Chương 37

The smell of roasted fish filled the clearing. Rudra sat by the campfire, happily flipping a freshwater bass in his iron skillet. He had caught it in the river while the terrifying knight was asleep. It wasn't a giant shrimp, but it would do. A quiet groan came from the grass. Rudra glanced over. Elysia was sitting up. She rubbed her head, looking completely confused. She checked her hands, then her neck. The dark purple veins were gone. The heavy, burning pain in her chest was completely muted.

"I'm alive," she whispered.

"Glad to hear it," Rudra said. He sprinkled a little salt over his fish.

"I was worried I wasted my best ingredients for nothing." Elysia snapped her head toward him. She stared at the masked guy sitting casually by the fire. He wasn't radiating any hidden power. He was just... cooking.

"What did you give me?" she asked, her voice still a bit raspy.

"Asmophel's venom isn't something you can cure with a basic health potion. Even the imperial clerics struggle against it."

"I didn't use a potion," Rudra said, pulling his fish off the heat.

"I made you soup." Elysia stared at him.

"Soup."

"Mantis shrimp and river-kelp, with some high-end salt," Rudra explained. He pulled his mask up slightly to take a bite of his fish.

"It gave you a massive vitality buff. Seemed to do the trick." Elysia watched him eat. She was speechless. Suppressing a lethal imperial poison with a food buff? It was completely absurd. It defied all logic. But as she watched him, she noticed something. He was absentmindedly spinning his wooden spatula. Then, he grabbed a wild onion and sliced it in mid-air with a small knife. His movements were incredibly fluid. There was zero hesitation, zero wasted energy. His physical control was flawless.

"Who taught you to prep ingredients like that?" Elysia asked, leaning forward. Rudra shrugged.

"Just picked it up. Practice, mostly." Elysia's eyes narrowed.

"Your technique is completely raw, but your control is perfect. You don't just cook. You understand how the materials interact. That is the exact foundation of alchemy."

"Alchemy?" Rudra tilted his head.

"I just like making things taste good." Elysia slowly stood up. She leaned against a pine tree, testing her strength. She was still incredibly weak, but she wasn't dying anymore.

"My name is Elysia," she said quietly.

"Former Second Knight of the Red Knights. I am being hunted by the Empire." Rudra cheered internally. Whoa, new Lore.

"I'm Rudra," he replied.

"And I'm just traveling."

"Rudra," Elysia nodded.

"The soup stabilized me, but the poison is still in my system. It will eventually flare up again. I need a constant supply of that high-grade vitality to stay alive while my body recovers." She crossed her arms.

"I have a proposal. Travel with me. Keep me fed with those high-tier meals. In exchange, I will teach you the imperial medical arts and proper alchemy." Rudra paused. Learning alchemy meant he could make actual stat-boosting elixirs. That was a massive advantage. Plus, traveling with a ridiculously strong knight—even a weakened one—meant he had a bodyguard. A blue window chimed in his vision. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

[Quest Generated: The Red Knight's Recovery] [Difficulty: S] [Elysia, the former 2nd Red Knight, requires your unique culinary skills to survive Asmophel's poison. Travel together and help her recover.] [Clear Condition: Successfully cook and serve 10 Epic-rated meals to Elysia.] [Reward: High-Tier Alchemy skills, Medical Knowledge,???] Rudra read the screen. Ten Epic meals? That was going to cost him a lot of rare ingredients. But the rewards were too good to pass up.

He swallowed his bite of fish and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Deal," Rudra said.

"But you're washing the dishes." Elysia stared at him. For a second, Rudra thought she was going to draw her sword again. Telling a former elite knight of the Empire to do chores probably wasn't the smartest move. Instead, she just let out a tired sigh.

"Fair enough," she said.

"I owe you my life. I can clean a pan."

"Perfect," Rudra grinned behind his mask. She sat down carefully on a nearby rock, wincing as she shifted her weight.

"If we are traveling together, your training starts immediately. Empty your pockets." Rudra blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Your ingredients," Elysia clarified.

"I need to see what we are working with. Alchemy isn't cooking. It's about extraction and combination. Show me your materials." Rudra opened his inventory. He dumped a pile of random stuff onto the grass. He had some leftover river-kelp, a few mutated goblin fangs, a chunk of black coral, and some wild herbs he picked off the side of the road. Elysia reached down and picked up a stalk of the river-kelp and a jagged goblin fang.

"When you cook, you slice things with a knife to make them easy to eat," she explained.

"But when you make medicine, a metal blade can contaminate the plant's natural purity. You lose half the potency before you even start brewing." She handed the green kelp and the bone fang to Rudra.

"Crush the kelp using the flat side of the fang," she ordered.

"Don't just smash it. Feel the fibers breaking. Control the pressure." Rudra nodded. He placed the kelp on a flat stone. Instead of pulling out his carving knife, he pressed down with the heavy goblin fang. Thanks to his high dexterity, his hands were perfectly steady. He rolled the bone firmly over the plant. A thick, bright green sap oozed out. It smelled heavily of fresh water and mana, looking totally different from the thin juice he got when he chopped it for the soup.

"See the difference?" Elysia asked.

"Yeah," Rudra muttered, genuinely impressed.

"It's way thicker. Almost like a syrup." A blue window chimed in his vision. [You have learned the basic principles of material extraction.] [Skill: Beginner Alchemy (Lv. 1) has been generated.] [Beginner Alchemy (Lv. 1)] [Passive] [Produce alchemical items that you know how to make. There is a rare probability of creating Rare rated items. -When Rare rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +2. -Reputation throughout the continent will rise by +30.] [Skill: Basic Medicine Making (Lv. 1) has been generated.] [Beginner Medicine Making (Lv. 1)] [Passive] [Produce medicinal poultices, bandages, and treatments you know how to make.. There is a rare probability of creating Rare rated medicinal items or executing a Rare rated treatment. -When Rare rated items or treatments are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +2. -Reputation throughout the continent will rise by +30.] Rudra's eyes lit up. Two new skills just from crushing a weed with a bone.

Traveling with this knight was already paying off big time.

"This is great," Rudra said, wiping his hands on a rag.

"Can we make a stat elixir now?" Elysia actually laughed. It was a dry, raspy sound.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You just mashed a plant. It takes years to brew a proper elixir." She used her longsword like a cane to push herself up. She pulled her torn crimson cape tightly around her shoulders, hiding her silver imperial armor as best as she could.

"We need to keep moving," she said, looking nervously into the dark woods.

"If Asmophel's hounds are tracking me, staying in one place is suicide."

"Right. Let's go," Rudra agreed. He quickly packed up his skillet, kicked dirt over the campfire, and slung his Epic staff over his shoulder. He didn't know exactly where they were heading, but he didn't really care. He had a ridiculously strong mentor, two brand-new skills to grind, and the perfect excuse to hunt for the craziest ingredients in the game.

"Hey, Elysia," Rudra asked as they started walking down the dirt path.

"Have you ever eaten a griffin? I hear the meat is really tough, but I bet I could tenderize it with a hammer." Elysia just shook her head, a faint smile breaking through her exhausted expression.

"Just keep walking, Rudra."