Chapter Forty-Six: The Chef's Eye Effect

Chef’s Eye was a task Heath had been looking forward to for a long time, so now that he had finally completed it, it was only natural that he should be overwhelmed with excitement. He eagerly reached into his pocket—and pulled out a bottle of eye drops.

“Hmm... Isn’t this that eye drop commercial that used to say something like, ‘Drip it in and make your eyes shine brighter’?”

Heath stared at his Chef’s Eye with a strange expression. He had assumed that obtaining the Chef’s Eye would let him see exactly what he wanted at once. He had never expected to receive a bottle of eye drops instead.

Then again, it was perfectly reasonable. Heath suspected that his cheat ability was constantly concerned with the concept of reasonableness, which was why even a reward like Chef’s Eye had to be distributed in the form of eye drops.

Curious, Heath checked the manufacturer.

Silph Company Advanced Laboratory.

“I really wonder where this strange obsession with being reasonable came from. Couldn’t you just give it to me directly?”

Heath complained helplessly. He still had to administer the reward himself, and he had no idea when his cheat ability had developed this peculiar habit of insisting on doing everything reasonably.

Almost as soon as he said this, Heath suddenly felt as though something were watching him. A vast force, an existence of indescribable power, fixed its gaze upon him. Then, just as quickly, it vanished, nearly making Heath think that he had imagined it.

He picked up the eye drops, opened his eyes, and skillfully squeezed them in. After blinking a few times to let them absorb, he discovered that the bottle in his hand had disappeared.

“It feels... as if nothing has changed. I thought I’d get something like Golden Eyes.”

Heath blinked several times. The pedestrians in the street all looked perfectly normal, and nothing strange had appeared.

Just as he was letting his imagination run wild, a customer approached.

“Hello. Do you have milk tea?”

She was a very cute girl wearing round glasses. Her large eyes twinkled brightly, making her look exceptionally adorable. Heath’s expression, however, became rather peculiar.

Two text boxes had sprouted above the girl’s head, so conspicuous that Heath was momentarily stunned. Was this the effect of Basic Chef’s Eye? It was admittedly rather ordinary, but he had to admit that it would save him quite a bit of trouble.

“Ahem. Certainly.”

Seeing the girl’s displeased look, Heath quickly realized that he was staring at her like a pervert. After replying, he immediately began preparing the milk tea she wanted.

Heath’s hand paused as he poured the tea. There was nothing strange about the Intermediate Chef’s Eye task appearing, but the way it was to be completed seemed to have changed. The number of ordinary customers required had increased tenfold, from one hundred to one thousand. In addition, a new requirement had appeared: make a divine beast satisfied with his cooking.

Heath only lost focus for a moment before concentrating on preparing the girl’s milk tea. But when he thought of the flavor shown above her head, his expression grew strange. This girl actually liked extremely salty food and disliked sweets. As expected, everyone had different tastes.

Normally, milk tea was supposed to be sweet in order to taste good. But looking at the girl’s preferences, Heath scooped in a large spoonful of salt and began stirring. Before long, the salty milk tea was ready, and he handed it to her.

“Thank you.”

The girl spoke very politely, then picked up her milk tea and left. Heath folded his arms confidently. Now that he had Chef’s Eye, completing Intermediate Chef’s Eye should be easy.

However, he noticed that the girl did not show any obvious sign of enjoying the milk tea, and the task progress had not increased either. Heath was baffled. Wasn’t she supposed to prefer salty flavors? Why had she shown no reaction after he made it salty?

After a brief pause, Heath suddenly smacked himself on the head. He felt like an idiot. Since condensed milk had been added during the preparation of milk tea, the drink was bound to be somewhat sweet. No matter how much salt he added, he could not erase all the sweetness.

“Tch. I think cooking has made me stupid.”

Heath sighed. One person could only give him one measure of satisfaction, but the Indigo League was enormous. He did not think it would be particularly difficult to make a thousand people satisfied with his food.

Heath shook his head. He had not bought many ingredients that day, and after making the braised chicken, there was very little left. He could still prepare something like egg fried rice, but he had no idea whether the customers here would enjoy its particular flavor.

“Hmm? Is that the chef I met last time?”

The familiar voice made Heath, who was clearing away the dishes, look up. Standing curiously in front of his food cart was Saya Jenny, whom he had encountered on the road only recently.

“Miss Saya!”

Heath was somewhat surprised. He remembered that Saya had been heading to Victory Road. How had she suddenly ended up in the Indigo League?

“So it really is you, boss. Please make me a serving of egg fried rice.”

Saya smiled happily, looking as energetic as ever.

But when Heath glanced at the two text boxes that had appeared above her head, he froze. He truly had not expected her to like that particular flavor.

“Of course. Please wait a moment.”

Since the customer had already said what she wanted to eat, Heath certainly did not mind preparing it for her. The real question was how to make it.

The two text boxes were identical. If the labels for liking and disliking had not been so clearly distinguished, Heath would have suspected that his cheat ability had malfunctioned. Yet the boxes were unmistakably correct.

Saya actually both liked and disliked bitter flavors.

That was difficult to understand.

There was nothing strange about disliking bitterness. It was perfectly normal. When Heath was young, he had hated bitter melon, too. Every time he ate it, he felt as though he were being tortured. Even after growing up, bitter melon was still a dish he had to hesitate over before picking up.

Moreover, disliking bitter flavors might be a form of the body’s self-protection mechanism. After eating something bitter, people instinctively suspect that it may be harmful to the body, prompting the brain to order them to spit it out. It was much like how people instinctively feel nauseated upon seeing parasites. Such reactions had been passed down through the genetic chain from ancient times.