Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 310 - 309: The Strange Mushroom

Chapter 310: Chapter 309: The Strange Mushroom

"It’s too precious!"

Xia Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

He was now at the Special Level, only one title shy of the next rank. In terms of strength, the day he created his own Special Level Killing Recipe, he dared to claim that he would be second to none at his level.

Thus, he understood the value of a ’Special Level Three Stars’ recipe more than Kobayakawa Ryodan and Tiqie Helinai.

Only slightly inferior to a Special Killing Recipe.

Yet it was the highest level recipe he had ever come into contact with and personally practiced.

In terms of recipe quality, ’Rainbow Pudding’ and ’Rainbow Wine’ were of gold quality, rarer, but the practical difficulty was too high. Where was he supposed to find all the ingredients required for those recipes? He hadn’t even caught a glimpse of them.

"This is the Fantasy Mushroom used in the dish..."

Liangzi Lina bent over and pulled a long mushroom from beneath the counter.

The mushroom was strip-shaped and as soon as it was exposed to the air, it emitted a buttery sweet scent that was so intoxicating, it made one’s mouth water uncontrollably.

Xia Yu’s eyes widened slightly.

"This..."

Kobayakawa Ryodan and Tiqie Helinai, however, crowded in front of him, taking the strip-shaped mushroom from Liangzi Lina’s hand. Their fair palms caressed it back and forth, both looking completely at ease.

Is it me who’s dirty-minded?

Seeing this, Xia Yu couldn’t help but question his own thoughts amidst the chaos.

The mushroom’s appearance was indeed provocative and resembled a man’s majestic apparatus too closely.

Kobayakawa Ryodan and Tiqie Helinai seemed to have found a new toy, especially Tiqie Helinai, who squeezed the base firmly and, finding the mushroom soft, couldn’t help but exclaim, "How strange!"

Kobayakawa Ryodan poked the top of the mushroom with her finger.

A sensation of indescribable elasticity came through her fingertip. The tenured senior with long red hair tilted her head to study the mushroom, but for a long while, she noticed nothing amiss.

"Unexpectedly naive!" Xia Yu heavily criticized in his mind, but he tried hard not to show any reaction. This was definitely not the time to speak out of turn, or the three women present would probably give him a good beating.

His thoughts uncontrollably drifted away. Xia Yu recalled a comical yet mortifying piece of news where some TV station’s innocent hostess had kneaded and prodded a so-called "meat Ganoderma," unaware it was actually a male’s lost masturbatory aid left in the wild, making the scene extremely embarrassing...

Ding.

"A new ingredient discovered!"

System notifications popped up:

"Cream Pine Mushroom: Purple Quality, a type of Special-grade Fantasy Ingredient, usually grows in secluded and moist regions. Aside from its distinct matsutake aroma, it has a rich creamy taste. Lightly roasted and drizzled with soy sauce, it becomes a rare delicacy."

"Exchange price: 100 Fame Points per mushroom."

Xia Yu couldn’t help but take a sharp intake of breath!

That price was really steep!

He glanced at the few Fantasy Ingredients he had already unlocked, from the cheapest ’Shuangjiang Tofu’ (100 Fame Points for 500g) to ’Pitch-Black Rice’ (100 Fame Points for 100g). He had thought ’Pitch-Black Rice’ was expensive enough, but this ’Cream Pine Mushroom’ was even more outrageous, with 100 Fame Points buying just one mushroom.

For a single dish, at least seven or eight mushrooms were needed. Roughly calculating, not including other costs, this meant spending hundreds of Fame Points, which was nearly like cutting flesh from Xia Yu’s own body.

"What about the other type of beef?" Xia Yu pursed his lips.

The ’Cream Pine Mushroom’ was not yet unlocked, and he couldn’t exchange for it through the system store even if he wanted to; he could only buy it with cash.

In the real world, Xia Yu actually felt more at ease spending money.

"That is a hybrid animal bred in the secret cultivation fields of the IGO headquarters." Liangzi Lina explained, "That animal is called the ’beef-pork-bird’. Strange name, isn’t it? Yet it’s an incredible hybrid, with meat that tastes like beef, pork, and bird. The bones can be simmered to make a richly flavored soup, and even the animal’s milk is a precious ingredient, costing 50,000 yen for every 100 grams..."

"I specially selected the cut with the richest beef flavor."

Liangzi Lina took out a piece of beef from the ingredient box on the counter that had been partially thawed.

In appearance, this piece of beef was similar to ’White-haired Cinderella Beef’, with the same highest-grade snowflake marbling spread across it, looking more like a piece of art than a food ingredient.

And as soon as the beef left the sealed food container, it was as if a whirlwind of beef aroma swept through the kitchen!

"Another type of beef beyond A5!"

Tiqie Helinai bit her thumb.

Kobayakawa Ryodan too was quite curious. Although he was a member of the Elite Ten, they were all still unfamiliar with the domain above Special Level, including Special-grade ingredients.

Xia Yu sniffed the beef aroma and immediately sensed something was amiss.

"No!"

"The scent is too strong!"

In all matters, excessive is taboo, and cooking follows the same principle; an overpowering flavor would undoubtedly cause the structure of the entire dish to crumble.

However, in Liangzi Lina’s ’Sukiyaki’, what Xia Yu tasted was only the sentiment of ’togetherness’, and his heart was brimming with warmth—there wasn’t a hint of anything amiss at that time.

The more he thought about it, the more shocked he became.

"Liangzi, how did you integrate this kind of beef into the dish?" Xia Yu asked out loud.

"That too is a secret I bestowed upon the ’Sukiyaki’!"

Liangzi Lina gave a slight smile and glanced at Kobayakawa Ryodan and Tiqie Helinai.

The two silently exited the kitchen.

The law is not transmitted to the uninitiated; recipe exchanges in the culinary world are confidential undertakings. There have been occasional recipe leaks in recent years, but without exception, they were settled through cooking duels, and the outcomes were often ruthless.

...

The weekend passed while Xia Yu immersed himself in researching the ’Sukiyaki’ recipe.

On Monday, bright and early, Xia Yu completely forgot what day it was and got up early to prepare a commonplace version of the ’Sukiyaki’ in the kitchen using ordinary ingredients.

Liangzi Lina rose just as early. Seeing him bustling about in the kitchen, she asked with a teasing tone:

"Chef Xia, have you forgotten what’s happening today?"

"Eh?"

Xia Yu put the lid on the pot and paused upon hearing her words.

"Taste Weekly, Taste Weekly!" Liangzi Lina could only be more direct, "The latest issue of the magazine started selling this morning!"

"Oh—"

Xia Yu dragged the note out, his previously calm heart immediately sparked with flames of anticipation.

To say he was not excited, not looking forward to it, would be a lie.

He needed Fame Points, and advertising was undoubtedly the fastest way to earn them.

With the VIP branch maintaining a steady business over the past week, though the Food Review Conference clung to Xia’s Restaurant as a hot news story like a rabid dog, the online sentiment was no longer dominated by the negative voices of the week before.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the public opinion was gradually reversing.

Because more and more diners were captivated by Xia Yu’s cooking skills, and as food videos were uploaded, those luminous dishes had sparked a heated discussion throughout the entire Neon network. Although for some unknown reason, the luminosity of the food in the videos was not as intense and shocking as it was in person, thereby greatly diminishing the effect, it didn’t prevent the spectacle of the food phenomenon from being captured on camera.

He turned to check the Fame Points he had quietly accumulated.

55610.

That’s right! Over fifty thousand!

Over the week, Xia’s Restaurant’s popularity had not waned. With Mars and the Far Moon Commander adding fuel to the fire, it was hard not to attract attention. Thus, Xia Yu could easily harvest Fame Points in his sleep, bringing his total back to what it was before purchasing the ’Soul-Calming Noodles’, ’Galaxy Noodles’, and the purple-quality kitchen tool ’Soul Suppressing Stick’.

"This time, how many Fame Points will I reap?"

Xia Yu’s eyes shone with intense anticipation as he switched his view to the system store, gazing at the sparkling ’Rainbow Seed’ positioned in the first slot, then glanced at the exchange price.

The golden recipe, it’s probably time to start the preparatory phase.

First and foremost is the cultivation of the main ingredient ’Rainbow Fruit’!