Strange World Alchemist Chef – Book 1

Chapter 004 – Surprise

 

Translated by Prosperousfood.com

Rehosted and re-translated by Gumihou

Edited by Pill Bug

 

Notes from Gumihou: Uncle Wu’s !!! attitude is reduced into something more normal. Also, put everything under Wu Xuan’s POV since author is determined to make everyone look foolish aside from the MC. So, I guess MC could be the superior look-down-on-ancient-people type. Gumi needs at least some semblance of reason to why MC is being so condescending. This way, Gumi will also reduce the need to describe other character’s awe of the MC.

This is indicated through [2].

Note [1] is reserved for deleting repeated or unnecessary stuff as well as thoughts from other characters. Everyone is 2D now except for the MC. Because he treats them like 2D people.

 

 

“Five Flavour Crystal Dragon!”

Uncle Wu thought for a bit, [2] “So, this name comes five different types of met you put into the beansprout? Speaking of which, when did you learn how to do things like this?” [1]

Wu Xuan smiled as he got the steamer ready. “I thought up this dish recently and did not have the opportunity to talk to Uncle Wang about it. I thought I’d give it a try now and show Uncle Wu what I can do,”

He had only recently transmigrated into this body. [2] As far as he could tell, though this place has Xuanhuan style cultivation, it seems to place very little belief on the supernatural. Moreover, he’s basically a lowly servant here so the only person he needed to convince about his identity is this nice, if slightly simple Uncle Wu.

[2] After all, even if he did tell someone that he had transmigrated into this body, who would believe him? Came from another world? Why don’t you say that you are the heavenly emperor reincarnated? [1] [2] The plan is to just blame everything on the head injury.

It was getting close to dinner time, so he placed the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon into the steamer. Uncle Wang suddenly grew anxious, “Is there enough time? Why don’t I take the other dishes up first to give you more time?”

“No need,” Wu Xuan grinned. “It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

“So soon? [1]” the old man’s eyes widened. [2] “It has meat in it, don’t you think we should steam it longer?”

Wu Xuan shook his head, “No need, the meat is all very finely minced and will cook quickly. If we cook it too long, the beansprouts will wilt. [1] That’s why I let the water boil first before putting the dish in. The high heat will cook the meat quickly and… it’s ready.”

[2] He uncovered the steamer with a flourish. [1] A gentle fragrance rose up with the steam and the fresh scent of steamed sprouts along with the subtler scent of meat tickle one’s nose.

Wu Xuan took the dish out from the steamer. He also set out several saucers onto a tray and poured some soy sauce into them. “If the elders prefer stronger flavours, they can dip their sprouts with a little soy sauce.”

There was no answer from Uncle Wu. When he turned to look, he found the chef just standing there, staring at the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon with his mouth open. Wu Xuan smiled, “Uncle Wu, would you like to taste it first?”

[2] That seemed to snap Uncle Wu out of his stupor [1], “No need, no need, I believe in you!”

Wu Xuan’s eyes flashed. He rubbed his nose thoughtfully. He had always been confident of his cooking skills. In the past, his radical and dare devil way of cooking [3] attracted many followers. If he had wanted to, he could have had a cushy job as head chef in some foreign kitchen overseas. However, he liked to be free and travel wherever he like, which was part of the reason why he ended up in this place…

“Then, I shall serve this to the elders. I’m sure they will be pleasantly surprised!” Uncle Wu carefully picked up the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon and left, leaving Wu Xuan alone in the kitchen.

“Then, I shall serve this to the elders. I’m sure they will be pleasantly surprised!” Uncle Wu carefully picked up the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon and left, leaving Wu Xuan alone in the kitchen.

After waving Uncle Wu good-bye, Wu Xuan made to leave, but was struck by a sudden dizziness. He caught the edge of the table, but ended up sitting on the floor, unable to get up due to the dizziness.

“Wh-what just happened? Why am I so tired…?” [1] All he did was cook one dish, granted, [2] it was time consuming and tests his focus, but it was just one dish! As he waited for the dizziness to ease, his swaying vision eventually settled on something on a box on a shelf in front of him.

The [4] box was made of jade. An actual box made out of jade!

[4] Is jade something like an ordinary stone here?

[4] For something as valuable as jade to be made into a box, just what even more valuable thing could be found inside?

Curiosity gave him strength, Wu Xuan staggered to his feet and made his way towards the shelf. The jade box was unexpectedly heavy and felt warm to the touch. He carefully lowered the box onto a table and opened the lid.

Inside were five stalks of plants.

“What are these?”

Unable to resist his curiosity for exotic ingredients, Wu Xuan reached out to pick up one of the plants. Immediately, a series of information appeared in his mind:

 

[Ice Dragon grass]

2nd Grade spiritual grass, used for healing, may be eaten directly to restore health. Fairly good healing properties, may also be used to concoct spiritual pills.

 

This shocked him so much that he dropped the stalk back into the box. He nearly threw the box away too, but then refrained himself. For one thing, this box does not belong to him. Also, despite the weirdness just now, both box and plants looked very valuable…

Finally, he settled own enough to stare at the five identical stalks of plants with from a wary distance.

“What was that just now? Ice Dragon Grass? 2^nd Grade spiritual grass? Is it an ingredient?

Wu Xuan tried to search the original good’s memories, but found very little information about spiritual plants. At most, it was just some general knowledge about them being special plants that could be made into magic pills or elixirs. The sudden knowledge about Ice Dragon Grass was… new.

Well, one could never accuse Wu Xuan of being a coward. He carefully reached out and touched the Ice Dragon Grass again. Again, information began to scroll across his mind. Comprehensive information such as best location to find the plant as well as the best environment to grow this plant entered his head.

This time, he was ready for the information transfer and was not quite as shocked. As he stared at the stalk of plant, he blinked. His hand was… glowing! [1] When he removed his hand, the glowing stopped. The information transfer stopped too.

Nevertheless, the information had already been absorbed into his mind. Furthermore, it felt very settled. These sissy looking hands could actually read information on ingredients!

[1] Wu Xuan’s eyes lit up, “This ability is too amazing!”

 

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~ ¯\_( ◉ 3 ◉ )_/¯

 

Private dining room of the elders.

Seated at the single table were seven elders. All have frowns on their faces appearing quite troubled or preoccupied with some trouble or other.

2^nd Elder Wu Tian looked around and said [1], “Where’s the 5^th and ___ Elder? Are they skipping their meals again? They have been quite busy lately.”

Although they were all high level cultivators, everyone still needed to eat. Even though it is said that after reaching a certain threshold cultivators no longer needed to eat, they would still need to replenish their energy somehow. Either through food or spiritual pills.

4^th Elder Wu Quan smiled, his brows clearing for a moment as he said, “Everyone had been quite busy getting ready for this once in 20 years training opportunity. Since 5^th Elder and ___ are in charge of the matter, they are of course very busy.

Each clan elder was in charge of different things. Therefore, the time they were busy would be staggered. Therefore, it was rare to find all nine elders seated together at the dining table. Moreover, some of the elders would excuse themselves for close cultivation.

The purpose of dining together was mostly to exchange information and update the other elders on the goings on within the clan. Therefore, aside from special occasions, it was rare to find a full table.

Just then, Uncle Wu came in bearing the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon on a tray. At first, Uncle Wu’s arrival did not attract any attention, however, when the dish was placed on the table, the elder’s attention were soon caught and all talk ceased. [1] [1] 2^nd Elder Wu Tian raised his eyebrows, “Oh? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything like this before!” [1]

Uncle Wu smiled, “Yes, [1] this is a new dish created by Wu Xuan.”

“Wu Xuan?” 2^nd Elder frowned.

There were similar frowns on the other elders’ faces except for [5] 9^th Elder Wu Xiao who exclaimed, “Wu Xuan… this old one remember him. It’s that child we took in. Ah, but it’s a pity he was unable to practice martial arts. His meridian points were blocked. This old one even gave him some pills to assist his body, but unfortunately…”

[1] 9^th Elder Wu Xiao was an alchemist and the master in charge of the Elixir Pavilion, naturally his cultivation was fairly high.

“Ah, so it’s that child. Now that you mentioned it… [1]” Wu Tian murmured. [1] [6] Someone asked, “Is that the only dish?”

Uncle Wu nodded, “Yes, the weather’s been hot lately we thought the honourable elders would prefer something light. Please eat the dish with a little soy sauce if you prefer slightly heavier taste.” He more or less parroted Wu Xuan’s instructions [1] [2].

“Isn’t it too light? It does look good, no doubt, but just having vegetable is…” [1]

Nevertheless, the elders soon reached out with their chopsticks and gathered the colourful beansprouts onto their plates.

One after another, their eyes lit up. [1]

“The sprouts are crisp and refreshing with the fragrance of chicken. It’s mild, but lingers well on the tongue.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? It obviously contain duck!” someone else called out.

“Ah, I seemed to have tasted seafood…”

The elders all looked at each other before stretching out their chopsticks to picked up other parts of the Crystal Dragon. To Uncle Wu’s amazement, the sprouts soon disappeared and the only thing left on the plate was some water residue.

“Ahem, what is the name of this dish?” 2^nd Elder leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smile.

“It’s called the Five Flavour Crystal Dragon,” said Uncle Wu. “Beansprouts stuffed with five different types of meat.”

“I see, what a rare delicacy, hahaha!” [1]

The 2^nd Elder’s good mood was echoed by the rest. The heavy atmosphere from before had all but disappeared.

9^th Elder licked his lips [1], “Call Wu Xuan over. We wish to meet him,”

“This lowly one will go immediately,” Uncle Wu hurried off. From their good mood, the elders must want to reward Wu Xuan!

As soon as Uncle Wu bustled off, 7^th Elder said, “When I ate this dish just now, I somehow felt that my cultivation has risen, just a little…”

It was said in a joking tone, but the rest of the elders were looking at him with glittering eyes.

“We felt it too,”

“Yes, yes,”

“… …”

They all looked at each other for one tensed second before the mood broke and the elders chuckled.

“Ah, how nice it would be to eat food that really raises one’s cultivation! [1]” 2^nd Elder remarked.

“Ah, the saying that delicious food raises one’s spirit proves to be true!” another said.

“If only such a thing exists!”

 

[Gumihou: Ahah, well…]

 

[1] Delete unnecessary things: Such as repetitive ‘smiles’, ‘sighs’ as well as other characters’ ‘wow!  wow!’ thoughts.

[2] Make everyone 2D except for MC

[3] You know what kind of chef Wu Xuan reminded me of? The Noir Chefs of Shokugeki no Souma. The Shokugeki Arc that I, Gumihou, pretends never exist. Shokugeki no souma ended when Souma achieved First Seat! Everything else is fake! Fake I tell you!

AAaaaahhhhhh!!!

Stupid Noir Chefs with their incomprehensible cooking!!!

[4] Surely, as someone from the modern world where jades are pretty expensive, a box made out of jade would be pretty eye catching?

[5] The above paragraph named him as 8th Elder, but in this paragraph, he is addressed a 9th Elder. I am not sure which is the correct one, and for now, I will put him as 8th Elder. I may change this at a later time if the author constantly refers to him as 9th Elder.

[6] Adjustment for Logistic Purpose: 2^nd Elder and Wu Tian were treated as though they were different people… ‘2^nd Elder’s’ dialogue to ‘someone’