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Name: Emmet Alan
Game Name: Vemmet
Level: 32
HP: 430/430
Mana: 490/490
Titles: Committed to the Craft [Rare], Cooking Is A Lifestyle [Unique], Please Go Outside [Legendary]
Class: Culinaire's Greatest Enemy
Description: A being whose overwhelming culinary mastery makes them a nightmare to the culinary world. Their bold criticism and absurd standards turn fellow cooks into rivals.
Their expertise extends beyond cooking into potion-making and alchemy, and they possess the strength to hunt powerful beasts in order to create divine-quality meals.
Class Skills: [Supreme Chef's Touch Lv1], [Tool Mastery Lv1], [Culinary Instinct Lv1], [Chef Blade Art Lv1], [Scorch Lv1], [Grimoire? No, It's a Recipe Book – Tier 1]
Extra Skills: [Advanced Cooking Lv6], [Intermediate Alchemy Lv2], [Basic Crafting Lv6], [Intermediate Archery Lv3], [Clean Hands Lv9], [Knows What They're Doing Lv1], [Here, Eat Lv1]
Attributes:
[Strength: 52(+9)]
[Agility: 38(+8)]
[Dexterity: 28(+68)]
[Endurance: 18(+25)]
[Intelligence: 5 (+44)]
[Charm: 6 (+29)]
[Luck: 5 (+12)]
[Reputation: 18]
Quests: —
Inventory: 32/100
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'I lost all my Knight skills, but it's worth the trade. If needed, I just have to get a skill book!'
Vemmet intriguingly picked up the first skill.
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Supreme Chef's Touch [Passive • Lv1]:
Description: Food and alchemical items are more potent and durable. Crafted or modified tools have increased effects. Rare ingredients are found more often and yield more. Crafting failures are minimal. New recipes emerge through experimentation. Personal consumption of food by this class provides greater benefits.
Effects:
All food and alchemical item effects: +30% potency
All food and alchemical item durations: +25%
+20% to self-made tool and weapon effects
+40% of Rare ingredient discovery rate
+30% usable ingredients per source
Crafting failure rate: -60%
+45% chance of discovering a recipe
+30% to all effects of personally consumed food
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"This skill… With a 30% increase in potency and another 30% bonus when I eat it myself… I can marginally increase the effects of Lilith's Velvet Dessert!"
Of course, Vemmet didn't think twice about it.
He skimmed through the rest of his skills, wondering which could assist him further in this venture.
Vemmet began pulling ingredients from his inventory.
Each one radiated a faint, powerful aura.
These were the fruits of a year of quiet dedication and Ana's help, all hoarded for this one, momentous dish: Lilith's Velvet Dessert.
Emmet, even in the real world, possessed a quiet, understated attractiveness that he often obscured with his corporate exhaustion and unkempt appearance.
Beneath the dark circles and the constantly ruffled hair lay a finely structured face and naturally captivating blue eyes.
In the sloppier VRMMOs, Charm had always come naturally to him.
His looks alone often triggered unique NPC dialogue without him even trying.
But [Last Age] was different. Charm was rare to increase, almost as difficult as Luck.
Which meant… if he could boost it enough tonight, he could break the system.
What started as a playful joke with Ana slowly turned serious. Here he was, putting all his cards on this.
Whatever plans he had before were far more likely to work with the advantage of his new SSS Class.
With the [Supreme Chef's Touch Lv1] working and the [Culinary Instinct Lv1] sharpening his senses, he felt an unprecedented connection to the ingredients.
Every cell in his body seemed attuned to the task; he could practically feel the balance of flavors and the shifting needs of the food.
Just then, Ana, finished with her final demanding customer, walked into the kitchen.
She paused, her white dog ears twitching.
She took in the sight of Vemmet and the collection of multiple rare, epic and one legendary tier ingredients.
A slow, knowing smile spread across her face.
"Is it time, handsome?" she said, her voice low.
Vemmet flashed her a grin, a thumbs up raised.
"It's flame time, Ana!"
"Become more beautiful for me," Ana wished him luck.
Without another word, she moved to the ground floor, the loud CLUNK of the main doors being bolted echoing a moment later.
The low murmur of the den vanished, replaced by an absolute silence that gave him complete command of the space.
Ana had closed up for him.
Vemmet gave a silent nod of thanks and turned back to his prep.
The knife became an extension of his will.
The ingredients—a deep, violet-hued fruit called the Lilith Berry, a vial of potent, concentrated Essence of Siren's Milk, and a powder of pulverized Lunar Sugar—were handled with a dancer's grace.
His [Chef Blade Art] made the intricate dicing and paring feel as natural as breathing, the blade's edge singing through the ingredients as it achieved impossible thinness and perfect uniformity.
He worked on instinct, guided by the tingling sensation of his [Culinary Instinct].
He knew exactly when the Lunar Sugar needed to be dissolved into a rich syrup, not by sight, but by a subtle shift in the air's humidity.
He added a pinch of spices—spices he'd normally measure exactly—but this time, his fingers twitched once, then twice, and he knew it was the perfect amount.
When it came time to incorporate the Lilith Berry into the warming Siren's Milk, the mixture demanded furious, precise heat.
Vemmet's eyes glowed faintly.
He slammed his hand against the massive stone oven's side, and a controlled burst of searing heat erupted from his palm, superheating the pot's base.
[Scorch Lv1] had been used not to burn, but to elevate, reaching an ideal temperature impossible with normal kitchen flames.
[Skill, "Supreme Chef's Touch" is in effect!]
At last, the dish was complete.
Lilith's Velvet Dessert.
It was a small, perfectly sculpted sphere of deep violet that shimmered with an inner, soft light.
It didn't smell like food; it smelled like the purest, most desperate wish.
The air around it felt suddenly warmer, and Vemmet could swear he saw a faint, pink aura radiating from the dish.
Ding!
[You have successfully made a Legendary-Tier Meal, "Lilith's Velvet Dessert"!]
[You have obtained 8 attribute points!]
[Unique Title "Heaven's Blessed Hands" has been obtained!]
The grin on Vemmet's face was feral with triumph.
He rated it visually, instinctively, knowing it was flawless.
"That's swooping straight to the number one spot!"
But he wasn't done. He focused his mind and activated one of his final new skills.
Ding!
[Activating "Grimoire? No, It's a Recipe Book"!]
"Show me all the ingredients that can increase charm!"
A heavy book with white scaly covers adorned with a red flower at its center materialized in the air.
Its pages flipped with supernatural speed.
The paper was white and sleek, covered in strange, flowing script that looked more like an ancient incantation than a recipe.
Vemmet's eyes scanned the open page.
A list of his desired items appeared.
While he went through it, he opened the system shop to check ingredients he could buy there.
He also planned to use some of Ana's ingredients.
He was going all out tonight!
He quickly ran the numbers, a grimace flickering across his face.
The cost of the Lunar-Whisper Dew, the rare Petal-of-a-Wish herb, and the Essence of Fae-Mist needed for the three extra dishes was astronomical.
The system shop was not cheap.
Some of the ingredients weren't even exactly what was in the recipe, only similar essences.
'Well, corporate has one last thing to give me,' he thought with a dry chuckle.
A few quick taps on the interface, a prompt confirmation, and a substantial portion of his real-world savings was converted into [Last Age] gold.
The exchange rate was brutal, but for the charm boost he needed, it was a necessary sacrifice.
'There's a high chance I'm quitting tomorrow, so I might as well go out with a bang,' he rationalized.
Ingredients bought, he turned back to the counters.
Unlike the Lilith's Velvet Dessert, these three meals were purely for temporary fortification—a series of concentrated charm boosters to ensure his success.
First, the Whisperwind Nectar.
He steeped the Lunar-Whisper Dew in warmed Siren's Milk, using the fine powder of Sun-Tears Oil as a base.
The result was a vibrant, shimmering gold liquid that promised a thirty-minute spike in charisma.
Next, the Fae-Mist Truffles.
He compressed the Essence of Fae-Mist with finely grated Moon-Moss, forming three delicate, earthy truffles.
These were quick to make and would provide a potent, immediate, but short-lived boost to his conversational effectiveness.
Finally, the Rosebloom Tartlets.
Utilizing the Petal-of-a-Wish and some of Ana's specialized sweet roots, he baked three small, crimson tartlets.
The heat from his [Scorch] skill was perfectly calibrated to caramelize the sugar to a deep, mesmerizing red, granting a temporary, irresistible pull to his movements.
[You have obtained 10 attribute points!]
Each dish was a Rare-Tier success, instantly cooling into small, perfect servings next to the Mythic Dessert.
Their power was fleeting, but stacked together with the permanent boost from the Lilith's Velvet, they would make him a force of nature.
Vemmet looked at the table of dishes.
Then he grinned.
"Time to eat… and time to quit."