Chapter 2020: Environmental Protection and Innovation

In fact, there are already some dialogue mechanisms between various countries today, but they are mostly limited to between two specific countries, or expanded to an entire alliance.

The Northland Alliance of today is nominally an alliance, a single entity, but in reality, compared to the past, there has not been much change; communication between countries still relies more on the Alliance Headquarters established in Aifuruisi and routine alliance meetings.

There is no rapid communication channel established for emergency or important events; for instance, regarding the current Demon Descendant infiltration crisis, every country has more or less grasped some intelligence on Demon Descendants, but basically no one has brought it up at the Northland Alliance meetings, as they all keep it to themselves.

To a certain extent, this has also exacerbated this sense of distrust within the alliance, which is not a good thing in the long run.

Prompted by Lord Xia Duo, Badijiaer quickly realized that the Northland Alliance indeed needs such a brand-new dialogue mechanism at present; as for the reason, from a positive perspective, it is to expand consensus and strengthen cooperation.

And from a negative perspective, it is actually to increase mutual trust and reduce misjudgment.

Like now, the various countries' targeting of Yierlan is not just because it actively initiated a war or because Demon Descendants appeared within its borders, but because of the panic over the closed-off information within Yierlan.

Added to this is a bit of interest-driven motivation, which has led to the current situation.

If all parties could fully understand and fully trust each other, many things would not have happened. Although competition between countries is the norm, if the benefits of cooperation are clearly superior to being isolated, then maintaining cooperation while competing is not unimaginable.

"Lord Xia Duo, your proposal is excellent; I will bring it up to the representatives of the various countries when the talks continue tomorrow."

"Mm, I hope these complex and chaotic matters in the Northland can subside as soon as possible."

……

As night fell, the evening banquet with Daxia characteristics also began.

Xia Duo raised the Floating City to a high altitude, and the spatial shift caused Hengchun Square to face upward; the time was now the last day of the Falling Leaf Month, and the moonlight of late autumn was at its brightest.

Round and plump, it hung in the high heavens like a bright lamp; even though the Floating City was far from the ground at this time, the moon above one's head still seemed so unreachable.

At the banquet, Xia Duo had Kuke's Apprentice Laili introduce the menu for the night to the guests; the staple food was the white flour steamed bun that was already becoming popular in the Territory, which, compared to the traditional bread and flatbread of Netheril, lacked a bit of harshness and had a more mellow texture.

For the Elves, such a staple food was already very close to what they usually ate.

Of course, during the introduction, following Xia Duo's instructions, Laili specifically mentioned that the steaming method saved more fuel than baking, and this inevitably touched the sensitive hearts of these high-ranking Elves.

Elves are not an uncivilized race; they do not take pride in eating raw food, but rather in being refined and exquisite—not only in the exquisite choice of ingredients but also in the exquisite cooking techniques.

However, not all Elves have the conditions to use magical kitchenware, so consuming fuel became an unavoidable matter; generally speaking, Elves would cultivate some fast-growing forests near their settlements specifically for fuel consumption.

But the Elf tradition also holds the philosophy of being a companion to Nature and protecting Nature, which became a contradiction; thus, the work of urging growth and felling fast-growing forests often fell to the Druids.

And the fact that Druids do not have a high status in Elf society can be said to be largely related to this.

If there were a way of life that saved fuel, most Elves would not reject it; at the banquet, even true high-ranking Elves like Suweilisi and Adalier showed interest in the cooking methods of Daxia Territory.

Of course, it was not just the staple food; various new dishes, which Xia Duo only started and Kuke fully developed, also left a deep impression on the representatives.

The Main Plane has the presence of Easterners, so naturally, there is so-called "Eastern cuisine," but because many Easterners were very young when they traveled here, or were born as Commoners, it is difficult to master very superb culinary skills.

Therefore, the so-called "Eastern cuisine" of the Main Plane is, to a large extent, actually still Elf food, just made by Easterners, with some Eastern characteristics added.

Compared to the Daxia cuisine that Xia Duo, who traveled from the era of the knowledge explosion, personally guided the Chef to complete, the so-called Eastern cuisine might only win in the personal experience of the Chef.

Daxia cuisine is slightly superior in terms of conception, technique, or Principles.

……

"Finally, there is this Snowflake Crisp, selected from the freshest inner tenderloin of a Warp Beast, sliced to the thickness of a hair; for now, this step can only be completed by my master, and others, even using Spells, would find it difficult to cut out an identical finished product."

"Afterward, it is necessary to use a Spell to rapidly freeze the meat slices, then put them into the oil pan in a frozen state; the time must be controlled to about half a second—too early and the unique aroma of the Warp Beast Meat cannot be stimulated, too late and it easily burns; the heat is very difficult to master."

After Laili finished the introduction, he stepped aside to wait for the guests to taste it; of course, it was mainly for Xia Duo, as he liked all kinds of delicacies made from Warp Beast Meat, and so did Niya, among which this Snowflake Crisp was the favorite of both.

It was just that only Kuke in the Territory could present this delicacy well, and a Spellcaster must help during the production process, so even Xia Duo did not eat it often.

Now that it was used to entertain guests, it was already considered an extremely courteous treatment.

But as soon as this Snowflake Crisp entered his mouth today, Xia Duo tasted a feeling different from before; it seemed to carry a slight numbness, but the original fresh fragrance was still preserved, and that touch of slight numbness did not steal the show, but instead blended with the original fresh fragrance, setting it off even more prominently.

In an instant, Xia Duo thought of a slightly poisonous spice he had brought back from the Projection Plane last time; it seemed to be this taste, but it was also somewhat different, though he could not say where it was different.

So, Xia Duo simply asked Laili directly: "Did this Snowflake Crisp use Wumian Grass for seasoning?"

"Yes, I knew I couldn't hide it from Lord Xia Duo."

Hearing Xia Duo ask about this matter, Laili appeared very excited, "This is a new flavor that my master and I developed together; actually, we didn't use Wumian Grass directly, but added a few seeds of Wumian Grass into the oil pan."

"This amount will not cause any adverse effects, but that unique slightly numbing taste can largely harmonize the original flavor of the ingredients; after all, the Snowflake Crisp does not have any other seasonings."

"Innovation is a good thing, but also remember to ask relevant experts for their opinions when involving unknown ingredients or seasonings."

"Regarding the dosage of Wumian Grass, we asked the Territory's herbalist; although that herbalist born in Lanjiasi had never seen this plant before, he knew some herbs with similar medicinal properties, and after repeated experiments, we confirmed that this dosage would not have any adverse consequences before we used it."

Hearing this, Xia Duo nodded with satisfaction; in fact, he himself did not care whether it was poisonous or not, he was more worried that this would form a trend among the Territory's Chefs of disregarding everything in pursuit of extreme flavors, which is not a good thing.