Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

Haruto examined the BB Corn’s stalk.

It was four or five meters thick, and considering that it supported an ear of corn nearly sixty meters tall, its toughness was easy to imagine.

Haruto immediately drew his Melk Knife.

He tightened his grip around the handle, wrapped the blade in Nen, and tensed the muscles in his arm.

After taking a deep breath, he aimed at the enormous stalk and swung with all his strength.

The Melk Knife struck heavily against it.

Yet instead of cutting cleanly through, the blade only carved a wound half a meter deep.

Haruto stared at the stalk in surprise.

"I didn’t expect it to be this tough."

He had not used all his Nen, but the Melk Knife was sharp enough to slice through steel plates several meters thick.

Against the BB Corn’s stalk, however, it had barely cut through the outer layer.

Haruto’s expression sharpened.

This time, he held nothing back.

A vast amount of Nen surged into the Melk Knife, causing a faint glow to spread across its blade.

Haruto gripped it with both hands, veins standing out along his arms as he gathered every ounce of strength and swung again.

The force of the strike seemed to tear through the air itself, producing a series of deep explosions.

The moment the blade landed, the BB Corn’s thick stalk finally gave way and was severed completely.

The colossal ear lost its support and slowly toppled to one side before crashing heavily across the Wuu Jungle’s canopy.

Haruto looked at the fully matured BB Corn with a satisfied smile and promptly stored the entire thing inside Gourmet Restaurant.

With his target secured, he was ready to leave the Wuu Jungle.

He could hardly wait to taste it.

After returning to the ground, Haruto took out the compass he had prepared and began making his way toward the forest’s outer edge.

...

When he was less than a kilometer from the boundary and could already glimpse the open land beyond the trees, an Aloe Lizard suddenly darted out from behind a trunk and stopped several meters in front of him.

The beast stood seven or eight meters tall and had a Capture Level of 10, making it one of the stronger creatures near the jungle’s outskirts.

Its most striking feature was the thick ring of lush green aloe growing around its neck.

The leaves were plump and glossy, gleaming with moisture beneath the sunlight.

Haruto’s gaze settled on the aloe, and a trace of interest entered his eyes.

Aloe was excellent for moisturizing and nourishing the body, but it could also be used in soups or pressed into juice. Its clean sweetness made it perfect for balancing rich food.

Since he had encountered some, there was no reason to let it go.

As for the Aloe Lizard’s flesh, Haruto was not particularly interested.

It did not look appetizing in the slightest.

Too lazy to waste time fighting, Haruto remained where he stood and allowed his restrained presence to sink.

The next instant, it erupted like a sleeping predator awakening.

An overwhelming pressure crashed toward the Aloe Lizard.

The creature, which had been preparing to attack, instantly froze.

A second later, the ring of thick aloe leaves around its neck detached and dropped to the ground.

The Aloe Lizard immediately turned and fled deeper into the Wuu Jungle, disappearing among the trees without looking back.

Haruto paid no attention to its escape.

He withdrew his pressure, walked forward, and picked up the fresh aloe leaves one by one.

They felt plump and cool in his hands, so full of moisture that he could almost feel the juice shifting inside.

Just as he picked up the final leaf, a faint golden flash appeared from the soil not far ahead.

Haruto stopped and snapped his gaze toward it.

The earth several meters away bulged slightly.

Then a tiny seedling glowing with golden light broke through the surface.

"This is..."

Surprise flashed through Haruto’s eyes. He unconsciously stepped closer and crouched beside the newly emerged plant.

His heartbeat began to quicken.

He already had a strong suspicion about what he was seeing.

As though confirming his guess, the golden seedling suddenly began growing at a frantic pace.

Its roots and stem thickened visibly as the plant stretched upward, producing new sections one after another.

Within only a few moments, the tiny sprout had grown into a plant more than a meter tall, firmly rooted in the soil.

More than a dozen fruits hung across its branches.

Each one was initially no larger than a thumb and shaped like an exquisite glass perfume bottle.

Their bodies were translucent, carrying a soft, warm sheen, while a red five-pointed star was clearly marked across the surface of every fruit.

The moment Haruto recognized them, his lips slowly curved into a broad smile.

His eyes filled with delight.

"It really is the Wuu Star Fruit! I can’t believe I actually found one. My Food Luck must be incredible!"

Named directly after the Wuu Jungle, the Wuu Star Fruit was one of the most mysterious and precious ingredients found anywhere in the region.

Aside from BB Corn itself, it could easily be considered the highest-level ingredient in the entire jungle.

Haruto suppressed his excitement and resisted the urge to harvest it immediately.

Instead, he stood nearby and waited patiently.

Before long, the thumb-sized fruits began growing rapidly until each one was roughly the length of his palm.

Haruto still did not touch them.

They had not completely ripened yet.

One final step remained—the accumulation of salt.

Without enough salt settling inside the fruit, any sauce made from it would taste weak and bland.

Haruto desperately wanted to taste the BB Corn, but the Wuu Star Fruit was more than worth waiting for.

Salt continued gathering and condensing inside the fruits.

Roughly half an hour later, the few leaves remaining on the plant began to wither and fall.

Haruto’s expression sharpened.

He could sense that this was the signal that the fruits had fully matured and the plant had completed its purpose.

Without hesitation, he quickly plucked every Wuu Star Fruit from the branches and stored them safely.

The moment the final fruit was removed, all vitality vanished from the plant.

It dried and shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye until nothing remained but an ordinary withered branch.

Less than an hour had passed between its first sprouting and its death.

Combined with the fact that Wuu Star Fruits grew without any predictable pattern, encountering one was nearly impossible without exceptional Food Luck.

That was precisely why Haruto had never planned to search for them when he came to the Wuu Jungle.

He had clearly underestimated his own luck.

Haruto slowly rose and looked out across the forest.

Then he pressed his palms together, his expression becoming solemn.

"Let us be grateful to all the ingredients in this world."

His low, sincere voice drifted softly through the trees.

Haruto bowed toward the Wuu Jungle.

"Thank you for your gifts."

Once he had finished paying his respects, he turned and continued toward the outer edge of the jungle.

His mood was excellent.

BB Corn and Wuu Star Fruits—this expedition had rewarded him far beyond his expectations.

At last, Haruto crossed the boundary of the Wuu Jungle, and the landscape opened before him.

His gaze immediately shifted toward Wuu Volcano beside the forest.

If he wanted to taste the BB Corn as soon as possible, the volcano was the best place to cook it.

Without hesitation, Haruto strode toward it.

Wuu Volcano was also known as the Magma Pot.

Its surroundings were covered in rock, including numerous piles formed from overlapping stone layers.

Beneath those layers flowed magma reaching temperatures of fourteen hundred degrees Celsius.

The lowest rocks, which directly touched the magma, maintained a constant temperature of roughly twelve hundred degrees.

Each layer above them became progressively cooler, forming an enormous natural cooking furnace.

As Haruto approached the volcano, scorching waves of heat rolled over him.

The temperature was high enough to burn an ordinary person almost instantly.

Haruto’s body, however, had long since surpassed normal human limits, so the heat remained tolerable.

Unlike an ordinary volcano, Wuu Volcano carried no sulfurous stench.

Instead, the air held a faint, savory saltiness.

That was because the volcanic ash it produced was actually a high-quality salt.

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