Krune couldn't feel more satisfied at the moment.
"Thank you, Senior Oclo."
Oclo nodded.
"It's nothing. The restaurant is already closed, so you can go to the Spiritual Chef Guild if you wish so. It shouldn't be a problem for you to pass the Star Path Chef test."
Krune shook his head, though.
"That will be unnecessary. I don't plan to stay as a Star Path Chef for long. I decided to take the Star View Chef test instead. I can tell that the Divine Path Realm level ingredients are far from my real capabilities. I will cook Star Path Dishes for the next ten or so days and then try a Star View one after. I wonder if Head Chef Oclo would mind it."
Oclo laughed out loud.
"Hahaha! No problem, no problem. Usually, I wouldn't let anyone touch the ingredients for Spiritual Food, but you are different. You are just like me and my peers, someone who loves food. That being said, I have no reason to deny your request. Not to mention that all the work you have done is at least worth this much from me. Also, if I wasn't confident about your abilities, I definitely wouldn't let you do so, either."
Krune quickly bowed and thanks Oclo. He couldn't help but feel that this was one of the best choices he had ever made. He finished his Wisp Core and Foundation Transformation in half the expected time. Learned about the Spiritual Chef Occupation, and even made a breakthrough with a Semi-Divinity Star Meal. Where would he be so successful like this?
Krune spent his night cultivating and understanding his laws. Godly Energy, obviously, could also be used to expand one's foundation. Thanks to that, Krune's Universe Foundation was getting bigger and bigger too. Solar Systems, Nebulas, even one or other Blackhole could already be found there. Still, he was really far to achieve the size of an entire galaxy.
The next day, Krune returned to work. Once again, all the Star Path level and below Spiritual Dishes were handed to him to be cooked. It didn't matter how low the level of the dish was, Krune cooked every single one to the best of his abilities, much to Oclo's satisfaction. Real Spiritual Chefs will never look down on the level of the food they are preparing.
Krune also introduced his own ideas on the second day, which Oclo approved as soon as he tasted. Oclo was true to his words, Spiritual Chefs can't just follow others' recipes; they have to have their own. On the third day after Krune began to make Spiritual Dishes, five of his own recipes were added to the menu. There are always those who want to try something new, so orders for the new dishes quickly arrived.
Krune's own work began to generate profit for Oclo's restaurant. Oclo wanted to give Krune part of the gain since it was made on his dishes, but Krune refused. Instead, he asked Oclo for his Semi-Divinity meals. Oclo couldn't help but laugh as he nodded. The amount of Godly Stones made by the restaurant was definitely more than enough to pay for those meals that Krune asked.
However, Krune also noticed one thing. He couldn't eat too much of those dishes with a lot of Godly Energy. That's because even though those energies were gentle and easy to absorb, ultimately, they were not his energy.
His Godly Meridian worked pretty much like the previous Chaos, Elemental, and Spiritual Meridians too. They also started at a level where Krune couldn't transform the whole energy into his own. In fact, Krune couldn't change even 10%. The rest had to be done by his foundation. Considering that Krune wasn't supposed to come to the Higher Realms before being a Divinity Realm wisp, this rate of transformation by the Meridians will continue like this even after he reaches the peak of the Divinity Realm. That was to be expected. After all, Krune wasn't supposed to have ascended yet.
That being said, Krune's own Godly Energy was being affected by the number of other types of Godly Energy in his foundation. As mentioned before, Godly Energy doesn't affect one's foundation, but that was only in the case you absorb the Heaven and Earth Godly Energy, which has no owner. The Godly Energies in the Semi-Divinity Meals definitely had previous owners, though.
'I will first reach the 9th Stage of the Divine Path Realm and then focus on making the foreign Godly Energies my own.'
During the next night, Krune decided to ask Luvile for something else.
"Luvile, do you know what would it be to cultivate the Myriad Energies Technique from the start here in the Higher Realms?"
Luvile got puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
Krune then explained.
"The Myriad Energies Technique starts with Spiritual Energy, then it goes to Elemental Source Energy. Finally, it reaches the moment were I need Chaos Energy. However, suppose I begin cultivating it from the start in the Godly Path Realm. In that case, there will be no Spiritual Energy to talk about. Wouldn't it be useless then?"
Luvile finally understood what he meant.
"I don't think so. Like I said before, Godly Energy can substitute all the energies from the Lower Realms. That being said, you probably can use it for all the phases of the Myriad Energies Technique as well. Of course, you would need to try it out to be sure."
Krune nodded. It was just a doubt he had. There is no one cultivating his Myriad Energies Technique in this place other than himself after all.
Two days later...
Boom!
9th Stage of the Divine Path Realm reached! Oclo wasn't surprised during Krune's last breakthrough. He simply thought that Krune was already close to it. But this time, he was really shocked. Krune only took twelve days to go from the 8th to the 9th Stage! This speed was simply frightening! Even his Semi-Divinity Star Dishes shouldn't be this effective.
"Are you really a human?"
Krune wanted to say that he isn't, but he remembered that Luvile is suppressing his Demon Beast aura. Obviously, since he isn't in the Semi-Divinity Realm, Oclo believes that Krune is an out and out human.
"That's not exactly it. It's just that my cultivation technique is a little better than others."
Oclo's mouth twitched.
'A little better? Why don't you give me this 'little better' cultivation technique of yours then?'
Of course, Oclo didn't say that out loud. He also had his own pride. Besides, he is very close to entering the Semi-Divinity Realm already.
"Whatever, just make sure to not exaggerate."
Krune nodded, and they finished for the day.
The next day, Krune decided to finally try a Star View dish. At some point, an order of this level arrived. Krune would try to prepare a Heavenly Dew Grass salad. This plant is a Star View Ingredient, so the energies inside still had to be properly harmonized. Oclo had quite some of it in stock, so he allowed Krune to try it without concern.
As soon as Krune tried to harmonize the energy inside, he experienced the toughness of the plant.
'Sure enough, it wouldn't be so easy. Since my cultivation isn't in the Divine View Realm, it is hard to work with a Star View ingredient.'
Still, the resistance of the Heavenly Dew Grass only served to fuel Krune's determination. Around ten minutes later, Krune's first Star View Dish failure appeared. Krune once again felt gloomy as he looked at the wasted food, but didn't give up. He closed his eyes once more and began to review the entire process.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes once more and began the preparation of the salad. Krune achieved 50% or so harmonization in the first try. As for the second, he failed with a rate of 80%! Once again, Krune replayed the process in his mind and worked around the parts where he went wrong. Finally, he was barely successful in the third attempt. The harmonization of the grass reached exactly 90%!
"Phew... Not as good as I wished, but I finally did it! Still, I'm already at the 9th Stage of the Divine Path Realm; it could have been a little bit easier."
Oclo sighed and shook his head after hearing that. Krune only needed three tries to make a dish above his cultivation level. Although he can do the same, it took him an entire month and hundreds of attempts to make his first one. The difference in talent was just too big!
'I better just ignore him from now on.'
Sure enough, Oclo reached the same conclusion as everyone who got involved with Krune. This was the only possible way to not go crazy.
Oclo then allowed Krune to help him with the Star View Dishes of the day. Of course, those took longer and were harder to make, so Krune couldn't make all of them alone. At least, that made Oclo feel a little more relaxed. Between success and failures, Krune's proficiency with Star View Ingredients increased.
On the last day of work in the Heavenly Taste Restaurant, Krune rarely failed while cooking Star View Dishes.
Suddenly...
*Crack... Shatter!*
Krune looked at his token and saw it crumbling to pieces. That was the token he received after not having money to enter the city. To pay for the entrance fee, he had to work for free for a month or chose to not enter the city. Now that the token broke by itself, it meant that his thirty days of free work were over.
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