Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4112: A Chef! I

He gestured toward the mountains of waste with enthusiasm that suggested he was displaying gold rather than dung.

”Extremely helpful in growing and nurturing herbs. The compression process concentrates the life-giving properties while eliminating the less useful aspects.”

He began listing names with the casual expectation that they would mean something. ”You can sort it into small compartments and bring it to Creatures Nezan, Digoxin, Yewa...”

Each name was spoken with familiarity that suggested long association, relationships that had persisted through epochs Noah couldn’t imagine.

But...

Sorting shit?!

Noah’s eyes flickered with an expression that went beyond disbelief into something approaching existential insult!

His second journey to the Earliest Folds, his accumulation of power that defied reason, his survival of beings that shouldn’t exist...all to become a dung organizer?

”...”

He understood it. This dung was likely extremely unique as he would definitely want it for himself.

But before that...

His gaze swept the surroundings, seeking alternatives.

The village stretched in all directions, surely offering other opportunities for someone of his unique capabilities.

To the far right, past structures that defied architectural possibility, his eyes caught something that made him pause.

A massive table...though calling it a table was like calling an ocean a puddle. The surface alone could have hosted cities, carved from wood that had grown before growth was properly defined.

Upon this table lay a corpse!

It was a Dodo, but to call it simply that was to insult the magnificent impossibility of its existence. Even headless, its neck terminating in a clean cut that suggested violence of incomprehensible scale...the creature radiated power that made Noah’s recent achievements feel like a child’s first steps!

The complexity emanating from the dead flesh exceeded Duke Gwendolyn’s careful accumulation.

The table stood before a cave structure that had been carved into- or perhaps through, a hill that might have been a sleeping titan. The entrance yawned wide enough to swallow buildings, darkness within suggesting depths that connected to spaces that shouldn’t adjoin.

Standing at the table was an Early Creature whose very presence redefined what butchery meant. The Early Creature wielded a blade that lesser civilizations would have worshipped as a weapon of endings. The weapon was the size of a building, yet in his granite hands, it moved with the precision of a scalpel.

He worked with methodical efficiency that suggested infinite practice. Each cut separated meat from bone with understanding that transcended anatomy!

Other Early Creatures gathered around, catching chunks of meat he threw.

They consumed the raw flesh while maintaining conversations.

The casualness of it all...beings who could unmake existence itself treating raw Dodo meat like afternoon snacks- meat from a Duke level entitily...created a surreal domesticity that would make one struggle to compare it to the current age!

”What about that over there?” Noah asked.

Vex’thul’s crystalline eyebrows rose with skepticism that reshaped local probability.

”What about it?” The question carried genuine confusion, as if Noah had asked why water was wet or why existence existed. ”The job of Butcher is one that Creature Garvin excels at. You wouldn’t be able to do it better.”

He paused, his massive eyes- each one containing depths that suggested infinite crystal recursion, focusing on Noah’s comparatively insignificant form.

”With your power, you cannot even cut the animals, can you?”

The doubt in his voice wasn’t mockery but a genuine question. The complexity differential between Noah and even the dead Dodo was like asking an ant to carve a mountain using wishes!

Under that doubtful gaze, Noah’s eyes pulsed.

”We won’t just be able to butcher,” he stated with certainty, ”but we’ll do something with our weak hands that will make the experience that much more enjoyable.”

...!

Vex’thul’s expression cycled through skepticism, amusement, and finally settled on indulgent curiosity.

He shook his massive head, creating small atmospheric disturbances, but his smile suggested he was willing to humor this impossible claim.

They walked toward the butchering station, their approach drawing attention from the gathered Early Creatures.

As they neared, Vex’thul performed what was clearly a formal greeting- his massive hand rose to his chest and tapped three times in a pattern that created resonance through dimensions.

The gesture left a brief signature in the air, a mark of his existence that would linger for moments before reality reabsorbed it. It was greeting, identification, and respect all encoded in simple motion.

”Garvin,” Vex’thul called, his voice carrying across space with the authority of someone who belonged here, ”these two Weak Little Things want to prove themselves. Can you give them a chance here?”

Creature Garvin paused in his butchering, his form turning with the deliberate motion of a mountain deciding to notice something.

Up close, Noah could see that his body wasn’t just granite-like...it was granite that had achieved consciousness and decided to try being alive.

His eyebrow rose with skepticism that created local gravitational anomalies. Then he laughed.

The sound redefined what laughter could be.

The laughter created visible ripples in space, each wave carrying amusement!

With a motion that created earthquakes, he sank his massive butcher knife into the table. The blade penetrated the impossibly hard wood with ease.

”Let them be my guests,” he boomed, his voice carrying undertones that made stone resonate, ”if they can even lift the blade! Bahaha!”

The other Early Creatures joined his laughter, their combined mirth creating a symphony that would have driven lesser beings mad.

They continued eating raw meat with the casualness of beings for whom cooking was unnecessary!

Raw.

The word echoed in Noah’s mind with the particular resonance of opportunity recognized. They were eating it raw, not from necessity but because nothing had suggested they should do otherwise.

His eyes ignited with inspiration that made his companions notice. ”Thank you for giving us a chance,” he said.

”We, Creatures Osmont and Ozymandias, wish to show you something unique.”

The formal introduction using their assumed titles created a ripple of amusement through the gathered beings.

They smiled with indulgence that parents might show children attempting something adorably impossible, continuing their conversations while occasionally glancing over to see what these ”Weak Little Things” might attempt.

Their casual strength created an atmosphere of suppressed violence.

Not intentional threat but simply the reality that beings of such power existing in proximity to lesser creatures created danger through presence alone.

A playful gesture from any of them, a friendly pat that exceeded careful control, would obliterate the strongest Dukes Noah had encountered without the Early Creature even noticing they had killed something!

It was fucking overwhelming!

These...were Early Creatures!

Noah and Ozymandias positioned themselves at the head of the butchering table, the massive Dodo corpse stretching before them like a mountain range of meat. This close, Noah could feel the complexity radiating from the dead flesh...power accumulated over epochs that made his own advancement seem like a single day’s growth.

Prompts materialized before his vision with urgency.

|Tremendous Opportunity Detected|

|Material: Lesser Primordial Dodo (Deceased)|

|Complexity: 52,847,293,018,447|

|Warning: Subject exceeds safe interaction parameters by a large factor|

|Attempting to process may result in existential backlash|

|Potential harvest if successful: Glorious waves of loot!|