Chapter 92: Cooking Maxed Out Meatballs

If someone had told Lus a few months ago that he would choose to spend what might be his last day on the Argo in the kitchen, he would have thought they needed mental help.

And yet, here he was, using his last free afternoon before what was likely going to be the most dangerous mission of his life to cook.

He still had two power burgers in the freezer, but they looked a little questionable. He also had quite a few revelation cakes. Which he couldn't think of any use for, but he was going to take them just in case. He only had a few cookies, another food he wasn't sure he was going to find any use for.

"So… more Power Burgers," he murmured. "Beginner's Luck Soup is a must." He pulled up the [Recipes] tab and scrolled through the rather short list, talking to himself as he went.

"Galloping Scallops would be very helpful… too bad we don't have any scallops on hand. Definitely don't need Tasty Buns or Simple Sweet and Savory Sandwich."

Lus then pulled up the [Recipes] tab and clicked on the list of new recipes he hadn't purchased yet. He had enough XP to buy two of them, if he could just figure out which would be the most helpful.

[Happy Hushers]

[Maxed Out Meatballs]

[Peerless Tamo Soup]

[Fiery Fried Kechin]

[Jamming Sandwich]

He quickly eliminated the Happy Hushers and Jamming Sandwich, since neither of those sounded particularly helpful. Maxed Out Meatballs seemed like an obvious first choice, so he quickly selected and bought that one.

Now he just had to choose between Peerless Tamo Soup and Fiery Fried Kechin. Fiery and Peerless were both unhelpful descriptors, giving him no real idea of what the foods would do. He was about to just give up and save his XP when a voice surprised him.

"I believe the Fiery Fried Kechin will best suit your needs."

Lus spun in surprise to find Leviathan's cartoonish scowl watching him from the screen on the Interbox.

"Um, thanks," he answered a little uncertainly. The demon had been everything except helpful up to this point, so he didn't know how to interpret this sudden hint.

"If you die, I'll be stuck here for eternity. Or someone will find me and turn me over to some demon hunter. I've learned enough about this universe to realize that you're much more helpful to me alive." The demon was clearly trying to come up with an excuse for his unusual behavior, but Lus wasn't about to refuse the help.

"I appreciate that," he answered, quickly purchasing the Kechin recipe. He glanced back, wondering if Leviathan was waiting for him to say something else, but the screen had gone dark.

Shrugging off the strange interaction, Lus turned his attention to his new recipes. He almost scrolled right to the ingredients and instructions, but remembered that he needed to know what they did. 

He started with the Fiery Fried Kechin. The paragraph was shorter than any of the other food's ability descriptions.

'Fiery Fried Kechin will endow you with the power of fire, as well as making you temporarily immune to burns.'

Lus frowned thoughtfully. He wasn't sure exactly how that would be useful, but he could certainly see it coming in handy if he needed a distraction or a weapon.

The Meatballs had a little more information.

'Maxed Out Meatballs are a great stat boost. When eaten, they increase each of your top five stats by [+5] each, making you an even better version of yourself.'

Lus thought back through his stats. His top five were luck, health, speed, intelligence, and charm. Having each of those boosted by 5 would be incredibly useful.

He then checked the actual ingredients and directions. The Meatballs used ground Gervin meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, and seasonings, all of which he had on hand.

The Kechin took a lot of Elsha Oil, along with Kechin and various seasonings and breadcrumbs, milk, and eggs.

Since the Meatballs appeared to bake, he decided to start on those and do the Power Burgers at the same time, and then he could work on the Fried Kechin while the Meatballs were in the oven.

Lus had never had Meatballs before himself, but he had seen them on cooking shows before. They always looked really good.

Pulling the ground Gervin out of the Interbox, he weighed out the amount he needed for the Meatballs and put it in a bowl, then weighed out enough for the Power Burgers and put that in a different bowl.

To the Meatball bowl, he added eggs, breadcrumbs, dried onnin, dried harvic, peppin, and salt. The recipe suggested mixing it by hand, so he gritted his teeth against the squishy, slimy mess and plunged his hands in.

Once he had everything evenly mixed, he took a break to wash his hands and get out a baking sheet, which he greased. He then rolled the meat mixture into balls and popped them into the preheated oven.

While they baked, he started on the sauce that he hadn't noticed. He had to melt some butter in a pan, then add flour. Next came brown broth, which he thankfully was able to make with some powdered brown broth.

He took the meatballs out while the sauce was thickening and turned them over, then popped them back into the oven.

Once the sauce had thickened, he added salt and peppin, along with some pasil. He took it off heat and gave it a taste just as the timer went off for the meatballs.

They were brown on the outside and sizzled in small pools of fat. He let them cool next to the sauce for a bit while he set to work on the Power Burger meat.

After he'd mixed in the seasonings to the meat, he separated it into four patties and set them back in the bowl. He then washed his hands and quickly prepared the toppings for the burgers. He shredded some fresh kabrage, sliced tamos, and made up the sauce.

With the toppings ready, he heated a pan and set to work cooking the patties. This went quickly and he soon had four Power Burgers assembled.

[Cooking Complete]

[XP Gained: 100]

Since the meatballs were cooled, he plopped them into the sauce and mixed them around.

[Cooking Complete]

XP Gained: 100]

He hadn't even thought about how much XP he'd get from cooking all these System recipes. That would give him more of a well to draw from if he needed any new [Skills] while he was on his mission.

Lus sighed and glanced up at the clock. He still had another two hours in the kitchen before he needed to worry about someone else coming in. That was plenty of time to make Beginner's Luck Soup and Fiery Fried Kechin.

He was just measuring out the flour for the pasta when his stomach let out a loud rumble. Glancing around, his eyes fell on the pot of meatballs in sauce. There was plenty for his trip, even if he took a little sample.

Finishing up the flour, he grabbed a clean fork and stabbed one of the meatballs covered in light brown sauce. He lifted it and popped it into his mouth.

[+5 Luck]

[+5 Intelligence]

[+5 Health]

[+5 Speed]

[+5 Charm]

Meaty flavor burst on his tongue. The meatball was soft with a bit of chew. The sauce added another layer of savory flavor over the crisp outside.

"Mmmm." He chewed and swallowed, then bit his lip and, before he could rethink his choice, ate two more of the delicious meatballs.

With his hunger somewhat satiated, he threw the fork in the sink and went back to work on the soup. Even though he had made neither pasta nor soup for quite a while, the familiar steps quickly came back to him.

As he worked, he thought about how far he had come. This soup had felt a very difficult undertaking when he first got his System. Now, after his work as a line cook and all the difficult foods he'd prepared for the System, making the soup was more relaxing than challenging.

Soon enough, he had the broth boiling in the auto-pot with the Kechin, vegetables, and noodles. He left it to finish and pulled up the Fiery Fried Kechin recipe.

This required four thawed Kechin breasts. There weren't any in the Interbox, so he had to pull them out of the Nitrobox.

"How do I thaw these quickly?" he wondered.

[Use the Microwave heater]

Nodding, he put them in and found a button he'd never noticed before that was specifically marked 'Defrost'. It asked for the weight of the Kechin and he made his best guess, then checked the soup while that started.

He turned off the auto-pot when he found the noodles and vegetables soft. 

[Cooking Complete]

[XP Gained: 100]

Just then, the Microwave Heater beeped, calling him over to turn over the Kechin.

Lus did so, then began preparing the rest of the recipe. He had to beat a few eggs in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, he mixed flour, red peppin, salt, black peppin, and harvic.

He had never used red peppin before and he had to dig through the seasonings cupboard to find it, taking a break to pull out the thawed Kechin breasts. 

Finally, he had to pour out breadcrumbs on a plate.

With everything finally ready, he reached for one of the Kechin breasts to get started, only to be stopped by his [Chef's Intuition]

[Get oil heating]

Pausing, Lus turned and got a deep pot out. He filled it with enough oil to submerge the Kechin, as per the instructions, and turned on medium heat under it.

With that set, he began working on the Kechin. He took the first breast and laid it in the flour mixture to coat it. He then dipped it in the beaten eggs, trying to get the egg to stick all over. Last, it went in the breadcrumbs.

He did the same with the other three, setting them all on a dry plate to wait.

Using a thermometer, he checked the oil and found it nearly in the temperature range he needed. He waited another few minutes, tidying up some of the dirty dishes, then checked again. It was still low, so he turned up the heat and continued cleaning up.

On his next check, Lus found the oil finally up to the proper temperature.

Grabbing one of the Kechin breasts, he slid it carefully into the hot oil and stepped back as it began to bubble. He watched it for a moment, intrigued by the way the oil seemed to fizz around the food as it cooked.

[Set a timer]

The notification snapped him out of his thoughts and he quickly set a timer. While he waited, he got a clean plate ready for the finished Kechin and a thermometer to measure the temperature and make sure it was safe to eat.

When the timer went off, he hurried to the pot of oil, only to realize that he hadn't gotten any kind of implement to lift the Kechin out of the oil. Shaking his head at himself, he hurried to one of the utensil drawers and grabbed a pair of metal tongs. He used them to fish the now golden-brown Kechin breast from the oil and set it on the plate, then put another of the raw ones in.

He set another timer, then stuck in the thermometer into the finished Kechin and found it well above the proper temperature.

The hot, fresh, friend Kechin sat there, tempting him. With nothing pressing left to do, he found himself just staring at the crispy-looking, steamy piece of meat, his mouth watering and his stomach grumbling.

"What's the harm in taking a taste?" he wondered aloud. Then he remembered the description of the power and hesitated. Did he really want to find out what being endowed with the power of fire looked like here, in the kitchen? It sounded like something best tested somewhere very open and… fireproof.

To help himself avoid temptation, he began putting away some of the food he had finished. He slid the assembled Power Burgers into small, individual bags. Then the timer went off and he fished out the second Kechin breast and gently laid in the third. The second was still up to temp, but a little lower and lighter colored than the first, so he turned the heat up just a bit to make sure they cooked through.

He then put the meatballs and sauce in a container that was durable enough to handle travel without being in danger of breaking. He moved a few more dishes to the sink, then the timer went off again.

While the last Kechin breast cooked, Lus got the Beginner's Luck Soup out of the Auto-Pot and into another durable container. He set it on the counter to cool just as the last timer went off. Tossing the last Kechin breast with the others on the plate, he turned off the heat under the oil.

[Cooking Complete]

[XP Gained: 100]

Lus smiled as he slid the Power Burgers into the Interbox, making sure to hide them near the back so they wouldn't get stolen. He then moved in the container of Maxed Out Meatballs.

The container of Beginner's Luck Soup was cool enough, so that went in next. Finally, he slid the Fiery Fried Kechin into another bag and added that to his stash.

Surveying the results of his work, he smiled. Maybe- just maybe- he'd survive this mission after all.