Arcane Chef - Slice of Life x Adventure LitRPG

Heading back inside, I started preparing a dish for Lily right away. With the dragon stock test out of the way, I turned my attention to the other two stocks I had overlooked. I didn’t particularly want to waste too much of it, well, especially not the drake stock. I had ideas. The cookbook mentioned a meal that was mostly stock, with thin slices of buvul, fresh green vegetables and a clear buvul stock.

Served with thin rice noodles, which I had not seen yet, so that was certainly an option if I could find the noodles. Alternatively, I could make a pie, or a slow roast using stock and red wine, then turning that into a gravy.

My mind raced as I eliminated options. In the end, I decided that until I had the noodles, the broth dish was not an option, so I was going to make the voidscale hare into a pie, but I would do that tomorrow.

Tonight I was going to make something with the drake, and I knew exactly what it was going to be.

Looking up, I saw Lily staring at me.

“Sorry! Food’s on the way. First, I’ll make you a snack,” I grinned.

Getting one of my several smoked bacon pieces and cutting off several thick slices.

This wouldn’t be enough for her dinner, but it would buy me some time, so I put that over the fire immediately as I got to work on the main course.

I pulled out a tougher piece of drake, cutting it into small strips, before preparing a seasoned grain flour I would dredge it in.

I pulled out a pot and heated up some suet. While that was going on, I diced up three onions and plenty of mushrooms.

With the oil hot, I put the flour-coated drake in the pot and moved it around to get a nice golden brown colour before I added the sliced onions to the pot, cooking those down as well. Next, I added a dash of red wine, which I used to deglaze the bottom of the pot, getting all the flavour that was stuck there.

Adding in the mushrooms and cooking those down until they were soft and tender.

Crisplet gave me a burst to remind me about the bacon, but I didn’t need to worry. The moment I looked up, all four pieces had vanished, as Lily was now lying by the fire.

Liane looked mortified at losing them all; I couldn’t help but let out a laugh and shrug.

She found no sympathy from the others, as Jen was still laughing at Milo hitting his head, and Hari had gone to join Luis on watch.

With the onions and mushrooms soft, I added in some drake stock, just enough to cover the meat, which became cloudy as it mixed with the flour. I knew as it cooked down it would thicken up, as I had seen Geo make this same dish several times with buvul.

Something I didn’t have, that Geo did though, was a thick sour cream, but I figured it wouldn’t be too bad without it. I had some fresh cream, and I thought maybe if I mixed that with a little bit of lemon juice, that would suffice.

With everything in the pot, Crisplet sealed the lid. Using tough meats like this, it would take time to cook down and become tender.

Looking over at Milo, I had to ask. “How’s the head?”

This immediately set Jen off into giggles again, but I was genuinely worried.

“Fine,” he grumbled.

“What were you thinking? You know better than not to have a safe environment around you before you test,” Jen said through laughs.

Milo shook his head. “Honestly, I think hitting my head saved me. I was moving too fast. I would have got too high and had basically no control over it. Then there was the mana cost. I’ve never seen a spell use that much mana.”

“It did come from a legendary food item. What did you expect?” Liane said.

Milo glared at her. “Are you telling me you honestly wouldn’t have tried if I hadn’t gone first?”

Liane let out a laugh. “No, I tried before you did, but it wouldn’t work. Insufficient mana.”

Milo looked horrified before looking to the front door.

“If you tell Hari, I will deny everything and just say you’re not thinking straight due to the head knock,” Liane grinned.

This sent Jen into a new fit of giggles.

I noticed as well that Crisplet was talking to Lily, and I could see the images of the quill beasts, plus an ash version of a quill that was on fire and then a giant branch hitting Milo, before being turned to ash.

“That reminds me, Lily. I think someone might have been watching me, and there has been someone strong from another kingdom asking about me. We don’t know if his intentions are good or bad yet, though,” I said quietly.

I felt the air shift slightly, but she didn’t leave.

“Don’t attack them unless we know they are up to something no good, okay?” I said.

Lily just let out a huff, turning back to Crisplet.

“I wouldn’t worry, Trev. It’s likely a diplomat or someone who has heard of the rumours and wants to see if they are true or not, and with how outlandish some of them have got, I’m not overly surprised by that,” Jen said.

Several hours passed with not much happening. I had pulled out the cookbook hoping I could find a way to make these rice noodles myself, but other than finding several recipes that included them, all the recipes just implied that you already had the noodles.

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This left me in a dilemma. I could still make the dish and try something else instead of the rice. There was something similar made of flour and egg yolks. Going by the dishes it was used in, it was much heavier, but perhaps for now it would serve as a substitute.

Something I was going to do tonight was use a tiny amount of the moon orchid powder on my own dish. I should know if I successfully purified it from the quest. Then I could test if I really didn’t have a debuff.

Although I’m sure once I’ve tasted it, Lily might take that one due to the increased mana density of the dish compared to the regular one.

Perhaps I was being too reckless. I would have to check the buffs before I tasted it. I would not take any unnecessary risks.

Crisplet gave me a burst of sparks to let me know the dish was ready, and Lily went from sleeping in an alcove to sitting by the fire instantly, clearly waiting.

As the lid unsealed, the room filled with a rich aroma. The drake was unmistakable, like an earthy buvul, while the red wine gave it a sweetness even to the smell.

I pulled out the cream I had, along with a whisk I picked up from the manor in the capital and some lemon juice, mixing it together until it was thick before adding it to the drake stew I had made. Mixing it in gave it a velvety texture, and it clung to the back of the spoon perfectly.

I added the last dashes of seasoning to it before purifying it, just in case I used the wrong mushrooms, putting one bowl to the side before I infused the rest, giving it maximum time.

With the bowl I had put to the side, I wanted to finish my quest, so I pulled out a pinch of the moon orchid powder and added it to the bowl, using a spoon to mix it.

I wasn’t about to try this myself, not now, but I figured I could complete the quest, give it to Lily, and see the buffs, perhaps plan ahead for when I made this in the future.

It was a bit wasteful for the powder, but I was only using a pinch.

Infusing the bowl, it glowed much brighter than the pot did, which caught Lily’s attention.

I had an idea. If I would not try it myself, let’s see how far I can push this dish.

I pulled out the dragon stock, catching everyone’s attention.

“Trev, we shouldn’t waste it,” Milo said, looking concerned.

I nodded. “I’m just testing something. It’ll only be a small amount.”

Not waiting for a response, I added a large spoonful to the bowl that already had the powder and mixed it in. It admittedly was far more watery than I’d like from a stew like this.

But finally, I infused the dish, giving it maximum stats.

The bowl glowed a fierce blue, likely the brightest glow I had seen to date.

This only made Milo and Jen more concerned. I also noticed that Jen was physically holding Liane’s shoulder.

“This isn’t human-safe at all,” I said seriously, looking at them.

Milo gave a nod, and Liane stopped leaning forward, clearly taking that warning seriously.

Lily, on the other hand, was sitting right next to me, staring down at the bowl.

“You should be okay to eat it now,” I said to her.

I reached up, rubbing behind her ears as she slowly began to eat it, and actually took her time.

I passed the regular bowls to everyone else. Jen took two bowls out to Hari and Luis.

I wanted to see what I had created, though, pulling up the stats. First, the basic one.

[Rare] Creamy Drake and Mushroom Stew

• +7 Endurance
• +7 Strength
• +3 Charisma
• Fire Immunity
• Flame Shield.

Even the basic one was absolutely no joke. I had gone well past the fourteen-stat requirement for the quest while picking the maximum time. I was surprised at the name, as the cookbook called it a stroganoff, but the system went with stew. I wondered if it was because of the missing ingredients, or that it was a unique dish that hadn’t been made before.

So that left the special one.

[Legendary] Draconic Moon Orchid Stew

• +15 Strength.
• +15 Endurance.
• +5 Charisma.
• +3 Intelligence.
• +3 Intelligence. (Permanent)
• +2 Endurance. (Permanent)
• Lightning Immunity.
• Fire Immunity.
• Draconic Aura.
• Surefoot.
• Tempest Flight.

This was by far the strongest dish I had ever created, and I was glad I didn’t taste this, because I was certain even with purification, this was going to cause issues.

My stunned face must have given me away, because Milo asked immediately.

“Well, how crazy is it?”

It took me a moment to even wrap my mind around just how insane this one was.

“Uh, forty-three stats, two immunities, three abilities,” I said in a whisper.

Milo’s mouth just opened in an ‘oh,’ but no sound came out.

“That’s ridiculous,” Jen said in disbelief.

“It’s likely deadly is what it is, to anyone but her,” Milo pointed at Lily.

For once, Liane didn’t disagree, just nodding.

It wasn’t until then that I recalled the last time I used the orchid. We had used it on the snail, and when we did our tests, Lily got the permanent buff twice, if I recall correctly. I was sure Milo would notice this when he consulted his notes later.

My mind raced as to why Lily and I wouldn’t get the debuff, but the party would. I’m sure that Milo would assume it’s due to Lily’s power, but that didn’t explain me.

But again, the feeling of wrongness and dread overcame me when I considered even discussing Lily’s ability to gain stats.

Not that it mattered right now. Milo was still just staring at me.

On the plus side, I had completed more quests than I expected when I pulled up my notifications.

Second Simmer:

Use a previously cooked dish as a base ingredient in five separate new dishes: Complete!

Create 3 different stocks, then successfully use each in a unique dish: 2/3

Two new evolutions are available.

Precise Palate:

Infuse 10 food items with a buff time of 4 or more hours: Complete!

Infused 3 food items with a total stat total over 14: Complete!

Five new evolutions are available.

Culinary Transformation:

Cleanse one new Legendary ingredient after using it in a meal: Complete!

One new evolution option is available.