Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce stared at the squishy thing in his hand for a moment, noticing the charred edges and fur on the outside. He suddenly turned his head towards where the Adult Panther was hacking up a furball earlier, only to see a small crater in the ground, with a few body parts scattered about.

As if that wasn’t enough pieces of the puzzle to understand what had happened, the next two notifications he received closed the case.

[Congratulations, you have created the skill Exploding Fireball]

[Congratulations, you have slain Draconic Panther (Adult)]

[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]

[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]

"Ha... Hahaha Hahahaha"

Jayce threw his head back in uproarious laughter. After 10+ years of having to fight on the front lines, he could now be considered a mage with this ability. Not only had he created his own spell, it seemed to be quite powerful as well.

He quickly brought up the skill window, eager to get a closer look. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Exploding Fireball (lvl.1) - Unleash a fiery projectile, directing it at a target. Upon impact, the fireball detonates, causing great area-of-effect damage to nearby enemies. Detonation can be delayed

’Excellent!’ Jayce shouted inwardly. An area of effect spell was exactly what he needed in this scenario. He could throw long ranged exploding fireballs at the Draconic Panthers endlessly to either force them to attack him, or die while they wait for him to run out of mana.

A wide grin formed on Jayce’s face, his expression looking evil. "Time to pay for your insolence you little shits" he spat out, his words dripping with venom. This was probably the first time he had spoken like this in both his life times.

In truth, Jayce had been pissed off ever since he was pushed into the tunnel by Lianna. If the betrayal wasn’t enough, the fact that the tunnel led to a den of powerful Draconic Panther’s was enough to take the cherry on the cake.

Being thrown into a deathtrap by someone who had just confessed their love for you made Jayce never want to experience such a toxic relationship in his life. To make matters worse, these damn Panthers had wings!

Their look of fear seemed to stoke some feelings of pity within him, after all it was technically his fault that they were in this predicament. However he shook his head in the next moment, this was a matter of life and death, he wasn’t slaughtering these monsters for fun.

Plus, there was no way they would feel the same kind of pity for their prey out in the forest. He knew this not only because the Adolescent Panther had stalked and pounced on him earlier, but also because there were no monsters that held those kinds of emotions. It was like they were incapable of feeling empathy, no matter the level of their intelligence.

With that, Jayce placed his hands together and spoke the name of his new skill, "Exploding Fireball".

The mana instantly caught fire, the tendrils taking on predetermined routes within his hand as if they had a mind of its own. Jayce’s eyes widened in understanding, ’So this is the difference between a skill and creating a spell.’ he thought inwardly.

When he was creating the spell, he had to map out the movement and activity of the mana within his hands, molding it into the element of his choosing. The task was actually very intricate, even with the Spell Creation skill he had acquired which reduced the difficulty immensely. This is where his tremendous Luck stat had come into play, allowing him to create a spell on the first try.

Once the spell was turned into a skill, it was a whole other matter altogether. The skill itself had already mapped the trajectory and behavior of the mana, meaning all that Jayce had to do was provide enough mana and the skill would work.

This is why mages had such a hard time completing the prerequisite for their first class upgrade quest. Amber and Jackie had attempted the feat thousands of times before finally creating their own unique skill.

Soon enough a burning sphere was shaped in Jayce’s hands, giving off a dangerous sensation to everyone in the cavern. The tremendous heat emanating from his palms was enough to scorch the ground they were standing on.

With a sly grin, Jayce lifted his hands to his chest, gripping the fireball within his right hand. He lifted his left leg towards his chest and leant forward in one fluid motion, planting his left foot on the ground. In the next moment, his right arm came flying from behind his body.

The arm which held the baseball... Ahem. Fireball, flew out like a whip, using the full kinetic energy of his wind up to fling the ball directly at the largest cluster of Draconic Panthers that were flying in the air.

The sound of the air crackling rang out as the flaming ball flew towards its target with exceptional speed. Jayce’s baseball throw would easily trump the world record for a fastball due to his monstrous strength stat at the moment, and it would likely remain untouched for the next 10 years.

In a fraction of a second, the Exploding Fireball reached its target, a cluster of 6 Draconic Panthers who were hiding behind what Jayce could only assume was their mother. There was no time to dodge, nor shield themselves from what was coming.

As soon as the spell hit the chest of the Panther, it was like a bomb had gone off within the cavern. Unlike the first Exploding Fireball which had been hastily made and exploded within the body of an Adult Panther, this one exploded directly on impact, causing a blazing inferno to erupt in its place.

Jayce felt as if the whole cavern shook at the impact, forcing him to brace himself against the roots which were spread throughout the place. The explosion subsided after a few moments, showing the aftermath of the powerful blast.

The sound of debris hitting the cavern floor entered everyone’s ears, causing them to look to the ground to investigate. The charred remains of 6 smaller Draconic Panther’s were laying on the ground, surrounded by what Jayce could only assume was the mother who tried to protect them, painting a macabre sight.

"Strike, you’re outta here!"