A Bite of Douluo Continent

"The method is extremely original, based on your creation of lemon-scented Qinan fruit jam." Before Qi Han could even speak, Ruyi proactively explained the question he wanted to ask.

It turned out to be the case.

What do you plan to call this dish?

"Let's call it Golden Dragon Spine." After thinking for a while, Qi Han gave up struggling and decided to choose a simple and straightforward name.

"Two-star recipe: Golden Dragon Spine, successfully added!"

Seventy points! Keep it up!

Qi Han finished the Golden Dragon Spine dish completely, and then began researching the next two-star recipe with great interest.

…Day 41 of Training Space…

Qi Han took out a delicate little steamer from the steamer, in which fifteen exquisite dumplings were arranged. The dumpling skins were slightly yellow and had a translucent texture, vaguely revealing the meat filling wrapped inside.

This is a meat filling made by mixing and seasoning a century-old rare herb, Dragon Blood Mushroom, with the wing root part of the century-old spirit beast, Wind God Bird.

The rich texture and tender, juicy taste of the dragon's treasure meat made Qi Han think it was perfect for making dumplings.

Qi Han picked up a dumpling, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.

The tender meat and savory juices of the dragon's blood mushroom are completely contained within the dumpling wrapper, while the unique aroma of the dragon's blood mushroom slowly infuses the meat during the high-temperature steaming process, adding a unique and wonderful new texture to the delicious meat filling. Such a flavor is truly amazing.

However, this dish still did not receive a high rating.

Taste (out of 40): 38 points

Originality of ingredients (out of 20): 15 points

Originality of approach (out of 20): 0 points

Cooking difficulty (out of 20): 0

Total: 53 points

Two more zeros.

This dish even scored slightly lower than "Heart's Delight" because it used flour in its ingredients, resulting in a lower score for originality.

After all, flour is a secondary ingredient, while the five-spice powder mentioned earlier is a seasoning.

However, this was within Qi Han's expectations, since steamed dumplings are not difficult to make or cook.

"Let's call this dish Steamed Dragon Dumplings."

"Two-star recipe: Steamed Dragon Dumplings, successfully added!"

...

Qi Han's research in the training space continues.

Having already learned his lesson about the lack of originality in the preparation of two dishes, he stopped referencing previous recipes and began exploring more original approaches in his subsequent creations.

He first cut the most prized belly meat of a Tyrannosaurus Rex into large chunks, marinated it with juice extracted from three delicious fruits from the Star Dou Great Forest, used branches of the Qinan fruit tree as skewers to make the meat skewers, and completed the grilling process, creating a two-star recipe called Fruit-Flavored Belly Meat Skewers, which received a score of 72 points.

Next, Qi Han took the rib meat from a type of snake called the Feathered Dragon Snake, carefully shredded it into extremely fine strips along its texture, and simmered it in chicken broth until there was no grainy texture at all, making it into a thick paste similar to a soup, which he named Dragon Snake Soup.

This two-star recipe, Dragon and Snake Soup, even scored higher than the Fruity Pork Belly Skewers, with a total of 79 points.

Because the method is basically original, this dish received a high score of 18 points for originality. If it weren't for the addition of chicken broth, which lowered its score for originality of ingredients, the score could have exceeded 80 points.

After that, Qi Han continued his efforts, peeling off the most essential part of the Shadowless Lizard Dragon's skin, cleaning it thoroughly, carefully boiling it to extract the gelatinous substance, seasoning it, letting it cool naturally, and then pouring it into a mold to make a cold dish that resembled jelly and came in various shapes, which he named Jade Dragon Crystal.

This dish received high scores for taste, originality of ingredients, and originality of preparation, but due to its overly simple steps, it scored zero points for cooking difficulty, resulting in a score of only 74 points, once again missing out on 80 points.

...

"Phew!" Qi Han rubbed his face in frustration after trying all the ingredients he had selected.

He has been in the training space for over a hundred days, using materials from five types of dragon-type soul beasts to create six brand-new two-star recipes.

Apart from the Armored Dragon, the other four sub-dragons only had one part taken.

But so far, no dish has reached an 80-point rating.

The reason why Qi Han wanted to reach 80 points was very simple: Ruyi had already told him about the settlement reward for this promotion mission.

A two-star recipe score of 0-59 points will earn you the following reward: promotion to Intermediate Chef and corresponding privileges.

A two-star recipe score of 60-79 points will grant the following rewards: +1 Soul Power Level, 1 three-star selectable recipe fragment, and the title of Intermediate Chef with corresponding privileges.

A two-star recipe score of 80-89 points will grant the following rewards: +2 Soul Power Level, 2 three-star selectable recipe fragments, and the title of Intermediate Chef with corresponding privileges.

A two-star recipe score of 90-99 points will grant the following rewards: +2 Soul Power Level, 3 three-star selectable recipe fragments, 1 three-star random recipe, and the title of Intermediate Chef with corresponding privileges.

A two-star recipe score of 100 points will grant the following rewards: Soul Power Level +2, 4 three-star selectable recipe fragments, 2 three-star random recipes, 1 four-star selectable recipe fragment, and the promotion title: Intermediate Chef with corresponding privileges.

Qi Han felt that the chances of getting a score above 90 were slim, and a perfect score was even more impossible, but he could still try to get a score above 80.

Therefore, Qi Han felt somewhat dissatisfied with his current situation of scoring only 79 points out of 100 for his six dishes.

So... how exactly do you create a two-star recipe that scores over 80 points?

Chapter 352 Ideas for a New Dish (Double monthly votes at the end of the month!)

Although only one day has passed in the outside world, it has been more than a hundred days for Qi Han. Moreover, it has been more than a hundred days of constantly racking his brains to think of new dishes and innovations. Although he can recover his physical strength indefinitely in the training space, the mental fatigue is not something that Ruyi can solve.

Perhaps taking a break will bring many new experiences?

With these thoughts in mind, Qi Han stepped out of the training space and returned to the location where he had hunted the last Shadowless Lizard Dragon.

Looking around at the still tranquil jungle, Qi Han seemed lost in thought.

Come to think of it, whenever I went to any area where spirit beasts gathered, my goal seemed to be very clear, which caused me to miss a lot of the scenery along the way.

The Star Dou Great Forest where he was now was not only the largest gathering area of ​​soul beasts on the Douluo Continent, but also, according to Blue Star's definition, a nature reserve.

While the dangers are considerable, the primeval forest here is lush and beautiful, home to a variety of amazing creatures, making it a very suitable place to visit.

Since I don't have much of a clue right now, why don't I... take a walk around the neighborhood and broaden my horizons?

Qi Han naturally wouldn't venture into the more inland areas, but for the time being, wandering around this area where centuries-old and millennia-old soul beasts gathered, his safety wasn't a major concern.

We can't possibly encounter another ruthless evil spirit master, can we?

When sightseeing, there's naturally no need to have too many specific goals.

After choosing a direction, Qi Han lifted his foot and walked in that direction, gradually disappearing into the jungle.

...

"Shut up~"

A strange sound came from the tree branch. Qi Han, who was resting on the tree branch, looked in the direction from which the sound came and his gaze immediately sharpened.

It was a semi-transparent, grayish-white creature, like jelly, that could change shape at will.

Special Soul Beast: Slime.

Slimes act as decomposers in the Star Dou Great Forest ecosystem, absorbing various organic matter and converting it into inorganic matter. Because they don't have any powerful soul skills, few soul masters would covet their soul rings.

At this moment, the slime is slowly devouring and enveloping a large bone on the ground.

Those were the bones left over from when Qi Han started a fire and roasted meat here half an hour ago, and now they've been absorbed by this slime.

The slime devours very quickly; once the bones are completely encased, the decomposition process is almost visible to the naked eye.

About ten minutes later, a bone thicker than an arm completely disappeared from the slime's translucent body. The slime slowly moved away, leaving behind a pool of grayish-white inorganic matter on the ground.

After natural settling, it won't be long before these inorganic substances become nutrients for the trees, completing the energy cycle through the food chain transactions between herbivorous and carnivorous spirit beasts.

After witnessing the entire process, Qi Han jumped down from the tree branch and set off again.

He had been wandering aimlessly in the area of ​​hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts for several hours. With a completely different mindset than before, Qi Han paid more attention to everything around him along the way and discovered quite a few interesting creatures.

For example, there's the Bird-like Soul Beast, the Cloth Bag Sparrow, whose beak can instantly expand to two meters in diameter and then swallow its prey like a bag; the Ancient Sword Tree, a plant-like Soul Beast whose leaves resemble sharp swords that can be launched instantly, creating a spectacular sight like a volley of ten thousand swords; and the Mirror Shadow Beast, a peculiar Soul Beast that can completely mimic its enemies and even transform into the appearance of its opponents…

Qi Han had seen most of these soul beasts described in the Food Encyclopedia, but witnessing their magic firsthand was a completely different experience.

During his observation of these soul beasts, Qi Han did not come away empty-handed. He vaguely sensed that he had some ideas about creating a new two-star recipe, but they had not yet been fully transformed into complete inspiration.

Lets see.

Qi Han had only taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped.

The strange scene ahead of him slightly startled him.

About a hundred meters away from him, the corpse of a Shadowless Lizard Dragon lay quietly on the ground, and beside it was the corpse of another Sharp-eyed Dragon.

These two types of earth dragons are almost mortal enemies, because the Sharp-eyed Dragon has extremely sharp vision and can detect the Shadowless Lizard Dragon's camouflage, making it the Shadowless Lizard Dragon's natural enemy.

Judging from the bloodstains and scattered fragments around the two corpses, a fierce battle must have taken place between them. The Shadowless Lizard Dragon had almost lost half of its body, while the Sharp-Eyed Dragon's corpse was decapitated, looking quite gruesome.

Similar battles occur daily in the Star Dou Great Forest, and it is not uncommon for them to perish together. What surprised Qi Han was not the presence of the two corpses here, but the fact that black liquid was gradually flowing over the corpses of the two earth dragons. He slowly moved their bodies, allowing the broken body of the Shadowless Lizard Dragon and the headless remains of the Sharp-Eyed Dragon to slowly approach each other.

This is…

Qi Han became interested and quickly moved closer to examine it carefully.

Seemingly sensing someone approaching, the flowing blackness stopped abruptly, and only resumed its movement after Qi Han stopped moving.

Upon closer inspection, Qi Han had already discerned the truth behind the flowing, liquid-like black substance: it was countless tiny black insects.

After much effort, the small black insect finally managed to piece together the severed leg of the Shadowless Lizard Dragon and the severed neck of the Sharp-Eyed Dragon, and then, under Qi Han's strange gaze, it sewed the two pieces together.

"I f***ing..." Qi Han's face twitched violently.

Such an outrageous stitching created a hideous and bizarre alien creature. All the black worms had already entered the corpse before the stitching was done. Before long, this strangely shaped creature slowly stood up, took two steps, and then fell down hard because it was somewhat out of control. Then it staggered to its feet and continued to move.

Qi Han immediately realized the identity of this strange black insect.

Insect-type Soul Beast: Corpse-Sewing Ant.

This kind of weak soul beast is extremely rare. Its individual strength is very weak, but it has a very special ability: it can suture the wounds of a corpse and then control the corpse to move in order to make up for its own weakness.

The more powerful the corpse, the more stitched corpse ants are needed to control it.

According to the complete list of ingredients, there has been a precedent of a million corpse-sewing ants appearing at the same time, manipulating the corpse of a 100,000-year-old soul beast.

However, the corpses manipulated by the corpse-sewing ants cannot exert their full strength before birth. They only retain the strength of their bodies and are extremely clumsy. Their strength is less than one-tenth of what it used to be, so they are not worth worrying about.

Qi Han shook his head as he watched the strange creature slowly stagger away.