Damp grey rocks, small and large puddles, a massive cliff, and countless waterfalls.
On the other side stood a vast, endless forest of towering green trees, stretching endlessly toward the open sky.
This was the border between Deathsea and Verdant Requiem.
Kemal had left the palace and set out in search of his brother. Even though he hadn't reached a legal agreement with his father and had gone into the wilderness of Undergarden on his own, he was still at Stage 2. What could possibly challenge him?
With this thought, he had secretly left the palace and begun a journey with Onet.
The journey was estimated to take six months, and upon reaching Frozen Hollows, it would take another three or so months to pinpoint his brother's exact location. That meant roughly nine months of travel ahead of him. It was easy to say, but...
The palace he left was called Homage, named after the architect who built it—someone who possessed the Homage bloodscript.
Thanks to this bloodscript, the palace had some unusual features. For example, the king could instantly learn who entered the palace, how many people there were, and their loyalty level to the crown. This made it nearly impossible to carry out an assassination within the palace.
The Homage Palace stood at the edge of Verdant Requiem and Deathsea, but it was technically nestled between three regions. Fogbound Grave also bordered it, though it was farther than the other two regions.
So, just six hours after Kemal set out, he reached the border between Fogbound Grave and Deathsea, leaving Verdant Requiem behind.
By now, he was starving—both he and Onet.
So, it was time to cook. Sure, he had some ready-made food in his inventory, but he wanted to save those for later.
After all, who doesn't love a meal they've made themselves? Especially Kemal—he always preferred his own food over store-bought meals.
That's why he was going to make a special dish. It might take a while, but he had time.
Still, he couldn't let Onet wait. If Onet went hungry, Kemal would feel bad. So, he gave Onet some food from his inventory. He had plenty anyway.
Kemal's favorite thing to cook was the Mysterious Pie.
What made this recipe so special to him was that its main ingredient could be substituted. So you could create a wide variety of pies while sticking to the same core recipe.
After giving Onet a large, roasted Tier-3 dhune leg from his inventory, Kemal set out to gather ingredients.
The tranquil sound of water nearby... and that sun-like, glowing thing among the mists of Fogbound Grave casting light at perfect angles...
What more could one want? This was peace.
After a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment, he thought, What am I doing again? Then he started lifting rocks—one of the base ingredients of the mysterious pie was hidden beneath them.
Size didn't matter. Small or large, he lifted the rocks. And finally, he found it: Bitterhusk.
Bitterhusk was a kind of dry grain. It looked like a big, tangled rice ball—but of course, what was inside wasn't rice. The outer layer was tough and spiky, but inside were tiny grains.
Now he needed to find two more.
After storing the first one in his inventory, he continued searching. Just five minutes later, he found the remaining two.
He needed to boil them, so he grabbed a pot and walked to a large puddle.
Looking into the water, he saw his reflection—with a silly grin on his face.
Apparently, he was happy when alone. That... wasn't a problem. Since when was smiling a bad thing?
He had blonde hair, cut in a simple and memorable style—fitting for a prince.
His eyes were a light shade of brown, and he had a handsome face. That face had brought him a lot of trouble... but he was fine with it.
Though his fancy clothes were already dirty after just six hours of travel, clothing was never something he cared much about.
...
Kemal shook his head. He was getting distracted. He needed to collect the water.
He filled the pot with enough water, peeled the bitterhusks, and placed the grains into the pot.
When he returned to Onet, the creature had already finished its food and fallen asleep. It looked both terrifying and incredibly cute—a true paradox.
Kemal sat down beside him, pulled a camp chair from his inventory, arranged the surrounding rocks into a perfect formation—it took him several minutes and almost woke Onet up, but thankfully, he didn't.
Once the rock formation was ready, he took out some wood and a lighter, lit a fire beneath the rocks, placed the pot on top, and let it boil. The grains floated to the top.
He strained the grains with a sieve.
Then, he crushed the tiny grains into flour.
Next, he pulled out some oil and extracts from his inventory and mixed them with the freshly made flour.
After kneading it until the dough became firm, he split it into three portions and left them to rest. While they rested, he sat with Onet, petting and caring for him.
After half an hour, he felt the dough hadn't rested long enough—but he proceeded anyway to the next step: searching for the mysterious ingredient.
He wandered for a while, eventually finding it.
This time, it was a mineral—trapped inside a grey, five-meter boulder. A yellow mineral.
Usually, mana crystals were orange, but yellow? This was new—and he was curious about the taste. Being at Stage 2, poisons didn't affect him, so there was probably no harm in using this as the mysterious ingredient.
Probably.
He split the rock with his sword. As he gripped the weapon, a terrifying smile crept across his face. He swung again—multiple times—in a sudden burst of emotion.
He split it into six pieces.
After putting the sword away, he used his bloodscript.
Kemal had five bloodscripts: Resist, Absorption, Obstruct, Ignore, and Rules. That's because, as a Stage 2, he was one of the four strongest humans alive. With one bloodscript gained per stage, it wasn't that strange.
Using Rules, he softened the stone around the yellow mineral, then pulled out a perfect one-meter cube of it with his hands and dragged it over to Onet.
He drew his sword again and chopped the mineral into dozens—no, hundreds—of pieces.
At last, the dough was fully rested. Time to shape it.
Kemal gave it his best, but the pie seemed doomed to be square. He couldn't quite form the perfect shape... but there was still hope.
After hours of work, the pie was finally done. It was rectangular, completely yellow, and shone like gold. The inside was even more golden, so bright that staring at it too long could cause temporary blindness.
He sliced the rectangular pie into several pieces.
At last—after all this effort—it was time to taste it.
He pulled out a knife from his inventory and cut the rectangular pie into seven wildly uneven pieces.
It was time for a taste. Was it... even good?;
Only one way to find out.
He nervously brought the pie to his mouth and took a bite.
Life suddenly felt more beautiful, and he felt like he'd had a cup of coffee—his eyes wide open, energy rushing back into his body.
Kemal began gazing into the distance. The flowers, the insects... life was wonderful. But... maybe he needed another slice of pie.
...
Wait. When did he finish the pie? After that first bite, he'd zoned out—and when he turned back around, the pie was gone. What?
Had he really eaten the whole thing?
All his hunger had vanished—but why couldn't he remember? The only thing he recalled was that sublime sensation after the first bite.
A feeling he'd never experienced before...
Onet stirred and groaned awake. How much time had passed? He seemed fully rested and ready to resume the journey.
Kemal felt a bit guilty. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, he leapt onto Onet's back and continued the journey.
Also...
He decided never to put metal into the Mysterious Pie again.