The Shrine of Job Advancement (4)

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"Hey. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Evolution?"

"Huh? I don't know either."

The message had said that feeding him would begin his evolution. The White Dragon didn't seem to know the first thing about it.

"This is pretty well grilled, though."

Munch, munch. The little guy was happily devouring the Green Mushroom roast I'd handed him. I tossed him a few more pieces, and he vacuumed them down without a second's hesitation — but the percentage didn't climb any higher.

What's going on? Did that mean feeding him more Green Mushroom was pointless?

Puzzled, I pulled out the leftover Troll roast and dangled it in front of his face.

"Oh! That smell — that's Troll, isn't it?!"

He identified the monster by scent alone, like some kind of bloodhound. I tossed him the roast, and he started eating with gusto.

Chomp. Chomp.

Oh? Feeding him a different monster dish made the percentage climb. But the numbers were a little different from the Green ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mushroom roast a moment ago.

"Hmm. This is pretty good too, but the Green Mushroom roast is still better."

The White Dragon, offering his culinary critique of the Troll roast.

No way. Was the fill rate changing based on how good it tasted?

I went ahead and fed him Alligator and Lizardman dishes as well. Sure enough, his evolution gauge filled according to flavor — not the monster's level.

So cooking is what makes him evolve? To confirm, I tossed him a raw Green Mushroom corpse ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd just killed. He chewed, tore, and tasted it — but the gauge didn't budge. Looks like I'd have to cook for him if I wanted him to evolve.

"Ahh. This Green Mushroom's good and all, but when it comes to mushrooms, nothing beats that one!"

"What mushroom?"

"Rainbow Mushroom! That thing is seriously delicious."

Rainbow Mushroom? I tilted my head at the White Dragon's claim that it tasted good. After all, mushrooms with flashy patterns were usually poisonous, weren't they? Just the name Rainbow Mushroom conjured up something wildly colorful — and yet it wasn't toxic. It was delicious?

"That's right! Rainbow Mushroom is truly wonderful!"

"Huh? You've tried it too, Elena?"

"Yes! I had it once a long time ago, and it was really, truly delicious!"

Even Elena had eaten Rainbow Mushroom, and she swore it was incredible. According to her, it was even used as a medicinal ingredient — its flavor and effects so exceptional it was called a divine material, one of the Three Great Delicacies of the Monster World.

Since when did monsters have a "Three Great Delicacies"?

"It's really that good?"

"Yes! Once you eat it, you truly cannot stop!"

"Yeah! It's seriously amazing — ahh, I want some so bad!"

Elena's face lit up just imagining it, while the White Dragon — who'd already stuffed himself with monsters — was throwing a tantrum about being hungry.

"Then what are the other two of the Three Great Delicacies?"

"One of them is a dish made from Megalodon eggs — the ones we saw before. I'm not sure about the last."

"Oh! Leave it to an Elf to know her stuff. Megalodon eggs! Man, I'll never forget that taste!"

This White Dragon acted like there wasn't a monster alive he hadn't eaten. Bring up anything and he'd already tried it. He'd even gone so far as to eat Megalodon eggs — which were basically the thing's own children. Truly a wicked little creature.

"Rainbow Mushroom, huh..."

The Green Mushroom already tasted this good, and the Rainbow Mushroom was supposedly even better. At that level, it might well be the most delicious monster dish in the world.

I'm starting to want some myself, honestly. Maybe it was the Predator trait, but even knowing it was a monster, I couldn't help wondering what it tasted like — how good it could possibly be. Thinking it over again, Gourmet Predator really did seem like the better class advancement for me. I couldn't give up the joy of eating, could I?

"Huh? Green Mushrooms are coming down from the mountain."

Elena was looking back at the mountain we'd descended. In that direction, a whole swarm of Green Mushrooms was milling about, as if searching for something. They were probably looking for the soldiers from earlier.

Might as well cook up some food with those guys. The Green Mushrooms made for pretty decent meals, so I could stock up on dishes and replenish my summonable monsters at the same time. I headed toward them.

They seemed to have been ordered to search only near the mountain, never venturing any farther out. I scanned the surroundings for other monsters, then started harvesting Green Mushrooms.

Though calling it a hunt would be generous — it was closer to foraging. I'd already outgrown monsters of this caliber. Even at a reasonably high level, the Green Mushrooms went down with ease. There were a lot of them, but they were no match for me.

I'd been at it for a while, enthusiastically gathering Green Mushrooms, when another swarm of differently colored mushrooms approached. Had they realized their kind was being harvested?

"Those ones are all blue. Hey. Are those tasty too?"

"Nah, you can't eat those."

"Can't eat them?"

"Yeah. They're poisonous. I tried one — bitter as hell."

From what the White Dragon said, these mushroom monsters didn't sound particularly edible. But who was I? A Predator, that's who. There was no monster in this world I couldn't eat. And I even had the ability to neutralize poison in my body.

"I'll cook you guys up nice, too."

They were a bit higher level than the Green Mushrooms, but there wasn't much difference in actual combat power. A fairly large swarm of Blue Mushrooms — and I cleaned them up in no time.

"Alright. Let's give this a taste."

I speared a Blue Mushroom with my fork and brought it to my mouth. Elena watched with a worried look. The White Dragon's warning from a moment ago was clearly bothering her. I gave her a gesture to tell her not to worry.

Unlike Elena, who was fretting, the White Dragon didn't seem the least bit concerned about me. Does this guy not care that I'm eating a poisonous mushroom? His own master, eating poison, and he just sat there. Then again, he'd eaten it himself, poison and all. Maybe the White Dragon had something like Poison Resistance too, similar to mine. Maybe that's why he wasn't worried. Though, honestly, he just looked like he wasn't thinking at all.

Munch, munch. The Blue Mushroom hit my tongue. It was poisonous, sure, but most monsters carried some kind of toxin. This one seemed to pack a stronger punch than usual, but thanks to my Predator abilities, it didn't matter in the slightest.

Well, it definitely doesn't taste as good as the Green Mushroom. Even with a generous flavor correction, it wasn't particularly delicious.

Oh. Wisdom. Just the Wisdom gain alone made predating this thing worthwhile. And I was curious what kind of dish would come out of cooking a monster with poison this strong. Same as with the Green Mushrooms, I took one of the remaining corpses and grilled it as-is.

Huh? Instead of a simple stat boost, a completely new effect had appeared. A dish that made it hard to tell friend from foe. It seemed like something I could actually put to use.

"Oh! You made that into a dish too?"

The White Dragon said, eyeing my Blue Mushroom Roast with interest — and looking like he was about to eat it.

Should I give him one? He wasn't a full-fledged White Dragon yet, so even if he couldn't tell friend from foe, I could put him down easily enough. Besides, he already ate poison just fine — I was curious how strong the effect would be on a creature like him. So, partly as an experiment, and partly because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if he liked it I could raise his evolution percentage, I tossed him a Blue Mushroom Roast.

Snap! Munch. Munch.

"This is pretty good!"

Unlike the raw one he'd called bitter, he was eating the roast with real enjoyment. And because he liked it, an evolution-related message popped up as well.

Then, after he'd eaten a fair amount of the Blue Mushroom Roast, his behavior suddenly turned strange.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Had he forgotten who Elena and I were? Half-glazed eyes locked onto us as he shouted — then his jaws yawned wide and he lunged to attack.

"Get back!"

I shoved Elena behind me and leveled my knife at the White Dragon, who still hadn't come to his senses. In that instant, the little dragon charging toward me seemed to realize he couldn't win — and bolted.

So that's how it works. Unable to tell friend from foe, he'd registered us as enemies. He was already fleeing deep into the mountain, so I took off after him.

"Where did this little bastard go?"

I searched every which way, combing through the woods well into the mountain's depths, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Hey! Get out here already!"

The Blue Mushroom Roast's effect only lasted thirty seconds. He should have come to his senses with time to spare. And yet the little shit was gone without a trace — not even a glimpse of him.

Elena and I spent more than ten minutes searching every corner we could find, but because he could fly, he hadn't even left tracks.

"Did we actually lose him?"

"You don't think something happened to him, do you?"

Elena seemed genuinely worried that the White Dragon had vanished. I wasn't. He was a White Dragon, for crying out loud. What could possibly have happened to him?

"Nah. I doubt it. It's getting dark — let's just head down."

"What? Are you sure that's all right?"

"I'm his master. He'll find his way back somehow, won't he?"

Even dogs that run away from home find their way back. A White Dragon ought to come with an auto-return-to-master function, at the very least. Besides, with no tracks to follow, wandering around any longer was pointless. The mountain was still crawling with mushrooms, and there was no telling how the Mushroom King would react to the slaughter of his subordinates. Staying here any longer was a risk.

Elena and I were about to head down the mountain when a voice called out from somewhere.

"Hey! Master!"

Sure enough, he seemed to have that return-to-master function after all. The White Dragon came flying toward us, landed in front of us in a flash, and stared me dead in the eye.

"You were gonna ditch me and head down, weren't you?!"

"Ah... no?"

"No? You sure?"

"Y-yeah. Of course."

I answered while avoiding his gaze. The White Dragon watched me with openly suspicious eyes.

"Something's fishy."

"What's so fishy?"

Faced with my brazen composure, the White Dragon slid a look toward Elena beside me.

"He was gonna leave me behind, right?"

"Uh... um..."

"See! I knew it!"

Watching Elena struggle to answer, the White Dragon made up his mind and glared at me.

"Fine. I'm sorry. But you snapped out of it pretty fast — so where did you go instead of coming straight back?"

"Ah, right! You're gonna freak out when you hear what I found."

"Huh?"

He didn't explain where he'd been. He just told us to follow him. The place the White Dragon led us to was a damp-looking cave.

"Don't you smell that? Something delicious?"

"Smell?"

"Yeah. An incredibly delicious smell. I got so hooked on it I ended up all the way out here."

With that, he headed inside. Wondering why on earth he'd brought us here, I followed him in — and the moment I did, a dazzling monster came into view.