After already capturing five ingredients, Kael headed to the Area 3—the Continent of Clouds. This area was extremely unique; it was almost entirely made up of sky and layers of clouds.
There were countless Cloud Trees here, along with many flying creatures. Even the IGO's 0th Biotope was located in this place.
When the strong individuals of the 0th Biotope gathered for meetings, they usually did so here. The 0th Biotope itself was hidden inside one of the Cloud Trees.
After all, in the Gourmet World, aside from Ichiryu, everyone else could still run into danger.
At the same time, the Area 3 also had a very special bridge.
This bridge had been built long ago after the Blue Nitro enslaved the Red Nitro.
Its name was the Developmental Fever Bridge, and it served as a path leading to the ingredient ATOM.
In truth, building this bridge had been completely unnecessary. For humans, it at least provided a way to locate ATOM.
But for the Blue Nitro, they had more than enough power to find ATOM directly. No matter how you looked at it, constructing the bridge was pointless—basically handing others the opportunity on a silver platter.
As for ATOM, it was a drink that erupted from the cloud volcanoes of the Area 3.
Once the liquid was blasted out, it would shoot into space, absorb various toxins throughout the universe, and eventually fall back down to the ground.
In other words, ATOM contained extremely terrifying toxins.
The ingredient was practically left out in the open without any beasts guarding it. However, the catch was that if you didn't extract its toxins first, a single sip would wipe you out.
So the key was detoxification.
In the original story, the ones responsible for capturing ATOM were Coco—a master poison user—and the chef Tylan, who specialized in poison cooking.
Both of them were experts when it came to dealing with toxins, making them the most suitable people for the job.
While Kael was heading toward the Area 3, something was happening over on the Area 1.
After all, Kael had already captured so many ingredients in succession—and had even swept through the Spirit World while doing so.
No matter how slow they were, the Blue Nitro had finally realized that something was wrong.
They immediately began investigating.
And the moment they did, they were completely shocked.
Several of the ingredients had already been captured before they even realized what was happening.
At this moment, the Blue Nitro were both furious and alarmed—but mixed within those emotions was also a trace of relief.
The reason was simple.
Previously, Acacia had already eaten six of the ingredients. The final two—GOD and CENTER—he hadn't consumed yet because the situation back then hadn't been fully prepared.
So while Frohze had eaten all eight ingredients, Acacia himself had only eaten six.
"Who exactly took those ingredients? Do any of you have information?"
The Blue Nitro gathered together. One of them asked with a headache.
"They were captured by humans," one of them replied. "The person responsible is a human named Kael."
The one speaking was Pair.
Among them, he knew the most about humanity and the Human World. So when the problem appeared, he had immediately gone to investigate.
Kael capturing those ingredients wasn't exactly a secret, so it didn't take long for Pair to find out.
"A human named Kael? Since when did humans have someone that powerful?"
The other Blue Nitro were confused.
In their memories, the only powerful humans were the three great masters and Setsuno.
As for everyone else, they had never paid them any attention.
Yet now, a powerful figure had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"He's one of the new generation's strongest humans—and he's Setsuno's disciple. He has extraordinary culinary skill and can supposedly hear the voices of ingredients."
"Even ingredients from the Earth Full Course Menu are no exception."
"That's also why he can capture so many ingredients in such a short time. The time it takes him is on a completely different scale compared to what we spent back then."
Pair shook his head.
After comparing Kael's actions to their own, they finally realized just how inefficient they had been in the past.
"This human called Kael is that impressive? Then could he replace that guy Joie?"
One of the Blue Nitro couldn't help but suggest it.
To be honest, they weren't very fond of Joie. He was extremely arrogant, yet they had no choice but to use him.
After all, on their side, the only powerful chef besides themselves was Joie.
And since Joie was using Frohze's body, he was also the most suitable person for the role.
But now a human who could hear the voices of ingredients had suddenly appeared.
Didn't that mean Joie could potentially be replaced?
"Stop dreaming."
Pair looked speechless.
"This person is Setsuno's disciple. Of course he stands on humanity's side."
"Not to mention what we're trying to do—just the fact that we treat humans as livestock for food. Do you really think any human would stand with us?"
Pair found the thinking of his companions completely baffling.
They used humans as food.
That alone made them humanity's natural enemies.
Not even Ichiryu or Jiro would ever side with them.
Even Midora—the boss of the Gourmet Corp—wouldn't stand with them.
And Kael? As Setsuno's disciple, it was even more impossible.
"In that case, forget it."
"But shouldn't we start restricting him now? At the rate he's going, he might capture all the other ingredients before GOD even appears."
The Blue Nitro began discussing how to limit Kael.
They understood that Kael capturing those ingredients wasn't the real problem.
After all, they themselves harvested those ingredients every few hundred years, and they had been doing it for billions of years.
At this point, they were practically tired of eating them.
What they truly cared about was Acacia's plan.
If Kael was allowed to keep capturing ingredients like this, then once GOD appeared, competition would become inevitable.
And if Ichiryu, Jiro, or Midora managed to eat several of those ingredients—
Those three were already terrifying enough.
If they grew even stronger, the Blue Nitro couldn't even imagine how powerful they would become.
At that point, it wouldn't even take all three of them acting together.
Just one of them could probably wipe them out instantly.
Of course, the Blue Nitro were still thinking too simply.
Even without eating those ingredients, once Jiro released his seals, he alone could easily crush several of them.
The Blue Nitro were powerful, but unfortunately their potential was locked.
They were destined to never grow any stronger.
And they couldn't even die properly.
Even if they died, they would simply resurrect.
Unless appetite itself completely vanished from the world.
But in this universe, making appetite disappear was impossible.
The only way it could happen was if the entire universe were destroyed—only then could every last trace of appetite finally vanish.