Time remaining in the competition: 01:02:39
As the final hour of the competition approached, Rita was preparing the 17th and 18th dishes, with the former already nearing completion.
Octopus Bucket and Marmang-Crab had fully buffed themselves, and all available protective buffs had been applied to Rita as well. SSS-level shields for immunity to mental attacks, SSS-level shields for immunity to mental control, SSS-level shields against teleportation...
Rita opened her personal panel, and her current buffs could fill an entire chapter's worth of updates. She figured other chefs probably had the same situation.
Sea Pony, although still causing trouble, had stopped running around the cooking station like it did before. All the remaining fruits, vegetables, and magical ingredients were now at Rita's side. Sea Pony hovered nearby, never more than half a meter away from her. It continued to yap, occasionally bouncing on Rita's head, dutifully causing trouble, but clearly also beginning to protect Rita and the sauce she was simmering.
Time remaining in the competition: 00:59:56
Rita wasn't sure if it was by some unspoken agreement, but as the last hour began, all the non-chef players finally made their moves.
Skills of all colors exploded before her eyes. For a few seconds, Rita had to close her eyes against the dazzling light; it was like being hit by a light pollution storm.
Sea Pony had activated a shield around the entire cooking station.
Picking up the dessert from the 16th dish that it hadn't eaten before, Sea Pony shoved it into its mouth. The dish's buff was: "For the next 5 minutes, 5% of what you say will come true."
The chance wasn't high, but with Sea Pony's constant chatter, and the fact that it knew many players, this was effectively a very big deal...
—"XXXX, you'll die soon, XXXX, you'll die too, you'll die, everyone dies!!! Bring your pets and die too!!"
Concise, powerful, and passionately directed.
Rita thought to herself, "Shadow.Q really should learn from Sea Pony… when using trash talk skills, it's best to avoid thinking too much."
Meanwhile, Marmang-Crab stayed close to the completed dishes, guarding them. Of course, it would protect Rita, but right now, its main priority was making sure the completed dishes stayed safe. If BS Rita died, she could be revived, but any issue with the dishes would directly impact the results.
Octopus Bucket was similarly focused, its abilities allowing it to guard the entire disc. Its size had been reduced, so it couldn't enlarge, but it managed by spreading its tentacles in all directions, standing guard at every point.
Rita took a quick glance around. After so many track changes, the players around her now were all from extremely powerful teams. All of them had at least one cosmic wanderer on their team, and the rest of the players were on par with Marmang-Crab—none of them were outside the top 2000 of the leaderboard.
B80234615 also alerted Rita that after a long period of silence, the time flow had once again been disturbed. Another player had used a time skill.
Players who had already used time skills before would still have them blocked, but the new user was likely someone who had been holding back their time skill since the beginning of the game.
Rita looked at the dish she was preparing, which had gotten slightly burnt due to not being flipped in time. It was an obvious low-level mistake, and she frowned. "Someone used a time-stop skill..."
Her intuition kicked in, and she quickly secured the plate of food, setting it aside. Then, she brewed a small pot of magical medicine as quickly as possible.
Even the burnt, crispy bits had their use.
Rita picked up a magic herb, using it like a brush to apply the magical potion to the whale bone marrow, and began to cook it again.
Flame Sea Hungry Whale (Rating: ★★☆): Eating this will grant +333 to all attributes, and you can temporarily increase any one skill to SSS level for 10 minutes.
So far, the highest score.
Rita carefully cut a small section of the whale bone and divided it into four portions, giving three to Sea Pony to distribute.
Rita: "Alchemy and cooking really do go hand in hand."
She had spent over 150 years practicing cooking in High Tower, training under countless teachers, though she could no longer remember them all.
It was both a blessing and a curse. Every culinary master had their own style, and due to High Tower's rules, she couldn't study under one master long enough to learn their essence, leaving her cooking score limited. But she had effectively learned from many, gaining a vast array of experiences and knowledge.
She compared herself with Rick from her past life. She compared her cooking and alchemy talents. That was why she was never satisfied.
Talent had nothing to do with being clever; for her, talent was about having endless inspiration and imagination in a particular field. Most people would see "1" and only think of "1," but those with real talent, in their area of expertise, would see "1" and think of "2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9..."
Now, alchemy was filling the gap in her cooking.
She knew there were mistakes, but she now had endless ideas with alchemy to correct them.
B80234615: "Congratulations."
Rita: "Whoever used the time-stop skill isn't a chef."
She couldn't help but feel grateful for the competition. The inspiration and potential unlocked by the God of Cooking domain had given her a deeper understanding of magical cooking.
Flame Sea Hungry Whale was plated, and the mechanical arm appeared once more.
A massive Wind Whale appeared in the sky, which was TingoJE's original form. At this moment, TingoJE was reduced to half a whale bone and the head of the Wind Whale, with its eyes gone.
This was the result of Rita's careful control.
She didn't know what the final reward for the [Food Ingredient] would be, but every time TingoJE appeared, it had given its all. It even tried to command Rita to make it taste better while it still had the chance to speak.
—"If you stew Sea Pony and me together, I promise I won't take revenge on you."
TingoJE even made this promise.
Sea Pony's response was: "I washed your intestines' shit! How dare you repay me with harm?"
TingoJE: "I will kill you, Sea Pony. I swear on my life, dignity, honor, and divine abilities! I will kill you!"
Sea Pony: "You're the 179th player to say that."
Marmang-Crab raised its crab shell shield to block another attack that made the entire disc shake. It spoke tiredly, "It's the 178th."
Sea Pony scratched its head. "Ah, really? Did you forget to count yourself?"
Marmang-Crab: "…You're right. Sorry, my mistake."
Sea Pony chuckled: "No worries."
Happiness comes from comparison...
Rita: "B80234615, I actually think you're not so bad. What you say isn't as annoying anymore."
B80234615: "BS Rita, you're not so bad either."
Rita: "What matters is we live our lives well."