Chương 49: Poached Stone Golem Core

I brought up my system menu: System Poached Stone Golem Core Rarity: Common Type: Monster Core Ingredient: Stone Golem Core Ingredients: Ironroot, Bluecap Mushroom, Rocksalt, Butter, Moonleaf Preparation: Place the Stone Golem Core into water with crushed ironroot and rocksalt. Bring the water to a low simmer—never a full boil—until the core begins to soften and thin cracks form across its surface. Add bluecap mushroom and moonleaf to the broth.

Continue poaching until the black exterior turns gray, and the inside becomes soft and dense, with the texture of a roasted potato. Remove the core and crack it open, revealing the now-soft insides. Drop it back into the broth and gently and continually stir until the whites harden around the yolk. Remove, sprinkle with salt, and serve… preferably with bread.

"Seems… simple enough." I shared the system screen with Vaelith. She read it, then went to work finding ingredients. Unlike previous recipes, this required less prep and more… skill. True cooking skill. Poaching an egg, I'd always heard, was harder than it looked. I wondered how much leniency the recipe would allow. Thinking about how I used to judge people, having never done it myself, filled me with… regret.

I'd always stood by my writing, but I had realized that over time, I began to only look for the negative in everyone and everything. And like a mirror, that negativity reflected back on me. I wondered what sort of person I'd be if I had never died. What sort of person would I have become if Ebbin hadn't shown me a better way? Vaelith's stomach growled.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to cook?" I jumped to work as I poured water into a pot and messed with the controls on the stove until I realized I had to touch the crystals to activate them. The red crystal beneath the stone cooking surface gave off a dull glow. There was no fire, but the water soon began to boil, steam curling up from the pot and fogging the stone wall behind it. I touched the crystals again until the rolling bubbles settled into a simmer. This recipe was strange.

It started off more like hard-boiling eggs rather than poaching them, but I did what it said. Into the water went the three stone golem cores Vaelith had brought. They struck the bottom of the pot with heavy clunks. I smashed the ironroot with the flat of my knife, releasing a sharp, earthy scent, chopped the bluecap mushrooms fine, and added the rocksalt, butter, and moonleaf. The butter melted almost immediately, spreading a thin sheen across the broth.

I thought we would have to wait for a while, but within five minutes, each of the cores lost its dark color and turned light gray. I removed them one by one, setting them on a folded towel. Heat and moisture soaked into the cloth beneath them. I used a wooden spoon and stirred the broth. The moment of truth. I took one of the cores, cracked it against the side of the stone table, and opened it up, dropping the contents into the already-spinning water.

Unlike the yellow yolk of an egg, this yolk—or whatever it was supposed to be—was red. It looked like a heart with white linen trying to encase it as I spun the mixture. In the end, it wasn't as pretty as I would have liked. Some parts weren't as done as others, and red peeked out from varying spots in the blanket of white. Still, I saw the familiar flash of magic. I had succeeded. Vaelith brought over a plate.

She had somehow managed to find a loaf of bread, which she had cut into a few thin slices, buttered, and prepared for us.

"Oh yeah, I remember you're supposed to dab the water away." I used the same linen to gently dab away the water droplets before setting the poached core on top of Vaelith's piece of bread. She went to eat it.

"Wait," I said.

"We aren't savages. You eat first with your eyes, then your nose, then your mouth. Here—" I sprinkled some more salt over the core. Looking around the kitchen, I was surprised to find pepper. Plain black pepper. I dashed some of that over it as well.

"But the recipe didn't call for—""Fuck the recipe," I replied.

"If we are going to eat, we should do it right." Two more times, I repeated the process until I had cooked all three cores. The last was near perfection. Not a single hint of red shone through, and it looked evenly cooked on all sides. The white exterior held together neatly around the center, resting atop the golden-brown bread. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I stared at my work and felt… pride. Hmm. So that's what it felt like.

Salt and pepper went onto my own, and I even added some of the thin mushrooms as well. I held up the bread carrying the core.

"To us, I suppose," I said.

"To the Hungry Crown," Vaelith replied. I smiled as I tapped my bread against hers. We both bit down. Flavor exploded into my mouth. I expected something egg-like, but this was fattier—richer! It felt more like I was eating steak and eggs rather than just an egg itself. The core was dense but soft, almost creamy at the center, while the buttered bread soaked up the juices beneath it. It tasted amazing. The salt and pepper paired perfectly together. Vaelith ate hers so fast I didn't even see her finish.

She chewed and mused to herself while her eyes looked like they had rolled into the back of her head. System The recipe Poached Stone Golem Core has given you these one-time permanent bonuses. STR: 12 (+3) DEX: 13 VIT: 22 (+8) INT: 16 WIS: 15 (+2) CHA: 8 LCK: 12 New Skill Unlocked: Summon Rocklings Summon Rocklings: Summon up to three small Rocklings, limited to 1/20th the summoner's size, to do your bidding. Summons do not count as companions.

Cost: 10 MP per Rockling Upkeep: 1 MP/s per Rockling New Effects Added: +12 VIT Physical Damage Reduction: +15% Knockback Resistance: +50% Duration: 1 Hour Degrades: 1 Day"What is the meaning of this?" A familiar voice cut through the kitchen as the door burst open. An entourage of guards flooded into the room, armor clattering against stone, and Lord Bracken himself stood just inside the doorway. His hand quivered with rage, turned outward so we could see the glowing rings on each of his fingers.

"You two," he said, "what in the gods' names do you think you're doing?"

"Just having a snack," Vaelith replied. One of Lord Bracken's rings flared red. Vaelith stiffened. I could see the pain hit her immediately. She tried her best to hide it, but it showed in her features. Her skin trembled, her jaw tightened, and tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

"Okay, okay," I pleaded.

"But to be honest, what she said isn't far from the truth." The lord's ring dimmed.

"You think this is a game?" he asked.

"My daughter was kidnapped and—" He stopped short. His nose twitched.

"What is that smell?"

"Just one of my recipes," I replied. Lord Bracken pushed past his guards and farther into the kitchen. He tried to push past me as well, but when he did, he bounced off as if he weighed nothing at all. He glanced up at me curiously. Then his eyes moved past me and landed on the completed recipe. It still glistened on the plate, rendered fat slowly dripping down the sides and soaking into the bread.

"Do you want to try?" I asked. I could see the greed in the lord's eyes. He battled with the urgency of wanting to find his daughter and the urgency with which his stomach wanted to try my recipe.

"Just a taste," he replied. The lord leaned down and grabbed the edge of the bread. He lifted it to his mouth, which looked like little more than a narrow line beneath his beard. He hovered there for a moment, as if considering whether I might have poisoned it.

"It's not poisonous," Vaelith replied, seemingly echoing his thoughts. The lord narrowed his eyes at us.

"If I didn't think it was poison before, I do now."

"If you don't want it, I'll take it." The lord took one solid bite. His eyes widened. I could see the pleasure wash across his face. He tried to hide it, but he was unable to. His eyebrows rose, and his chewing slowed as he tasted it.

"Is it good?" I asked proudly. The lord replied with something I couldn't understand because his mouth was full of food. He finished and wiped several specks from his beard.

"What is this?" he asked.

"It tasted simply magnificent, and I feel something… strange."

"Not poison," I replied.

"It's just the buff my recipe gives." Lord Bracken frowned.

"Strange. I can feel the vitality surging through me. I haven't felt this good in an age. What was it?"

"A golem core," I replied.

"… You cooked a golem core? An actual golem core? Like… from a golem?"

"Not sure where else I would get a golem core from."

"I'm already on the edge of whether I should kill you or not. You should keep your wise-ass comments to yourself before you trip and fall over the side." I put my hands up in mock defeat.

"So then," I replied, "you wanted to talk?" The lord composed himself.

"Yes," he said. His expression hardened.

"I want to know… where is my daughter?"