Ice Snow Leopard meat was simply too tough. With ordinary cooking methods, there was no way to tenderize it properly. Even if one used special techniques to soften it by force, the flavor would still be mediocre at best.
A chef could enhance an ingredient's taste through seasoning, but they could not fundamentally change what the ingredient was.
Even a top-tier chef like Setsuno couldn't turn spoiled ingredients into a delicious dish. That was because they lacked the ability to alter an ingredient's essence itself. Kael, however, could do exactly that.
By using qi, he changed the ingredient's nature, improving both its texture and flavor. Of course, this change was limited strictly to taste. Kael couldn't use qi to directly enhance the ingredient's grade or level.
Otherwise, he could've exploited that loophole to boost his own strength at lightning speed. That wasn't possible—at least not now. His qi simply wasn't strong enough yet. Maybe once it reached a certain level, such feats would become possible.
No one really knew.
After all, even legends like Xu Ling had never pushed qi to that height. Their lifespans had ultimately limited its growth.
Kael was different.
Qi had formed a direct connection with his Gourmet Cells. Every time his Gourmet Cells evolved, his qi rose along with them. That alone guaranteed he would eventually surpass Xu Ling.
As for what the future would look like—even Kael himself didn't know.
At this moment, though, he had already finished modifying the Ice Snow Leopard's meat. What had once been nearly inedible had now become an exceptionally delicious ingredient.
"Is this another special ability of your Gourmet Demon?"
Setsuno couldn't help asking. To her, such a power felt like something only a Gourmet Demon would possess. After all, Gourmet Demons came in all kinds, with all sorts of bizarre abilities. Something like this wasn't impossible.
To be honest, Setsuno was more than a little jealous. This ability was practically tailor-made for a chef.
"A Gourmet Demon's ability? No," Kael said with a smile. "This is something I learned later on."
He had done this on purpose—using qi right in front of Setsuno. His goal was simple: to gain more benefits.
The earlier deal had only earned him some ingredients, an identity, and a preliminary relationship with Setsuno. That didn't mean he was satisfied.
Setsuno had lived for centuries. She was an old legend, and in the Human World, her cooking skills were unquestionably number one.
Naturally, Kael wanted to learn from her.
Sure, maybe he could eventually figure things out on his own. But learning directly from Setsuno would dramatically shorten his growth curve.
Then there was Master Jiro.
Kael wasn't just a chef—he was also a capable Gourmet Hunter. If he could learn knocking techniques from Jiro, that would be invaluable.
Kael was more than tempted by those techniques.
"Something you learned later on? To think a technique like that even exists…" Setsuno paused, then smiled knowingly. "You're a clever one. So—what are you planning to trade for it this time?"
As someone who'd lived for centuries, Setsuno immediately understood his intent.
If Kael hadn't wanted to reveal this ability, he could've simply brushed it off as ingredient processing.
But instead, he'd deliberately demonstrated it in front of her—and even emphasized that it wasn't tied to a Gourmet Demon, but something that could be learned.
There was no doubt about it. He wanted to pique her interest.
"You really are sharp," Kael said with a grin. "You saw right through me. I'll be straightforward. I'll teach you this technique, and in exchange, you teach me some cooking skills. How about it?"
He never expected a trick like this to fool Setsuno.
From the start, this had been an open play.
Kael knew himself well. Being a transmigrator who knew the plot didn't mean he automatically gained experience or wisdom.
He never treated others like idiots. In his eyes, there were plenty of people sharper than him, and far more experienced. He had no intention of getting arrogant over that.
That was why he'd deliberately revealed qi to Setsuno. And just as deliberately, he never expected to hide his intentions.
So when Setsuno called him out, he didn't feel the slightest bit awkward.
"A fair trade," Setsuno said after a moment. "I accept."
From her perspective, she'd simply be teaching Kael a few things.
And Kael was undeniably a genius—he'd already raised Food Honor to the proficient level.
Teaching someone like that was no burden at all.
Kael smiled. His goal had been achieved.
If possible, he even wanted to take her as a master.
He had none of that transmigrator arrogance. Cheat or not, he didn't think that gave him the right to look down on anyone. Setsuno was more than qualified to be his teacher.
If she showed any interest, he wouldn't hesitate to formally become her disciple.
That was for later, though. For now, their relationship was still purely transactional.
After that, Kael explained the concept of qi to Setsuno in detail.
Teaching her qi was, in a way, an experiment.
He was curious about the relationship between qi and Gourmet Cells.
Kael himself had mastered qi, and thanks to his Gourmet Cells, it had been growing rapidly.
But what about Setsuno, whose cell level was already in the thousands?
Once she mastered qi, would it instantly swell to terrifying levels? Or would it grow slowly, step by step, since it hadn't evolved alongside her Gourmet Cells?
"According to what you've said, even if I master qi, I won't be able to imbue it with many attributes. That's a shame," Setsuno said after listening.
Qi fascinated her—but it also disappointed her a little.
In the Gourmet World, chefs weren't classified the same way as in the Cooking Master Boy world. But in essence, it was just a difference in naming.
Based on Kael's explanation, Setsuno reorganized the chef rankings.
In the Gourmet World, chefs—like restaurants—were ranked from one star to ten stars.
One to three stars corresponded to low-, mid-, and high-level chefs in the Cooking Master Boy world.
Four and five stars were equivalent to Special-Grade Chefs.
Six and seven stars matched Lin Chefs.
Eight and nine stars were Dragon Chefs.
Ten stars represented Supreme Dragon Chefs.
Beyond that, there was no official classification.
Setsuno herself had long surpassed the ten-star level.
According to her, everything beyond ten stars was divided into smaller stages.
The first stage was called "Pathfinding." Once a chef surpassed ten stars, they had to find their own unique culinary path.
The Phoenix Eight Immortals and the Big Four from the Cooking Master Boy world were all at this stage.
The second stage was "Ascent." Once a chef found their path, they would continuously climb along it.
The third stage was "Summit."
Setsuno herself was currently at this stage.
As for what lay beyond that, even she didn't know.
But she had seen one person reach it.
That person was the God Chef—Frohze.
Frohze was truly ruthless.
Putting aside the rest of the Earth's Full Course Menu, just the ingredient GOD alone was absurdly difficult to cook.
In the original story, the Nitro needed human sacrifices to prepare GOD. That was why they kept capturing humans.
Even on the Sixth Continent, in the Blue Nitro-controlled region, the leader Slime had sacrificed disabled individuals just to cook a fragment of GOD.
Frohze was different.
She didn't use the Nitro's method.
Nor did she rely on hearing GOD's voice like Komatsu did.
Instead, she chose the simplest—and most brutal—approach.
She forcibly cooked GOD using her divine cooking techniques.
The result nearly killed her.
Not just physical damage—her soul was heavily injured as well.
Now that Setsuno explained it, it made sense. Frohze must have reached a higher realm altogether.
What that realm was, Setsuno didn't know.
In the entire world, only Frohze had ever reached it.
Not even the immortal Nitro could.
Despite their endless lifespans and vast intelligence, their racial limits seemed sealed.
The Blue Nitro were powerful on Earth, but individually, they were weaker than the Eight Kings.
And in the universe at large, the Eight Kings weren't even that special.
Immortality without limitless growth—no wonder the Blue Nitro eventually became high-tier cannon fodder.
Kael was curious about Frohze's true height, but that was far beyond his current reach.
After all, he was still just a Dragon Chef.
Translated into Gourmet World terms, he was at the peak of nine stars.
The two chatted as they finished their dishes.
"Hm?" Setsuno raised an eyebrow after tasting Kael's cooking. "Your skills aren't as simple as you claimed. Fundamentally, you're at nine stars—that's true. But within the ten-star level, no one could beat you."
"You've compensated for the gap in rank with other aspects. If you weren't deliberately holding yourself at nine stars, you could've already entered the Pathfinding stage."
Even reaching nine stars at Kael's age was astonishing. But she'd still underestimated him.
Her own disciple, Nono, was already a ten-star chef—but in pure cooking skill, he wasn't Kael's equal.
She'd seen people fight above their rank before.
But surpassing more than an entire level?
This was her first time.
"It's mainly thanks to Food Honor and the special nature of qi," Kael said calmly.
He knew full well how abnormal he was.
If a cheat couldn't fight above their level, it wouldn't be much of a cheat at all.
"Qi plays the bigger role," Setsuno said with a sigh. "I've seen plenty of chefs with proficient Food Honor, but none like you. This qi ability is truly terrifying."
She was already considering taking him as a disciple.
Kael was simply too absurd.
Judging by his bone age, he was only a little over twenty.
Reaching the Pathfinding stage at that age was downright unbelievable.
Among the younger generation, the strongest chefs were barely ten-star—and breaking into Pathfinding took a very long time.
Even Komatsu, in the original story, never surpassed Setsuno in pure cooking skill.
He succeeded because he could hear the voice of ingredients.
That voice was the best teacher there was.
With it, Komatsu could be guided step by step on how to cook even the most impossible ingredients.
Others had to rely entirely on raw skill.
So in the end, Komatsu's actual chef rank wasn't that high.
What Kael was showing now was the highest talent Setsuno had ever seen among the younger generation.
And with qi on top of that?
She couldn't even imagine where his cooking would ultimately reach.
She even felt that Kael might have a chance to step into the realm Frohze once stood in—the realm Setsuno herself had chased for centuries, yet never touched.
How could she not be tempted?
Still, she suppressed the urge to take him as a disciple.
She didn't know what kind of person Kael truly was yet.