Chapter 574 – Benedict

Chapter 574 – Benedict

The next day, a green Dragon named Benedict arrived at West District, No. 199.

He was among those Vasida had recommended last night, and his bloodline rank was quite decent.

He simply couldn’t compare to Igniwa—his bloodline rank was only at the ancient dragon level.

Still, even that was quite impressive.

Among young dragons with ancient dragon bloodlines who hadn’t yet reached Peak level, Vasida only knew three in total: the green Dragon Benedict, the blue Dragon Euphemia, and the white Dragon Daphniell.

All the others were young dragons with ordinary bloodlines.

Naturally, Mo Lan would prioritize hosting those with ancient dragon bloodlines.

All three had been scheduled by Mo Lan to dine within this week.

Benedict was first in line.

After taking human form, this green Dragon had pale skin, a thin frame, and a somewhat gloomy appearance. The moment they met, he asked Mo Lan, “Did you really develop a special poisonous dish that uses a lethal dose of ghost mushrooms?”

That was exactly what had drawn him here.

Benedict was even pickier about food than Igniwa—if it wasn’t poisonous, he had no interest.

But in this world, aside from green Dragons, no one else considered poison a delicacy, and there were certainly no chefs who specialized in cooking with poisonous ingredients.

So he would usually bring his own poisonous ingredients to Delicacy Island and find a chef to cook them for him.

Even so, he was often refused.

After all, cooking with poisonous ingredients required not only specialized cookware and tableware, but the chef themselves risked being poisoned.

Could the poisonous ingredients brought by a green Dragon be anything ordinary? Many chefs would probably drop dead just from a single whiff.

No one dared take on a job that might cost them their life.

It was precisely because Vasida was willing to take his orders that Benedict had become a regular at her restaurant, sparring with her along the way. Through this process, they grew familiar with each other and became friends, and Benedict would often teach Vasida some of the Dragon race’s physical combat techniques.

But even the dishes Vasida made for him were simply her specialty dishes with a few poisonous “seasonings” added at Benedict’s request. She had never specifically researched a dish built entirely around poisonous ingredients.

So the moment Benedict heard Vasida’s recommendation, he couldn’t resist coming to try it.

“Of course!” Mo Lan said, inviting him inside while introducing the dish. “It’s called the Deadly Mushroom Mille-Feuille Tower. Vasida should have told you a bit about it already. Not only does it require a lethal dose of ghost mushrooms, it also uses glands from nine different species of venomous snakes. Just for taste-testing alone, I had to take a specially made antidote potion as a palate accompaniment. Fortunately, the flavor turned out quite good.”

Upon hearing this, Benedict’s first reaction wasn’t delight or surprise, but suspicion. “Why would you want to research such a dangerous dish? And taste-test it yourself?”

Green Dragons were far more famous for their cunning and suspicion than for their love of eating poisonous things. Mo Lan had naturally prepared for this.

“I heard that you green Dragons have different tastes and enjoy eating poisonous food. I was a bit curious—can you actually taste different flavors in poisonous dishes? So I specifically developed this dish. You’re the first green Dragon to try it. After you’ve tasted it, could you tell me what the Deadly Mushroom Mille-Feuille Tower tastes like to you? I want to see if there’s any difference from what I taste.”

“So that’s what it is… Of course, no problem!” Though Benedict was suspicious by nature, he was still just an underage dragon who had rarely left Dragon Isle. No matter how suspicious he was, his imagination only stretched so far.

Just as he couldn’t imagine that a Witch could enhance her physical constitution through eating, he also couldn’t imagine that a Witch would steal the Dragons’ inherited memories for the sake of dragon-tongue magic.

The Dragons’ inherited memories were tailor-made for dragons, and dragon-tongue magic could only be cast using dragon force derived from one’s bloodline. There were barriers even between different dragon species’ dragon force, let alone for other races—who would bother stealing something like that!

The dragon-tongue magic that Dragons taught to Dragon-kin and servants could only be learned by those with Dragon bloodlines, and even then they could only learn a severely abridged version.

As for Sorceresses, the thought had never even crossed his mind. Sorceresses already had Firework Blast—why would they bother learning dragon-tongue magic?

“Since you’re interested in how green Dragons perceive the flavor of toxins, you’ll surely appreciate these notes!” Benedict swapped out the dining fee he had originally prepared for his own manuscript.

“These are the flavors I recorded while tasting various poisons. I once tried to research specialized poison cuisine on my own, but sadly, Dragons truly have no talent for cooking. What I made couldn’t even compare to ordinary food without poison, so I had to give up in the end. This manuscript is of no use to me anymore.”

Mo Lan took it and flipped through it. The manuscript contained not only the green Dragon version of how various poisonous ingredients tasted, but also their toxicity levels and other information.

Although much of it was knowledge Mo Lan already possessed, it was still quite novel.

Collecting unread books as dining fees was just a nice bonus that she could take or leave. Given the quality of this manuscript, it was more than sufficient.

Mo Lan happily accepted it and asked him to wait in the dining room. She even specially brought out a bottle of cursed wine from the ghost ship’s lower-deck wine cellar for him to sample first.

“I hear that green Dragons are immune to all poisons and have strong resistance to curses as well. This wine should taste rather good to you.”

“What kind of curse is this? It smells somewhat different from the cursed items I’ve tasted before that were made by curse Witches.” Even through the bottle, Benedict could sense the rich, mellow aroma of the curse on the wine.

Mo Lan had guessed correctly—curses, like poison, had a distinctive flavor for green Dragons.

After becoming close with Vasida, Benedict had even asked her to introduce him to curse Witches so he could order edible cursed items.

It was just that cursed items were far rarer than poisonous ones, so he had eaten far fewer of them.

“I seized it not long ago from a ghost ship,” Mo Lan said. “Although it was a ghost ship spawned by a Demon, the curses on board were all naturally born from accumulated curse energy.”

“It’s actually a curse from a ghost ship!” Benedict gained a much deeper appreciation of Mo Lan’s strength.

This bottle of wine alone made him feel the trip today was well worth it.

The wine wasn’t included in today’s meal order—it was a “friendly” gift from Mo Lan—but Benedict felt uncomfortable taking advantage of someone’s generosity.

In the Dragon dictionary, there was only robbery, not freeloading.

If you wanted something and could win the fight, you took it all. If you couldn’t win, or if fighting wasn’t an option, you traded fairly.

Benedict pulled out the book he had originally intended to use as his dining fee. “Thank you for the wine. This is for you.”

Mo Lan glanced at it.Mo Lan glanced at it. 《Sweet Lies: The Synergistic Art of Poison and Rhetoric》. Setting aside the bizarre rhetoric sections, the poison formulas inside were actually quite good. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

While Benedict was savoring the wine, Mo Lan downed a bottle of antidote potion, and only then began preparing the dish he had ordered.