Chapter 1743: Adding Thirty Thousand, Magic Chef God

Just like that, time quickly arrived at the end of August; the sweltering heat of midsummer began to recede, and the chilling aura of approaching autumn arrived quietly.

At noon this day, Xia Duo and Niya emerged from the Tower of Time. The tall Portal on the Code Plaza not far away, shimmering with blue light, was reflected in their pupils. Niya frowned slightly:

"Is Great Arcanist Buluode unable to recruit anyone over there anymore?"

The Portal here had gone from being bustling with crowds at the beginning to now having only a group of seven or eight people passing through occasionally, to be received by the staff of the Settlement Department who had long been waiting there.

At this moment, the two had just come out of the Tower of Time, and what they saw was an empty Portal, a scene with not a single person.

"Perhaps. You know the current situation; not being able to recruit people is normal. If we can recruit anyone at all, we shouldn't care about the number!"

In truth, Xia Duo also felt very helpless inside. It wasn't because of the "Agricultural Book," but mainly because the development of the Aibi Hills and the Kelong Plain involved the boundary demarcation between Netheril and Keman, which Seventon took very seriously.

Even without the Agricultural Book, it would not be easy to compete for human resources with these two large-scale development projects. Of course, if one counted the influence of the Agricultural Book, the recruitment of new settlers would be even more difficult.

Currently, the Territory has recruited nearly thirty thousand people through Buluode one after another. There might be more in the future, but I am afraid it will be hard to have the same efficiency as at the very beginning.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the core of the Portal Xia Duo uses to transfer new settlers is built with David String material. Although it is a large Portal, the usage cost is quite low, almost negligible.

If it were a traditional Permanent Teleportation Portal, he would never be willing to keep it open around the clock like this!

"Let's go, Chef Kuke should have some new tricks today."

Hearing Xia Duo mention the lunch content, Niya's mood immediately cleared up. She squinted her eyes and asked while reminiscing: "What's for lunch today?"

"The cooking methods should still be those few, but there might be some innovations in form. Are you worried it won't be delicious?" Xia Duo said with a smile.

Today's Kuke is no longer the novice who couldn't even steam a bun properly. After all these years, Kuke has long since surpassed his "master," and his culinary skills far exceed his own!

After all, his main job is a Mage and a Lord; it is impossible for him to ponder how to cook all day. As a full-time Chef, Kuke naturally progressed rapidly under his guidance and with a large amount of practice time.

At the beginning of the month, he returned from Seventon and brought back a lot of Warp Beast Meat. For this, Kuke researched many new dishes. Of course, limited by the characteristics of the ingredients themselves, these dishes are mostly steamed or blanched.

Speaking of which, this Warp Beast Meat is probably the most unique meat Xia Duo has ever eaten. It has both the fresh fragrance of seafood and the texture of beef and mutton. It is most suitable for steaming or blanching, and even eating it raw has quite a flavor.

Of course, pan-frying, grilling, and stewing are all possible.

Over these days, Xia Duo has tried almost every cooking method. Except for some heavy-flavor cooking that makes this Warp Beast Meat lose its original characteristics and become mediocre, it is basically delicious no matter how it is cooked.

Besides the meat, he also brought back many bones. The bones are, of course, best for simmering soup; there are no other particularly good ways to eat them.

Arriving at the Lord's Villa in Linshui Village, the timing was just right. Kuke had already arranged for Apprentices to start serving the dishes. Apart from stir-fried seasonal vegetables, the main course and soup were both made with Warp Beast ingredients.

"Today's new dishes are Slow-Roasted Jump Beast Ribs, Snowflake Crisp, and Eel Beast Bone Soup. Please enjoy, My Lord!" The Apprentice gave a brief introduction and then stepped aside.

Xia Duo was not surprised. Originally, Kuke would come over in person every time there were new dishes, but after more than half a month of trying, the Warp Beast dishes were basically mature, so he later let the Apprentice come over to record the feedback from Xia Duo and Niya.

"Niya, come, try this first!"

Xia Duo took a fancy to that plate of Snowflake Crisp at a glance. It was named "Snowflake," and it looked very much like a snowflake, except that these thin slices of Warp Beast meat seemed to have been deep-fried; one could clearly feel the crispness when touched by chopsticks.

Xia Duo picked up two pieces and put them in his mouth. The surprise appeared; there was no need to chew at all, it melted almost instantly upon entering the mouth. The next moment, the fresh fragrance of the Warp Beast meat exploded in his mouth—it was simply too delicious!

By the time he finished savoring it, the chopsticks in Niya's hands were already waving non-stop, and she kept muttering, "Delicious, delicious!"

"If it's delicious, eat more!"

After saying that, Xia Duo looked at Anuo to the side. "What's going on with this Snowflake Crisp? I've eaten fried Warp Beast meat before, and it's completely different from today's!"

"My Lord, today's Snowflake Crisp was not just made by my master alone, but also by his nephew, Mage Moli. First, the Warp Beast meat is sliced into extremely thin slices, then it is frozen into ice. When the temperature reaches the lowest point, it is put into the oil pan to fry. The time is controlled at about half a second. This is the Snowflake Crisp."

"I see!"

Xia Duo was thoughtful. So the name "Snowflake" is not just because it looks like one, but also because a freezing spell is involved. But why would that Moli run to the kitchen?

"You said Mage Moli is Kuke's nephew?"

"Yes. Mage Moli's former mentor, Mage Shande, heard that the master was the Lord's head chef and wanted to learn cooking from the master. The master didn't dare to accept, so that Mage Shande found Mage Moli. The master couldn't refuse, so he agreed to teach him new-style cooking."

"There's such a thing?" Xia Duo said in surprise.

He didn't have a deep impression of Moli, only knowing that he was a new Mage who had passed the Job Rank Assessment not long ago. As for Shande, Xia Duo had a deep impression of that sturdy Mage Shande back in his Apprentice stage.

Not just because of his physique, but also because of the culinary works the other party left in the Library of the Tower of Time.

It was just unexpected that he ended up with Kuke, and there was also Moli, who could gain Kuke's recognition to participate in the production of Snowflake Crisp; perhaps the production method of Snowflake Crisp was even proposed by Moli.

Is the Territory going to have another Magic Chef God?

Xia Duo couldn't help but be speechless. He originally only planned for the civilianization of Magic Items and hadn't been so extravagant as to let Mages become chefs. Now that someone has taken this step in advance, although he felt a bit reluctant, he was still happy to see it happen.

Of course, there was no need to encourage it, lest everyone in the Tower of Time follow suit and neglect their proper work, wasting a lot of progress for nothing.

Thus, Xia Duo didn't continue the topic and naturally ended the conversation, starting to taste the Slow-Roasted Jump Beast Ribs.

By this time, Niya's mouth was already oily from eating. Xia Duo still envied such a pure foodie's heart. Like him, while eating the roasted ribs, he couldn't help but think about how it was made.

Although his main job now is not a chef, the food genes from his hometown, settled deep in his blood, are always hard to ignore.