'Still no cloud wine...' Pef complained inward as he finished brewing the entire supply of Gorgon blood, but not a single Tribulation fell.

'I guess the excitement has passed, for the Heavens. Or you need better skills.' the glove said in a careless voice.

Pef sighed and walked away from the brewing Avatars, and appeared beside his wife Lin, the Dragon boy Drake and his grandpa Gaoxian.

They were all examining the pile of bones, horns and hooves from the newly defeated Gorgon beast. The avatar of the Word Gun, Faith also watched the loot with interest.

"We can't even bend a single bone, Pef! How do you expect us to Forge anything from such a high level beast?" Lin complained out loud, although she was much happier when she received the loot initially.

Pef picked a neck vertebra from the pile and drew it into his hand. He then glanced at the Word Gun avatar and smile. "Do you have faith?"

The General's look-alike avatar frowned for a moment. "I believe in you Pef. But even your Tier 9 realm is too small. The bone is impervious."

Pef nodded with a smile. Legion Artifacts would not lie, even to protect the frail ego of their users.

He focused his senses and recalled Zara from her Alchemy group. Her six Shadow clones remained beside Rejin to provide Yin fire for the next batch of experimental pills, but one could be spared. "Come out, Nether Lotus. This is what you asked me, back in the Mirror Realm." he said with a nod towards Zara.

A lotus flame of pure Yin energy appeared in front of Pef, and he simply threw the neck bone into the fire.

"Gaoxian, you too!" Pef asked as he summoned his own Icefire. His grandpa unleashed his own Flame Skill that didn't bother the Gorgon bone until now, just as Pef urged the Icefire to unleash cold fire too.

Three types of flames began to bathe the impervious bone, slowly softening the material. The bone began to melt slightly, as its nature changed a little, transforming into a type of Violet metal familiar to Pef. His own Heart Dividing Ruler was crafted with this same metal.

"Give me the gun, Lin!" he demanded with a concentrated voice.

Lady Lin drew out her Power Word Gun and handed it over to Pef, looking a bit concerned for the safety of her Artifact.

Pef tapped his foot three times, arranging an Artifact Creation Array, then moved the gun and the melted metal into the array. He added a drop of Gorgon blood for luck, then collapsed the array. A bolt of Violet Tribulation fell on the new Artifact, signaling a successful creation.

The Avatar appeared again, this time feeling much stronger.

'She is Tier 9 as well. Dangerous.' the glove warned Pef as he approached the female Avatar with a large smile.

"You should have more Faith. I do have the inheritance of the Jade Emperor after all." he explained as the group stared with open mouths.

The Avatar nodded and almost spoke, then held out a finger and wrote in the air with golden letters. "Too strong to speak, even with mild Words. This realm would implode"

"Pef! You made an artificial Silent Monk?" Lady Lin asked in amazement.

"Seem so. But this was mostly Zara. The Yin Lotus can break most protections, unless they are pure Yang like an Immortal Flame. But the Artifact Creation was all me." Pef admitted with a shrug, just as Zara jumped into his arms.

"I can be useful, even here!" his Icefire disciple exclaimed in joy.

"You have your own life, Lady Zara. I will be happy if you help me, but only if you have time." Pef answered in a calmer voice.

"Can we craft more? I think I can Ascend too, by combining with the other flames." the Nether Lotus asked in a timid voice, projected by vibrating the Air.

Pef split of a pair of Avatars and smiled. "They will stay to help. I do have some Nobles to entertain now."

'The Formation Dao has climbed a whole percent! it's 74 percent now.' the glove said a bit excited.

'Still not enough.' Pef answered in a level tone as he returned in the kitchen, among the dozen of Avatars hastily preparing more burgers for the horde of clients.

He didn't bother crafting Golden Burgers himself anymore, but the Silver Burgers still needed his personal touch.

As for the new Copper Burgers made with Gorgon meat, even his best efforts barely resulted in edible meals. The Tier 10 meat was too toxic for regular consumption, and even Paramita Flowers only reduced the toxicity, but barely improved the taste. Then again, nobody would actually care if the taste was bad and they gained a Copper Realm from a single burger. It was mostly Pef's pride as a cook.

But as the Taotie and the White Tiger were beasts and didn't mind eating raw Gorgon meat, they were discarded from Pef's priority list.

He held the first two Copper Burgers in his hands, before opening Violet portals and throwing them at the General and the Serghoul. These people weren't exactly human anyways, so Pef didn't care too much what their taste felt. The Serghoul even ate raw souls! He could deal with ass-tasting burgers.

He kept cooking Copper Burgers until the order came from the Noble table. Best wine and burgers, one each!

Pef sent 5 Silver Burgers and a bottle of Celestial Wine at the counter, and continued his work, awaiting the response.

A hundred Copper Burgers later, a single one appeared with a faint line above the crust. Going by the Pef's experience with pills, this burger would certainly work for a top-tier Tier 8.

Pef remembered his own struggles to achieve Tier 9, including losing head and limbs to the Heavenly Tribulation. Eating something tasting like a cockroach would have been great instead.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Wei, take this Copper Burger to that 8 Tier noble lady. Tell her it costs 2 billion crystals, and get the money first. This Paramita Wine bottle is free." Pef asked his new wife, while keeping a close watch on the Noble room.

-------

In the poorly decorated room of the Celestial Restaurant, mostly bare wooden walls with a pair of waterfall paintings, a family of Nobles sniffed their noses at the poor welcome.

"The burgers taste nice, but they do nothing for me, Grandpa!" the young heir wailed in a scorned voice.

The older man at the head of the table turned towards the waiter, a red-headed woman with a Golden Realm. "Do you have something better in this place? We can pay." he spoke with the confidence of a Bronze Realm Noble.

The waiter nodded. "There is something, but not on the menu yet. The Divine Cook is preparing it right now. In the meantime, have more wine. I hear it tastes wonderful"

The three other Nobles in Tier 9 sighed in concert. "We heard so many good things about this place. But it is only so-so." one of them spoke in a superior tone, even turning his nose at the Celestial Wine.

Waiter Qin kept her face still, and declined to comment. These nobles might make a scene if they learned they ate rat-meat burgers.

As for Qin herself, she still struggled to collect enough tips for a Silver Burger.

Luckily, Pef's new wife Wei appeared with a covered tray, and a bottle of new wine.

"Esteemed guests, the Divine Cook has just managed to create a new type of burger, potentially a Copper Realm item. If you wish to try it for this nice lady here, it will only cost 2 billion high-grade crystals. And as always, no soul poisoning. We sell proper food here." Lady Wei explained in a polite voice, but firm.

The three Tier 9 Nobles turned towards the head of the family with questioning looks. The 2 billions were not cheap change like the thousand for a Silver Burger. But a Copper Realm Ascension without danger? How much was that worth?

Lady Qin fled the scene, as this was becoming rapidly a huge crisis. And since when was Pef able to create Copper Burgers?

"Interesting! I do want to see this Copper Burger. What do you call it?" the Bronze Realm Noble spoke in a powerful tone.

"The burger is the first of its kind, and was not named yet. But for example, the Celestial Burger was named by the Cloud Governor himself. First clients may get naming rights in our restaurant. This new wine was named Paramita Wine by a previous customer." Wei explained as she set the table with the precious new menu, then held two fingers towards the Bronze Noble.

However, the man's eyes focused on her hand, where a certain ring stone sparkled with Bronze blood essence.

"That is Bronze Realm essence. Why do you have it?" the Noble asked with a warning voice.

"My Ancestor, Bronze General Shang gave it to me a few years ago. Now, will you pay or should I ask you to leave? You're keeping the room busy for no purpose otherwise." Lady Wei demanded with a sharp tone.

"Here! Take the bloody crystals! This better work..." the Noble grumbled as he pushed a crystal-loaded ring into Wei's hand, and also deftly touched the ring stone with his finger, getting a confirmation about the identity of the blood and the unknown descendant. For if General Shang was alive, then the girl was a Noble too.

Lady Wei, unveiled the Copper Realm burger then stood back next to the door, waiting for the burger to be consumed. The Divine Cook was quite adamant that all menus had to be consumed or returned.

"It tastes like blood..." the noble lady complained again, mouth-full when the elder Noble lost patience and stuffed the entire thing in her mouth.

The smell of blood and ozone filled the room, but no Tribulation fell. In a few hours, the new Copper Realm Noble opened her eyes and drank thirstily from her wine glass.

The Bronze Noble nodded slowly and sipped some Paramita Wine, noting its special fragrance, exactly like the rare Paramita Flowers.

"Gah! I never want to eat such a meal again! I felt like going through a bloody Tribulation, but without the lightning!" the new Copper Realm Noble muttered angrily in between gulps of Celestial Wine.

"Bloody Tribulation? It seems quite an appropriate name for our new Copper Realm burger. Please come again, esteemed customer. We are exceedingly proud for your visit, and the lack of an early funeral for your young descendant." Lady Wei spoke with faint amusement, then opened the room's doors to await their guests to leave.

The Bronze Noble looked around, taking note of the myriad of Formations in the Celestial Restaurant. It wouldn't be easy to break inside, even for himself. Very curious.

"Let's go and visit the Sword Monument. Lady Huang needs to reflect on her new realm as well." the Bronze Noble commanded and took the lead.

As the group left, the wooden room where the Nobles had been vanished in a cold fire.

'As expected, they left some surprises in there.' Pef mused inward as he dismantled a dozen different formations left behind by the Nobles, and one of them very clever and inverted, thus being almost invisible. He kinda expected Nobles to be proud and act superior, not have such hidden skills.

'And as I told you, we are prepared. Now eat that last essence crystal, before it's too late. You'll need more strength to fight a real Noble.' the glove spoke in a sharp tone.

'Yeah, yeah. I just feel like getting rushed on a certain path, even though I only want to cook.' Pef mused as he took out a red crystal blood drop and ate it, then began to Devour it.

Once he gained his final 9th Star, a different set of problems will begin.