Everything after was nothing more than a blur. He got a few more beast corpses and cut them out, then put them in the fridge while they waited for the broth and the rice to finish cooking.
Now, came the most problematic issue. Hotpot was meant to be eaten while still over the fire. How was he supposed to achieve that? Neither he, Elyn nor Citro had a skill that would allow them to do that.
He looked around the kitchen once more and made sure everything was in order before heading out once more. A series of curious stares met him as he stepped outside.
"Where did you learn to cook like that?" Hemp asked before Emery could ask what he wanted to do.
"What do you mean?"
"You used Energy to cook back there. How did you learn to do that?"
Oh, that? Truthfully, he didn't know.
"I didn't learn it from anywhere," he answered. "I just applied that technique that I used in the test against Konnor. I didn't expect it to really work."
Hemp narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded afterwards. "You're more talented than I initially thought,"
"Thank you, sir. But that wasn't what I came out here for."
He explained his dilemma to the group in hopes that they would help him figure something out.
It seemed like he was in luck here.
Chris lifted a palm, and a jet of flames shot out. "Oh, I can do that. Just tell me when you're ready and I'll create the flames for you."
That was surprising, to say the least. He thought Chris' powers would have something to do with mind control or mind-altering. But he was wrong? So, who was it that had tried to alter their mind in that conversation?
Emery pushed those thoughts out of his mind and quickly went back to the kitchen to bring out the dishes.
He couldn't let them off the flames for too long or they would definitely lose potency. Something like that would never happen with a normal dish, and he didn't think any of his previous dishes called for such delicate care. But this one was completely different.
So, to take care of it, he tapped into the energy as he picked up one of the pots from the stove. Sparks of green energy flew out of his palm and covered the entire pot.
This would prevent any energy loss from the contents. He carried the pot over to the dining table at another end of the large penthouse floor. Chris followed after with a bit of the flames above his palm.
"Okay, just hold it above my palm. I'll do the rest."
Emery did as he was told, and unexpectedly, the pot floated out of his palms and down to the flames.
"But how are you going to?"
Chris lifted a second finger to his lips and finally moved his palm away from under the floating pot. Contrary to what he would have thought, the flame didn't disappear. Instead, it just stayed there, floating above the table and under the pot.
And the table didn't burn either.
"That's…"
"Useful, huh?"
"Yeah,"
He didn't waste any more time thinking of it and rushed back to the kitchen. He repeated the process several more times until there were several Dutch ovens and pots over the long table.
The ingredients themselves were also there. Sitting next to the floating flames. It was a very, very full table.
Hemp shuffled over next to Emery.
"So… uh, is the food ready yet?"
"No, not yet. There's still something that I need to do here."
He remembered the leaves that Chris had given him two days ago. He still had no idea what the name was, but the last time he used it, it utterly levelled his cooking up. So, it was time to use it once more.
Emery reached into his pantry and pulled out a few leaves. Everything would all come down to how much it improved the hotpot from this.
Carefully and slowly, he dropped the first leave atop the first broth. An incredible scent exploded out from that, and the herbal nature of the vegetable broth was only improved. Next, he dropped it into the meat broth.
This reaction was even more terrifying.
SWISH~!
A tornado of aroma came into existence, shaking up everyone in the entire room. Sparks of green lightning danced around the pot, spreading out to the rest of the table. Emery's hands trembled despite him being the chef, but he didn't stop. He reached above the table once more and dropped the leaves there.
SWISH~!
BOOM~! BOOM! BOOM!
It was more akin to a battlefield than a dining table, but finally, it was done.
[Ding!]
[New Dish Created: Three-Part Energy-Gathering Hotpot!]
[Detail-First Part: Spirit-Restoring Vegetable Hot Pot Broth
Effect: Cool and mild vegetable broth. It can restore Spirit 40% faster than usual
Second Part: Energy Gathering Earth Bull Beef Broth
Effect: Hot and spicy beef broth. It riles up the energy within the body, and doubles it, hence increasing the energy-gathering capabilities by up to 70% more than usual.
Third Part: Soft Crystal Starch
Effect: Serves as a buffer for the two broths. It offsets any negative effects that may come about from over-eating both broths.]
It was perhaps the most comprehensive detail list he had ever seen from a dish. What about the exp gain?
[Ding!]
[Unique Dish created!]
[Calculating Exp gain!]
[Job action performed! You have gained 500 exp!]
It was a lot more than he'd ever gotten from his other dishes but it wasn't nearly enough to fill up his experience bar. All that mattered now would be the exp from the mission and the other reward.
As soon as he thought that…
[Ding!]
[Mission Completed!]
'Huh??'
He looked toward Hemp who still frowned and had both arms crossed.
'He hasn't even eaten out of it yet! What a tsundere,'
But for all it was worth, it only meant he had gotten a decent amount of experience and a new social status. For the most part, he didn't care, he just wanted to know what people felt about the dish.
"Okay, you can all dig in now."