Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 48: Mana Flow

Man, talk about surreal. Ever since me and Kaz's last [Quest], I had become a sort of a VIP in the [Tested Wilds], which allowed me to enter areas in the forest that I never knew existed until now. I knew that this was a great way to hide from the public in some situations, but the sight of a large white tiger sitting down with his tail wagging still made me a bit uncomfortable. Then again, he did offer me this space to work on my [Cooking] skill for a while. Besides, with Kazuki being AWOL for the time being, I felt that fighting monsters without him would be a bit of a bummer today. So, I decided to go ahead and start cooking up some new recipes I had in mind for a while now.

Now that I had the [Advanced Cooking Kit] on hand, I was now able to make some recipes that I am very familiar within the real world. The reason why is because the tools in the kit included a grill, a bowl, and a serving spoon. With these tools, I could replicate those recipes without any translation problems. Plus, I also had some bird meat that I got from fighting those bird monsters, the [Bronze Beak Eagles] during our last venture into the forest. Hopefully, it could serve as a substitute for the chicken meat that I was familiar with back home.

With that said, I decided to start things out by mixing up several herbs, spices, and a few fruits that Bai Hu gladly let me borrow to create a sauce to marinate the meat.

[Spicy Fruit Herb BBQ Sauce]

[A homemade barbecue sauce made with fresh fruits of the [Tested Wilds] and a few spices picked from the plains of [Initio].

Effect: Improves grilled meat-based meals

Quality: 7]

After that, I started cutting the meat into several pieces, as I'd done with the [Rabbit Meat] before. The pieces turned into [Sliced Lower Beak Eagle Meats] and after that, I prepped the grill with some several charcoals I had bought from the general store and started the fire with a flint and tinder.

Of course, after soaking the meat into the sauce, I had to wait until it's fully marinated. Thankfully, since we were in a game, the wait time for marinating was just ten minutes, which gave me enough time to make another dish to go along with the barbecue. Seeing as I still had some leftover fruit with me, I cut them down into several bite-sized pieces and used some citrus-like fruits to make a juice to mix with the pieces. Once the marinated meat pieces were done, I placed them on the grill and started cooking, flipping them from side to side.

After that, I placed the grilled eagle meat on two clean plates and the fruit salad in two bowls and placed all of them on a tree trunk table.

[Spiced Sliced Grilled Beak Eagle]

[A delicious grilled meat from exposed flesh of the [Bronze Beak Eagle] mixed with crushed [Spicy Seed] and marinated with the [Spicy Fruit Herb BBQ Sauce] along with several [Saletum Herb] and [Magus Herb] garnishes. Perfect for outdoor camping!

Effect: Temporarily increases maximum [HP] and [MP] by 5%.

Quality: 8]

A grilled meal with near-perfect quality. As appetizing as that [Gourmet Spiced Rabbit Herb Steak]. Heck, I could see from Bai Hu's eyes that he agreed with me. I knew he was just an NPC for the game, but I had to admit, he acted a bit cute as he smiled and sniffed at the grilled eagle right in front of him. And that said a lot for the large white tiger guardian of this forest.

[I always used my abilities to create food before, but I have never seen anyone use fire to create this kind of cooked meat soaked in a strange sauce you made with your own hands,] Bai Hu commented. [How in the world did you come up with this, young Wind?]