Just like the breakthrough secret realm that Lu Ran and his companions entered, even if Infinite City did not arrange the status of restaurant apprentices for them from the beginning, they still had to find a place to apprentice and learn skills.
As for other tasks, breaking through the secret realm is just like the real world. Every life has its own thoughts. Some beautiful beastmasters can quickly accumulate strength by selling their looks and clinging to the thighs of powerful people.
What matters is a very high degree of freedom.
But then again, isn’t Lu Ran selling out his “talent and potential” at this moment to entice people from the secret realm to invest?
"Okay, you continue cutting~" Shopkeeper Taki has a good eye. After investing for more than half a month, his investment will be wasted.
But after half a month, this world will disappear, so it won’t really matter…
"Okay." Lu Ran continued to cut the fruit.
Time passed little by little, and the lively banquet was about to end. Many guests ate delicious food, watched the battle, and enjoyed soul-cooling fruits before and after the meal. Today was a very refreshing day.
The banquet celebrating the Ningchuan City Lord’s breakthrough was over, and the people from Frost Moon Tower also began to return home.
After this little episode, there is only one week left before the Gourmet Hunter Association's top chef assessment.
Lu Ran and the others didn't have much time left to improve their cooking skills. In order to pass the level or get better rewards, they worked even harder.
That night, Lu Ran received a picture book from the shopkeeper Long.
It is the secret manual for practicing the precise sword technique.
The so-called measured sword technique is not a move, but more like a training method that uses specific postures to develop the brain, exercise muscles, and improve the brain's control over strength.
Lu Ran looked at the strange movements in the comic book and fell into deep thought. Why did they look so much like the radio gymnastics for primary and secondary school students?
…
“Hoo~” “Hoo~~”
In the next few days, in order to help Lu Ran practice his knife skills and to let him know more about ingredients, the ingredients sent by Frost Moon Tower were not only cheap fruits and vegetables.
Various high-quality meats, rare meats, and even whole beasts that had just died were sent to Lu Ran to help him practice his swordsmanship.
Shopkeeper Taki originally thought that this process would waste a lot of food ingredients, but perhaps because his ancestors were hunters and had to do slaughtering, Lu Ran had a strong talent for this kind of thing, so it didn't cause too much waste and he quickly got the hang of it.
In the past few days, Lu Ran and Mr. Ha’s training content has added a new activity: practicing measured sword skills. Every morning when they wake up, they have to do a few sets of radio gymnastics first.
In the boring training content, there are a few small episodes. For example, the city lord's son came to visit one day. He heard from somewhere that Lu Ran would only learn skills in Frost Moon Tower for half a month and then leave to take the special chef assessment.
He wanted to invite Lu Ran to join the Ningchuan City Lord's Mansion after the assessment was completed.
Now, the Lord of Ningchuan City has broken through level five and his pet has exceeded level 50. He is considered a strong man. It would not be a problem for him to hire a top-notch chef who is good at cooking to live in his home.
Faced with such a warm invitation, Lu Ran didn't want to offend the other party, so he could only handle it tactfully by neither accepting nor refusing.
"Lord Ningchuan is very generous, but after passing the special chef assessment, I also want to go to the holy land of chefs, Dragon Valley, to feel the might of the Holy Dragon that protects the country and see if I have the talent to become a dragon chef."
"That's why I chose the Qingling Fruit that increases my comprehension... If I can really return safely, I will consider your invitation."
"So that's how it is!" The son of the Ningchuan City Lord understood.
The next day, the City Lord's Mansion sent another three Qingling Fruits, hoping that they would be of help to Lu Ran.
"..." Lu Ran took it silently. Sure enough, no matter where you are, there are still many good people. But Lu Ran can only say that investing in this bowl of water is indeed risky and needs to be cautious...
Unless something unexpected happens in Infinite City and the system crashes, he will definitely be teleported away when the time comes. This investment by the City Lord's Mansion can only be regarded as throwing meat buns at a dog, which will never come back.
…
The banquet ended seven days later.
Lu Ran and others are about to set off to visit the Gourmet Hunter Association in Canglan Province.
Manager Taki came out personally to see them off. She was unsure about the future of the six people.
"Let's go, let's go~" The graceful shopkeeper Long said with a smile: "I hope that by then, I can hear the good news that all six of you have passed the assessment~"
"Manager Long, thank you for your care over the past half month." Lu Ran said before leaving.
"It's just a matter of taking money to do the job. You paid the tuition, so Shuangyuelou will naturally fulfill its responsibilities."
Among the six people, except Lu Ran, the other five were not confident and were not sure of success.
They also said goodbye to Shopkeeper Taki one by one, knowing that they might not come back after leaving.
"Let's go." The six people rode on the rented horses, looked at each other, and started towards Canglan City, the center of the province.
On the way, without anyone else around, the few of them started chatting again.
Shepi said, "I said, the assessment will be over in two days. We will have more than ten days of free exploration time. Do you have any plans?"
"No matter whether I can pass the test or not, I have to make good use of these ten days."
"It rhymes, but this is not a donkey, it's a horse." The mountain explorer said happily: "It's always a bit uncomfortable to ride a horse for the first time, so just ride it. You can't ride your own cat."
"Oh~" Ibeth sighed. BMW is still more comfortable to drive.
"Also, I'd like to recommend a way to make a fortune. All major cities have antique markets. You know what they are, right? It's like shopping among a pile of garbage. Normally, you'll suffer a loss, but we trial-takers have the eye for novice welfare data. Maybe we can find treasures!" said the mountain explorer.
"I've thought about that, too." He was tempted by the idea of calling a horse a zebra. This could be considered a strategy recommended by veterans of the Beast Taming Forum to newcomers.
"Random Man, what do you think?" Bai Ling asked Lu Ran, wanting to know what plans he had.
At this time, Lu Ran was still looking at the scenery along the official road as his horse galloped. He thought for a moment and said, "I heard that the Food Hunter Association in each province has recommendation quotas. They will recommend the best examinees of the current period to several holy places for practicing culinary skills. I will definitely go for this quota."
Dragon Nest... I don't know if I have a chance! Several people: "Damn, you've already been selected as the first." They were still worried about whether they could pass.
Being a chef means being willful, right?
"Okay..." Bai Ling knew this would be the answer, and was speechless. She then said, "No matter if I pass or not, I will find a place to learn cooking when the time comes."
Since this breakthrough secret realm is intended to allow the trial-takers to hone their cooking skills, Bai Ling feels that Lu Ran's choice is correct, so let's just go with it. After all, if she masters the cooking skills, she won't suffer any loss, and it will be more convenient for her to breed her own pets in the future.
Moreover, the danger level is low. For trainee beastmasters, even if the development potential of breaking through the secret realm is extremely high, there are only a few places for them to explore.
…
On that day, several people arrived at Canglan City and checked into an inn. As for the registration for the examination, Shuangyue Tower had already registered for them one by one through letters of recommendation a few days ago.
All they need to do is go to the assessment venue early tomorrow morning to participate in the first round of preliminaries.
At that time, the candidates' stay or departure will be decided through a competition of cooking skills.
It was still early, and after Lu Ran arrived in Canglan City, he did not stay in the inn. Instead, he went to find a place and used the money he had earned in the past few days to buy another Qingling Fruit.
Gathered seven fruits in total.
As for the remaining coins, Lu Ran planned to use them as travel expenses and did not spend any more.
"I wonder how Fang Lan is doing..." At this time, Fang Lan must have entered the breakthrough secret realm for some time, and Lu Ran became worried about her situation.
Will I also encounter a strange secret place like mine?
If Fang Lan also encountered the chef's secret realm, Lu Ran would be very worried about the safety of her diners...
…………
The breakthrough secret realm where Fang Lan is.
Like Lu Ran, he is also in the Star-Moon Continent and the Beast Taming Empire.
However, it was a completely different time period from Lu Ran’s.
During this period, because there were no more powerful figures like the first emperor, the God of Hunting, and the second emperor, the God of Cooking and the God of Soldiers, the empire's control over various places gradually declined.
Various folk beast-taming forces emerge one after another, and there are many sects and gangs.
At this moment, Fang Lan is in a gang and has to keep an eye on the small map distributed by Infinite City every day.
[Breakthrough mission: Kill other trialists. Kill the top three to get a chance to break through. 19/20.]
[Tip ①: The trial participants will not be truly dead if they die in this mission, and will return to normal after 30 days.]
[Tip ②: Temporarily obtain the coordinates of all trial participants.]
【Hint ③: ……】
"What are you doing?" Fang Lan had a headache. Although it might be because of the protection mechanism for newcomers, the killing of each other in this breakthrough secret realm would not really lead to death, but were they serious about letting a newbie like him go through such a cruel breakthrough secret realm?
I don’t know what the situation is like over there at Lu Ran’s place…will it be just as cruel?
At present, there are 19 people who have entered this breakthrough secret realm with Fang Lan. Now, one person has been eliminated. What these people have done is to quickly join a force. On the one hand, they want to seek protection from the force, and on the other hand, they want to use the foundation of these forces to improve their own strength.
Each trial participant is trying to find a way to quickly improve his or her status in the faction to which he or she belongs... In this way, he or she may not even have to take action himself or herself to eliminate other competitors.
Fang Lan had no choice but to join a beast-taming gang called "Gu Shen Cult" that specialized in poison after careful selection.
It's true that with the modern knowledge of toxicology summarized from various eras, Fang Lan can be said to be doing very well in the Gu God Cult, and is highly valued by the leader of the Poison Cult... and is even equipped with a personal bodyguard.
"Lady Saint, recently more and more gangs in the domain have been trying to find out about you. Our Gu Shen Cult has never been well received in Qing Domain. The news that you have become the new Saint may have been exposed. I'm afraid that the enemies of the Gu Shen Cult will do something bad to you. It's better that you don't go out in the next few days." A veiled woman reported.
"I..." Fang Lan knew that the one who wanted to harm her might not be a native, but most likely other trial participants. She curled her lips and said, "No, I want to go out... Call more people tomorrow and bring more poisonous insects. I want to see who is targeting me and see if I can catch a few unlucky guys!"
(End of this chapter)