My name is Darai, a mighty and imposing Lightstepping Beast.
My master is a glorious Nightwalker. Becoming a Nightwalker's Echo is something that makes all the little Lightstepping Beasts in the village drool with envy.
Of course, I've always taken great pride in it too.
Only the finest of the finest can become military dogs… cough, slip of the tongue, military Echoes.
Especially a Calamity-class beast-type Echo like me. Compared to humanoid Echoes, I abandoned that fragile body of theirs, and unlike those bizarre-looking Echoes, I'm not horrifying to look at either.
Until today, when my master told me I had to participate in some kind of hide-and-seek game? He even hung the clearance key around my neck?
I'm a tiger, not a cat!
To prove myself, I entered the hunting grounds together with three other colleagues.
Ah~ I can already smell their fear.
Run. Run. Run!!
No matter how hard these humans run, they won't escape my claws!
At that moment, it felt like I had returned to the wild once again. The thrill of hunting and fighting surged through me all over again.
Even if my strength's been suppressed, so what? I refuse to believe any human would dare…
Would da… da… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!
In just one exchange, those three colleagues of mine got pinned to the ground by three human girls. Even the keys hanging around their necks were taken away by them.
Even now, I can still remember the terror and disbelief on those three Lightstepping Beasts' faces. One of the humans seemed to have golden light flashing from her hands.
If I saw correctly, that should've been the power of Photonic Noise. But isn't Photonic Noise supposed to be a support ability? Then why did that human woman flip a two-meter-tall Lightstepping Beast over with one punch?
Another small human girl tossed what looked like an ordinary rock at her companion, and then that companion collapsed. A single rock could make a Lightstepping Beast lose combat capability?
The last gray-haired human girl was even worse. She straight-up pulled out a baseball bat. Miss, look at the rules, okay? Didn't it clearly say weapons aren't allowed?
Damn it, who's the cat here… no, who's the ghost?!
I could even hear one of the girls shouting something like, "Where the cat can go, I can go too."
How many times do I have to say it? I'm the famous Lightstepping Beast, not some kitty cat!
Um… if I meow, will you let me go?
———
More than ten minutes later, the three girls walked out of the arena looking refreshed.
But obviously, they hadn't had enough fun. At this moment, they were looking around everywhere, seemingly searching for someone.
Not long after, the other survivors also realized they'd been carried through the game. Still shaken or relieved, they headed toward the prize counter.
And without exception, every one of them successfully received their 100,000 Shell Credits.
"That much money… there's no way this is legit, right…"
"Come on, don't be dumb. Did you see that red-haired woman at the prize counter? That's Lady Changli. If she's personally handing out the rewards, how could they be fake?"
"But where did all these Shell Credits come from?"
"That's not our problem. Maybe some unlucky guy's secret stash got discovered or something."
Meanwhile, at that exact moment, a certain someone standing beneath the "Chef King Championship" banner sneezed violently.
Zane rubbed his nose, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and finished making emergency changes to the event rules.
"One sneeze means someone's thinking about you, two means someone's cursing you, three means you caught a cold. Someone's definitely thinking about me!"
But the moment he finished speaking, a slender hand suddenly rested on his shoulder.
"You guessed so accurately. Why don't you guess who's thinking about you too?"
Hearing that familiar voice behind him, Zane nearly lost his soul on the spot. His legs almost buckled.
"Ahahaha, Rover, you guys are back. So, uh, how was it?"
Faced with Zane's awkward laughter, Rover curled her lips but didn't immediately expose him on the spot. Instead, her attention was drawn to the banner overhead.
"Chef King Championship"
A competition open to everyone in Solaris. Sponsored by Jinzhou Border Guard… scratched out… sponsored by Zane, and hosted in Taoyuan Township as the very first Chef King Championship.
After passing the "preliminaries" and "first round," chefs would qualify for the finals and compete for the title of Chef King.
The champion would become Jinzhou's officially recognized first Chef King.
Rover and the Doctor read very carefully. They noticed that beneath the preliminary rules, there was a large section blacked out.
If one looked closely enough, a few scattered words could still be made out.
The preliminaries will adopt… battle royale… fight over ingredients… life and death irrelevant… winners obtain ingredients… losers eat dirt…
Looking at the censored text, Rover slowly typed another "?" in her mind.
Was this still a cooking competition?
Rover rubbed her forehead. Thank goodness someone stopped him, otherwise this year's Moon-Chasing Festival really would've traumatized people for life.
At that moment, Rover noticed Stelle beside her and couldn't help asking, "What are you thinking about?"
Stelle, deep in thought, didn't even raise her head. "I'm just considering what dish I should make for the competition."
"Huh?"
'Stelle? Cooking? Chef King?'
'Could these three words even exist in the same sentence?'
At this moment, Zane seemed to realize the same thing. He immediately turned toward the Doctor.
"Doctor, help me talk her out of this. Don't let Stelle do something crazy."
The Doctor simply shrugged indifferently at Zane's words. Then she walked straight to the registration desk and wrote her name on the preliminary sign-up sheet without looking back.
"What are you two even doing?"
Zane felt like something was seriously wrong with Stelle and the Doctor today. Neither of them had ever cooked at home before, so how could they possibly know how to cook?
Out of options, Zane could only turn toward Rover with a pleading expression. He looked pitiful, like an abandoned puppy.
But Rover didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she carefully reread the competition rules.
Then a slightly cruel smile appeared on her delicate face.
"Oh? Why are you so against the two of them joining the competition? That doesn't match your usual lazy personality at all."
"Well… I mean… what I'm trying to say is…"
Zane still wanted to explain himself, but he watched helplessly as Rover walked straight to the registration desk and signed up too.
She had noticed a tiny line of text hidden beneath the grand prize for the Chef King title. If one wasn't paying close attention, it was almost impossible to spot,
The winner will have a chance to enter a lottery to receive one "One-Day Command Voucher for Zane."
Rover raised her head and met the smiling eyes of someone seated in the guest section.
Master had already made her intentions clear. This wasn't a Chef King Championship at all.
This was obviously a martial arts tournament for marriage proposals.
And the certain someone being treated as the prize still hadn't realized it. He returned to the judges' table looking utterly defeated.
He could already picture Stelle serving him a plate of "Nine-Turn Trash Can Delight" and forcing him to eat it.
If he wanted to eliminate her, he'd have to eat that horrifying dish himself. And if he refused, who knew what bizarre monstrosity this follower of Elation would cook next.
Seeing that all contestants had entered the arena, Changli, acting as a guest judge, stood up and nodded to the participants.
"This round will mainly test the chefs' choice of dishes and their fundamentals. A chef who makes customers wait too long isn't qualified. Likewise, if you only pursue speed and the food tastes awful, that's equally unacceptable."
In simple terms, it had to be both delicious and fast.
"What's so hard about that?" Many contestants smiled at once upon hearing the rules. This challenge was far too easy.
Fast and delicious? Wasn't that just cold dishes?
Seeing everyone looking eager to begin, Changli covered her lips with a smile before slowly speaking,
"Since everyone understands the rules, then..."
"Let the competition begin!"