Chương 285

The central plaza of Stormbreak was finally cleared of large rubble. Rudra stood near the edge of the cleared stone, rolling his shoulders. He reached into his inventory and pulled out 3 heavy metal blocks. He tossed them onto the ground. Clang. Clang. Clang. The blocks unfolded, expanding into 3 massive Protean Cauldron, 2 of which were custom ordered from Alex and Elara working together. They locked into place with a sharp metallic click. He raised his left hand.

"Echo Clone." A pillar of blue light swirled beside him. A perfect, flesh-and-blood duplicate of Rudra materialized, wearing the exact same dark trench coat. It immediately walked over to the prep tables and began laying out sacks of flour and wooden cutting boards.

"Boss, for giving you the idea, I expect some form of compensation in the form of extra food. And there better be some extra cheese in the crust, or I am officially starting a rebellion," Red called out, walking up to the tables. The dual-rapier duelist leaned against the wood, eyeing the mountain of ingredients. Right behind him, Gold stepped up. She wasn't wearing her heavy berserker plate armor, just a simple tunic.

She tied a clean linen apron around Red's waist, pulling the strings tight enough to make him wheeze.

"Ow! Babe, breathing is a required skill now, please ease off on strangling me!" Red complained.

"You can breathe while chopping onions," Gold said calmly, handing him a wooden cutting board and a heavy iron chef's knife. She grabbed an apron for herself and tied it on.

"We volunteered to help, so stop whining and start dicing." Red grumbled, but his hands blurred as he used his high agility stats to rapidly dice onions. He glanced over at the Echo Clone, which was flawlessly mirroring Rudra's movements despite the obvious slowness compared to Rudra as they both ignited the heating elements beneath the cauldrons.

"Boss, watching two of you work in a near-perfect sync is trippy," Red noted.

"How much for that clone skill? I could farm two zones at once."

"Five million gold," Rudra replied, not looking up as he unpacked blocks of cheddar. Gold paused, a block of butter halfway to a pan.

"Five million? Boss, isn't that incredibly steep? I read the wiki on basic clone spells. They're just squishy decoys. They take double damage and pop in one hit."

"Yeah," Red agreed, his tone cynical.

"That price is extortion. I love you, man, but five million for a distraction is a scam." Rudra didn't argue. He just swiped his hand and shared the skill window directly into the party chat. [Echo Clone (Lv. 2)] [Rating: Legendary] [A lost technique developed by the ancient Zen Race, who hoped to master their crafts quickly by working in tandem with themselves. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. - You can physically manifest an exact, flesh-and-blood duplicate of yourself. - The clone possesses exactly 15% of the user's maximum Health, Mana, and core Stats. - The clone can independently cast spells and use skills, paying the cost from its own personal mana pool. - Only 1 clone can be created at a time. - Any Skill EXP (Experience) gained by the clone through combat or production is transferred directly to the main user in real-time. - Resources consumed to create the clone: 5000 Mana - Resource consumed to keep the clone active: 1, 000 Mana per minute, drained continuously from the clone's mana pool. Cooldown: 1 Hour after the clone is destroyed or dismissed.] Red stared at the floating blue text. His eyes slowly locked onto the fifth bullet point. Rudra dropped another bomb at this moment "Oh, If you find a way to make sure it has enough mana at all times, It can even be active when you active" Gold dropped her knife.

"Any Skill EXP... transferred directly to the main user..." she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

"And getting experience 24/7" Red closed the window. He picked his knife back up and looked at Gold.

"I'm going to sell our apartment."

"Chop the onions, Red," Rudra laughed. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He didn't rush. He poured his focus into the prep work. His passive skill, [Breath of the Hearth], was already active, radiating a steady, comforting warmth from his body that made the ruined plaza feel a little more like home.

"Empathic Cuisine," Rudra murmured. [Active skill 'Empathic Cuisine' is active.] Rudra closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He thought about the fear lingering in the city. He thought about the citizens staring nervously at the sky. He poured a feeling of absolute safety, warm comfort, and stubborn resilience directly into the ingredients. With the clone mirroring him and the two players prepping, the makeshift kitchen became a machine. First came the large stuffed-crust pizzas.

The clone rolled the dough thin and perfectly round. Rudra wrapped thick, heavy strips of yellow cheese directly into the edges, folding the crust over to seal it tight. Gold spread a rich, tangy tomato and garlic sauce, while Red layered on thick slices of savory monster sausage and mounds of grated mozzarella. The clone slid them into the heated slates of the cauldrons, where the cheese blistered and bubbled into a golden brown. Next were the burgers.

Gold used her berserker strength to smash massive balls of ground monster beef flat onto the searing iron tops, locking in the juices. Rudra flipped them, melting thick slices of sharp cheddar over the meat, and sandwiched them between butter-toasted brioche buns. For the third dish, Rudra whipped up a massive batch of Golden Macaroni and Cheese. The clone boiled vats of pasta while Rudra whisked together a heavy roux of butter, flour, heavy cream, and mountains of sharp, aged cheese.

He folded the pasta into the velvety sauce, topped it with toasted breadcrumbs, and let it bake until it was a bubbling, gooey masterpiece. To warm their bones, he crafted a rich Hearthside Cream Soup. Red diced thick cuts of cured bacon and potatoes, while Rudra simmered them in a thick broth of cream and roasted garlic, creating a hearty, heavy chowder that smelled like a winter hearth.

Finally, for dessert, Rudra and the clone used basic Ice magic to rapidly chill vats of sweet cream, sugar, and crushed vanilla beans, churning it violently until it formed thick, incredibly rich ice cream. Bright, golden light began to burst repeatedly from the cauldrons and slates as the cooking wrapped up. [You have successfully created 'Sanctuary Stuffed Pizza'!] [Rating: Unique] [You have successfully created 'Resilient Beef Burger'!] [Rating: Unique] [You have successfully created 'Golden Mac & Cheese'!] [Rating: Unique] [You have successfully created 'Hearthside Cream Soup'!] [Rating: Unique] [You have successfully created 'Sweet Comfort Ice Cream'!] [Rating: Unique]