Chapter 894 – Culinary Magic

“That’s right, exactly!” Vasida nodded affirmatively, savoring the lingering aftertaste of the soup as she explained. “Although the Dietary Fortification Card can dramatically improve the body’s digestive efficiency for food, everyone’s baseline physical tolerance is different. The stronger your constitution, the more energy you can safely absorb and effectively utilize in one sitting.”

She waved the newly created card in her hand.

“But no worries! I’ve already used the Management Card to successfully turn the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom Strengthening Soup into a card. From now on, you can buy it anytime from the Card Shop.

Once the energy from this serving is fully digested and absorbed, and your body has adapted, you can drink more. Little and often — your constitution will improve rapidly in no time.”

No one could refuse such a delicious method of body tempering!

Even Sylph, who had never paid much attention to physical training, after personally experiencing the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom Soup’s immediate yet gentle and lasting nourishing effects, unhesitatingly bookmarked the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom Strengthening Soup card, adding it to her list of tonic soups to consume regularly in the future.

Lilith’s gaze drifted to the dazzling array of other gourmet cards that Vasida had listed, curiosity glimmering in her ruby-red eyes.

“Vasida, are the other foods from Guru Guru World as magical as the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom Strengthening Soup? If the people of that world are really like that… doesn’t that mean they’re all like you, getting stronger just by eating and drinking every day?”

“More or less!” Vasida nodded. “The people of Guru Guru World can indeed gain all sorts of wondrous powers and strengthen themselves by enjoying fine cuisine, but there’s one absolutely crucial prerequisite — the food must have been meticulously processed using the Power of Cuisine.”

At this point, Vasida’s tone turned serious. “Guru Guru World is indeed overflowing with ingredients of staggeringly immense energy, but the vast majority of these ingredients cannot be eaten directly. Take this Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom, for example…”

She picked up the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom card and pointed to its classification. “The reason I categorized it as a Material Card rather than an ingredient card is precisely because I was worried someone might eat it by mistake.”

“Eaten raw, or prepared using conventional cooking methods, it’s lethally poisonous. A single bite is guaranteed to cause an adult dragon’s blood to coagulate and its flesh to petrify within minutes, turning it into a dragon-shaped statue!”

This comparison added a few shades of awe to the way the three of them looked at the meaty mushroom.

“But!” Vasida’s tone shifted dramatically. “After being processed with the Power of Cuisine — the unique ability of Guru Guru World’s top-tier gourmet hunters — everything changes completely!

The Power of Cuisine is an extraordinarily wondrous energy. It can deeply harmonize and activate all the energies contained within ingredients.

Before the Power of Cuisine, harmful energies can be tamed and converted into beneficial ones; volatile energies can be soothed and rendered gentle; and energies that are already beneficial can be sublimated into something even purer!

Those terrifying toxins in the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom that cause flesh and blood to solidify — under a sufficiently powerful application of the Power of Cuisine — can be perfectly transformed into easily absorbable components that tremendously strengthen the body! That’s why gourmet hunters of Guru Guru World hold a truly magnificent profession — one that turns decay into wonder and deadly poison into ambrosial nectar!

In theory, as long as a gourmet hunter’s mastery is profound enough and their control over the Power of Cuisine precise enough, they can cook the vast majority of substances in the world into dishes that are safe, delicious, and imbued with wondrous effects!”

The more Vasida spoke, the more animated she became. She turned to her three friends and solemnly announced:

“I’ve decided to make gourmet hunter my primary profession going forward!”

Sylph smiled gently and nodded upon hearing this.

She had carefully read through Vasida’s richly illustrated Mo Lan had the most direct reaction. Using her Speed-Reading Spell, she rapidly flipped through Vasida’s hefty Mo Lan’s reaction was the most direct of all. Using her Speed-Reading Spell, she rapidly flipped through Vasida’s hefty Mo Lan’s reaction was even more direct. Using her Speed-Reading Spell, she rapidly flipped through Vasida’s thick 《Mo Lan, however, had the most direct reaction. Using her Speed-Reading Spell, she rapidly flipped through Vasida’s thick 《Gourmet Adventure Notes Mo Lan’s reaction, however, was the most direct. While channeling her Speed-Reading Spell, she swiftly flipped through Vasida’s hefty 《Gourmet Adventure Notes》, gaining a general understanding of her experiences and gains in Guru Guru World as well as the characteristics of culinary magic, then immediately looked up and pressed Vasida:

“Do you have any ready-made, systematic Knowledge Cards for culinary magic?”

Though she didn’t plan to specialize as a gourmet hunter the way Vasida did, that didn’t stop her from developing a keen interest in culinary magic itself.

Mana was the most primordial form of energy, capable of converting into any other type — and the Power of Cuisine was no exception.

With systematic knowledge, she could absolutely learn culinary magic.

Moreover, she had learned from the 《Gourmet Adventure Notes》 that the wondrous dishes created through culinary magic weren’t limited to tonic soups like the Guru Guru Meaty Mushroom Strengthening Soup that permanently reinforced the body.

The notes mentioned that certain formidable gourmet hunters could, through unique applications of the Power of Cuisine, condense the energy within specific ingredients during the cooking process into a curious phenomenon known as “magic seeds.”

When someone consumed a dish containing a “magic seed,” they would directly gain a certain temporary — or even permanent — special ability!

Vasida’s original goal in going to Guru Guru World — the Rainbow Siphon — was precisely such a “magic seed,” produced when the Giant-Stomached Rainbow Whale’s spatially-attuned stomach sac was cooked using specific culinary magic techniques.

Possessing it would grant one the terrifying ability to momentarily devour enormous objects, just like the Giant-Stomached Rainbow Whale.

The more types of magic Mo Lan learned, the more she discovered that many forms of magic shared similarities and could inform one another.

These “magic seeds” held tremendous research value for her.

Unfortunately, such “magic seeds” could not exist independently — they could only exist within specific dishes prepared using the Power of Cuisine.

To delve deep into their mysteries, mastering the Power of Cuisine was virtually the only path.

Regardless, having one more unique and enormously promising avenue of power at her disposal was always an excellent thing!