I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 842: Chapter 843 Cooking_1

The area at the bottom of the pool was not large, roughly just three to five acres. The dark gold light Song Jian had seen was right beside a rock at the bottom. As he approached, he discovered that it was actually a plant over three feet tall;

This plant looked like bamboo, with rings of nodes on its surface from which several branches extended, sprouting palm-sized leaves;

These leaves were covered with dense, gnawed marks. Looking closely, the partially eaten leaves seemed to be what remained, and many leaves had been devoured completely, leaving only the bare bamboo stalks;

“To think that a bamboo plant is growing at the bottom of the pool, how strange!” Song Jian lightly touched the bamboo and its attributes immediately appeared before his eyes;

“Vitality Jade Bamboo, a rare treasure, usage effect: every ten days, it grows thirty bamboo leaves which can be used for alchemy, making Vitality Pills; directly consumed, they can heal wounds and increase the upper limit of Vitality Points, with a maximum use of 5 leaves; item description: this item can create its own world, resistant to water and fire, and once rooted, it cannot be moved!”

“Increase Vitality Points?” Song Jian’s eyes lit up. Players of all professions coveted treasures that could improve Vitality Points, and this jade bamboo was priceless;

“What a pity it can’t be transplanted; otherwise, I would move it to the Spirit Field in the Manor Castle,” Song Jian’s eyebrows furrowed slightly;

This was the wilderness, and once discovered by others, not only would all its leaves be plucked, but the jade bamboo itself could also be destroyed;

At this time, nearly all the leaves on the jade bamboo had been eaten, and there were less than three days left until the bamboo would grow new leaves. Song Jian thought for a moment, then took out several Sword Qi Stones and set up an Illusion Sword Array around the Vitality Jade Bamboo to conceal it;

After everything was done, Song Jian thoroughly searched the bottom of the pool again but found nothing else. He then turned and headed toward the upper stream of the pool;

…

Back in Manor Castle, Song Jian found that Li Ke’er and Wang Qi were waiting for him in the castle’s conference room;

Seeing Song Jian appear, Li Ke’er immediately rushed up, grabbed his sleeve and asked with anticipation, “Brother Song Jian, did you get the hawk eggs?”

Song Jian smiled slightly and took out all the hawk eggs from his pack, along with two young hawk fledglings, and placed them all on the conference table;

Seeing that Song Jian had gained so much from just one trip, Wang Qi’s eyes nearly popped out;

“How is that possible, how did you get so many?” Wang Qi murmured to himself.

“Brother Song Jian, you’re amazing!” Li Ke’er jumped up, immediately attracted by the fluffy hawk fledglings, and ran over to play with them;

“I heard that Eagle Falcon Cliff is very dangerous, and that the hawks there have a collective vengeance. If you provoke one, a whole swarm will come at you. How did you manage to get so many?” Wang Qi asked, puzzled.

Although Song Jian was powerful, Wang Qi had also sent people to scout. With hundreds of hawks chasing en masse, even someone as strong as Song Jian wouldn’t likely last long.

“I sneaked up there and entered a valley through a tunnel in a hawk’s nest, which was filled with Witch-winged Harpies,” Song Jian divulged without reservation. “I met a goblin merchant there whose goods had been stolen by the harpies. I retrieved the goods for it, and these are part of the quest rewards.”

“Quest rewards,” a hint of disappointment flashed in Wang Qi’s eyes. Such quests were often one-time and couldn’t be replicated.

Although Song Jian acquired more than ten eagle falcon eggs this time, he was still far from being able to establish a flying cavalry unit. If he could not find other ways to obtain eagle falcon eggs, the formation of the City of Hope’s flying cavalry unit seemed an unattainable goal.

Seeing Wang Qi’s expression, Song Jian smiled slightly and said, “Don’t worry, we will soon have more eagle falcon eggs. In no more than ten days, that goblin merchant will bring a large quantity, and we can just buy them directly!”

Upon hearing this, Wang Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The development of the Valley of the Undead was ongoing. Aside from the Shadow Forest, the gems from the river beside the Undead Tower also had excellent properties. Their supply was in high demand but scarce, so their prices remained high, bringing in a net profit of about 100,000 to the City of Hope every day.

If not for the rapid development of the City of Hope, they would have amassed a huge fortune by now.

“Is there anyone in the alliance specifically skilled in cooking?” Song Jian asked.

“Cooking?” Wang Qi pondered for a moment before nodding and saying, “Yes, Song Dapeng. He’s thirty-two this year. In the real world, he is a chef at a five-star hotel. Since entering the game, he hasn’t been much into leveling and is only level twenty-six now. However, his cooking skills have reached the Master Level, with more than a hundred recipes to his name, most of which he has figured out himself!”

In the real world, if one is a chef, comprehending recipes in the game is a very simple matter; they only need to replicate a dish from reality in the game to comprehend the corresponding recipe.

“Where is he now? I have some materials that I need him to prepare!” Song Jian said.

“He’s been busy these past two days decorating his shop, getting ready to open a restaurant near the plaza. Wait a moment, I will notify him to come here,” Wang Qi said.

Within a short time, a bearded man was led in.

Seeing Wang Qi, Song Dapeng’s face showed a flattering smile. He bobbed his head and wrung his hands, laughing, “Wang, Lord Wang, did you call for me?”

Wang Qi pulled him over to Song Jian and said, “Lord Mayor, this is Song Dapeng!”

When Wang Qi addressed Song Jian as the Lord Mayor, Song Dapeng was startled and bowed repeatedly to Song Jian, saying nervously, “Lord, Lord Mayor, I’m sorry, I haven’t seen you before. My apologies!”

“Song Dapeng, don’t be nervous,” Song Jian laughed. He took out all the snake meat from his bag and spread it on the table, saying, “I called you here because I need your help with something. I have a batch of cooking materials, and I want you to process all of it into food.”

As soon as he heard that Song Jian only wanted him to cook, Song Dapeng immediately relaxed and nodded repeatedly, “Rest assured, Lord Mayor, I won’t waste a bit of the materials and guarantee that everything will be of at least fine quality!”

Even with the same recipes, the higher one’s cooking skills, the higher the grade of the food produced. With Song Dapeng’s Master Level cooking skills, he could ensure that every dish he made would be at least of fine quality, if not higher.

“Good,” Song Jian nodded and said, “However, I have one requirement: the food you make must not be the same; you have to create a different dish for each type of material!”

Song Dapeng was taken aback. He turned his head to look at the pile of snake meat on the conference table that resembled a small mountain and his eyes widened in astonishment, “Gold, gold quality ingredients…”

…