After returning to Polar Star Dormitory, Soma Yukihira told everyone about Asahi Saiba. Hearing the whole story, the others couldn't help but admire Kael.
Even though Erina Nakiri had ultimately resolved the situation, Kael had sent Soma to find her from the very beginning. It was obvious he'd already known Erina could handle it cleanly.
On the other side, Senzaemon Nakiri also met Asahi Saiba. Asahi had been visibly nervous at first, worried Senzaemon might reject Erina's proposal.
In hindsight, he'd underestimated himself.
His circumstances were extremely special—he shared blood ties with the Nakiri family, possessed terrifying talent, and wielded an absurdly powerful Special Ability.
Someone like that joining the Nakiris would only benefit the family. No matter how Senzaemon looked at it, there was no reason to refuse.
Just like that, Asahi Saiba officially joined the Nakiri family.
The news caused an uproar among the Midnight chefs.
Asahi had been known as the greatest genius among them. With his monstrous talent and ability, many believed he would eventually reign supreme over Night Cuisine—even if he couldn't unify them outright, he would at least stand above everyone else.
And now, that person had joined the Nakiri family.
People in the culinary world couldn't make sense of it anymore.
First, Mana Nakiri—the WGO's sole Special-Grade Executive—was from the Nakiri family. Then there was Kael, widely regarded as the greatest culinary genius of the era, who had deep ties with them. Now even the top prodigy of Dark Cuisine had joined their ranks.
The Nakiri family suddenly looked… terrifying.
At first, many had thought the Nakiris were just riding on the coattails of the God's Tongue. But it clearly went far beyond that.
Once the truth came out, things started to make sense.
Kael's connection to the Nakiris stemmed from their early investment in him, as well as his relationship with Erina and Alice. As for Asahi—his case was even simpler. The Nakiri family publicly announced his identity.
He was Erina Nakiri's biological older brother.
That revelation left the outside world stunned.
No one had expected that.
And once people connected all the dots, the implications became downright frightening.
Erina Nakiri—the God's Tongue whose future achievements would rival Mana's—was closely tied to Kael, the man destined to become the number one chef of the future. Her older brother was the top genius of Dark Cuisine. And their mother stood at the very pinnacle of the culinary world.
What kind of absurd lineup was this?
The news spread like wildfire, and among those who saw a glimmer of hope was Azami Nakiri.
Though he'd been forced to give up everything before, a man like him would cling to any opportunity. And now, he'd learned he had a biological son.
He didn't even know where this son had come from—but blood didn't lie.
Again Completely ignoring the fact that he'd never fulfilled his duties as a father, Azami desperately tried to contact Asahi.
The outcome was predictably miserable.
No one wanted anything to do with him.
Azami had already offended the current Nakiri family and Kael. In that situation, who would dare help him? With no connections left, he didn't even dare show up in person—one wrong move, and Senzaemon might have him erased on the spot.
The matter stalled completely.
In the end, it was Asahi who reached out first, choosing not to crush Azami's last sliver of hope outright.
Asahi longed for family—but he wasn't an idiot blinded by emotion.
He saw Azami clearly for what he was and understood that someone like him could never provide real fatherly love. Since that was the case, there was no point maintaining any ties.
Knowing Azami wouldn't give up quietly once he learned the truth, Asahi made a clean break—one phone call to sever their relationship completely.
Azami could do nothing about it.
In this era of law and reason, he had no right to demand anything. He'd never raised Asahi, so Asahi had no obligation to acknowledge him. No one could say otherwise.
And no one was foolish enough to provoke the Nakiri family over a scumbag like Azami.
Just like that, Azami's last hope was extinguished.
Totsuki soon returned to calm. After more than a month of teaching, Erina Nakiri had fully taken control of the academy.
Totsuki returned to what it was meant to be—still cruel, but deliberately so. It was a school designed to produce elites, after all.
Time passed quickly.
Later, Erina and the others participated in THE BLUE. However, they didn't stand out much in that competition.
It couldn't be helped—THE BLUE allowed competitors up to twenty-five years old. At just sixteen, they were at a natural disadvantage.
In the end, Asahi Saiba took first place.
This was reality, not a manga. Soma and the others couldn't just pull miracles out of nowhere.
Still, with their talent, a few more years of growth would be enough for them to sweep THE BLUE effortlessly.
As for Kael, he didn't participate in any competitions. Aside from occasionally going out with a few girls, nearly all of his time was spent refining his cooking.
Several months after THE BLUE concluded, Kael finally broke through—to the realm of a Lin Chef.
In the Cooking Master Boy(Chuuka CIhiban) world, that already placed him among top-tier chefs. In the Food Wars world, it went even further—it shattered the limits of that world entirely.
He had carved out a completely new path.
Upon reaching Lin Chef, Kael unlocked the fourth zone of the Dark Cooking Society.
The first zone focused on fundamentals.
The second, the Chef's Heart.
The third, secret techniques.
And the fourth—
Explosive Flame.
These five training zones were extremely special. Once Kael entered one, a shadowy projection would appear—each corresponding to one of the Dark Cooking Society's Five Tiger Stars.
Within these zones, Kael could learn the techniques of Mila, Yan Xian, Kaiyu, Alkan, and Zhu Qi. This was different from Character Inheritance.
Character Inheritance granted abilities and innate talent—that was the crucial part. Without those, knowledge alone was meaningless. A normal person trying to learn Kaiyu's techniques would get nowhere.
Kael's rapid mastery of Kaiyu's inheritance was precisely because he'd inherited Kaiyu's talent and abilities—stacked on top of his own.
At this point, Kael had nearly completed Kaiyu's inheritance. Only one final piece remained: the Pomo Bajin(Eightfold Demon-Severing Formation) and Qi.
These were the only things he hadn't fully mastered.
He still lacked the complete version of Qi. What he possessed now was a weakened form. Only by mastering true Qi could he fully grasp the Pomo Bajin and complete Kaiyu's inheritance.
As for Faction Inheritance, it was also one step from completion. Once Kael reached Dragon Chef, the final zone would unlock, completing that inheritance and allowing him to obtain a new one.
Beyond all that, Kael gained an especially shocking ability.
From the previous zone, he'd acquired the White Luo family's Soul-Calming Ougi and the secret technique White Luo Serpent Coil.
But the fourth zone granted him something even more outrageous—
Explosive Flame, the ability of Alkan, one of the Five Tiger Stars.
"Explosive Flame…" Kael muttered. "Alkan became the continent's greatest fire specialist because of this."
Naturally, Kael was thrilled.
Not only did this ability vastly improve his control over fire, it also possessed real destructive power.
The abilities in the Food Wars world were called Special Abilities, but they weren't lethal. In contrast, the abilities from the Chuuka Ichiban were.
Take Explosive Flame, for example.
It didn't directly create flames—instead, it released superheated steam.
But once released, that steam would instantly ignite everything except clothing.
The flames it produced could even be partially controlled.
The temperature of that steam was absurdly high.Alkan was even able to boil the bowls beneath Liu Maoxing's feet while being suppressed underwater…
But after the excitement passed, Kael suddenly remembered something.
He immediately exited the fourth zone.
Back in the real world, he felt it—his body temperature was steadily rising.
It wasn't extreme yet, but it already felt like a high fever.
"So it really isn't perfect," Kael muttered.
He remembered clearly—Alkan's Explosive Flame was notoriously hard to control. Even as a Supreme Dragon Chef, Alkan always carried large amounts of cold water to cool himself.
While he could control the release of steam, his body would continue heating up if nothing suppressed it—until the steam burst out on its own.
Kael was in the same situation.
If he didn't suppress it externally, the steam would erupt eventually—enough to set the entire room ablaze.
Thankfully, Explosive Flame became dormant when the user slept. As long as one was unconscious, it wouldn't activate.
Feeling his temperature rise, Kael quickly took out water and drank.
As the water went down, his temperature dropped rapidly, returning to normal.
"Tch. If you're giving me a reward, at least make it flawless."
Kael sighed. Luckily, he had storage space filled with water. Otherwise, he'd be stuck hauling cold water around like Alkan.
"…Wait."
Something suddenly clicked.
"In Kiwami, the Phoenix Eight Immortals had similar abilities—but theirs weren't uncontrollable."
The Phoenix Eight Immortals each wielded terrifying powers.
Thunderfire Ramon commanded lightning. He usually wore armor to suppress it, but even without it after battles, he could still control his electricity.
Cloudborne Vajra Song Wan controlled sand—and it never ran out of control.
Swift Phantom Ping Ke wielded ice, using it to preserve her youth. Despite looking like a child, she was over a hundred years old.
Her immortality came at a cost—frequent hibernation and bodily strain—but her ice ability itself had no inherent side effects.
So why was Explosive Flame different?
Then Kael realized it.
"Qi."
The Phoenix Eight Immortals had all mastered true Qi.
Qi was the foundation of all special abilities in that world.
Alkan couldn't fully control Explosive Flame because he didn't possess Qi.
At present, Kael was the only one in the Dark Cooking Society who had it.
With that thought, Kael tried suppressing his rising temperature using Qi.
Even though his Qi was incomplete, it was still Qi.
The effect was immediate.
The rate of temperature increase dropped dramatically.
Still, it couldn't be fully suppressed—likely because his Qi wasn't complete yet.
But now Kael knew.
Once he mastered true Qi, Explosive Flame would be completely under his control.
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