Chen Qi yanked the bags of spices out from under the cupboard.

There were four spice bags in total — black pepper, black sesame, cumin, and ghost pepper.

He checked the weight. Altogether, they came to about thirty kilograms — a pretty decent haul.

As a nation of merchants and industry, the Goldenfinch Kingdom circulated quite a bit of spice.

But the spices found in a monster kitchen were rarer, especially the black sesame and chili peppers.

In the Goldenfinch Kingdom, chili peppers were scarce. Most chili-related products had to be imported from the neighboring Goldenfinch Kingdom.

Only large restaurants in the Goldenfinch Kingdom typically used chili peppers.

Chen Qi recalled the local spice prices.

Pepper and cumin were somewhat pricey. Black sesame was expensive.

As for ghost pepper, it was the chili among chilis — more than ten times the price of regular ones. An extremely costly spice!

Chen Qi weighed the ghost pepper. If he found a good buyer, he might be able to sell it for over 100,000 Goldfinch Coins.

A pretty sweet score!

Chen Qi happily rubbed his hands. He’d always been broke.

Not much choice — all the items he got before were too valuable to sell.

But now he finally had something he could trade for cash.

Though considering he was about to advance as a chef, he’d have to keep some of the spices for himself.

Besides, Damarro Town — or really, the entire Witch Sea — didn’t have good food. Most dishes were just salted.

Now, he could finally eat something tasty.

After looting the monster kitchen, Chen Qi carried the big bag and climbed out from the crack on the belly-up fish’s body.

Drip, drip!

The weather was still fickle — and it started raining again…

As soon as he emerged, raindrops hit his face.

The whispering wind of the monsters still raged across the ocean.

The crack tide was far from over — more and more sea monsters would appear.

“At this rate, Damarro Town is gonna be lively again when I get back.”

Chen Qi felt the sea breeze brushing across every part of his body.

And come nightfall, even more terrifying creatures would emerge.

But now, he had a boat to shield him from the wind and rain — no more getting drenched like a wet dog.

Chen Qi threw the spice bag onto his tiny cabin boat. The heavy bag made the whole vessel rock.

A solid bit of income!

Chen Qi walked into the cabin and, after setting the direction, pulled out the most important thing he got from the crack:

The pass to the Transcendent Path — the Chef Profession Card.

A Tier 1 profession card — as the first stage, once someone awakened their Vision, it required no extra conditions to absorb.

Chen Qi knew what the Chef class could do, but he’d never gotten the precious Hunter Ember.

Hunter Ember could strengthen one’s Tier 1–4 Transcendent powers, but he didn’t know exactly how.

Chen Qi bit his finger and dropped blood onto the Chef card.

As his blood soaked into the card, it suddenly twisted and melted, turning into liquid that flowed into his body.

A burning heat surged through him.

Visions flooded his mind.

【Digesting...】

Chen Qi closed his eyes. In a hazy state, he stood upon a boundless dark sea.

As the waves lapped at his ankles, a pillar rose beneath his feet.

His blood pumped from his heart, flowed down his abdomen and legs, and etched a “Cup” symbol on the pillar.

“Whew…”

The heat gradually faded, and Chen Qi opened his eyes again.

A beautiful prompt appeared before him.

【You have stepped onto the Transcendent Path and become a ‘Chef’.】

【Your comprehension of cooking-related skills has increased. You have acquired the skill “Transcendent Cooking.”】

【You are now at the starting point of the Transcendent Path. Constitution +3, Inspiration +3, Max HP and total Spirit Power increased.】

Chen Qi felt the changes in his body.

His panel now had a new section: Chef.

【With the aid of Hunter Ember, you have acquired an extra skill: “Soul Seasoning.”】

Hunter Ember actually granted him an extra skill.

Soul Seasoning? Pulling out souls to make seasoning?

Chen Qi checked his profession panel.

【Chef

Tier: 1

Aspect: Cup

Skills:

Chef’s Insight: You learn cooking-related skills much faster.

Transcendent Cooking: You’re a natural-born chef. You’ve mastered Transcendent cooking methods.

The dishes you cook will bring out stronger effects than those made by laymen who know nothing of cuisine or nutrition.

Soul Seasoning Lv1: You can infuse your spirit power into your seasoning to enhance the original flavor of Transcendent ingredients.

This boosts both taste and nutrient absorption.

Note: Transcendent Cooking increases food effects by around 20%. Soul Seasoning increases them by around 10%.】

So it wasn’t about seasoning made from souls, Chen Qi muttered.

Just a Tier 1 skill — not the creepy soul-extraction idea he had in mind.

But for a first-tier skill, Soul Seasoning was already quite impressive.

And boosting flavor? That was critical in the chef world.

Then, Chen Qi blinked — Soul Seasoning was an upgradable skill!

It required 100 Vision Points…

He’d farmed nearly 200 points in the monster kitchen.

Upgrade.

【Soul Seasoning Lv2: You can now blend your spirit-powered seasoning with spices to unleash both the flavor of spices and the strength of the food.

Description: A true master chef never limits themselves to ingredients. Even stinky shoes and feet become delicacies with Soul Seasoning and spice.

Food enhanced with Soul Seasoning will make picky eaters blush with delight — a joy from the body, a tremble from the soul!

Note: Further increases taste and adds an extra 5% to food effect.】

15% — this was Hunter Ember’s bonus at work!

Chen Qi was genuinely thrilled.

A chef’s power mostly came from the 20% boost from Transcendent Cooking.

Now, with Soul Seasoning’s 15%, the total boost hit 35%.

That was like giving the chef profession a mini-chef on top!

With enough Transcendent ingredients, his buffing power would be like taking performance enhancers.

He could out-eat others’ days of hard training.

Next, Chen Qi looked at the second core part of a Transcendent profession — the Profession Task.

【Cooking: You can gain Vision Points by cooking a dish.

Note: The amount depends on how delicious the dish is. Refreshes daily.】

The Chef’s profession task was super simple — just cook.

In the New Sun era, profession tasks were vital and a key source of Vision Points.

Doing well enough could even unlock special profession upgrades.

For example, Transcendent Cooking couldn’t be upgraded with Vision Points. Only cooking often would upgrade it.

For high-tier Transcendents, profession tasks were also a stable path to maintaining sanity.

That’s why even battle-hardened Weapon Masters sold Silver Scale Breastplates, or astrologers gave you free readings on the street.

Wait—

Chen Qi suddenly realized something.

Soul Seasoning boosted flavor. And flavor was the key to completing the chef’s daily task.

Didn’t that mean he could complete the daily task easily even if his cooking sucked?

Hunter Ember’s boost to Tier 1 professions was even stronger than he thought.

“Even a shoe could taste good…”

But what if it already tasted good?

Grilled lamb leg, stir-fried beef, pan-fried fish…

Chen Qi looked at his fridge. He happened to have a rare Goldenfin fish.

He remembered from books — its meat was silky smooth, melts in your mouth like silk.

If he grilled it, gave it a crispy and lightly charred outer skin…

Chen Qi drooled a little.

His imagination was already running wild.

He looked at his boat cabin.

As a traveling boat, it had a basic pot — but no stove, no salt, not even basic seasoning.

“I’ll deal with it after I return!”

Chen Qi gently turned the steering wheel, adjusted the course, and sped up toward Damarro Town.

Time passed. Before long, the sky was dyed a warm orange-red by the setting sun.

Chen Qi stepped out of the cabin. From here, he could already see the lighthouse.

Night was falling. Atop the tall tower, the lighthouse keeper had already lit the flame to guide returning ships.

Chen Qi turned his head. To the left, a large number of fishing boats passed by him.

Mentor An and Mayor of Damarro had warned: these days, everyone must return before the moon rose.

Once the crack tide began, night belonged to the monsters.

Boom boom boom—

Steam engines roared alongside human chatter in his right ear.

Chen Qi turned his head — a massive steel ship was slowly approaching.

A giant steel vessel was now cruising on the same route as his tiny cabin boat.

The two ships sailed side by side toward Damarro Town.

“A large ship…”

Chen Qi looked up at the massive behemoth.

Compared to it, his boat was like a shrimp.

He could see fresh shell damage on the hull, still billowing with smoke.

Fully armed hunters walked along the deck, each one geared to the teeth with heavy packs — clearly professional Transcendent crack explorers.

At the top of the ship, a shell emblem fluttered in the sea breeze.

“That’s an officially sanctioned merchant ship from the Goldenfinch Kingdom, and judging by the aura, it’s carrying some powerful Transcendents.”

Chen Qi confirmed the ship’s identity.

On the Witch Sea, merchant ships could be deadlier than the navy.

But what was such a heavily armed merchant ship doing in Damarro Town?

Chen Qi pondered.

“Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?”

At that moment, a sunny young man on the ship waved at him.

“Hm?”

Chen Qi looked at the young man shouting.

He was wearing a pricey steam-powered suit, carrying a golden-hilted greatsword, with flowing blond hair.

Looked familiar…

Chen Qi squinted.

The guy seemed to be someone well-known in Damarro Town:

The mayor’s son, a sunny, cheerful young man — a Tier 1 Transcendent rookie — Little Damarro.

Nearly everyone in town knew this guy.

But Chen Qi wasn’t famous in Damarro — just a pitiful, helpless sea-beast patient.

Little Damarro had been away for years and barely knew anyone local, rarely interacted with people his age in town.

He probably didn’t know Chen Qi.

“What’s up?”

Chen Qi asked. The guy seemed like he had a lot to say.

Little Damarro looked at Chen Qi with great interest.

“You’re from our Damarro Town, right?”

“Sort of…”

Little Damarro’s face lit up at the confirmation.

“Actually, I have some questions for you — but I won’t ask for free.

Here’s the deal: I’ll tell you what I saw at sea — something about the Witch of Flowers.

It’s witch-related news that’ll be on the front page of the White Dove Times tomorrow!!

So, I tell you this shocking scoop, and you answer two questions for me. Deal?”

More witch stuff again...

Chen Qi rubbed his chin. The witch hype was getting even hotter than the Black Whale Crew’s treasure hunt.

At the start of the game, no player had ever actually seen a witch.

Why did it feel like witch news kept chasing after him… Chen Qi silently grumbled.

But witches were the central focus of the Witch Sea region — tales of them were everywhere.

That wasn’t surprising. What did surprise him was: what exactly did Little Damarro want to ask?

Chen Qi thought for a bit and replied:

“Sure, as long as your questions aren’t math problems or anything like that.”