"Cooking your countries dishes with Alchemical ingredients?" Epagogia sounded skeptical.
"I know, I know," Jacob was using the mortar to grind down the flower's leaves and petals to make a paste. To add some smoothness, he had extracted some oil from very small spiritual fruits and seeds.
"It does sound ridiculous, Jacob," Epagogia was in her researcher mode at the moment. No nonsense.
"You believe what you want to believe," he shrugged.
The day had been very hectic so far, but cooking—Alchemy was something he knew well.
He started chanting softly to guide the energy inside the Dawn Lily better. Then, he started alternating clockwise and counter clock motions, losing himself in the yellowish paste he was getting from the Dawn Lily. Finally, he could feel the Dawn Lily flower starting to melt, and Jacob focused on the density of the current Pesto.
It needs more a stronger flavor inside. Jacob eyed the concoction. It was too light at the moment, barely emanating the expected spiritual energy of a Pill.
Epagogia kept staring silently from the side, craning her neck to better look at how Jacob was wasting one of the most precious Spiritual Herbs they had there.
Jacob got up and pulled up an Acordium Root. He took the bulb at the end of it and swiftly peeled it with his sword. For a master like him, it was like wielding a precision scalpel.
He threw the chopped-up part of the Acordium Root in the mortar.
"Acordium Roots do have a very strong flavor," Epagogia mused.
"They are similar to garlic in taste," Jacob said. "All of this is new; therefore, it's extremely hard to make the correct judgment on the spot. Instead, I'm relying on all the experience with Alchemy I have and just guessing what would taste good and powerful."
Jacob ignored the Violet Carapace and the Red Salacious Stalk, two important ingredients of the Mediocre Ascension Pill.
"Put some water in the pot," Jacob told Epagogia.
"Are you making some of that 'Pasta'?"
"You bet, woman," Jacob nodded in high spirit.
"Immortals' insights coalesced for an indefinite amount of time, millions, if not billions of years, to create the perfect Pills. And now, my boyfriend thinks he can create an entirely new branch of Alchemy," her tone was very ironic.
However, when Jacob stared at her, he spotted the underlying curiosity. Epagogia didn't like to show it at every twist and turn, with her being a mischievous Devil and whatnot, but she did believe in him more than she allowed to transpire.
"Not your boyfriend in this life," Jacob noted.
"Yet," Epagogia smiled salaciously.
"I need a smoke," Jacob murmured to himself.
He didn't mind the incredibly beautiful woman in front of him in the slightest, but he just wanted some calm and peace to cook—create a new Alchemical concoction.
He went over to a spiritual herb he knew was very salty, the Goat Caller, and plucked it out of the ground. It had a very cheesy and salty consistency. He threw used his sword to make fine scales of it and mixed it in his mortar.
"Sh*t," Epagogia's eyes went wide.
The concoction was finally taking its final shape, and now the Pesto was emanating an insane amount of Qi and Mana altogether. Jacob's grin was plastered all over his face.
"How is this possible, Jacob?" Epagogia asked.
"There is much more to cultivation than we think. For example, I lived in a world where Italian food was famous in every corner of Earth. If that carries some weight with fate and Karma, it could have opened up a path for this new form of Alchemy."
"People have tried cooking things before, even adding ingredients to recipes or recreating recipes with Spiritual Herbs, Jaji. It doesn't explain how inside that Mortar I can already feel more energy than a normal high-grade Mediocre Ascension Pill."
"The mortar grinds away the impurity with each movement, and you can extract them with your Qi. That's the preparation process. Then, adding the Acordium Root and the Goat Caller mixes the energy of two different Spiritual Herbs inside the flower of the Dawn Lily, skyrocketing its potential."
"Those herbs shouldn't mix together in a cauldron; how can they mix inside a mortar, you a tailless pink thing!"
"Based on flavor!" Jacob laughed out loud.
Then, he took the pot and started plucking some other Spiritual Herbs, grinding them down inside the water, creating an oily substance inside of it.
"Heat it up as much as you can, but don't let it evaporate," Jacob pointed toward the pot.
Epagogia had some telekinetic capabilities even in the Mantis realm.
She followed his instructions while Jacob started looking for underground roots that looked like potatoes.
The Earthy Knightly Fruit!
Jacob had no idea who had given a root such a stupid name, but it was in the good company of the Goat Caller.
Anyway, the Earthy Knightly Fruit was essentially similar to a potato. So Jacob cut them in fine pieces and then retrieved the Spiritual Herbs he usually used to make flour for the Alchemic Tagliatelle.
The greatest creating mankind could ever hope to produce was now just a few steps from him!
Not even the cure for cancer would have ever been this sought after!
Jacob smushed the fake potatoes and flour and made a very particular type of Pasta. In Italy, many wouldn't even call it Pasta, to be honest.
Because they were Gnocchi!
And with the concoction made from the Dawn Lily, he now had Alchemic Gnocchi al Pesto!