CHAPTER 54: TOURNAMENT

Looking at this "Light Gold Quality delicacy," even though he’d eaten it many times over the years, Carlos’s mouth still twitched uncontrollably.

The pitch-black, thick fish broth continuously bubbled with weird air pockets.

Inside was a gnarly fish with a pitted body, clearly having had its scales violently ripped off.

Its mouth gaped extremely wide, filled with densely packed tiny sharp teeth, and its two fish eyes bulged out way too much, looking like it had died with serious grudges.

Just from appearance alone, you could tell this dish was something else.

Looking at Iris’s doting gaze, Carlos had to put on an excited expression.

"Sis, I didn’t expect you’d have time to make Kess River Fang Fish again."

While talking, Carlos speared a piece of the fang fish meat.

"...Still as wild as ever..."

Having left the weird fish broth, the fish meat was still "magically" bubbling.

Carlos’s hand trembled slightly. Steeling himself, he said:

"Gulp!"

Holding his breath, he swallowed it in one go. Sour, spicy, numbing, burning... and even a bit of weird sweetness?

The complex flavors nearly caused his taste buds to short-circuit.

Even weirder was that after eating one bite, Carlos seemed unable to control himself, spearing piece after piece of fish meat and stuffing it into his mouth.

He kept mumbling:

"Delicious! Delicious!

Still the same awesome taste!"

His face alternated between red, white, and black... constantly changing colors.

"Water!"

"Slow down, nobody’s gonna steal it from you!"

Iris quickly brought Carlos a glass of water, gently patting his back to help him swallow.

Her eyes full of adoration, watching her brother’s obsessed fish-eating state, she couldn’t help feeling extremely proud.

"After all these years, that accidentally cooked Kess River Fang Fish I made is still so beloved by my brother."

Whenever she recalled that first time cooking, using her amazing intuition to create this "world-class delicacy," Iris would feel smug as hell.

Although it looked a bit strange, and when she tasted it back then, the flavor was pretty odd, it couldn’t be helped that Carlos loved it.

Carlos ate extremely fast. In no time at all, the entire fang fish had gone into his stomach.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

Carlos collapsed back in his chair, breathing heavily.

His face kept changing colors in various hues, cycling faster and faster.

Finally, with a rumbling sound, his head emitted boiling, brilliant steam, his eyes became crystal clear, and his pupils lost focus.

This lasted a full minute before his complexion gradually returned to normal.

"So delicious!"

A few seconds later, Carlos suddenly shook his head and snapped back to reality.

"...I polished off the whole thing again?"

Carlos looked at the fish broth bowl that couldn’t be any cleaner and once again questioned his own taste buds.

[Consumed Light Gold Quality cuisine: Kess River Fang Fish]

[Soul achieved ultimate satisfaction, random attribute improvement in progress... Constitution +0.01, cooldown time 1 year.]

"...Ultimate satisfaction?"

Carlos didn’t want to recall the experience he’d just had.

Even after experiencing it so many times, he still didn’t understand how Iris could take an ordinary fang fish and a bunch of random seasonings to create the top-tier cuisine that master chefs spent their whole lives chasing.

Even though it looked nasty, tasted nasty, and eating it was even nastier than nasty.

But this was still top-tier cuisine that could boost attributes!

What Carlos found even harder to wrap his head around was that this weird "cuisine" only worked on him.

Everyone else who ate it, without exception, would fall into a severely poisoned coma. Forget about gaining attributes—they’d lose half their lives.

Carlos stared at the fish broth, falling into an existential crisis. This made Iris misunderstand, and she said dotingly:

"Carlos, didn’t you get enough?

Sis can make you another one."

"No! No need, Sis."

Carlos immediately shook his head.

Every time he experienced that weird fish-eating state, Carlos’s soul would completely sink into it, which put enormous pressure on him.

After a pause, he added:

"Perfect deliciousness must be aged with time. Once a year is best."

At most, at most once a year.

Sigh, what gamer could resist the temptation of attribute increases!

As long as it could boost attributes, no matter how weird or bizarre something was, you could choke it down.

Don’t underestimate a gamer’s determination to get stronger!

"That makes sense...

Then eat some other stuff. Although they’re not as good as what sis makes, the taste is still pretty good."

To be honest, Iris didn’t understand why it had to be spaced out by a year.

If you want to eat it, just eat it. It’s not like she couldn’t make it every day.

But Carlos seemed pretty set on it, so she’d go along with him.

Carlos tasted the fancy dishes made by the servants. His taste was clearly normal and the flavors were right, but he just felt everything was too bland, too ordinary.

This was an aftereffect of his soul experiencing intense shock. Carlos had experienced it many times before, so he just ate like this.

"Iris, what are the craftsmen building in Ember Square?"

Making small talk, Carlos randomly asked about this.

Iris casually replied:

"That’s the construction of the ’Ember Colosseum,’ prepping for the first ’Ember Tournament.’

According to the schedule, it should be done in the next couple days."

"Ember Tournament?"

What a familiar name. Wasn’t this the super famous tournament from Ember City in later times?

He thought it wouldn’t show up for several more years, but it was happening this year.

Seeing Carlos was really interested, Iris patiently shared the info she knew.

"This was proposed by Commander Constance three months ago.

To promote friendly exchanges among the new generation, showcase the style of fresh blood, and strengthen Ember City residents’ faith in the future.

She specifically organized the ’Ember Tournament’!

Starting this year, it’ll be held every five years.

Psionics under thirty years old can sign up to participate, fighting against dark mist monsters of varying danger levels.

Those with outstanding performance or teams will receive sweet rewards."

Carlos asked curiously:

"Iris, what’s the champion’s reward?"

If the reward was decent, Carlos felt he still needed to participate.

Iris took a light sip of vegetable soup and thought for a sec.

"I remember the champion’s reward seems to be the ability to choose any Purple Quality spirit gear from the garrison troops warehouse."

After saying this, her tone carried a hint of regret:

"Too bad only minor Psionics can participate. Sis can’t join."

"The garrison troops warehouse!"

Carlos’s eyes lit up.

In his memory, the heavily guarded garrison troops warehouse contained two complete sets of clan swords gathering dust.

At this time, they were being treated as Blue Quality spirit gear, stored in the warehouse.

To gain access to trading spirit gear from the garrison troops warehouse, there was generally only one route: joining the garrison troops and trading with military merit.

Outsiders were strictly banned from trading, even big-shot nobles couldn’t do it.

Previously, based on his own plans, Carlos had painfully given up on acquiring those two sets of clan swords for now.

He never expected that the first "Ember Tournament" would actually offer spirit gear from the garrison troops warehouse as rewards.

This made Carlos’s heart race with excitement.