The Max-Level Chef’s Magical Town Game

Ye Mu was stunned.

She wasn’t particularly satisfied with the fried rice because it lacked proper oil. The little fat rendered from the sausage made it difficult to fry both the egg and the rice properly. The only ingredients to mask the fishy smell were green onions and ordinary rice wine, not the fragrant refined cooking wine, resulting in a very bland flavor.

Therefore, while she agreed that this dish should be more expensive than the dark cuisine found outside, she hadn’t expected it to be so costly.

To put it into perspective, all her ingredients had only cost over a hundred copper coins, and she had made two servings of fried rice, which calculated to a cost of just over fifty copper coins per serving. Selling it for two hundred copper coins meant nearly a fourfold markup.

That was an outrageous profit!

“Are you sure you want to pay this price?” Ye Mu hesitated, opening her backpack to take out the dish. As her fingers touched the icon, it transformed into food in her hands.

She placed the fried rice on the table and was surprised to find that the system had automatically calculated its value, generating a brief description window that hovered above the fried rice.

[Fried Rice With Sausage]

—Will continuously restore health points, magic points, and stamina points during consumption,

—Can restore up to 2000 health points, 2000 magic points, and 2000 stamina points (total recovery amount is affected by the quantity consumed).

Below the two lines of light yellow text was a line of small purple letters:

Easter Egg: 30% chance to trigger additional experience rewards, granting 50 to 200 experience points.

Seeing this text, Ye Mu thought: Wow, it can restore up to 2000! The highest limit for her attributes was only 500, and the magic points she had just unlocked after leveling up were capped at 100—such a waste!

Meanwhile, the others were thinking:!!!

The fire mage, Xibel, who had offered 200 copper coins earlier, was taken aback, her pupils shaking with excitement as she reached out her hand. “I’ll add 100! I’ll pay 300! How many servings do you have? We’ll take them all!”

“?” Ye Mu was increasingly confused. Observing the excitement on the faces of those in front of her, she thought for a moment and raised her hand, signaling, “Please, have a seat.”

The team members gradually realized they had behaved a little bit out of control and awkwardly sat down in the empty seats around Ye Mu, with Xibel taking the spot to her right.

Ye Mu cleared her throat. “First of all, I only have this one serving of fried rice…”

Xibel seemed worried that Ye Mu wouldn’t sell it and grasped her hand tightly. “Please, can you sell it to us? I’m begging you! If not, you can quote a price!”

“I can definitely sell it to you,” Ye Mu chuckled, “I just wanted to explain that it might not be enough for all of you.”

Xibel breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and Ye Mu continued, “As for the price, let’s stick with the 200 copper coins you just mentioned. However, in addition to the coins, I’d like to ask for your help with something.”

No one would turn down money, and she proactively chose the lower price from the two offers while making her extra request with confidence.

But from the buyers’ perspective, they were touched by her willingness to charge less, and they all nodded in agreement. “What do you need? Just tell us.”

“…Please help me get acquainted with this world,” Ye Mu said. Before they could express their confusion, she sighed, “I’ve mostly stayed at home and haven’t gone out much, this is my first time adventuring.”

The expressions of the people in front of her shifted, some found it amusing, while others understood.

Ye Mu looked at them calmly.

Although this explanation sounded absurd, it was the most acceptable. No matter what the world was like, there would always be people who stayed at home for various reasons. Especially for someone like her, who specialized in a particular skill, would naturally lead others to fill in the gaps and think that she had been practicing diligently at home.

Xibel nodded. “But where should we start?”

“For example—” Ye Mu paused, “Why are you willing to spend so much money on this fried rice?”

“Well…” Xibel looked at Ye Mu with a complicated expression, hesitantly asking, “Do you usually eat this kind of good food?”

Ye Mu replied, “To be honest, this isn’t considered good food in my meals.”

“I see.” Xibel cried out in envy, clearing her throat to explain, “If you go to the market, you’ll see what we usually eat… Not only does it taste nothing like your fried rice, but the attributes are also lower.”

“For instance, boiled meat slices can only restore 200-500 health points for a small portion, boiled vegetables restore 200-500 magic points for a small portion, rice and pancakes restore 200-500 stamina points for a small portion.”

“As for food that can randomly trigger additional experience rewards, only nobles get to eat that. We commoners have only heard about it and have never even seen it.”

Ye Mu frowned. “But for those at higher levels, this little experience doesn’t seem very useful, right?”

In the game, it was always like this: the higher you leveled up, the harder it became. Earlier, she had triggered the fried rice Easter egg and received 100 experience points, instantly leveling up from level 0 to level 1. However, for higher levels, leveling up might require hundreds of thousands of experience points, making 100 experience seem trivial.

Xibel nodded in agreement. “That’s true, but every little bit adds up. If nobles can gain additional experience from every meal, over time, they’ll be much stronger than us.”

“That makes sense,” Ye Mu acknowledged.

Xibel continued explaining, “So for adventurers at higher levels, they have to eat a lot to fully restore their stats, and it takes a significant amount of time. Otherwise, they can only rely on potions, but potions are more expensive than food, and most people can’t afford that.”

As Ye Mu listened, she mentally calculated: assuming a person’s health, magic, and stamina points were all 2000, they would need 4 portions of boiled meat, 4 portions of boiled vegetables, and 4 portions of staple food if each dish restored 500 of a single attribute.

Based on the prices she heard at the market earlier, those meat products would cost 60 to 100 copper coins, vegetables around 40 to 60, and staples food also about 40 to 60.

Looking strictly at the prices, these foods were comparable to her fried rice, but with the fried rice, just one serving could fully restore all three attributes, with the added chance of getting some extra experience.

More importantly, it tasted delicious!

The experience of enjoying “delicious food” versus “sustenance meals” was entirely different.

“I understand now.” Ye Mu glanced at the dwindling number of copper coins in her backpack, her mind racing. She pushed the fried rice in front of Xibel. “Thank you, this is for you. If you need more, I can prepare several servings tomorrow.”

Her gaze slowly swept across each member of the team. “One serving per person, priced at 200 copper coins.”

“!!!” Everyone seemed to be activated by a switch, simultaneously reaching out their money. Ye Mu smiled and accepted the payment. “Let’s meet again tomorrow at the same time.”

From how quickly everyone paid, Ye Mu further confirmed that this was a world completely dominated by dark cuisine. At least in this Dragon Town, there wasn’t much good food available, or they wouldn’t be so enthusiastic over a single serving of fried rice.

—She had met them by chance, and they didn’t know her yet but they were so excited that they didn’t even consider whether she was trying to scam them and just immediately pay in full!

Fortunately, she wasn’t a bad person and didn’t plan to deceive them.

She offered to sell them the fried rice and accepted full payment because she wanted to gather some starting capital.

About two hours ago, she had been staring at her miserable level 0 stats, convinced she wouldn’t last long. Now, she was actually thinking about ways to get rich!

For a serious chef to traverse into a world of dark cuisine, it felt like a fish in water!

Not making money would be against the natural order!

The next day, Ye Mu woke up at dawn because Xibel had told her that the market in Dragon Town was busiest at night, but there was also a brief peak in the morning when most vendors wouldn’t miss the opportunity.

In the early morning, many adventurers would restock supplies before heading out to hunt.

Ye Mu entered the market but didn’t immediately rush to a medicine stall to buy potions like she had yesterday.

She had been in such a hurry yesterday because her stamina points were critically low. Like many of her peers in the real world, she felt anxious about certain numbers, like a phone battery dropping below 20% or a prepaid card balance falling below 30 yuan.

So, when she traversed into the game world and realized that the attribute numbers here could directly determine life and death, her anxiety grew rapidly, like bamboo shoots after the rain.

…That’s why she hadn’t bothered to compare prices when she saw the number fall below 10% and had gone straight to the nearest stall to buy potions.

But now, Ye Mu had time to compare prices. Like most games, the values of these primary potions were fixed, but players had pricing freedom, so potion prices weren’t entirely uniform, but they typically fell within a certain range, although their recovery effects were exactly the same.

Ye Mu visited more than a dozen stalls and had a good grasp of the price ranges for these primary potions before turning back and heading to a medicine stall in the corner by the entrance.

The stall owner was a boy about sixteen or seventeen years old. Just like Xibel, he had set his name to be visible, which showed above his head. His name was ‘Colin’.

Judging from the blue gem embedded in his equipment, it seemed his main attribute was water magic, while alchemy was a secondary skill.

Perhaps because he’s young, he didn’t attract customers well, so although the various potions on his stall were cheaper than average, few people stopped by.

Ye Mu squatted in front of the stall and asked straightforwardly, “How much are your potions?”

Colin replied, “The primary ones are 25 copper coins, intermediate ones are 300, and advanced ones are 1000.”

Compared to the stall where Ye Mu bought potions yesterday, the prices for the primary and intermediate potions were slightly cheaper, while the price for the advanced potions remained the same.

Ye Mu now had over 1400 copper coins, which wasn’t enough to buy one of each potion. After considering her options, she carefully decided to buy 6 bottles each of the Primary Stamina Potion and the Primary Mana Potion, and additionally purchased 2 bottles of the Primary Life Potion, while getting one of each of the three intermediate potions.

“That’s a total of 1250 copper coins,” Colin quickly calculated, then paused and added, “Just give me 1200!”

“Thank you.” Ye Mu paid, added Colin as a friend, and then headed straight for the stall selling ingredients.

She gathered the rice, sausage, eggs, carrots, cucumbers, and green onions needed for fried rice, and also bought four tomatoes.

After returning to the inn, Ye Mu went into the kitchen and focused on her cooking.

The fried rice she sold needed to be prepared first, Xibel’s team had ordered five servings, plus one for herself, making a total of six servings.

With 6 bottles each of the Primary Mana Potion and Primary Stamina Potion, that meant she had enough ingredients for twelve servings of fried rice. She bought the other ingredients according to this amount, leaving her with six extra servings that she planned to sell.

Then there were the tomatoes.

Ye Mu washed them, sliced one to taste, and found the sweetness and freshness quite good. She proceeded to slice all four and then sprinkled the Primary Life Potion—which was just sugar—on top, making a sugar-coated tomato dish.

Once done, she divided them into four small plates and put them in her backpack, where the system quickly displayed their attributes.

[Sugar-Coated Tomato]

—Eating it will restore a small amount of health and mana for 2 hours.

—During the effect duration, there’s a 3% chance to resist negative effect damage.

Having never fought any monsters, Ye Mu wasn’t particularly interested in this attribute. She pouted, deciding to save one serving for Xibel and sell the other three.

At five o’clock in the evening, night fell again. The direction of the Dragon Mountain was ablaze with red clouds, and the entire Dragon Town was enveloped in the sunset glow.

The tired adventurers hurried back to the town. Most of them instinctively head straight to the market, while a few who wanted to return to their residences first drifted away from the crowd.

A pair of brothers, who had long settled in the town, passed by an alley when they suddenly caught a whiff of a peculiar fragrance. They couldn’t help but look into the alley and saw a girl selling something at the entrance of an inn, with two people already drawn in by the smell.

The two brothers exchanged glances and walked towards the stall, just in time to hear someone exclaim, “300 copper coins for a serving? Then I’ll take it all!”

The two brothers paused for a moment, then quickened their pace, only to hear the stall owner say, “Sorry, it’s a promotional phase, and there’s a limit of one serving per person.”

“Oh, I see…” The buyer sounded extremely disappointed but didn’t say anything more, silently paying the 300 copper coins.

Ye Mu handed a serving of fried rice to him. The two brothers leaned in curiously behind him like two eager huskies, asking, “Is it for eating? Selling one portion for 300? How can you dare?”

The newly-purchased customer glanced at them and proudly opened his attribute panel. “Here.”

“Whoa!!!” The brothers exclaimed in surprise, thinking it was outrageous: What was going on? Were noble foods being sold on the street?

And it was only 300 copper coins!!!

“We’ll each take a serving!!!” They quickly paid, and Ye Mu pointed to the sugar-coated tomatoes beside her. “Do you want this? You can eat it before hunting monsters tomorrow morning.”

The two brothers shifted their gaze as she spoke and, upon seeing the dish, shouted in unison, “One for each of us!!!”

Before they could finish speaking, another person was drawn in by the enticing smell. “What is that smell? So fragrant…”

In less than 15 minutes of setting up her stall, she sold out of the six servings of fried rice and three servings of sugar-coated tomatoes. When Xibel’s five-person team returned, there were still a few people crowded in the alley, with some complaining, “It’s sold out already? There were too few servings!”

“Can you make more tomorrow?!”

Ye Mu smiled cheerfully. “Sure, I’ll try to prepare more tomorrow.”

Xibel’s expression changed. “Sold out?!” She squeezed through the crowd to get to Ye Mu. “Then we…”

“I saved some for you!” Ye Mu opened her backpack and took out the remaining five servings of fried rice to hand to them, then pulled out a serving of [Sugar-Coated Tomatoes]. “And here’s a gift!”

“!!!” In an instant, Xibel’s team was overjoyed, while the onlookers watched with envy, tears of frustration streaming down their faces.

Then everyone immediately caught onto the main point: “You can still reserve some?!”

“Then we’ll reserve a serving!”

However, Ye Mu shook her head.

Now that she had sufficient starting funds, taking reservations became extra work for her, and she was too lazy to manage it.

She kindly explained to everyone, “They helped me out yesterday, so I’m giving them the privilege of reservations. If everyone reserves, I’m afraid I might make mistakes when it gets busy.”

“So, everyone can just buy normally. I’ll set up my stall at five o’clock tomorrow evening, and it’s first come, first served.”

Five o’clock! Got it!

The adventurers who missed out on today’s fried rice silently noted the time, and many started calculating their return trip, anxious not to be late.

Ye Mu said her goodbyes cheerfully, packed her things, and returned to the inn. After talking among themselves outside for a moment, Xibel’s team came in and followed up with her. Xibel cleared her throat and smiled broadly, “Thank you for the sugar-coated tomatoes! This is what we dropped from monsters today, consider it a return gift!”

Ye Mu looked up and saw:

[Fresh Pork Belly]

—Fresh pork belly restores health when consumed.

—It is recommended to cook it before eating, consuming it raw has a 50% chance of triggering negative effects.

Ye Mu glanced between them and the meat, raising an eyebrow with a serious face. “Is this a return gift, or do you all just want to eat a new dish?”

“Cough—” Caught in their intentions, all five turned red, some looking up at the ceiling, others looked down at the ground.

Xibel leaned closer to Ye Mu, trying to flatter her. “This is really a return gift. We don’t want you to make something out of it! But, um… if you use it to create a new dish that you plan to sell in the future, could you let us buy a few servings first?”

“Haha.” Ye Mu laughed and generously agreed, “Alright, I’ll give it a try!”

After all, she wouldn’t be at a loss, pork was much more expensive than the [Sugar-coated tomatoes]. This square piece of pork belly would sell for 70 to 80 copper coins in the market, and she didn’t know how many dishes she could make from it.

Moreover, she was planning to experiment with new seasonings, which were those intermediate potions.

Thinking about these “new seasonings,” Ye Mu found it absurd—this was clearly a world rich in spices, yet people had to stubbornly stick to bland cooking, seemingly unaware of the use of salt, as if there were some bug in their brains.

But then again, she thought, this was also normal.

Because what she viewed as “seasonings” were merely seen as “potions” by others.

It was like how cold medicine granules could be sweet and fragrant, but you would never use them in cooking,

Or how the syrup made from fritillary bulbs tasted better than honey, yet you wouldn’t use it to roast chicken wings.