Unfortunate Transmigrator

24

Cooking and Conversations

I

In his previous life, there had only been one thing Hao Zhen took pride in—one thing he wasn’t just mediocre at—and it was cooking. It was his grandmother from his father’s side who got him into it.

He and his sister had been her only grandchildren, and she had wanted to pass on her knowledge to both of them, but his sister had been too busy to take it up. He, on the other hand, had the time, and whenever she’d visit, they’d spend hours in the kitchen. He ended up falling in love with cooking at an early age and kept it up even after his grandmother died. He had even planned on going to a culinary college after high school. His parents hadn’t been all that happy about that decision, but after his sister voiced her support, they allowed him to pursue a career in the area.

Unfortunately, cooking—the only thing he was good at—was a pretty useless skill for cultivators, so now that he had found an opportunity to get some use of it, he decided to take advantage of it.

What Hao Zhen believed could brighten up Tian Jin’s and Duo Lan’s moods wasn’t the food, however, but the act of cooking. Whenever his sister was feeling down, usually because she was agonizing over some equation she couldn’t solve, he’d drag her into the kitchen and have her help him prepare a dish. She’d usually whine about it, but it served as a distraction—something to get her mind off whatever was bothering her.

And that was precisely what he wanted to try with Duo Lan and Tian Jin. He had no expectations about cooking some miraculous dish that would blow them away. He was pretty confident in his cooking skills, but he wasn’t that good. He just wanted to keep them occupied with something else for a while.

Before he could do anything, however, he needed to make sure whether his idea was even viable.

Hao Zhen frowned, slouching a little on his chair as he considered what exactly he’d need and what kind of measures had to be taken.

The first concern was, of course, the food. Back in the sect, he had been too focused on training and making plans that it didn’t occur to him that he might want to cook during the Glistening Stone Hunt. That meant he hadn’t brought anything with him.

He did, however, have an idea. He glanced at the corpse of the glistening horn rhinoceros, which lay just beside their little campsite like a big, gray mound.

In many cultivation novels he had read, magical creatures as a whole were considered delicacies. Hao Zhen wasn’t certain, however, whether that applied to this world. He had heard rumors about monsters being edible, but he didn’t know whether that applied to all of them. Moreover, being edible and being tasty were two completely different things.

Hao Zhen returned his attention to Duo Lan and Tian Jin, and after a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Do you two know whether we can eat it?”

That drew their attention, breaking them out of their thoughts.

“Eat?” Tian Jin asked, confused.

“What are you talking about?” Duo Lan said, frowning.

Hao Zhen motioned toward the glistening horn rhinoceros with his head. “That.”

“I think so?” Tian Jin said, also glancing at the carcass. “It’s a monster, after all.”

Hao Zhen nodded his head. Based on that reply, he could assume that his theory that all monster meat was edible was right. Now for his other concern. “And do you think it’d taste good?”

“Probably,” Tian Jin said. “As far as I know, monster meat, regardless of the monster’s set, tastes much better than the meat of any mundane animal.”

All right. That was a start, Hao Zhen decided. According to the list Duo Lan had given them, meat couldn’t be exchanged for contribution points in any case, so it’d only go to waste. They might as well make use of it.

Next, he needed to solve the problem of seasoning. Again, had he known he’d be cooking, he definitely would have stocked up on some salt and pepper—both, he knew, existed in this world—but he had neither with him, nor anything else that could be used for seasoning.

Maybe they could use some magical herbs?

Hao Zhen turned to Duo Lan, but she beat him to speaking.

“You’re thinking of cooking?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

“That’s right.”

“You do realize that we have fasting pills, right?” she said, still holding her eyebrow up. “We don’t need to eat.”

“I haven’t forgotten about that,” Hao Zhen said, shaking his head. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t eat.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you even know how to cook?”

“Well, I think I—” Hao Zhen paused, realizing that there was a better way of dealing with her. “Why don’t I let you be the judge of that?” he said instead.

Duo Lan crossed her arms, leaning forward, clearly interested now. “Very well,” she said. Sure enough, she couldn’t resist a challenge.

“I’m still not sure yet whether it’ll be possible, though,” Hao Zhen quickly amended. “There are still a few things I need to figure out first. I take it neither of you happens to have any seasoning with you?”

Duo Lan looked at him as if he were an idiot. Tian Jin simply shook his head.

As expected. If for some reason they had some salt with them, he could have tried grilling the meat. Since that wasn’t an option, however, he’d have to try his other idea—smoking. It’d be much easier to add flavor to it that way.

“Did you bring any magical herbs with you that I can use?” Hao Zhen asked, looking at Duo Lan. “Something that can be used as seasoning, preferably.”

Duo Lan furrowed her brow. She then closed her eyes, and the next moment, a small pile of herbs appeared in the air, floating in front of her. Duo Lan then had it float over to his lap. “All of these have very distinctive tastes,” she said, “and can be safely consumed, even raw. They also don’t have any magical properties on their own.”

Hao Zhen gave her a thankful nod. He then picked up the herb at the top of the pile—a thin, orange leaf—and looked it over. He didn’t recognize it—but then again, the only magical herbs he was familiar with were the ones he had come across during missions, and they could be counted on one hand.

Hao Zhen brought the leaf to his mouth and tasted it. It had a sharp, almost minty flavor that reminded him of thyme, except slightly stronger and more peppery.

Hao Zhen smiled to himself. He was off to a good start. He went through the remaining herbs while Duo Lan and Tian Jin simply observed him. In a way, he had pretty much already accomplished his initial goal. Duo Lan and Tian Jin were no longer immersed in their thoughts, but instead focused on him, partially intrigued, partially confused.

The herbs he found too sweet, bitter, or bland, he set aside. Only three of the herbs in the pile ended up being useful: the orange herb that reminded him of thyme, a thicker, more robust dark purple herb that could be mistaken for basil, and a light green one that tasted exactly like oregano.

After confirming with Duo Lan that there wouldn’t be any issues with using them together, he returned the other herbs to her. He then turned toward Tian Jin.

“Is there any way to set up a fire using a matrix?”

Back when they were making plans for the Glistening Stone Hunt, Tian Jin revealed that he had some experience with inscriptery, and that he was capable of setting up some rudimentary matrixes. If Tian Jin didn’t know a matrix that could do that, Hao Zhen would have to set up a campfire. He had done so in the past—he had gone on a camping trip with his parents and sister a few times—but it’d take quite a bit of effort and time, so he wanted to check whether there was a magical way of doing it first.

“Definitely. That’s actually one of the simplest matrixes.” Tian Jin nodded in Duo Lan’s direction. “It’s also often used in alchemy to heat up pill furnaces. Do you want me to make one for you?”

“Please,” Hao Zhen said. Then, thinking of something, he added, “Also, can you also set up another matrix around it so that the aroma doesn't spread?”

They were in the middle of a forest filled with monsters. He didn’t want anything to be drawn by the smell of the meat being cooked.

“Something like a barrier matrix, then? That’s easy, too.” Tian Jin nodded. “How big do you want it to be? And where?”

“Great,” Hao Zhen said, relieved. He probably would have had to give up on cooking otherwise. He wasn’t about to take any unnecessary risks. “As for the size and location…” He looked at the center of the campsite, pondering. He’d need a rack if he wanted to smoke the meat, as well as a grill. Both things he could make out of branches. He’d also need some more wood to be set under the fire matrix to produce smoke.

Hao Zhen then stood up and beckoned Tian Jin over. Looking a little confused, Tian Jin simply walked over. They then made their way to the edge of the clearing, over to the tree line, and began searching through the undergrowth. Duo Lan stayed behind, watching them in silence.

Together, Hao Zhen and Tian Jin quickly picked up everything they’d need. Many of the branches they found were thick enough that they could have easily been mistaken for logs. These they’d use for setting up the rack. They also picked up some smaller branches, some of which they’d use to form the grill. The others they’d place over the fire matrix to generate smoke.

They then returned to the campsite and quickly set everything up, Tian Jin also inscribing the two matrixes by drawing the corresponding magical symbols on the ground using a special magical ink he carried around in his spatial ring. Next, Hao Zhen walked over to the glistening horn rhinoceros’s carcass and took a sword out of his spatial ring.

He held it against the monster’s hide and then gave it a shallow cut, testing the blade. The skin easily broke.

He had been watching Duo Lan’s and Tian Jin’s battle from afar, and he had seen how Duo Lan had barely managed to stab it, so he had been worried the monster’s hide was inherently thick. Now he saw that it was much like a human. A human graysoul’s body didn’t change, physically, when they became a cultivator. The reason why all their physical attributes were enhanced was the spiritual aura emanated by their soul.

Spiritual aura, unlike spiritual power, couldn’t be shaped or extended. It was simply emanated by the soul in the form of a coat of radiance, encompassing the cultivator’s body. Unlike spiritual power, which had no effect when infused into the body, spiritual aura permanently increased all of the cultivator’s spiritual attributes. It also nullified, to a certain extent, foreign spiritual power. The higher the level of the cultivator, the more spiritual aura their soul emanated, which was why cultivators at a higher level were also superior, physically, to lower-level cultivators.

Now that the monster was dead, its soul was gone, so there was no longer any spiritual aura enhancing its body, making its skin only slightly tougher than a mundane rhinoceros in Hao Zhen’s estimation.

Hao Zhen wasn’t too used to cutting up things with a sword, but he did eventually manage to get some meat out of it, with some input from Tian Jin, who joined in, while Duo Lan supervised them, making sure they weren’t damaging any important organs that could be exchanged into contribution points.

While they were at it, they also removed all body parts they’d be exchanging into contribution points, including the horn, and stored it all away inside their spatial rings, Hao Zhen also storing away the remaining meat in his. According to Tian Jin, nothing spoiled inside spatial rings. That was also something rather common to cultivation novels, but Hao Zhen still found himself pleasantly surprised, so much so he was now struggling to decide which was his favorite magical artifact: spatial rings or magical clouds.

The glistening horn rhinoceros meat was surprisingly lean and soft, red with a rosy tint. He set up some slabs of it on top of the grill, cut up the herbs, and sprinkled them on top of the steaks, before he activated the fire matrix using his spiritual power, following Tian Jin’s instructions. Once activated, the two matrixes no longer needed him to keep them powered. Both matrixes, according to Tian Jin, could be run solely on the spiritual power emanated by the surrounding ambient spiritual energy.

After ascertaining that everything was in order, Hao Zhen took a step back and nodded to himself, satisfied with the results. The fire matrix didn’t just generate fire, but also allowed him to control the strength of the flames, so together with the barrier matrix Tian Jin had set up, he had pretty much a perfect grill for smoking.

Duo Lan walked up to his side and looked dubiously at the meat being slowly cooked inside the barrier. “Are you sure this will work?”

“It should,” Hao Zhen said, simply.

He wasn’t all that confident—he wasn’t sure what kind of taste the wood from the trees would give the meat—but in theory, it should work out. Although the trees outwardly resembled pine, their wood was hard, without resin, unlike pine wood. Softwoods like pine and cedar couldn’t be used for smoking because of the sap in them. When burned, the smoke released would give the meat a strong bitter flavor. Hardwoods, on the other hand, were generally suitable for smoking, so he was betting on that.

While they waited for the steaks to finish smoking, he and Tian Jin cut some branches into skewers. Duo Lan and Tian Jin had both expressed confusion at eating with skewers, but Hao Zhen assured them that it worked.

Now they’d only have to wait a couple of hours.

Every few minutes, Hao Zhen checked on the meat. He had never cooked with rhinoceros meat before—let alone magical rhinoceros meat—so he wasn’t sure how long it’d take. Its consistency and texture reminded him a little bit of pork, so if it cooked the same way, it’d probably take a couple of hours given the quantity of meat he had put on the makeshift wood grill.

Even if the food didn’t turn out that great, Hao Zhen wouldn’t particularly mind. He had already accomplished his objective—Tian Jin and Duo Lan seemed to be in a much better mood.

Hao Zhen was also quite pleased himself. After everything he had gone through these past few days, cooking was like a breath of fresh air—something that put him more in touch with his old life, as Amyas. He felt a little more grounded now, in a way. More at ease.

Over the next few hours, as they waited for the meat to finish cooking, he got Tian Jin and Duo Lan talking. As usual, he focused on their experiences after entering the sect. Unsurprisingly, Duo Lan jumped at the opportunity to talk about her accomplishments. He had already had similar talks with Tian Jin in the past before, but all he knew about Duo Lan’s life as an outer disciple were rumors, so he was quite interested in learning what was real and what wasn’t.

As it turned out, the rumor mill was pretty accurate. She had challenged one of the most talented disciples of the Alchemy Division to an alchemy competition and won, beaten an inner disciple in a duel for making indecent propositions to her, and gotten an outer elder banned from the sect for corruption. Thankfully, unlike Tian Jin, while she had made enemies, she didn’t have any ongoing feuds—or at least she didn’t seem to believe she had any.

They didn’t get attacked by any monsters or cultivators and spent a pleasant evening just talking. Shortly after nightfall, Hao Zhen determined that the meat was ready. He then cleaned his sword before using it to cut the steaks up into smaller bits and was pleased to see juice squeezing out of the steaks as he cut into them. Appearance-wise, all the pieces looked perfect, slightly charred outside, but rosy inside. He picked one up with a skewer and popped it in his mouth.

His eyes widened in surprise as the flavor hit him. It did taste like pork, as he had assumed, but it was much better than any pork he had ever tasted. The flavor was more pronounced, and it blended nicely with the herbs. The texture was also perfect—soft and tender. The smoky flavor, on the other hand, was rather strong—in hindsight, he should have added some airflow—but it wasn’t that bad, only distinctive.

He didn’t think he had ever eaten anything tastier, even as Amyas. Hao Zhen stared at the pile of sliced-up meat in front of him in wonder. He couldn’t really take credit for how good it was. The meat itself was what elevated the taste. Calling monster meat a delicacy was an understatement. It’d have been delicious even without the herbs. In fact, he could have probably grilled it without any seasoning, and it’d have still tasted amazing.

“How is it?” Duo Lan asked, looking at him expectantly.

Hao Zhen only smiled at her, now much more confident in his dish. Without a word, he prepared meat skewers for Tian Jin and Duo Lan while they watched, then handed one to each of them before returning to his chair.

Tian Jin spun his skewer in his hand, giving it a quick look over, before taking a bite. The next moment, he broke out into a smile and nodded to Hao Zhen. “This tastes pretty good,” he said, before taking another bite. He looked pleased, but he didn’t seem as surprised as Hao Zhen had felt. Clearly, he was used to eating monster meat, so the taste of the meat itself probably wasn’t anything new to him.

Duo Lan looked at her skewer dubiously, then looked at Tian Jin, who was clearly enjoying the food, before taking a small bite. Then she blinked, turning to Hao Zhen. For a moment, she didn’t say anything. Then she gave him a curt nod. “Not bad.”

Hao Zhen knew that was pretty much everything he’d be getting from her, but he reckoned it was already a pretty big compliment, considering it was Duo Lan who had given it. Satisfied with both Tian Jin’s and Duo Lan’s reactions, Hao Zhen started eating too, once again being taken aback by the taste. He could also feel some spiritual energy building up inside him, which his soul instinctively pulled into his crux. Both monster flesh and magical herbs were infused with spiritual energy, and although it wasn’t much, it was still equivalent to a few hours of cultivation. Food made using magical ingredients really was something else.

Once all three of them were done with their food, they talked some more before Tian Jin and Duo Lan went inside their tents to rest. Although the surveillance talismans Tian Jin had set up should alert them if anyone approached, they still decided to take turns keeping a lookout. One of them would stay outside with Spiritual Sight active, while the others rested in their tents, and Hao Zhen had offered to take the first shift.

As he sat in his chair in the middle of the campsite, looking out into the forest, Hao Zhen couldn’t help but smile.