Although aside from that single horn, the White Unicorn didn't look much different from an ordinary horse…
its flavor was truly exceptional.
Regular horse meat—even if you drain the blood perfectly—still has an unavoidable gamey, funky smell.
And horse meat tends to be dry and tough, even drier than beef. You need proper cooking technique to bring out the best flavor.
But this White Unicorn, thanks to its mana-rich channels and a moderate amount of fat, was premium grilling meat.
Near the outer edge of the Water Ruins, Leon picked up some grass and twigs dampened by the waterfall's mist. He used micro-spells to dry them, lit them, and solved the most basic grilling-fire problem.
Just like before, he skewered large slabs of meat—washed clean with a micro purification spell—using ribs as skewers, sprinkled on a little salt they'd brought, and soon two thick cuts from the hindquarters and belly began to sizzle over the fire, releasing a faint, charred aroma.
Those were the best grilling cuts Leon selected from years of dismantling experience.
Most of the rest was dried into jerky as reserve rations—using Iris's compressed Light Illumination and Leon's micro combo spells to accelerate air-drying.
For this whole cooking session, each of them spent about 1 mana.
And perhaps because the White Unicorn's presence was so oppressive, no other monsters came to interfere while the two of them happily grilled and camped.
Based on Leon's past experience, nearby monsters were probably scared off by the White Unicorn's Flood Burst earlier.
That kind of terrifying commotion could frighten off a large number of water monsters.
Even among third-tier powerhouses, only a handful could cast intermediate spells.
And on the 25th floor, the "mainstream" enemies were mostly strong second-tier monsters, with a small number of ordinary third-tier ones.
A myth-recorded, powerful third-tier White Unicorn was clearly at the top of this floor's food chain.
"Is it done yet, Leon?" Iris asked—this was already the second round of grilling, and she still wasn't satisfied.
"Not yet. Let the surface crisp a bit more. It tastes better that way."
"Do you grill monster meat often? Your technique is really skilled." Iris had to admit she was impressed.
"Pretty standard," Leon said. "Basic country folk stuff."
"Your countryside sure produces a lot of talent."
"Oh?" Leon grinned. "Can I take that as you praising me?"
"If you insist on taking it that way, then take it that way."
"So you're saying it's not praise? What a pity. I was going to be happy if you praised me and give you extra meat."
"Stop talking!"
Iris huffed and turned her face away.
She found it strange—why did her face get so hot whenever she exchanged a few more lines with Leon? Was it because of what he said last night, stirring up some weird thoughts?
Damn it… I still haven't confirmed whether you tricked me with that wager!
Even so, as they grew familiar, Iris had to admit Leon really was an excellent teammate. With him around, she could explore, earn money, train, and even grow stronger in the dungeon with more peace of mind.
Just then, a big, fragrant skewer was suddenly offered from behind.
"Hurry and eat while it's fresh. The effect is best that way."
Iris turned back and saw Leon already biting into another skewer in his own hand.
"You're too sneaky—eating first while I wasn't paying attention!"
"What does it matter? You're the one who turned your back."
Iris quickly took the skewer, tossing aside all elegance and restraint. She opened her soft pink lips and took a huge bite.
Boom—
The crisp grilled skin, the burst of juices, the springy tendons, and those layered mana channels exploded across her taste buds all at once.
Even without extra seasoning, the meat alone was this delicious.
In that moment, Iris felt like she was wrapped in happiness.
"So good… so fragrant!"
Cheeks puffed, she chewed rapidly like a little squirrel, forgetting her earlier worries completely.
Leon ate while watching her expression—and honestly, as expected of a pure-blood elf at the "top of the beauty model." Even when she was wolfing down food, she still looked pleasing to the eye.
[Iris Affection +2%. Current Affection: 72%]
Just eating good barbecue and her affection went up again? Or had earlier accumulated points finally "burst" with the food as a trigger?
Leon couldn't help laughing. He'd assumed that after 70%, affection would become harder and harder to raise.
After all, this level of affection was the ceiling for many players in his previous life—and that was for B-rank characters.
For A-rank characters, it was practically unheard of.
Was it because he benefited from being handsome?
Or because of their accumulated shared adventures?
Shaking his head, Leon stopped overthinking.
Right now, recovering mana was the priority.
A third-tier powerhouse like the White Unicorn had far more mana than the Minotaur, and its build leaned heavily into magic, so in theory it should help mana recovery greatly.
Sure enough, after Leon ate the sixth chunk, he found his mana regeneration speed had nearly doubled.
Normally, with High-Speed Mana Recovery, he could only restore about 10 mana per hour.
Now he estimated he could restore 17 or 18!
The total efficiency wasn't as extreme as red spider eggs—but the quantity was hundreds of times larger.
After all, red spider eggs were only dozens per clutch—just a few pounds total.
But a 3.5-meter White Unicorn, after removing inedible parts, still yielded hundreds of pounds of pure meat.
And Iris clearly noticed too:
"My mana… it's recovering so fast! Fresh really is better—the more you eat, the better the effect!"
The two of them ate fiercely, like a storm sweeping through.
About an hour later—combined with the Minotaur jerky Leon had eaten earlier while dismantling—the mana he'd spent was fully restored.
As an aside, in terms of stamina recovery, the Minotaur meat was still stronger.
Using both types of jerky together could likely achieve high-speed recovery of both mana and stamina.
And even after his mana was full, Leon didn't stop eating.
He remembered how eating red spider eggs had raised a stat earlier, and he wanted to test it. So even when mana hit max, he kept stuffing meat into his mouth.
He ate without restraint.
Only after he finished everything he'd grilled did his panel update:
[Repeated consumption of mana-rich food: Mana Cap +1]
[Primary Stats: Vitality 30 / Mana 28 / Stamina 31 / Strength 32 / Agility 41]
Seeing that, Leon couldn't help grinning.
Yes!
Another acceleration in stat accumulation.
Attributes always had bottlenecks tied to class limits, and most people never got near the cap. But now—eat the right things, eat enough, and combine it with real combat in the dungeon—and you could push closer to the cap.
This only proved how correct it was to pull Iris into this team run: reliable character, powerful and versatile light magic, and with her cooperation he could accelerate growth even without doing quests.
Not to mention—aside from quests, once affection reached the threshold, he could obtain her talent too. Beautiful.
"What are you smiling about?" Iris asked, once again staring at Leon without thinking. "You look kind of weird."
"Nothing," Leon said. "I just realized how right it was to learn dismantling."
"True," Iris nodded. "Freshly dismantled and cooked on-site—whether flavor or mana/stamina recovery effect—it's the best."
She fully acknowledged Leon's dismantling skill.
In fact, she realized just how much fresh monster meat she and Hamla had missed in all those years of dungeon exploration.
The more she thought about it, the more it hurt.
With the comparison in front of her, Iris finally understood: if you killed a monster, hauled it out, waited in line at the guild for dismantling, then brought it back to cook—setting aside taste, the mana and stamina recovery effect alone would drop by at least half, maybe even 70–80%.
Which meant many adventurers were unknowingly ignoring a pathway to rapid growth.
Iris couldn't help thinking: Maybe he really didn't lie to me. Maybe he truly just needed a teammate.
After all, he had so many skills—so all-around. He just lacked many "hard" offensive methods. If he needed a teammate, pairing with her did make sense.