A Recipe for Chaos

Tae-hyun organized his thoughts one by one. The weapons he was currently using were already incredible. Weapons like Ina would cause a massive uproar if they were put up on the auction house right now. However, Tae-hyun wanted a weapon with even more powerful, explosive offensive power. Of course, such weapons were not easy to come by. In fact, hadn't Tae-hyun just failed in his attempt to raid the Uruk Great Chieftain's treasury? It was something ordinary players would be lucky to see even once in their entire gaming lives!

'If I can get it to +8... or even +9, even a Normal-grade item will have mind-blowing performance. If I craft it myself, apply the Unstable option, and then enhance it, I won't lose to anyone. It's definitely worth a shot!' Having made up his mind, Tae-hyun spoke up dynamically to Lee Da-bi.

"Lee Da-bi!"

"Yes?"

"Let's stop enhancing for now! Pack everything up!"

It was a shame he couldn't level up his enhancement skill, but this was enough for now. He planned to return to his territory and test this new idea with the help of the other blacksmiths. Instead of a high-performance, stable artifact weapon, he would make a weapon that was unstable and easily destroyed, but possessed explosive power!

"Yes! Gladly!" Lee Da-bi sprang to her feet and began sweeping all the enhancement stones and equipment into her inventory. She looked terrified that if she dawdled, Tae-hyun might change his mind and start enhancing again. Seeing her reaction, Tae-hyun felt a slight prick of conscience.

"Ah, by the way, about what I asked you last time."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Yes? What about?"

"Giving Pan-On items as gifts."

"...N-now that you mention it, we did talk about that, didn't we?" Lee Da-bi avoided his gaze, unable to look him in the eye. Guilt!

"I asked someone else too, and they confirmed it. I'm glad I asked you."

"What?! Really?!" This was news to Lee Da-bi too! To think that gifting Pan-On items was actually a trend these days!

"So, what kind of Pan-On item do you think would be best?"

"M-maybe armor? I feel like... there's nothing better than a heavy, rugged, high-performance set of armor..." Lee Da-bi's voice trailed off, her confidence faltering. Her conscience was eating away at her.

"Armor? Hmm. I see, I see. Perfect. Maybe I'll craft some armor while I'm making and enhancing my own weapon..."

"...Huh? Wait a minute. Enhancement? You're going to do it again?"

"...Yeah."

"But why on earth...!"

"Ah, no, no. I'm not aiming for +10. Aiming that high is just not cost-effective."

"Oh. Then what?"

"I'm going to craft a weapon for myself and just try to enhance it to +8 or +9."

"If it's a weapon for you, won't that be difficult? Gathering the materials won't be easy either."

"Yeah. That's why I'm only going to use common materials. Like iron."

The key to enhancing an Unstable weapon was that the blow to his wallet had to be minimal even if the weapon shattered during the process. Even if the success rate for +8 and +9 was 20% and 10% respectively, the cumulative probability of reaching that point from the beginning was far lower. Considering that, he couldn't afford to use rare ores or precious gems as materials. In the first place, applying the Unstable option was meant to compensate for the limitations of cheap materials!

"If that's the case, what we gathered this time should be more than enough."

"Exactly. A few will definitely shatter along the way, but we can easily cover the losses."

"Thank goodness, seriously...! I thought we were going bankrupt! I'm already getting a massive headache trying to manage the territory's finances lately!"

From the perspective of Lee Da-bi, who managed the gold of the Valley of Despair and Sorrow, they needed to earn every single penny they could. There were simply too many freeloaders draining gold in the territory!

"B-but isn't the territory running pretty well lately? Lots of new players are coming in, and construction is progressing..."

"We're spending more gold on those people than they bring in! And construction, of course, eats up a ridiculous amount of gold!"

Ever since the recent incident with the divine beast Carbanog, the number of new players flocking to Tae-hyun's territory had surged. The problem was whether these players were actually profitable. They were the type of players who cost far more to maintain than they ever contributed!

"Well, Galakpad is certainly enthusiastic about proselytizing for Archisus... Still, he's better than the others, right? The others don't even think about spreading the word of Archisus. We need Galakpad to maintain the church..."

Even if Galakpad was a bit extreme, he was a far better NPC than Pelmas or Ed-an. Above all, he was an NPC capable of maintaining, managing, and growing the church! For the Archisus Church, an NPC of this caliber was someone they should fall to their knees and scream, "Thank you!" to.

As Tae-hyun spoke, he suddenly realized something was off.

"...Wait a second. Providing food in the name of Archisus? That's the first I've heard of that."

"Huh? Galakpad has been handing out free food within the territory, you know? So the players can eat and go hunting."

"This is the first I'm hearing of this?!?!"

"You didn't know?!"

"No! I've been busy clearing quests in the Uruk Region, how would I have time to check every single thing happening in the territory?"

"I naturally assumed he did it with your permission, Tae-hyun!"

It wasn't Lee Da-bi's fault. Within her common sense, an NPC who went ahead and did whatever they wanted without the lord's permission was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the abnormal one!

"That rascal Galakpad...! Wait, the Archisus Church only has low-ranking priests, paladins, and useless NPCs. Where on earth did he get chefs?"

"He hired chef players by giving them quests, of course."

"..." Tae-hyun buried his face in his hands.

"Lord Galakpad! Here is the harvest we reaped this time! I offer them to you!"

"Lord Galakpad! I have brought this harvest! I offer them to you!"

"Very good. Receive your blessing."

"Hehehe!"

"Oh, I love this!"

The newly arrived farmer players offered up their crops and accumulated Archisus Church Contribution Points. Normally, players completing quests for other churches would hoard their contribution points. Rather than spending small amounts, it was far more efficient to save up a large sum and exchange them for church artifacts.

But the players who followed the Archisus Church were different. They spent everything they earned on the very same day! Unlike other denominations, players of the Archisus Church had absolutely no idea what benefits lay in hoarding their contribution points.

Archisus Church Contribution Points were incredibly useful for crafting class players. Now, not only did they receive blessings themselves, but they even summoned Archisus priests to their side to assist in the crafting process!

Although the results were sometimes random, the effectiveness was undeniable. As a result...

"Mmm. The warehouse is overflowing with crops."

"Hehe, Galakpad. Since we have so many crops piled up..."

Pelmas slyly approached Galakpad. A mountain of crops had accumulated. On top of that, every single one of them was of exceptional quality thanks to the blessing of Archisus. If they sold these...!

"Indeed. Quite a lot has gathered."

"Right? There's no way our church can consume all of this ourselves!"

It was an amount that would leave a massive surplus even after feeding all the paladins, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠priests, and other NPCs in the territory!

"True."

"In that case, we should obviously sel—"

"We must distribute this to the believers."

"...Huh? W-wait a minute. That's not right, is it? If we sell them..."

"Silence! You rascal, Pelmas! Have you still not cured your old habits, spouting such nonsense? How dare you even think of exchanging crops grown under the sacred blessing of Lord Archisus for mere gold!"

"N-no, but people can't live on food alone... We need gold to... manage the territory..."

"Silence!"

"Hieee!"

In a clash of physical strength, Pelmas was no match for Galakpad. Pelmas hastily changed his strategy.

"No, but distributing them just like that is a bit much, isn't it? How are you even going to do it?"

"There must be many starving adventurers in the territory. If we cook this food and feed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them, they will be able to hunt even harder! The monsters around the territory will decrease, and as a result, our territory will prosper even further! Long live Lord Archisus!"

"This has nothing to do with Archisus... *Gasp.* No, that's not it. We don't even have a chef!"

"That is true."

"Right? So let's just sel—"

"Recruit chefs!"

"Hey!!"

"Huh? A quest popped up. 'Recruiting Chefs'?"

"I'll pass. I don't have ingredients right now. I need to go out to the fields to gather some."

"No, read the quest window. It says they provide the ingredients."

"What? They provide the ingredients? Really?"

"It says all we have to do is go and cook."

"Really? Then should we give it a try?"

From a chef player's perspective, a quest that provided both ingredients and rewards was highly enticing. Furthermore, any player wandering around the Archisus territory knew just how lucrative the church quests could be.

There was even a saying that once a crafting class got a taste of it, they could never craft again without the blessing of Archisus.

"What kind of dishes should we make?"

"Make whatever you want and feed the adventurers heading out."

"Huh? Really?"

"Do as you please. I know nothing of culinary arts."

Galakpad coolly gave his instructions and departed! The chef players were utterly bewildered by the quest details, which were vastly different from the norm.

"Can we really do whatever we want?"

"The ingredients are right here, but..."

The bewildered chef players quickly realized something. This was a golden opportunity!

"I'm going to make the things I could never craft before!"

"This is a dish I couldn't make because the ingredients were too expensive... I'm definitely making this one too!"

The players were saying things that would make Lee Da-bi weep tears of blood if she heard them! However, once the fire of greed was lit in the chef players, they could not be stopped. Thanks to this, the combat class players were absolutely thrilled.

"Oh? Free food? Nice. This territory must be doing really well lately to host an event like this."

"Pfft, this kind of stuff only helps beginners. It's useless for a high-level player like me. Free food is always mediocre at best. Buying food from somewhere else would be way more helpf—wait, what?!"

The grumbling high-level player was shocked by the rich flavor and powerful buff effects that exploded the moment he took a bite.

It was an unbelievable level of buffs for eating just a single dish! The ingredients themselves were already drenched in the blessing of Archisus, and on top of that, the chefs cooked while blessed, and the priests blessed the completed dishes once more...

It was truly Over-blessed Cuisine!

"M-my durability isn't dropping?!"

"I got hit by an attack like that and I dodged it?!"

"An attack actually landed from this distance?!"

The combat class players were utterly shocked. These buffs were of a completely different caliber compared to anything they had ever received from other churches!