Endless Evolution: Last Star

Everyone came to Red Feast for one purpose - to eat monster meat. A delicacy that could not be compared to truffles, foie gras, or any rare caviar or marble meat.

All of these ingredients could be obtained with money, but to taste the monster meat, money alone was not enough. One needed connections, influence, and power.

However, meat wasn't the only edible thing from monsters. Animal food was quite diverse, it wasn't just meat. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind was eggs.

Eggs were the way many animals gave birth to offspring. However, eggs have also been a staple of many people's diets, throughout history mankind has come up with many recipes with eggs as the central ingredient.

"Eggs? Not meat...?" Adam was surprised. He wasn't the only one, though, for none of the guests knew what would be on the menu at Red Feast, not even Magnus, whose eyes sparkled with delight.

"Oh... It's Yellow Oro's eggs..." Magnus muttered in disbelief.

Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Yellow Oro? Is that some kind of powerful monster?" Adam asked, he hadn't heard of this monster before, so he figured it was a monster for K2 or K3 Phantoms.

Magnus shook his head. Silvana was ready to answer Adam's question but didn't dare interrupt Magnus.

"No, not at all. This is the White Threat Level Monster, Red Book. As you realize, Yellow Oroes are pretty weak monsters, but not all weak monsters are near the Citadel." Magnus explained.

Adam's eyes went wide. Oddly enough, he hadn't thought about it at all. He had started his journey with Scorching Desert and had completed quite a few missions in Rusty Ruins. Around the Citadel, there were several other nearby areas similar to Alienated Rocks where K0-Phantoms could hunt.

Sure, there weren't even places like Salt Village near the Citadel, and there were territories much more dangerous. The reason was simple - all the strong monsters in the surrounding areas had long since been exterminated by the mighty Phantoms.

Thus, every Phantom knew that the farther a place was from the Citadel, the more dangerous the monsters there were. Well, this rule only worked for the first few circles around the Citadel.

Magnus continued:

"Among the far territories, where there are dangerous monsters that even K3 and K4 Phantoms have a hard time dealing with, there's plenty of room for weaker creatures, be they scavengers or just non-conflict monsters that others have little desire to hunt." Magnus sighed.

In a forest where bears and wolves could live, there was space for dozens of less dangerous animals, just as in the oceans, sharks didn't touch the small fish that cleaned their bodies of parasites, not wanting to waste their energy on them.

Sure, monsters were different. They didn't need much reason to kill others, but not because monsters were insane creatures.

On the contrary, monsters had a specific goal - to become stronger. Food for the purpose of survival was not the only reason why monsters attacked each other otherwise their habitats would be no different from forests.

Monsters always wanted to fight, because by killing others, they gained valuable experience and became stronger, and by eating their enemies they healed their wounds and strengthened their bodies. Thus, although there were weak monsters in the far zones, they were few and rare.

"The value of Yellow Oro's eggs is that it is a rare subspecies of the Oroes. The Yellow Ones are the ones that lay the eggs." Magnus uttered, running his fingers over them as if he could already taste them.

Adam tilted his head.

"Have you tasted Yellow Oro's eggs yet?"

Magnus nodded.

"Sure. However, even I've only managed to do it a few times. Anyway, you're lucky you decided to become a newbie just today."

Adam said nothing, his gaze only deepening. Then, all discussion stopped, and gazes went to Zakira.

Her assistants had already started preparing the garnish and sauce, leaving her with the most important and difficult task of all: preparing the Yellow Oro's eggs.

Zakira had tanned skin, shaved sides of her head, leaving only the top of her head, and a long silver braid running down to her back. Her gray eyes were as confident as her stern gaze.

Crackle.

Zakira took a massive knife from the stand that looked like a huge saw and gripped it tightly by the hilt. Only then did Adam realize that the strange knife was her Nexus.

"Oh, a Nexus is like a kitchen knife even though it's weird... I see..." Adam muttered, slightly impressed.

Then, with three swipes, she sliced off the tops of the eggs, causing the whites to wobble like jelly but not spill out.

Zakira nodded, put the sword aside, and reached forward, holding her wrist with her other hand.

Her eyes shone brightly, and her hand was covered in a dense red energy that was like a living thing, for soon, it stretched forward as if searching for a target.

The blob of energy without losing contact with Zakira's hand, penetrated the egg only to emerge carrying the yolk without touching the white.

The yolk ended up in a glass container. Zakira did this two more times, leaving all three eggs without the yolk.

"Oh, it's kind of like telekinesis, right? Not bad, not bad at all." Adam smiled, enjoying the show.

Zakira picked up three eggs at once with her ability, guiding them towards the huge pan and slowly tilted them, letting the white spill out.

However, Zakira didn't turn on the fire, as she needed the heat to come from the top, not the bottom.

Whoooooooosh.

Suddenly, two Guardians appeared beside her. They had planned it all and knew why they were here, so without further ado, they pointed their hands toward the raw whites, and their eyes shone brightly.

Two streams of flames quickly began to heat up the whites, normal whites would have burned already, but since they were monster eggs, it was fine.

Zakira watched over the whites carefully as well as the time on her stopwatch.

"Stop." Zakira said confidently, and the Guardians lowered their arms before disappearing into the crowd.

Then, she picked up three yolks, carefully transferring them to the heated whites so they wouldn't break. The high temperature immediately began to cook the yolks, but Zakira rotated them slowly, distributing the heat evenly so that the yolks remained fluid and full of flavor.

Adam didn't know what the dish was, but here Magnus, Silvana, and Nessa understood.

"Oh, it's Orsini Eggs, but with ingredients from a monster... Interesting..." Silvana muttered, rumpling her dress. Even she couldn't contain the appetite that awakened deep inside her.

Then, the Soldiers approached the kitchen and spread out slices of the dish with the scattered yolks on plates. Zakira quickly sliced everything into even pieces, one for each guest. The sauce and roasted vegetables were already on the plates, prepared by the other cooks.

Tap.

Soldiers brought plates to each table and filled every glass with wine. However, no one had started eating yet - it was a small tradition of the Red Feast.

Zakira bowed low, pressing her palm to her chest.

"Thank you for coming here. The first course is served. Enjoy while we prepare for the next installment. Yellow Oro's eggs were just the beginning."

Clap. Clap. Clap.

There was a series of applause, in which Magnus actively participated.

Then, everyone grabbed knives and forks, including Adam.

"Well, let's see if it was worth it." Adam muttered before taking a bite.