The colorful foliage became nothing more than a blur on the corner of his eye as Luca ran, not caring about the path the rest of their 'teammates' would take.

  His main intention was to lose them, after all.

  It could have been harsh under other circumstances, but considering they were all demons—not only was he thinking about avoiding being discovered as human and the sudden death that would fall upon him—but it was also dangerous to stay with them for the good of the challenge. And his own safety.

  All this situation was a trap.

  How to explain this? The main reason Luca preferred to split up was because they weren’t really a team. Not at all. The real team was formed by those who shared the same orb; that was the team that mattered—and only for the final score of ingredients at the end. And the cooking part, of course.

  What more could be said? It was a bit too obvious that the host was quite mischievous to create a second mix, hoping to invite trouble, to provoke some 'amusing' scenes between the participants. Because obviously, things would have been too dull otherwise. This was a show, right? They still needed material for their ‘ratings’.

  So, the rule against killing wasn’t a safety net but rather the rope pulling them into the most satisfying pits. Killing each other was too easy, especially for those demons with advanced skills. But despite what Chef Dominatom said, they still needed more than one participant. And this show was still all about cooking. There should be more drama in the kitchen stations.

  Luca rushed through the trees while thinking about all of this, slowing his pace when he started feeling more exhausted. His main goal now was to secure ingredients —particularly certain ingredients. That was the key to passing the challenge.

  'The Forest' was dense, and despite its colorful appearance, it reminded him a bit too much of the previous forest from the last Mystery. However, the birds here sounded harsh and strange, but they didn’t carry the same weight as the creature from last time. Still, there were other beings around that he should be mindful of.

  Luckily, his trait should work well to minimize his presence around the zone.

  Passing by the dark roots covering part of the floor, Luca thought it was good enough that he hadn’t face-planted during his frantic run. As he looked around, he didn’t see anything especial. No signs or clues about the orbs they were supposed to find.

  He stopped against a thick tree root, and after confirming there was nothing around him, he took out the star item of that Mystery. Tears of Discernment. Applying a drop to his left eye, he blinked quickly as he saved the vial again. With a simple thought, the message appeared in less than a split second.

  At first, it looked like nothing had changed. But as he walked ahead, glancing around his surroundings with the intention of not losing any little corner, he finally saw something.

  A weak bubble text flickered meters from his current position.

  The additional information was surprising but very welcome.

  Garlic's fine, Luca thought as he moved in its direction. Crounching down, it took him a momento to see it. The orb, similar to his purple one, was tucked between two roots but covered by another so that no one could see it at first glance. They were quite thoughtful about hiding them.

  Picking it up, the orb felt warm in his hands. Huh. Although it was round and smooth, with an egg-like shape, its weight was similar to a handful of strawberries. The color was the same. And… it couldn’t be opened at that moment. Knocking on the 'orb,' the sound seemed to indicate the 'shell' was quite thick.

  They weren’t going to get anywhere with just garlic, so to avoid the disaster that had happened in the book, Luca had to keep pushing himself.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  But first, he thought, and quickly stashed the orb directly into his inventory. There was no ‘eye’ watching him—at this point, the attention would still be heavily focused on the higher-ranking demons; not to mention that this forest was pretty dangerous for the camera crew.

  Well, not just for them.

  The flapping of wings—big wings—reached his ears. Looking up toward the orange canopy, Luca could’ve sworn something was moving through the branches.

  Not wanting to waste any more time there, he pressed on. It wasn’t exactly the 'marked' path (if it could be called this), but it gave him a better chance to avoid the other participants and find those orbs scattered in the 'outskirts.' Though his attention remained focused on any flicker of a bubble text, he didn’t let his guard down.

  He could still feel his acid working, but using it wasn’t a good idea—not with ‘Legacies’ being restricted. Instead, he pulled the small blue capsule from his inventory and kept it close—the shield could buy him precious seconds. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to use it so soon, given its cooldown period.

  As the minutes ticked by, Luca managed to find two more orbs: Maideneyes , or olive oil, and Primordial Fruit, which he wasn’t entirely sure what that one was. But this wasn't enough. The dish needed protein—fish, some kind of meat. And more importantly than all of that…

  It needed seasoning.

  Luca frowned.

  This was one of the 'pits' designed by the program. No matter how many top-tier ingredients they gathered, no matter how amazing or sophisticated the dish looked, if it wasn’t seasoned—even with just a pinch of salt—it would all be for nothing.

  The problem was that there were only two orbs on the entire map that contained Sea Ash .

  If he found one, his group would be saved. If he found both… well, it was obvious he wouldn’t be sharing with the others. Especially not with what awaited them at the end of this first phase.

  The sound of something —a twig?— breaking made him stop, pulling him out of his thoughts as he focused on where it had come from.

  “—we should try to find at least twelve,” a voice said. From the foliage, not far from where Luca stood, partially hidden by the shadow of a tree, emerged a burly red-skinned demon.

  “Twelve? And how do you think we’re going to pull that off? How long have we been walking?” retorted a second demon, this one almost completely human except for the impressive set of horns sprouting from the top of his head. “I just want to sit down and rest.”

  “Come on, man, do you want to end up with nothing for the first challenge?” Judging by his tone, the red-skinned demon wasn’t thrilled about their situation.

  “Maybe the others are having better luck…” the horned one muttered, sounding even more defeated.

  Apparently, it was just the two of them. Both from the same team, judging by the identical glow of the orbs they carried in one of their hands.

  “What do you think will happen to the ones who lose today? You wanna spend the next few nights here?” asked the red-skinned demon, crossing his arms—all four of them. “You know how the show is. They’ll stick the winners in the Deep Paradise Hotel, and the rest? Good luck.”

  The two rounded a tree, passing right in front of Luca without noticing him, and continued in the same direction he’d come from earlier.

  “Everyone knows who’s gonna win,” said Horns-Guy, his voice still clear despite the distance growing between them. “That guy from the Red Sand Clan—”

  “Shhh, are you looking for trouble—?”

  Their voices faded into the air, swallowed by the forest.

  Luca gave one last glance in their direction before continuing, mulling over their conversation. The show wasn’t rigged , but… it was true that among all the Participants, the one with the best odds was Jackal Head. Still, life had a way of surprising everyone—demons or humans—no matter what world they came from.

  Shaking his head, he slipped between the roots, searching both below—among the roots, behind the mushrooms—and above—between the branches, amidst the flowers. A couple of minutes passed before something finally caught his eye.

  The text bubble floated above a branch, not far from where he stood.

  Luca glanced around before approaching.

  There was no other option but to climb. So that’s what he did.

  It… wasn’t a pleasant experience. When he first tried to hoist himself up, he was nearly driven back by the sudden stench of decay emanating from the tree bark—not to mention that it felt sticky and damp to the touch. Still, the moment the orb was in his hands, he felt like everything might turn out okay.

  "ATTENTION TO ALL PARTICIPANTS: You only have three minutes left to gather your ingredients. Hurry up, my dears, or you'll cry later~"

  The host’s voice boomed across the forest.

  Three minutes, Luca thought, steadying himself on the branch as he prepared to descend back to the ground. He didn’t know if he’d have time to find another orb, but he’d try.

  The instant his sandals touched the ground again, he heard more voices coming from ahead.

  To stay or not? That's the question.