Chapter 711: Chef Bunny Silvi (Patreon)

Chapter 711: Chef Bunny Silvi

Derek turned to watch Liora walk out, and the door slid closed behind her. After that, he turned back to Dave and smiled. "I wasn't sure how long it was going to take me to get here," he said.

"As far as I am concerned," Dave said as he stepped forward and held his hand out for Derek to shake, "you made it here exactly when you needed to. You are right on time."

Derek reached out and took Dave's hand in his own, then shook it. "I'm right on time?" he asked. "For what?"

"Oh, that's just an expression. When you get to my level, time becomes less and less relevant unless, of course, it involves something that actually has a time limit. Being close to the peak of power and knowing what I know, rushing certain things tends to bring more harm than good," Dave said as he pulled his hand away and turned back around. "Please follow me."

Suddenly, Silvi disappeared from Derek's shoulder and reappeared on Dave's. Dave didn't even balk. He continued on like nothing had happened. "Good to see you, Tasty Elf Dave!" her voice rang from her crystal as Derek followed behind.

"It is nice to see you too, Cooking Bunny Silvi," Dave replied.

"Chef Bunny Silvi," Silvi corrected.

"I apologize, Chef Bunny Silvi," Dave said with a light chuckle.

"Where is treats?" Silvi asked. "More ingredients? Cake?"

"All in good time," Dave replied. "As I previously stated, it is better not to rush some things."

"Mhm…" Silvi nodded her head slightly. "Agreed. Meat is better when cooked. Cooking takes time."

"Exactly!" Dave laughed. "Cooking is the perfect example of patience. Nobody wants a raw steak or an overly gooey cake."

"So you do have cake?" Silvi asked.

"I'm sure we can find some somewhere around here," Dave replied. "But first, I must have a chat with the two of you." Dave soon led Derek into a pretty barren room with nothing but dirt, sand, rocks, and other earth-related materials. There wasn't even any furniture around. "This is my training chamber. As you know, one way to always grow in strength is to surround yourself with affinity-related items. For me, it is anything related to earth, which is what you see here."

"I see," Derek replied.

"Please, have a seat," Dave said, and suddenly two reclining chairs appeared with a table set up between them. Dave walked over and sat in one of the chairs while Silvi hopped onto the table, on which a fluffy cushion appear on it.

"Don't mind if I do," Derek said as he, too, took a seat. Dave waved his hand, and multiple steaming beverages appeared in front of everyone. "I have access to my full inventory here, but I figured coffee would still be your preferred beverage."

"It is," Derek said as he took the cup and brought it up to his nose. The aroma was divine, so he brought it to his lips and tasted it. As soon as the liquid disappeared down his throat, he was hit with a sudden rush of energy. He felt like he could move mountains and still have energy to spare. "Whoa!" he said.

"Whoa, indeed," Dave said with a chuckle. "This is a special blend that I've had Hollis, one of my servants, working on. It is only Mythical tier, but I find the taste to be to my liking."

"Mine, too," Derek replied.

Silvi then sniffed the small bowl of liquid before her, bent her head down, and tasted it. "Too bitter," she said. "Have sugar?"

"Of course," Dave replied, and a stack of sugar cubes appeared beside Silvi's cup.

"Thanks!" Silvi half-shouted through her communication crystal. Then a cube floated up in front of her nose, and she sniffed it before opening her mouth and directing it inside. After tasting the sugar, she nodded, and three cubes floated into the air and dropped into the cup. The coffee inside then began spinning as if on its own as the cubes dissolved. She took another drink. "Perfect."

"You are becoming quite good at using telekinesis to manipulate food items, aren't you?" Dave asked.

"Have to," Silvi replied as she drank from the bowl. "No thumbs to hold ingredients with."

"That is very true," Dave replied. "But also, you obviously do not really want thumbs, as you did not gain any during your evolution, and evolution helps alter the body to your ideal image."

"Mhm…" Silvi stopped licking the beverage and glanced at Dave. "Am perfect."

"Exactly," Dave finished as a knock rang out. "Enter!"

After the command, the wall slid open once again—this time revealing an older halfling male who entered the training room wearing a matching robe to Dave's, but with a symbol of open palms embedded in the arm that Derek could only assume meant it was a servant's robe. Liora had the same symbol on her robe as well.

The halfling walked over and set a tray containing what looked like assorted snack foods on the table. He then bowed to Dave and said, "Is there anything else, Master Davenresh?"

"Yes, let me make introductions," Dave said. "Derek, this is Hollis. He is my oldest servant and has been with me for a very long time. Hollis, this man is Derek Hunt. I do consider him a friend, even with the difference in our ranks and levels, and fully expect him to reach my level one day in the future."

"Master Hunt," Hollis bowed in Derek's direction. "It is a pleasure to meet one of Master Davenresh's friends."

"No need for all the formality," Derek said as he glanced over at Dave, who just shrugged. "If it's just us and Dave doesn't mind, you can treat me as you would anybody else."

"Of course, Master Hunt," Hollis said.

"This is how he treats everyone else," Dave explained before Derek was able to say anything else about the man's actions. "Good luck getting Hollis to act more casually. I have been trying the same thing for countless years."

"Oh," Derek replied with a shrug. "In that case, it is nice to meet you too, Hollis. You can treat me in whatever way is most comfortable for you."

"Thank you, Master Hunt," Hollis replied.

"And this is Silvi Hunt," Dave gestured toward Silvi, who was already digging into a loaf of bread and a block of cheese. "She is also a new friend of mine who I hope to see as a Transcendent one day."

"M…Mistress Hunt," Hollis awkwardly bowed to Silvi. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well."

"Mhm," Silvi's voice rang out as she continued to chew. She was quite good at eating and speaking at the same time since she didn't actually have to use her mouth to speak. "Thanks for cheese, little human Hollis."

"It is my pleasure," Hollis said, and if Derek wasn't imagining it, a small smile tried to tug at his lips before he caught himself. "If there's nothing else…"

"That will be all," Dave said. "You may go." A few moments later, Hollis was out of the chamber, and the wall closed behind him. "Now… where were we?"

"Ingredients!" Silvi's voice sounded.

"We were not at ingredients," Derek replied with a snort and shook his head.

"Besides, if your affinity is as I suspect, it would ultimately be better for you to collect the ingredients yourself from monsters and adventures," Dave said to Silvi. "Excuse my… spying, but I have only found two records documenting the A-ranked Cook What You Kill skill, and those two documents only mention it in passing."

"Hmm…" Silvi paused in her eating and brought her head up. "But free ingredients taste best… hmm," she muttered again. "But killed monster ingredients taste good, too. And they will be better with higher skill progression."

"Of course," Dave said. "You're never going to be able to find all the ingredients you need as a chef just by hunting alone. You will obviously have to outsource some of them. I was just saying that, once your bond is severed and you are free to advance your own affinity how you wish, the majority of your cooking—at least the main ingredients—should come from ingredients that you have gathered yourself. You do not need to answer me if you do not wish, but from what I know about Derek and the way the system works, your primary affinity should be stalled at 50%, no?"

"Yes," Silvi answered. "Void Cooking 50%. Void 64%."

"D-did… did you say… 64%?" Dave stared at Silvi wide-eyed, then shot a look at Derek.

"Yes?" Derek replied. "That's good, right? Were you expecting more?"

"No, I wasn't expecting more!" Dave half-shouted. "I knew that it would be 50% or higher by how the Origin System acted and rewarded you. But… 64%? Are you kidding me? What are you? How old… ah… yes… uhem… the time you spent inside the void. It slipped my mind. Still, outside of the void, you have been alive for what? 30 years or so?"

"Yeah," Derek said. "Exactly that."

"That's unbelievable," Dave said. "I wish there was a way we could tell exactly how long you spent inside the void because each time I speak with you, I come away thinking that it may have been longer than what I presumed, and I adjust my presumptions."

"Yeah… I have no clue," Derek replied with a shrug. "I meditated and just stared into the black nothingness for so long that there is no way I could count it. At one point, my mind broke, and I don't know how long it took me to come back from that, either." Derek shivered just thinking about being trapped. Thinking about it didn't make him as anxious as it used to, but it was still an unpleasant experience.

"Your mind broke… hmm…" Dave replied, then paused and looked to be in deep thought. "Without healers or Ascendant-grade regeneration or higher, I can't think of anyone who has ever come back from a complete mind break. It could have been one day or a million… There is no way to know."

"All I know is that it was torturous, and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy… well… that's a lie. I'd probably just toss my worst enemy inside it and let them fend for themselves. But I certainly wouldn't wish it on anyone who isn't a proper enemy of mine," Derek said.

"I see," Dave said. "I do not know if I have said so before, but I am sorry that you had to go through such an ordeal."

"Don't worry about it," Derek said with a wave. "I made it through, and I have enjoyed myself so much more since then than I ever did before. In the end, I hate to say it, but I believe it was worth it."

"That is a very optimistic way of looking at things," Dave said. "But still… 64% already… it really is insane."

"Is it, though?"

"Yes, very much so," Dave said. "Here, let me explain. You met Aestra, correct? She brought you here from the entrance?"

"Yes, we did, and yes, she did," Derek replied.

"Well, as you know, affinity and essence gain slows as you grow stronger and reach higher levels," Dave explained. "One reason for this is that the system stops helping the system user's body convert essence, affinity, and skill gains. During the first few hundred levels someone gains, the system assists the user, and their growth can be considered rapid."

"I don't think I had that while I was in the void," Derek said.

"No, I don't either," Dave said. "I think something strange happened to you. I believe that, because of the amount of time you spent inside pure void, your body somehow began taking in your affinity closer to the way a Void Beast increases their affinity—with no assistance from any system."

"So, you're saying I'm… like a Void Beast?"

"Perhaps, but there is no real way to know," Dave said. "The best we could do is monitor your affinity growth from now on and compare how rapidly it rises to what is documented with Void Beasts. It is odd to think this way, but… it is possible that you won't have any bottlenecks or barriers that hold you back—at least, not with your affinity. That thought is quite chilling."

"But that's good, right?" Derek asked.

"It's great, as long as nobody else finds this out—especially not the Void Emperor," Dave replied. "But… back on track. Aestra is one of the most talented system users that I have met in my entire life. She could actually become a Transcendent at any point as it is, but she is stubborn and hard-headed and wants to be a user that reaches 100% affinity in lightning before she gains her final upgrade. However, even with her, to go from 50% affinity to 65% took well over a century. And to go from 65% to where she is now… I can't even count."

"Oh…" Derek said.

"Yes… oh," Dave replied. "I have half a mind to send you into a high-essence, low-risk dungeon just so you can get to Ascendant rank quickly so we don't have to worry as much about the Void Emperor."

"Yeah… I don't think I want to do that right now," Derek said. "Even if my affinity grows like that, I still need to work on my skills."

"Yes, that is the only reason I did not suggest it," Dave said.

"Oh, right!" Derek snapped his fingers as he remembered something he wanted to speak to Dave about.

"What is it?" Dave asked.

"How about…" he said as he summoned a Draconic Void Flame to his hand, then started bouncing it around between his fingers. "You tell me more about this."

A/N: No notes, haha. But I can walk again... at least for a while. So I guess one notes. Oh, two notes. Can walk again and will post more information about the Little Rock thing on Thursday.