On the grassland, a caravan was racing swiftly.

Although it was called a grassland, the ground was still uneven, causing the entire vehicle to continuously shake and jolt as it moved.

However, thanks to Magic, the carriage at the back remained steadily floating above the surface, and Kane and the others inside could hardly feel any bumps.

It was already late in the afternoon, and they had finally traversed the grassland, arriving at the forest by the safety zone.

The caravan stopped right at the edge of the forest, as the path leading to the Circular Restaurant was not wide enough for it to pass through, making it too difficult for the caravan to cross.

Feeling the vehicle come to a stop, Kane said to everyone, "We've arrived. Let's get off. The vehicle can't enter the last stretch, so we'll walk for a bit."

Upon Lilu's reminder, Funa and the others, looking a bit confused, prepared for landing, and then felt the carriage suddenly disappear, landing steadily on the ground.

Seeing the vehicle suddenly disappear, Funa and the others quickly realized that it must be one of Kane's Skills, so they weren't too surprised by this action.

After a simple direction check, they headed towards the forest.

On their way inside, they encountered two Explorer Squads heading outwards, but the squads didn't interact with each other.

After all, all Explorers had to head out from the Circular Restaurant; in other places, they might rarely meet, but on the safety zone paths, they often did.

Kane and the others did not return to the inn but first came to the reception at the intersection.

Funa and her group, along with Kane's, also needed to complete the task indicated on their assignment slips.

At the reception, the person assisting them was different from last time; it was a female Alien Race with unknown ears.

They handed over their assignment slip, and a small rainbow Teleportation Gate appeared next to Lilu, through which she brought out a transparent iron box containing a Red Snake.

Although it required a complete capture, capturing the target alive also fulfilled the task.

"Alright, sir, your assignment is completed. Would you like to take on a level two task now?"

"Of course, let's do it now."

This time, it was Lilu's turn to draw lots again.

After a series of operations, the receptionist handed Kane and his group a roll of parchment.

Unrolling it revealed their next target.

Chirping Syrup Slime.

What on earth?

According to the assignment slip, Kane and his group needed to capture alive a Slime marked as two-star, which had a body entirely made of a golden syrupy substance.

The description stated that the entire body of this Slime was composed of a premium syrup.

This syrup was extremely sweet.

Upon seeing the information on the assignment slip, Lilu and Kreya's eyes lit up.

The task wasn't too difficult, nor too easy; the only challenge was that the Slime was always surrounded by a large group of other colorful Slimes, making it hard to capture alive.

After Kane and his group were done, it was Funa's turn to complete their task.

Funa and her group pulled out a four-meter-long, four-winged flying snake from their Space Equipment.

That was their level three assignment.

During the drawing lots session, the Angel Siblings quarreled again over who would draw next.

"Didn't we agree it's my turn this time? And you drew last time with such bad luck, what are you fighting for?" Rui yelled at his sister.

"Precisely because last time was so unlucky, I want to prove myself anew this time. It was just an accident last time."

"No way, I'm drawing myself, get lost."

This time, the brother acted first, grabbing his sister's hand and pushing her aside, then quickly went to the box and drew a number slip.

When the sister flew back quickly and saw it was already done, she didn't argue further but stared at the scroll in her brother's hand.

"Hurry up and open it, what are you dawdling for?"

Seeing her brother not opening it, she snatched it and rolled it open directly.

After reading it, she quickly rolled up the parchment again, becoming deflated and sinking into a depressed state.

Seeing the bizarre state of her two teammates, Funa curiously took the parchment from Xi's hand and unrolled it to examine it; her face quickly turned pale, and she froze.

Kane and his team were a bit curious too, and leaned over from behind Funa to see the assignment target in her hand.

It was a green, slimy worm that seemed to be oozing green liquid.

Moreover, it was marked as needing to be captured alive.

Its location was within the Great Crevice, an infamous disgusting place in this Dungeon.

Rumor had it that the crevice was filled with all kinds of strange insects, and it was incredibly foul-smelling.

Kane and his group sighed, silently walking away.

Since I couldn't think of any way to comfort them, I could only let them quietly face reality on their own.

Back in the inn's room, everyone returned to their rooms, had a much-needed wash, and changed into clean casual clothes.

This afternoon, Kane needed to accompany Kreya to learn the unique culinary skills of the City of Gastronomy, and he carried Burton's recommendation letter.

Burton wrote it after hearing they decided to visit the City of Gastronomy, saying it was from the teacher who once taught him culinary skills.

Although they had just finished exploring, they weren't tired; the journey felt more like a leisure trip rather than a mission completion, especially the latter part, which they spent resting in the carriage.

Kane and his squad enjoyed considerable freedom outside of exploration periods, each doing their own thing, though they preferred being with companions, giving the impression they were always together.

When the two of them were ready to go out together, Lily also joined them.

"Didn't you say you wanted to hang out with Xi and them later? How come you want to go out with us?" Kane asked curiously.

"Blah blah blah!" Lily made a funny face at Kane, not answering his question, and flashed directly atop Kreya's shoulder.

Lily was quite clever; she had quietly asked Burton beforehand and knew that his teacher excelled at making desserts.

And by probing, she learned that Kreya wanted to prioritize learning dessert-making skills, and since it's training, they would have to keep making them, right? So, what happens to the dishes they make? Of course, all of them should end up in Lily's belly.

"Hahaha," just thinking about it, Lily couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Of course, this earned her strange looks from Kreya and Kane.

The three of them exited the dungeon and arrived on the streets of the City of Gastronomy, following the map's twists and turns to a large complex of buildings.

A huge sign hung above the entrance with words inscribed on it.

[Puxinoshik Food Academy]

This is the only and largest culinary academy in the City of Gastronomy. Countless culinary techniques, innovative cooking skills, ancient chef experiences, and new food resource cultivation originate from here.

It's said the academy's name comes from the name of the first principal and founder, who created the City of Gastronomy.

The school's architecture maintains consistency with the city's style but is more refined and grand.

Moreover, the atmosphere throughout the academy—actually, air can't describe it; it's a pervasive scent that fills the air with the enticing aroma of delicious food, different with every few steps.

Following various signs in the school, Kane and the others finally arrived outside a small villa.

Upon arriving, they saw a large standing rat wearing white clothes, using a watering can to water the flowers and plants in the garden.

Upon sensing the presence of Kane and the others, the rat turned around to look at them and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Excuse me, does Yorkson live here?"

"What business do you have with him?" The large rat put down the watering can and walked over to ask.

Kane showed the recommendation letter from Longbei to the rat and said, "We wanted to find him to learn culinary skills through a friend's introduction."

Hearing Kane's words, the rat nodded and then opened the front door.

"Please come in, everyone. I'm Yorkson." With that, he reached out to take the letter from Kane's hand.

After opening the letter, he carefully read it.

"I didn't expect you to be friends of Burton. How is he doing? It's been years since I last saw him; I didn't expect him to still be alive."

Though not fully understanding what the rat meant by that, Kane replied, "He's doing quite well. He currently runs a tavern in Crystal Town in Lion City."

Hearing Kane's words, Yorkson nodded.

"So you must be Kreya, right? What do you want to learn first?"

"Ah, no, no, no." Feeling Yorkson's gaze, Kane immediately shook his head, "I'm not Kreya—this is Kreya."

Then Kane pointed to the centaur next to him.

Kreya was obviously a female name; why would he think it was me? Kane thought, a bit puzzled.

"Sorry, I can't really discern the genders of your kinds based on appearance and voice," Yorkson explained why he mistook them, seemingly having made this error often before.

Upon hearing his explanation, Kane thought about it for a bit and felt it wasn't too big of an issue.

If two gendered rat people stood before him, he wouldn't likely be able to tell the difference between them either.

"Do both of you also want to learn culinary skills?" Yorkson asked, looking at Kane and Lily.

"No, we're just accompanying Kreya," Kane replied.

"Are you from the same adventurer squad? Your camaraderie is quite admirable." Yorkson continued as he led Kane and the others forward, chattering along the way.

"I once wanted to become an Explorer too, but during my second dungeon run, my entire Explorer squad was wiped out, and I was the only survivor."

"I was really heartbroken at the time, even though I had only known those companions for less than a week."

"Later, I returned to my hometown, which is the City of Gastronomy, to learn culinary skills, and never mentioned exploring again. Looking back, it seems it was the right decision."

Perhaps this old rat's age had gotten to him; he continued to recount his past experiences at a slow and smooth pace as they walked.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.