The Military Chef of a Ruined World

[Talent: Large-Scale Cooking]

The moment I saw that text,

I opened the status window and scrolled up the message log.

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I had seen that text before.

And when was that, you ask?

[Congratulations on your Awakening!]

[Unique talent detected from the Awakened]

[Talent: Large-scale Cooking]

Right when I first Awakened.

“After that, there were no messages about it influencing anything, so I had completely forgotten about it.”

I didn’t expect to see it again like this.

Reading the message, it seems the talent itself was innate to me but there were conditions required to develop it…

The problem is that condition was:

[Provide the highest quality dishes to over 100 people in a single meal (1/1) (Achieved)]

“Does this make any sense?”

When people are asked why military food tastes bad, they often say:

The ingredients are not great.

The cooking skills of the chefs are lacking.

While those reasons aren’t entirely wrong, the answer that usually comes from the chefs themselves is typically one:

“How can we properly cook meals for 200-300 people with just 3 of us?”

Meals in the military are ultimately just to supplement the soldiers’ nutrition.

No matter what they do, the small number of cooks cannot make the massive quantity of food of the highest quality.

So, the thing that usually gets sacrificed is the taste.

It’s common to just dump all the ingredients into a huge pot and stir-fry them all together.

Even now, as an Awakened chef, my regular meals are still made that way.

I have to cook for over 150 people by myself – there’s no other way.

When I put in the effort to truly cook, it’s usually just for a small number of my squad members.

In those cases, I do have confidence in the quality.

But that condition requires me to provide that high-quality cooking to over 100 people in a single meal.

And I’m the only chef.

To make gourmet-level meals for 100 people all by myself?

‘Ridiculous.

Normally, that would be an impossible condition to ever complete.

But with the new skill that I have recently acquired [Five Loaves and Two Fish].

If I hadn’t accidentally obtained this skill, I would have never been able to complete the conditions.

A skill that allows me to feed many with just a little food.

As difficult as that condition was to fulfill, the effects I gained from completing it were extraordinary.

[Innate Talent – Large-Scale Cooking]

[The unique talent of the Awakened ‘Shin Young-joon]

[Greatly increases the speed of cooking]

[Dramatically reduces quality degradation when cooking large-scale meals]

[Drastically reduces the magic energy consumed when cooking large-scale meals]

[The use will gain bonus experience points upon completing a large-scale meal]

[Also grants bonuses for most actions related to large-scale meals]

Among those effect descriptions, one word particularly surprised me:

“The system’s use of the word ‘drastically’.”

I’ve seen expressions like “slightly increased”, “increased”, “greatly increased”, “tremendously increased”, etc.

But “drastically” is a new one.

It seems this talent’s awakening is also why I didn’t experience magic energy depletion even after multiplying that course dish 143 times.

It must have dramatically reduced the magic energy consumption.

The worrying part is…

“Even though I didn’t reach magic energy depletion, my magic energy was still reduced by over half at once.”

Even with the drastic magic energy consumption reduction, it was still this much.

…This means.

If this talent hadn’t awakened,

I might have just straight-up died, from magic energy depletion or whatever.

‘Hmm. Maybe I was too focused on efficiency.’

Well, trying to get 143 times the effect from just one dish?

I was dangerously close to having to pay the ultimate price.

But this world follows the rules of a game.

Actions that require great sacrifices are rewarded with commensurate effects.

“Enjoy your meal!”

To the 143 legion members.

Before them was the [Full Course Meal] imbued with my care.

A meal centered around garlic and holy water.

The effect of that course meal was obvious.

[Full Course Meal – Light of Exorcism]

[Greatly increases the abilities of those who consumes it]

[Grants a large bonus when fighting against demonic entities]

“It’s dazzling.”

“This incredible light, what on earth…!?”

A pure white light rose up on the soldiers’ backs.

The halo around each individual was not that large but with over 100 people,

and with the [Aura of the Legion]…

[When those with the same aura gather in sufficient numbers, a synergy effect is triggered]

The guild skill obtained from the dungeon clearing has amplified that light.

The dark cave was now enveloped in a dazzling white radiance.

***

“First the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and now this light.”

“When I first heard about restoring the sight of the blind, I honestly didn’t believe it.

But at this level… there’s no room for doubt.”

“Jeong Sua was right.”

The soldiers bathed in the brilliant light charged into the bunker.

“Glory to the Legion!”

“For the victory!”

The warriors who first spotted the vampires inside shouted.

Gwang-il and the rest of the assault team’s roars shook the bunker.

“Argh…”

“What is this light!?”

“Don’t panic! We outnumber them!”

The advantage of the darkness was already gone.

Faced with the sudden light, the vampires were flustered as they met our soldiers.

Soon, the battle began.

As their commander said, they outnumbered us.

And this time, they were on the defensive.

Unlike us, unfamiliar with the bunker layout, they utilized the various spaces to attack us.

But even so,

“Push them back!”

“You bat bastards, kill them all!”

The tide of battle was overwhelmingly in our favor.

Walls were destroyed, and various devices were smashed.

And the broken iron, stone, and other materials…

“Grrraah!”

Gathered around the mac’s body.

Unlike the soldiers bathed in the Light of Exorcism,

Mac didn’t receive any buffs my cooking.

“What is this monster!?”

“Just a moment ago it was just a normal sheet of metal, how can it be this tough!?”

Yet, single-handedly, he overwhelmed over ten vampires.

The vampires that swarmed him couldn’t even scratch his armor.

Even when one piece was destroyed, he would just pull other metal scraps to patch the gap.

‘He’s really insanely strong.’

Fortunately, he doesn’t chase down fleeing enemies by nature.

Otherwise, the day we encountered him would have been the end of our unit.

In any case, the battle was decisively in our favor.

At this rate, we could completely annihilate them, despite their double the numbers.

But then,

“You bat bastards! Witness the power of the humans!”

“Oh? Then show us.”

“Ugh!?”

A woman’s voice rang out, and one soldier’s body was lifted into the air.

Then,

“Aaaaaagh!”

“Seong Chol ahjussi!?”