Chapter 91: The Early Bird Catches the Worm

Lukan ignored the chef’s muttering and immediately lowered his head to check the system message.

“Congratulations, you have obtained the one-of-a-kind cooking formula: Ancient Secret Seasoning — Insanely Spicy Red Pepper Paste.”

When reputation reaches the highest level of intimacy, the type of one-of-a-kind recipe obtained is random. Across the world, once the number of players who have acquired a unique recipe reaches a certain threshold, this hidden quest can no longer be triggered, which makes it exceedingly valuable.

“Insanely Spicy Red Pepper Paste
Relic-grade, unique
Cooking formula
Requirement: Cooking skill level 2 or higher
Remaining uses: 1
Use: Teaches you how to make Insanely Spicy Red Pepper Paste.
Remaining uses: 5
Ingredients: red peppers from Dragon Basin, spring water, autumn fish roe, floral oil...
Effect: When added to any cooked dish, increases the dish’s buff effect by 50% and extends its duration by 100%.
This formula cannot be taught or upgraded.
‘Don’t worry, it’s only mildly spicy.’”

It was actually an enhancement formula? Ha!

Lukan could not help but laugh aloud. Very good. Very, very good.

This thing had a vast range of uses. For example, if one added a portion of it to charcoal-grilled smoothshell crab, the buff would rise from increasing hit chance by one percent to increasing it by one and a half percent.

And because the effect was improved by a percentage, its growth potential was quite remarkable. In the future, as better recipes became available, the returns from this formula would rise along with them.

Unfortunately, Lukan’s cooking skill was not high enough yet, so he could not see its actual effect for the moment. He immediately set off for the bank, planning to store the formula first and, while he was at it, take some cooking ingredients to train his skill.

Along both sides of the main road were many intersecting, winding alleys, which in the cover of night seemed mysterious and a little frightening.

“Friend, care for something exciting?”

“Absolutely rare magical items, brave adventurer, are you sure you don’t want to come in and take a look?”

...

In the darkness, almost every alley concealed several shadowy figures, who lowered their voices and sold their “precious goods” to passing players.

Most of them were crooked NPC merchants, peddling contraband: stolen valuables, alchemical products involving dark magic, and many goods forbidden for sale in Lava Fortress, among others.

Because they did not dare show their faces in daylight, the whole place became a paradise for black-market dealers once night fell, and many players happily came here to try their luck and hunt for bargains.

Though more often than not, the players ended up being swindled by the shrewd merchants.

Right then, one human merchant’s hand nearly reached Lukan’s face. The glittering jewels dangling from his fingers shone brilliantly beneath the street’s magical torches.

Lukan had no choice but to stop and glance at the gem in the other man’s hand, smiling as he said, “Such a huge deep-water sapphire would be enough to buy half of Lava Fortress, wouldn’t it?”

Hearing the mockery in Lukan’s tone, the other man knew he had been exposed, but he showed no embarrassment at all. Instead, he grinned and said, “Heh, you can tell at a glance that you’re an expert. I’ve got other good stuff here too...”

“No need.”

Lukan cut him off directly, walked past him, and muttered, “If it were Mungo’s wares, I’d still take a look...”

The human merchant froze for a moment at those words, then could not help curling his lip as he said disdainfully, “Then I’m afraid sir will be disappointed, because you’ll never see Mungo again.”

“Oh?”

Lukan stopped in his tracks and turned back, frowning as he stared at the merchant. “What do you mean? You know where Mungo is?”

The merchant merely gave a sly chuckle and did not answer. Lukan walked back and studied him carefully.

The man was not tall, and he was hidden beneath a loose black cloak. That was the usual attire of most black-market dealers. The other man was also studying Lukan, his eyes flickering now and then with a cunning light.

Lukan knew this kind of NPC all too well. With a smile, he said, “What’s your name?”

“You can call me Black Fox,” the human merchant replied cautiously, lowering his voice.

“Black Fox... Heh. Fate must have brought us together. Take this.”

As he spoke, Lukan produced a small pouch of silver coins and tossed it over, then smiled and said, “Tell me what you know about Mungo. If I confirm afterward that what you told me was true, I’ll pay you double.”

Black Fox caught the pouch, plucked out a silver coin, flipped it in his hand, then bit hard into it. His eyes instantly lit up with excitement.

Genuine silver coins!

“Sir, you are truly generous. May the Lady of Smiles always favor you.” The sly look on Black Fox’s face immediately turned into a flattering grin, and he spoke to Lukan with great respect.

The Lady of Smiles was the goddess of luck in the game, Tamora. Lukan paid no mind to the flattery and simply said, “Mungo. Tell me about him.”

“Yes, yes. Look at my memory...” Black Fox smacked his forehead and cheerfully began explaining.

It turned out that just last night, Mungo, who had vanished for several months, suddenly appeared in the black market and claimed to have obtained several priceless treasures, which he wanted to sell to a few major buyers.

Black Fox, being a black-market merchant himself, was as curious as the others, and secretly coveted the treasures in Mungo’s hands. So in the middle of the night, he and several companions found the place where Mungo was hiding.

But before they could make a move, a squad of well-equipped guards suddenly appeared and, with lightning speed, seized Mungo from the room, then thoroughly searched the place where he had been hiding.

Black Fox and his companions witnessed the entire scene firsthand and were badly shaken. After the guards left, the group hastily searched Mungo’s hiding place but found nothing, so they quickly departed.

Lukan listened quietly to Black Fox’s account, frowning in thought, then asked, “Did you get a clear look at the guards’ uniforms?”

Black Fox thought for a moment and replied, “Their equipment was excellent, but they didn’t seem like the guards of Lava Fortress. Their armor was dark gray, and there was a red triangular insignia on the pauldrons, but it was too dark to see clearly at the time...”

Lukan quickly ran through the possibilities in his mind: a red triangular insignia... a military emblem, or a family crest?

“Thank you.”

Lukan nodded at Black Fox and turned to leave. Seeing this, Black Fox hurriedly said, “Hey, sir, if you want to find me later, just ask around any black market for Black Fox...”

By then, Lukan had already walked a long way off. Without looking back, he raised a hand in farewell, and his figure soon vanished into the darkness.

After a while, other voices drifted out of the alley.

“Black Fox, still staring? He was only teasing you. Why would he ever come back to pay you?”

As soon as the words fell, laughter erupted from the alley. Clearly, quite a few people had heard the exchange between Lukan and Black Fox.

Black Fox let out a cold snort at that, ignored his fellow merchants behind him, and shrank deeper into his loose black cloak, patiently waiting for the next customer.