Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 43 (Patreon)

Chapter 43: Outlook

The architecture in Meteor Street was generally similar, blocky and featureless.

The church stood out among the many buildings, like a crane among chickens.

Luo wandered alone in the church, looking for the kitchen.

After wandering around for a good while, he still couldn't find the place.

As he walked along the corridor, he happened to meet a middle-aged woman dressed in a nun's habit coming towards him, and Luo stopped her to ask which direction the kitchen was in.

Guided by the middle-aged nun, Luo finally found the kitchen.

Entering through the main door, there was a wooden table against the wall, covered with various utensils, and to the right was a stone sink.

Luo walked into the kitchen, looked to the left, and saw a regular stove with a black iron pot on it, and a large rice cooker beside it.

At first glance, he thought the kitchen was a backward ancient one, but the presence of a large rice cooker next to the stove was strikingly out of place.

A few steps away from the stove was a fireplace, equipped with a peculiar black grill rack, presumably used for making smoked meat.

The kitchen wasn't large, and there was no one around.

Luo scanned the room, noting that it had all the essentials, but he wasn't sure if the spices were fully stocked.

"Nobody's here, making it awkward for me to just start using the place," he thought.

Luo moved to the corner next to the stove, where there was a pile of potatoes, seemingly the main ingredient.

He glanced at them, then shifted his gaze, flipping through the bottles and jars on the stove.

"This is salt."

"It would be good if there's oil."

"Hm? This is vinegar, and... is this chili?"

Luo took a white, sharp pepper from a clay jar and examined it closely.

It looked similar to Earth's sharp peppers but was white, which seemed odd.

The items on the stove were mainly spices and auxiliary ingredients.

Hesitant for a moment, Luo popped the sharp pepper into his mouth and chewed. Instantly, a strong spicy flavor exploded in his mouth.

"That's potent." Luo was stunned, didn't continue chewing, and swallowed the white sharp pepper whole, then exhaled deeply.

He could have spit it out, but Luo had a habit of not wasting any food that went into his mouth, no matter how bad it tasted.

"I thought there would only be salt and oil at most, I underestimated this place."

Luo wiped the sweat off his forehead, walked excitedly towards the cabinet against the wall, curious to see what else was inside.

"Who allowed you to come in?"

Just as Luo was about to rummage through the cabinet, a dull and displeased voice came from the doorway.

Luo stiffened, retracted his hand from the cabinet, slowly turned around, and offered an awkward smile, feeling like a thief caught in the act.

At the doorway stood a chubby middle-aged man with a wide waist, wearing a sleeveless shirt and black pants, with a broad kitchen knife on his belt, sporting a face of benign appearance but with a hint of ferocity.

That questioning voice was full of displeasure, even the benign appearance seemed somewhat fierce.

Intruding into someone else's territory, Luo was at fault and immediately showed a sorry expression, explaining to the chubby middle-aged man, "I wanted to borrow the kitchen for a bit, but there was no one here when I arrived."

The chubby middle-aged man, without a word, drew his broad kitchen knife, looking threatening.

This posture made Luo freeze for a moment, wondering if this was another person knowledgeable in Nen abilities.

With the thought, Luo gathered aura in his eyes and looked at the chubby middle-aged man.

He saw a faint aura flowing out from the man's body, indicating he was not a Nen user.

Luo relaxed slightly. If he wasn't a Nen user, things would be easier.

Thinking this, Luo took out some money from his pocket, explaining, "Don't be upset, I'm not using it for free. I'll pay."

The chubby middle-aged man glared, said nothing, and charged at Luo with the kitchen knife raised.

"Why the trouble?"

Seeing this, Luo sighed, dodged the man's attack, and with a minimal amount of aura in his hand, chopped at the back of his neck.

With a thud, the chubby middle-aged man fell cleanly to the ground, unconscious, the kitchen knife in his hand not dropping.

"This isn't my fault."

Luo muttered to himself, continued to search the cabinet, but didn't find anything exciting, only a few pieces of smoked meat. Finding chili and soy sauce vinegar was already a stroke of luck.

"Let's make potato shreds with smoked meat."

With limited ingredients, that seemed to be the only option.

Luo picked a few good-looking potatoes from the pile, then washed them at the sink with water scooped from a large water tank nearby.

After preparing some water in a bowl and placing it beside the stove, he then took the potatoes and a piece of smoked meat to a wooden chopping board.

"Where's the knife?"

Luo was about to slice the potatoes and smoked meat but couldn't find the kitchen knife. He turned back to look at the chubby middle-aged man on the ground, or more precisely, at the kitchen knife still in the man's hand.

Scratching his cheek, Luo walked over to the man, squatting down to try and pull the knife from his grip.

"Hmm?"

After several attempts, Luo couldn't remove the knife from the man's hand.

"Oh, my goodness."

Seeing that the imposing kitchen knife was immovable, Luo sighed and gave up, walking back to the stove. Without a knife, he decided to use God's Hand to deal with the potatoes and smoked meat, which would also serve as good practice for his control.

Previously, Luo used his omniscient magic hand to fool Hisoka, but in reality, his ability known as God's Hand was true to its name, earning the title of being capable of anything.

However, to truly unleash the power of God's Hand, not only does one need exquisite control, but also a substantial amount of aura.

Luo, with the aid of the White Smoke script, had the potential to train all six types of Nen to one hundred percent efficiency. Depending on the characteristics of each Nen type, God's Hand could produce various unique effects.

Even if unable to produce other effects, it was possible to develop abilities from other Nen types.

Human talent is limited; aligning with one's inherent attribute allows one to maximize their Nen ability. Seeking a different path usually results in inefficiency.

Typically, a Nen user spends all their innate talent to develop a single Nen ability. Developing abilities in two types usually leads to mediocrity.

But Luo was different. Since arriving in this world, he broke free from conventional limitations, becoming a uniquely exceptional existence.

If one day he trained all six types to one hundred percent, he might be able to directly copy someone else's Nen ability by understanding their method of operation.

This possibility, based on exquisite control, even applies to God's Hand, which significantly tests one's control skills.

Slicing the potato into symmetric strips was challenging, not something easy to contemplate. This wasn't deliberate training, but Luo wanted to seriously try it.

Placing a potato on the chopping board, Luo took a deep breath, focusing intently.

"First, I need to peel it."

He extended his hand above the potato, concentrating aura to form a transparent white sphere about the size of a basketball.

"If I compress the area further, it should be much easier to control. Conversely, if I expand the area, it would be nearly impossible to manage."

In theory, as long as Luo's aura was sufficient, he could expand the range of God's Hand, similar to how En works in Nen techniques.

Luo's intent moved, compressing the basketball-sized white sphere to the size of a small ball, then slowly pressed it towards the potato.

The white sphere enveloped the potato, and under Luo's careful control, slowly peeled off the outer skin.

After about a minute, the skin was completely peeled off.

Chasing control meant sacrificing efficiency. Moving forward, while maintaining this level of control, he aimed to increase his speed.

Having peeled the potato, Luo exhaled, thinking that he should regularly practice his control; otherwise, at this speed, it would be impractical in combat.

He pushed the potato peels aside, ready to separate the potato into symmetric strips, a task seemingly more difficult than peeling.

"Peeling was easy enough; slicing it into strips shouldn't be too hard either."

Luo once again pressed the white sphere towards the bare potato.

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