start the challenge?

[YES] / [NO]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Li Chen stared at the screen, but he did not rush to begin the challenge.

"Mei Mei?" he called out, knowing that although he couldn't detect her presence, as the tower spirit, she could very well be omnipresent within the tower.

True to his suspicion, Mei Mei's figure materialized in front of him shortly after he spoke. "Master, you called?" she inquired with a bow.

Li Chen nodded in acknowledgment of her greeting and said, "I have a question."

"Anything you wish, Master. I'll assist in any way I can," Mei Mei responded respectfully.

Li Chen nodded, a smile on his face, as he inquired, "Could you explain the benefits of this tower to me, aside from the legacy and the rewards for conquering floors?"

Before Mei Mei could respond, Fluffy's voice interrupted her. "Time here flows much slower compared to the outside world. Since this is an illusion, you can conjure anything you can think of," he said, pausing briefly before adding, "However, it will cost you some mental energy. The bigger or more complex the item, the more mental energy it consumes."

Li Chen turned in surprise toward the voice, only to see Fluffy, still in human form, approaching them.

Seeing Fluffy here didn't surprise Li Chen; he had already suspected that Fluffy's ties to the treasure space were more significant than he had let on.

As Fluffy reached them, he shot Mei Mei a glance that carried a fleeting expression of pain, quickly masked by an indifferent facade. Li Chen caught the brief look, recognizing it as one of hurt.

However, Li Chen brushed this aside as he teased, "Oh, missing my handsome face already?"

Fluffy snarled back, "Can't wait to smack it once more," before turning and walking away.

Li Chen allowed himself a smile but chose to remain silent, observing that Fluffy's complexion had turned somewhat pale.

'You little demon, you really can't harm me without consequences, can you?' Li Chen mused to himself with a smile.

Fluffy's hasty departure after striking him earlier had raised Li Chen's suspicions that Fluffy's earlier claim was a facade.

Although Fluffy might have been able to hit him, Li Chen surmised that such actions were not without repercussions, especially since the contract stipulated that system spirits should not harm their masters. He wasn't certain before, but now, seeing Fluffy's pale face, Li Chen felt assured that his speculation was correct.

Despite his realization, Li Chen kept his thoughts to himself. After all, he was unclear about the severity of the consequences Fluffy might face for violating the contract's terms. He certainly didn't wish to provoke another attack from Fluffy.

After Fluffy's departure, Li Chen excused Mei Mei and was left to himself. He didn't immediately leap into the challenge; instead, a thought nagged at him: 'Why did Fluffy appear just as Mei Mei was about to speak? Was it an attempt to stop her from answering, or merely a coincidence?' Li Chen mulled over this briefly before deciding to inquire with Fluffy later. For now, his focus needed to be on the task at hand, as time was of the essence.

Although Fluffy had mentioned that time moved more slowly here, he hadn't specified the degree of the difference. It could be just a few minutes or hours, so Li Chen needed to complete the challenge swiftly to return to the outside world.

With determination, Li Chen conjured all the necessary ingredients for the dish, a fireplace, and a seasoned wok. Observing the items materialize, he couldn't help praising, "Wow, how I wish I could truly possess this ability," amazed by the convenience of summoning precisely what he needed.

In the real world, preparing the petals of the double-faced demonic lotus flower was a painstaking process to avoid its poison, yet here he could effortlessly summon them pre-chopped.

As Li Chen began setting up his cooking station, the Xingling man was already underway, having lit the fire, preheated the wok, added oil, and was about to cook the lotus flower, while Li Chen was still arranging his fireplace.

A self-deprecating sigh escaped Li Chen as he observed this, and then he refocused on his cooking.

* *

Moments later.

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Attempt to cook the demonic inferno stir-fry delight has failed.

_Reason: Inability to control the toxin from the Two-faced demonic lotus flower.

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"Damn it!" Li Chen cursed, staring at the spoiled food now emitting toxic gas. Thankfully, as it was all an illusion, there was no real harm, except for his rising frustration at the failure.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

You have failed the challenge.

Would you like to try again?

[YES] / [NO]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Without hesitation, Li Chen selected the 'YES' option, his face set with determination; he was not going to surrender until he conquered the challenge.

Another try later.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

Attempt to cook the demonic inferno stir-fry delight has failed.

_Reason: Inability to control the toxin from the Two-faced demonic lotus flower.

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

"Fuck," Li Chen cursed once more.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

You have failed the challenge.

Would you like to try again?

[YES] / [NO]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

"Yes," Li Chen muttered, his expression still one of unwavering resolve.

This cycle of failure and persistence repeated itself several times. With each unsuccessful attempt, Li Chen's frustration only intensified.

After the tenth failed attempt, his frustration reached its peak. "Fucking work already!" he shouted angrily, his gaze fixed on the screen before him.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

You have failed the challenge.

Would you like to try again?

[YES] / [NO]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

Li Chen had exhausted every method he could conceive, yet none had proved successful.

Just then, he caught sight of the Xingling man, still preparing his meal. It appeared he was on the cusp of completing the dish.

An idea sprang to Li Chen's mind as he witnessed the scene.

Without hesitation, he pressed the 'YES' tab to begin the challenge anew. However, this time, as the challenge commenced, Li Chen did not rush to summon the items he needed for cooking. Instead, he left his station and walked towards the Xingling man.

Li Chen intended to observe how the Xingling man managed to neutralize the poison of the two-faced demonic lotus flower.

As he drew closer, the Xingling man seemed to ignore him, fully engrossed in the task of precisely controlling the flame heating his wok.

He then added phoenix feather oil, a straightforward step that Li Chen paid little attention to.

But when the Xingling man placed the sliced petals of the two-faced demonic lotus flower into the wok, Li Chen intensified his focus.

Initially, the cooking process appeared normal, but as the petals simmered, they began to emit a greenish toxic gas.

Li Chen's attention sharpened; he was determined to uncover the technique the Xingling man was using to handle the poison.

To Li Chen's astonishment, the Xingling man simply lifted his hand above the wok and began absorbing the toxic gas into his body while still maintaining control over the cooking flame.

"What?" Li Chen exclaimed in disbelief. "How am I supposed to survive after taking poison into my body?" he blurted out in frustration, having observed the Xingling man's method.

"No, I refuse to believe it. This must be some sort of trick," he convinced himself.

The notion of intentionally absorbing poison was inconceivable to Li Chen unless one had the means to counteract it. Thus, he resolved to pay even closer attention during subsequent attempts.

As time progressed, Li Chen's frustration mounted; he struggled to discern the Xingling man's secret.

However, on his fifth observation, Li Chen finally caught a crucial detail.

As the Xingling man raised his hand over the wok to absorb the poison, Li Chen noticed a small spark of flame emanating from his hand. It was a minute detail, easily overlooked.

In the following moment, the flames began to morph, and soon they formed the shape of a diminutive flame dragon, which proceeded to draw in the poisonous gas. More specifically, it was refining the gas into something harmless.