For the sake of it, he added a bit of pazzas and performance. He added a bit of drama when he stirred the pot, and even more when he added meat.
Hey, someone even clapped their hands.
He tasted it with a bit of flair, it was good, though it was flat without lightness. At this, he took some of his basilume, adding a fistful of green which folded after the fire was already dying down. The residual heat coaxed delicious aroma from the meal, enticing a few more millileters of drool.
He returned to the resting meat, which had slightly darkened by now. Its surface was now sticky with that bindergrain sheen from the soy sauce alternative that he made from it.
He laid the meat on top, and its juices ran to the noodles.
He tasted it again, and it was already quite good, but he felt that it needed a counterweight of sorts. At this, he decided to get his go-to pickled sunberries. The sunberries’ sweet-tart snap lifted the meat’s savoriness and rounded up the taste of the stonebulb.
Finally, he added more of the bindergrain reduction, one of his alternatives for soy sauce. He ran a narrow ribbon over the noodles and then across the meat. Pouring across might flatten it, and doing it like this would make the taste feel dynamic.
Finally, he finished, and a familiar ding echoed in his head.
[Hoovensore Noodle Stew (C)]
[Information: Springy hand-pulled noodles are simmered in a slow-brewed broth made from Stonebulb roots and dried Veilroot shavings for a gentle umami base.
Effect: Increases Mana recovery by 30% and adds 10% Defense for 30 minutes.]
He smiled, serving the food to the ceramic bowls pre-prepared by Ranran.
Pang, who had been bonding with the sprites, was also there after smelling the food (the inn’s insulation effects didn’t work on him). This guy didn’t even need to eat, but it also gave him a habit of prepping food for the bear whenever he prepared something for himself.
This was the first time Syl and Athie had eaten such a thing, so they ended up watching others.
They slurped a mouthful, letting a low hum. It was Leez who, as always, made the commentary. "It feels like the hoovensore sings," she said. "The reduction also makes the beef taste sharper but also smoother."
The other girls were appreciative and less wordy. "This is so good."
Syl and Athie soon used their utensils (the chopsticks weren’t difficult to figure out for people like them) and slurped as well, though there was really a special grace about how they ate.
Like, they were all slurping the same noodles, how’d the elves make it look like they were eating some heavenly cloud or something?
As the flavor touched their tongues, the elves’ eyes widened a bit. They were surprised at the taste and flavor and the texture—but most of all, they were surprised at the amount of essence in the food. They had noticed the essence there, as elves were especially sensitive to such things.
However, in their experience, while essence food was reinvigorating, it didn’t really taste as good at all. The formulation was more on function, rather than the taste, and combining some things that would raise each other’s efficacies rarely matched in taste.
"This is amazing..." Syl said, looking at Finn with those beautiful red eyes. "Even the best elven chefs wouldn’t be able to do this."
Finn couldn’t help but grin and lean forward a bit. "Do you like me more now?"
She nodded, then spoke honestly. "I didn’t think it was possible, considering the depth of my feelings, but I suppose it did."
"..." Finn blushed.
Hey, he felt a little shy.
The others’ eyes twitched. Would they have to endure this shameless flirting the entire breakfast?
It was here that the door to one of the rooms burst open, revealing Marcus and his reddened eyes.
"WHAT! YOU’RE EATING !?" Marcus gasped, looking at his teammates in betrayal. They looked away, pretending not to see him.
They arrived early in the morning, and he, the tank-slash-close-range fighter, was the most tired. He was also the deepest sleeper.
"Well, the rules say we can’t go to other guests’ rooms without them opening the door, right?"
And Finn definitely wasn’t the type to volunteer to cook for more people when he could help it.
"Too late, shop closed," Finn said, grinning. "Besides, canteen food is also good."
Sniffle
"I’m kidding," Finn said after a sigh. "There should still be a bit left in the pot. Not that much though."
"IT’S FINE! LET ME HAVE IT!" he said, practically jumping towards the kitchen. Even if it was just the soup, he’d be happy!
He didn’t say it out loud, of course, because, knowing Finn, he might really just give him only the soup.
Anyway, the group ate happily and appreciated the aftertaste. The sensitive elves also felt the energy in them, not needing any appraisal tool to realize what superior food it was.
"It would be great if I had more ingredients, I want to improve more," Finn said. "Most of the new ingredients, I reckon, are probably in Level 2 upwards."
"Such a hassle. Would be great if we could gather more things every trip," this was hard because, as they knew, the monsters there were stronger than before. How could they have the time or the storage to forage there?
The current beast-repelling potions also didn’t work as well for beasts above toughened level, and the ones he improved were limited.
Somehow, the conversation shifted to hoping they get more space runes. It’d be so convenient when foraging. At the very least, even if they did not have the time to stop and dig, they could at least grab a few fruits and leaves while running away from monsters.
In those cases, a bigger bag or inventory could not be missing.
"Hmn..." Syl mumbled, as if thinking. "I should be able to make one eventually."
"..."