Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce’s form suddenly materialized underneath the huge form of the Adult Panther, his Bloodfang Dagger thrust deep into its heart. The critical strike increased his damage by 6 times, multiplying the devastation of the injury which would have already been considered fatal.

It was like an explosion was set off inside the large body of the Panther, opening up the wound and projecting its insides outwards. The blood and guts that was rushing out of the wound was narrowly dodged by Jayce, yet the initial stabbing wound had caused blood to be smeared on his face.

He retreated a few steps, allowing the hulking body of the beast to drop lifelessly to the ground. Ignoring the shocked screams and roars of the den, he flashed away from his position before any of the monsters could react. Once again he appeared next to a smaller Draconic Panther.

Much like the first culling, he easily dispatched the surprised adolescent monster, cleaving through its vitals like a well-trained assassin. Were it not for the pure white chef’s outfit that was spattered with blood, one would think that he was a well-trained assassin, stabbing his dagger into their vitals with practiced ease.

One quality that he shared with assassins, besides the deft knife wielding, was that he was able to pinpoint the vital’s of monsters with a glance. Thanks to his Analyze skill, he could see the most effective way to gut, bleed dry and butcher his prey by merely casting his gaze on them.

However, unlike an ordinary assassin, he was able to turn those butchered parts into a gourmet meal which would nourish and cultivate one’s body greatly. Jayce could be described as a Hunter, Butcher and a Chef, one capable of not only cooking his meat, but also killing and butchering it.

Yet all this information was unknown to his prey who were currently staring at him with a mixture of fear, apprehension and rage. Jayce counted the remaining Panthers, calculating his next moves based on the threat levels and time remaining on his Dinner Rush skill. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He had another 45 seconds until his Master of Stealth ability came off cooldown, which meant it would be best if he continued to cull the easier prey first while avoiding the Adult Draconic Panthers. With that, he kicked off the ground, heading towards the closest adolescent.

Suddenly, an authoritative roar shook the cavern as if it were issuing an order to everyone present. The whole place rumbled before every remaining Draconic Panther got to their feet and unfurled their wings. They leapt off the ground with grace, soaring into the air.

’Shit!’ Jayce cursed inwardly, yet his face remained expressionless. If the monsters continuously flew above the ground, he would have to jump in the air to attack them, leaving himself open to the attacks of the adults.

The Draconic Panthers flew around the cavern, their gazes locked onto his unmoving visage. The Adult Panthers wore gloating expressions, daring him to jump up and try to attack them. Yet Jayce knew that the moment his feet left the ground, they would all pounce on him, tearing him to shreds.

None of them seemed interested in attacking him, which meant this would be a war of attrition. Unfortunately, Jayce didn’t have time to wait for them to get tired. As once his Dinner Rush skill wore off, his stats would be severely impaired, leaving him in an exhausted state.

His mind raced, trying to think of something that could change his situation, a key to the puzzle that might tip the odds in his favor. It was then that he remembered he had received the choice of a new unique skill as a reward for completing the Event Quest.

Considering none of the Draconic Panthers looked as if they wanted to attack him, and he did not want to attack them and expose himself, he quickly opened the quest rewards and accepted the Unique Skill.

[Please choose one of the below skills]

Signature Dish (max) - Player can create a dish which increases all stats by 50% for 1 hour. Can only be created once per day.

Mana Manipulation (lvl. 10) - Allows the player to more easily manipulate their mana.

Berserker’s Fury (lvl. 10) - Sends player into a frenzy, gaining a huge temporary boost in strength and damage output while sacrificing damage resistance. Cooldown 3 hours

’F*ck!’ Jayce looked at the list of skills that appeared in front of him, his face twitching in anger. While these skills, especially the Signature Dish, would be great skills to have, none of them solved his current problem.

Berserker’s Fury would be fine if he were to fight a close combat battle, even with the drawback of the reduced damage resistance. However, if he couldn’t get close to his opponents he would just become a sitting duck while they continue to kite him in the air.

Mana Manipulation was a great skill that would help him tremendously in the future, it was something that he had wanted ever since gaining the Mana Affinity skill. However, he was not a mage and did not have any mage skills, therefore until he created them, it was useless.

He was also damn sure that the Panthers would not sit idly by while he played around with mana in his hands, trying to create a spell. He quickly looked at the countdown of his Dinner Rush skill, feeling his heart move up to his throat.

[Time remaining 20:17 minutes]

’Damn it.’ Jayce felt as if he had never cursed as much as today, upset that 10 minutes had already passed out of the 30 minutes he was given. He stared at the skill list once more, contemplating his best option.

’Should I Reroll?’ he asked in his heart. However, when he went to look at his skill list the reroll button was grayed out, preventing him from activating it.

"F*ck!" This time he cursed out loud, unable to hold the tense emotions in his heart any longer. A few of the Draconic Panthers who had their eyes on him flinched in response, however the Adult Panthers watched on with glee, seeing the frustration on his face.

Feeling irritated, he chose an ability, resigning himself to fight a tough battle which would put his life on the line.

[You have chosen skill Mana Manipulation (lvl. 10)]

[Skill: Mana Affinity detected]

[Your skill: Mana Affinity has disappeared]

[Your skill: Mana Manipulation has disappeared]

[Skill: Spell Creation (lvl. 1) has been acquired]

"Ha... Hahaha!"