16 Random Chance

/Expecting something, Riku?/

Riku did his best to rein in his disappointment as he silently watched the lion he just killed slowly turn into light. To be honest, he honestly thought that [Chaotic Tempering] had a decent chance to proc with how it immediately happened on his first kill. Then again, perhaps that was just the system giving him a freebie to let him have a taste of what it could do for him.

"Disappointment, mostly," he sarcastically shrugged as he stepped forward to the lion he killed. "I shouldn't have expected your power to let me scale up quickly anyway."

/H-Hey, it still worked, right?/ Nyx awkwardly stated, her personality seemingly shifting again. /It works around chance, so of course it won't work every time you kill something./

"Right..."

Kneeling down, Riku stared blankly at the disintegrating lion in front of him. Unlike the first one he killed, this one didn't immediately disappear on him. In fact, it almost looked like it was bleeding. Granted, its blood was glowing, but it actually looked like an animal instead of just being a fantastical beast that he had to kill.

"Nyx."

/Yes?/

"You said earlier that everything here's edible, correct?" he asked, his right hand already reaching for his knife. "And you said you want sushi before giving me help, yes?"

/I... I guess I did,/ she audibly shrugged. /Why? Are you planning on feeding me lion sushi?/

"Something like that..."

His brows furrowing, Riku placed his hand on the dead lion. The golden armor came off easily enough, but that wasn't the start of his problems. In truth, he had never butchered a lion in his life. Then again, what was a lion than an oversized cat? Not that he ever served cat, but he did try that to one of his many targets back when he was training as a chef on the side of being an assassin.

/Wow, you actually fed cat to someone?/ Nyx scandalously asked.

"In my defense, the man deserved it," Riku defended himself. "The man was a terrorist that kept cats around all while indiscriminately destroying and killing everything and everyone in his sights. I just gave him a bit of a taste of his own medicine before I killed him."

It wasn't even a fun experience. But funny enough, it gave him just enough know-how on how to butcher four legged animals no matter what kind of animal they might be. Surprisingly, they all mostly had meat and bones in roughly the same areas, so being able to butcher a small animal could theoretically scale into butchering something as big as a pig or a cow.

With that thought in mind, he began the painstaking process of butchering the lion in front of him. Going through the motions, his sharp knife didn't stop for anything as it methodically cut its prey down to size. Riku kept a careful eye on his cuts, making sure not to bruise the meat and ensure that everything was even and cut along the grain.

/Wait, are you planning on feeding me lion?/ Nyx couldn't help but ask, a bit of horror staining her tone. /One of Themis's lions?/

"You said you wanted sushi, so I'm giving you one," Riku blandly stated as he went and cut away a bit of the lion's belly and went to work. "Also, it's not going to be sushi. I don't have rice, so I'm giving you sashimi instead."

Squinting at the slab of prime meat in front of him, the former assassin took it from the carcass and looked for a clean surface that he could use as a cutting board. Thankfully, with everything around him being so immaculate and pristine on top of being made of marble, he found a suitable counter in the form of a low wall extending right into the silver road.

Placing the meat on front of him, Riku lightly tapped his knife on the marble out of habit before smoothly cutting away small thin strips of lion meat. Making sure each and every strip was smooth and uniform, he repeated the process until he was left with a dozen or so sashimi cuts of lion belly.

"There," he nodded in satisfaction as he lined up the cuts of meat in a neat and orderly fashion. "Now, how do I give this to you so that I can finally get some directions?"

/Give me a bit,/ Nyx eagerly told him. /I'll be with you in a few minutes./

Raising a brow, Riku simply shrugged as he waited there in that one place with the lion sashimi he just made. Having nothing better to do, he took one piece of it and had a taste of his work.

"Hmm... This is surprising..."

Chewing through the meat, the former assassin would've spat it out instantly if it weren't for the fact that Nyx told him that everything was edible. And sure enough, he was surprised at the flavor profiles he was getting from what was essentially supposed to be game meat. It wasn't as tough as he expected it to be like deer or some other wild animal. Instead, it almost felt like he was eating fish with the flavor of red meat. It was jarring, and yet it opened up his mind to a whole new world of possibilities in terms of dishes.

"Somehow tastes like a mix of beef and chicken," he couldn't help but hum as he tasted his dish in satisfaction. "I could see some use for this..."

Perhaps as a substitute or a compliment for horse sashimi? He could also imagine it being added to a classical sushi roll with a few dabs of wasabi to compliment the taste. Acting like fish meat while tasting like red meat was-

"W-What is that?"

Riku froze at the sudden introduction of a foreign voice. Instantly swallowing, he turned around and drew his knife, aiming its pointed edge at the newcomer that somehow caught him off guard.

"Drop your weapon if you don't want to die."