Chapter 34: The God of Cuisine (SS)! Theft!

The next second, the screen lit up. The ghost-state Blood Elf appeared in the graveyard, and just a step away lay her own mangled, bloodied corpse. She walked over, and as the screen displayed "Weakened Resurrection," she clicked confirm.

Her character shifted from ethereal to corporeal. Beside her name, the status that was originally "Weakened" changed to "Severely Weakened," followed by a countdown (47:59:59). All her attribute values were reduced to only 40% of their original levels.

Yu Xunge walked back into Silvermoon City. Through the shadow, she saw Yu Xunhuan accepting a quest, and the first one was already a high-level chain quest. A few minutes later, comparing the buildings on her screen, she found Yu Xunhuan again.

[Betting on the name of the God of Thieves, you attempt to steal the God-given talent of the Elf player Xunhuan.]
[Theft successful—Target's God-given talent rank detected as too high—Theft interrupted!]

Yu Xunge glanced at the time: 10:57. There was no time left. Furthermore, she was now "Severely Weakened"; if she died again, she had no idea what would happen. She was unwilling to gamble; she did not want to lose her life to her own greed. Even though the state of her game character had not yet fed back into her physical body, after hundreds of "Phantom Shifts," she was on the verge of physical and mental collapse.

Yu Xunge navigated her avatar to the Goblin District. Wealthy goblins were not easy to find; she searched for over a dozen, trading a bit here and a bit there, slowly accumulating funds. It wasted quite some time, but she eventually managed to trade for 10,000 gold. At this point, her disguise had only five minutes remaining.

Yu Xunge immediately found the nearest city gate and ran out. Considering her weakened state, she dared not go too far, stopping instead by the city wall between two gates. She then chose to log off.

She closed her eyes. The feeling of severe weakness nearly drowned her, but she paid it no mind, not even glancing at the packages, pocket watch, or dentures on the floor. Instead, she immediately opened her character panel.

[Character] Yu Xunge (Level 0, 0.001%) (Severely Weakened) (47:45:39)
[God-given Talent] God of Thieves (S-Rank)
[God-given Talent] Immortality (SS-Rank) (Incomplete)
[God-given Talent] God of Food (SS-Rank) (Incomplete)
[God-given Talent] Sharpshooter (A-Rank)
[Race] Human
[Racial Traits] Undead Will | Devour
[HP]: 60/150
[MP]: 80/200
[Strength]: 8 → 3.2
[Constitution]: 11 → 4.4
[Intelligence]: 14 → 5.6
[Agility]: 21 → 8.4
[Luck]: 10 (Max)
[Charm]: 10 (Max)

With trembling hands, she tapped on [God of Food].

[God of Food] (SS-Rank)
Even a god is nothing more than an ingredient in your hands.

[Skill 1] What Do You Mean, "God of Food"?: When any dish you create receives a rating above 80, there is a 20% chance to trigger a critical hit. For every 1-point increase in rating, the critical hit chance for others consuming it increases by 1%. If a critical hit is triggered, the consumption effect doubles. If it is your own original recipe and the rating exceeds 80, the consumption effect is guaranteed to double for others. As the creator, when you consume any food you have cooked yourself, the effect is tripled.

[Skill 2] Who Is Hannibal?: Turn any target into thirty-eight different delicacies. If each dish is rated above 90, and you consume all thirty-eight delicacies alone, you will randomly learn one of the target's skills from when they were alive (can only be triggered once per target).

[Skill 3] That’s Right, I Am a Master Chef: The food you cook is a delicacy. Food made entirely by your hands with a rating above 95 has a 20% chance to randomly increase a stat point upon consumption (can only be triggered once per target per day).

[Skill 4] Oh? Look, Friend, There’s a Pot Here: The God of Food never receives a bad review. Mark a person who trusts you to transfer all the diners' negative emotions toward you onto the marked target.

[Skill 5] You Want a Free Ride? (Passive): No one can enjoy a meal from the God of Food for free. When you have not explicitly offered to treat them, if a diner does not pay for the dish before or after consuming it, their luck will be used by you for a period of time until they pay that damn bill.

Five skills—the same as the Undead Lord's [Immortality], a total of five skills. Skills 1, 2, 3, and 4 were all lit up; only Skill 5 was dark gray.

At this moment, Yu Xunge finally felt like she had come alive. It was as if she had been held under deep water, unable to breathe or move, but now, she had finally broken free from the constraints and surged to the surface!

She finally understood why Yu Xunhuan had treated her that way in her past life, why he had worked so hard to win her trust, and why his women and brothers had harbored such hostility toward her. So that was it... So! That! Was! It!

Very well, Yu Xunhuan!

Yet, she did not forgive or let go. Yes, the bullying, trampling, and scheming she suffered were because Yu Xunhuan had transferred their negative emotions onto her, but were they not the ones who acted on that malice themselves?! She would not forgive those who had hurt her in her past life for any reason. Everyone could betray her, but she could not betray herself, nor could she betray the suffering she had endured!

Yu Xunge drank a health potion with trembling hands, but her HP remained at 40. She estimated that until the countdown ended, her maximum HP would remain at only 40% of its original value. Yet, she felt refreshed, and her state felt better than ever!

She put on her cooldown-reduction necklace and crawled under the bed to rest. She was exhausted. But she dared not fall asleep; instead, she closed her eyes to rest her mind while continuing to observe Yu Xunhuan’s actions through her shadow.

She had seen Yu Xunhuan's original luck value earlier; like her current self, it was 10. Although he had not yet noticed his God-given talent because of the "God of Thieves" talent, he remembered his Skill 5, [You Want a Free Ride?]. He used his remaining money to buy a large amount of ingredients and began to cook. He only cooked low-level recipes; since he had just learned cooking, he wasn't worried about becoming a "God of Food" yet, and the food he produced mostly failed to reach a passing grade.

He placed the cooked food directly on the ground, letting passersby and players eat if they wanted. At first, his luck was average, but as more and more people ate his food, it was as if he had turned on a cheat code. In less than two hours of questing, he obtained 3 gold and a small green-tier item. He learned cooking, and before long, he found a coin purse in the city sewer containing over three hundred gold. He used this gold to learn [Jewelry Crafting] and [Alchemy]...

Yu Xunge watched as Yu Xunhuan relied on siphoning the luck of others to offset the luck value she had altered for him.