The ingredient levels in the 1st Biotope were generally not very high, so after collecting what he needed, Kael left. As for the beasts he had subdued, he didn't take them with him—there was no need.
Next, Kael planned to make a trip to Forest V, and while he was there, take care of the Gourmet Corp's sous-chef, Grinpatch. The reason for killing that guy was simple: it would give Behemoth a proper identity.
As for whether killing Grinpatch would cause any trouble, Kael hadn't even considered it. People in the Gourmet Corp didn't care about so-called companions at all. Aside from a tiny handful like Stajun, most of them treated their allies as disposable resources.
As long as the goal could be achieved, sacrificing a few companions was never an issue. Kael didn't believe those people would dare come after him anyway. After all, he was Granny Setsuno's disciple.
Even Midora wouldn't casually provoke Granny Setsuno. Her relationships with Ichiryu and Jiro alone were reason enough. If Midora dared lay a hand on Setsuno, putting Ichiryu aside, Jiro would absolutely never let it go.
The reason Ichiryu and Jiro had always turned a blind eye to Midora's actions was because they stood in the position of older brothers. Their little brother might be causing chaos, but as long as he didn't do anything that hurt family, they wouldn't interfere.
That was why Midora would never act against Granny Setsuno either. The few of them maintained a strange but stable balance.
So Kael killing Grinpatch was something he didn't need to worry about at all. Midora wouldn't dare send experts capable of entering the Gourmet World to deal with him either.
For now, Kael planned to return directly to Setsuno's Dining Hall. He had an idea he wanted to discuss with his master.
After capturing the ingredients, Kael was escorted back by a private jet. As soon as he arrived at Setsuno's Dining Hall, he went straight to the underground kitchen, where Granny Setsuno was preparing things.
"You're back. The harvest this time should be pretty good, right? The 1st Biotope has some decent ingredients," Granny Setsuno said with a smile.
"It really was. Jewel Meat has already been captured. Next, I'm planning to go to Forest V to capture BB Corn. But before that, there's something I want to discuss with you."
Kael's serious tone made Granny Setsuno pause what she was doing. Although they hadn't known each other for very long, she understood his personality well enough. If he was being this serious, it meant something important.
"You know that qi can carry certain special attributes, right? These attributes come in many forms. Among the ones I've mastered, there's one called the Tree of Life."
"It's something that was born from the fusion of multiple attributes. The Tree of Life gives me control over vitality. To put it another way, I can now manipulate other people's lifespan."
"I can take lifespan away, or grant lifespan. I can do both. You still have quite a bit of life left, but the aging of your body can't be stopped. So if I inject life force into you, I can restore your youth."
Kael explained.
In the original story, Granny Setsuno always maintained the appearance of old age. She was different from Master Jiro. Jiro maintained an elderly appearance only to match Setsuno.
Otherwise, Jiro himself was practically a living gourmet demon. His lifespan was already infinite—unless he was killed by an enemy, he would never die naturally.
An infinite lifespan also meant his physical form would stay at its absolute peak. But as Setsuno aged day by day, Jiro eventually chose to use Knocking to force himself into an elderly state.
In truth, this method was no different from how Granny Ayame used Knocking to return herself to her youthful state—it could be undone at any time.
Setsuno herself had said she didn't need a fake appearance. Youth achieved through Knocking was too hollow.
Ayame did it to maintain peak condition, but Setsuno had no intention of doing the same.
However, after hearing Kael's words, Granny Setsuno's expression gradually changed. Her eyes widened. As a woman, how could she not wish to remain young?
It was just that in this world, staying young was almost impossible. Even fusing eight ingredients with one's gourmet demon didn't guarantee it.
Now, hearing Kael say this, Setsuno suddenly realized she might have underestimated qi. It didn't have terrifying destructive power, but its effects were almost absurdly overpowered.
The Tree of Life was just one of Kael's abilities. How many abilities his qi actually had, Setsuno didn't know. And she didn't ask. Those were her disciple's secrets.
She wouldn't pry into them just because she was his master.
But the Tree of Life alone was already a huge surprise.
"If you can really do it… then let's give it a try," Granny Setsuno said.
She didn't refuse. Given a chance to regain her youth, she naturally didn't want to keep her current state. In truth, she felt a bit guilty herself—Master Jiro maintained his old man appearance for her sake.
But she had no choice. She wasn't like Jiro, who had eaten Red Nitro since childhood, forcibly pushing his cells to one hundred percent gourmet cells and becoming a living gourmet demon.
Jiro's existence was a miracle among miracles. It was almost impossible to replicate.
Back then, the Nitro species were far more numerous. Even so, eating Nitro flesh from childhood all the way into adulthood—only someone like Jiro, whose father was the Wolf King Guinness, could pull that off.
And the risks were enormous. Consuming Nitro flesh forcibly transformed cells, and that transformation could drive a person into uncontrollable madness.
When Jiro first met Acacia, even Acacia thought he was nothing more than a raging beast. It was only after Acacia used Knocking on him that Jiro gradually learned to control his power and regain his sanity.
Growing stronger that way was extremely dangerous. Jiro's case was truly a once-in-a-lifetime miracle.
"Alright. Then let's begin."
There was no need for any special preparation. Kael wasn't one of the Phoenix Eight Immortals. With the Tree of Life, he could directly take and grant lifespan. There was no need to use legendary kitchenware to make some so-called immortality dish.
Of course, taking lifespan wasn't that simple. The stronger the target, the harder it was to steal their lifespan. Granting lifespan, on the other hand, was much easier—one just needed to understand the limits of the target's body.
After all, too much life force wasn't necessarily a good thing. Song Wan was the clearest example of that.
But when it came to Granny Setsuno, Kael didn't need to worry at all. Her cell level was in the thousands.
With such a terrifying physique, no matter how much life energy Kael injected, it was impossible for her to be overloaded.
So Kael didn't even bother probing her limits. He directly began injecting life energy.
As the life energy flowed in, Granny Setsuno's body gradually emitted a faint green glow—the manifestation of the Tree of Life.
As time passed and more life energy was infused, her body began to change.
Her hunched back slowly straightened. The wrinkles on her skin rapidly faded away. Even her hair, under the influence of the Tree of Life, began to grow at high speed.
In less than a minute, Granny Setsuno had gone from an elderly woman to middle-aged. But that wasn't Kael's goal.
Another minute passed, and she successfully returned from middle age to her youthful state.
To be honest, the world of Toriko didn't really have many beauties—at least compared to the world of Food Wars. Even at her youngest, Granny Setsuno could only be described as pretty.
Compared to people like Erina Nakiri, she was still several leagues behind.
But within the Toriko world, that was more than enough.
After all, truly beautiful women were rare in this world.
"I really… I really returned to my youthful state."
Because she was still wearing clothes meant for her elderly body, Setsuno looked a bit awkward. But it wasn't too bad. After all, her mushroom haircut had already changed because her hair had grown so long.
Right now, her hair was over two meters long, with part of it already trailing on the floor.
But she didn't care about that at all. All she knew was that she had truly regained her youth—and it wasn't a fake youth.
No matter how she fought or how much she exhausted herself, she would never revert to her elderly state again.
She still had plenty of lifespan left to begin with. This time, Kael had extended her life by at least several hundred years. She no longer needed to worry about her lifespan at all.
And the Tree of Life didn't mean this was a one-time thing. As long as there were no issues with the soul, this kind of life extension could continue indefinitely.
As for the soul, as long as one had gourmet cells, there was nothing to worry about. Gourmet cells strengthened the soul as they strengthened the body.
That was why powerful individuals were barely affected when they entered the Soul World.
In the original story, people like Yuda entered the Soul World without the slightest confusion. Only Komatsu got briefly lost, simply because his gourmet cells had only awakened recently.
Once he recovered, the effects disappeared as well.
"Congratulations, Master. I'm sure Master Jiro will be very happy when he sees this."
Kael smiled.
Hearing that, Granny Setsuno immediately called Jiro, telling him to hurry back—there was a surprise waiting for him.
Jiro was drinking at the time, but upon hearing that there was a surprise, and that Setsuno herself was calling him back, he didn't hesitate at all. The bond between the two of them had never changed.
While waiting for Jiro to return, Setsuno took the opportunity to change clothes and tidy up her hair, restoring her old pink twin-tail hairstyle.
Yes. A very dangerous hairstyle. Especially with pink hair.
Considering Setsuno's personality, it really fit. Pink-haired characters were always dangerous once you cut them open—Granny Setsuno was no exception. She was incredibly sly.
"Secchan, you called me back so urgently—what kind of surpr—"
Jiro pushed the door open and walked in. Before he could finish his sentence, his expression froze.
Standing in front of him was Granny Setsuno, restored to her youthful state.
"Well, Jiro-chan? Big enough of a surprise for you?"
Seeing Jiro's stunned expression, Setsuno found it amusing. But she could understand. After all, she had maintained that old woman appearance for over a hundred years. Suddenly becoming young again—of course Jiro would be shocked.
"Secchan… didn't you say you wouldn't use that kind of Knocking technique…?"
Jiro was about to ask, but as a Knocking master, he immediately realized something was off.
"There are no traces of Knocking on you!"
Others might not notice, but Jiro had gone extremely far down the path of Knocking. One glance was enough for him to tell whether someone was under its effects.
Setsuno's aura was completely stable now. There was none of the hollow, floating feeling that Knocking-induced youth brought.
Jiro was completely baffled. If it wasn't Knocking, then how had Setsuno regained her youth?
Unable to figure it out, he could only ask with confusion in his voice.
Hearing Jiro's question, Setsuno explained everything—how Kael had injected life energy into her and restored her youth.
"I see… This energy called qi is truly incredible. Kael, thank you for this."
As he spoke, Jiro casually tapped a few points on his own body, instantly returning to his black-haired, middle-aged form.
"No need to thank me. She's my master. A disciple taking care of his master is only natural. If I can do it, how could I possibly ignore it?"
Kael spoke honestly.
Granny Setsuno had never held anything back when teaching him. She truly treated him like her own son.
If someone treated him well, Kael would treat them well in return.
Hearing this, both Granny Setsuno and Master Jiro nodded.
Kael was indeed an exceptionally good disciple.
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*The Bonus Chapter*