He knew what went through his father’s head. He was probably eyeing the chicken. He looked at his father and said hurriedly “Old man if you touch these dishes before they are cooked properly I won’t make any for you in the future.” Punya who was about to use his soul power to move the chicken leg stopped. Although people wouldn’t use their soul power in daily chores because soul injuries are harder to heal, Punya had no such inhibitions. The chicken leg was worth it even if a little bit of his soul power was injured. That much injury would heal itself in a day or two. But fearing Amrit wouldn’t make any more chickens, he stopped on his way.
He couldn’t bully Amrit because Radha would bully him four times more if she found out. He just sat on the chair and waited eagerly like a kid. Amrit had sent a message to his grandparents to come for dinner today. Although they would only come when they were free, he had sent the message after half a month so they also came after a while. As they were sitting around the table and talking about the things going around the clan and the present situation of the clan the food was prepared and Amrit served the dishes. As they were about to eat Kumari looked at Amrit and asked “Amrit did you use a new spice, the aroma is different today. Although the herbs and spices are almost the same as previous ingredients, there is a different kind of scent present.”
Kumari was an alchemist so she could identify most of the ingredients just by smell, even when they are blended while cooking. Keshab put his nose closer to the plate and smelled but he shook his head and said “Is it? I don’t smell anything different. The smell is even more subtle than yesterday.” Meanwhile, Punya was already gorging through the dishes. In between eating Punya exclaimed with his mouth full “Oh my god this is delicious and so full of energy. Did you steal second grade nine tailed spirit chicken? The sixth elder will kill you if he finds out about it.” He thought for a moment and said “Quick if you have more in stock, cook it fast. He will take it back even if you have killed it.”
While Punya was thinking about the food and possible uncooked chicken Kumari and Keshab looked at him in surprise. Kumari exclaimed “You have made a breakthrough. This is not a second grade nine tailed spirit chicken. The texture is different.” Unsure she looked at Amrit and asked again “Have you made a breakthrough to the second grade?” Amrit conformed with a nod “I made a breakthrough to the second grade accidently. That was why I sent a message for everyone to taste my cooking.” His grandparents were surprised and happy. Meanwhile, Punya was still gobbling the food and murmuring to himself “No wonder food tastes so great. He had made a breakthrough to the second grade.” As he was muttering he realized Amrit had broken through the second grade chef. Just as he was about to speak he choked on the leg piece of nine tailed spirit chicken and coughed for a while.
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It seems he had forgotten he could have just used many methods to dislodge the chicken leg piece from his throat. The other three were looking at Punya with odd gazes. What kind of cultivator gets his food stuck? And it was a foundation building real cultivator, a battle cultivator to the boot. Embarrassed Punya looked at the three and moved a little bit of spirit energy to push down the chicken leg piece down his throat. He would probably be the first battle cultivator to have choked on the food. He cleared his throat and asked Amrit “You have broken through to the second grade chef?” Amrit nodded. Then with joy, Punya replied “That’s great. You are the only second grade spirit chef in the whole of the Lunaris city and in the history of the Rijal clan. But you are only at the qi sensing realm peak. Can you cook second grade dishes daily?”
When Punya showed concern, Amrit’s grandparents were nodding their heads as if they also wanted to know the answer. But the last part of the question took them off guard, their expression rapidly changing. What was he asking about? It is normal to show concern if the soul power would be enough to cook the second grade food. But he was asking if Amrit could cook daily. There was definitely something wrong with his intention. Amrit knew his father’s nature so he shook his head and replied “Although it wouldn’t be too hard for me to cook daily, the ingredients used are not abundant. The herbs and spices are manageable as they are mostly common and could be planted at low cost, the second grade spirit grains and meats aren’t available. The preserved meat is not the same as freshly slaughtered. And using first grade ingredients is honestly wasting my time as the first grade food wouldn’t have any effect on any of you or myself. It will be only for the taste.”
Hearing this Kumari nodded “Yes unlike in alchemy, many of the ingredients tastes better when used fresh. Even the meat loses its texture with time. Although we have arrays to preserve foods and keep them fresh, it only locks the spirit energy inside them and makes them dissipate less which causes them to spoil slowly. But it is not only a matter of preserving the effectiveness of ingredients in cooking, the taste matters a lot.”
Amrit nodded and added “Yes although if the meat from the same beast is used today and tomorrow, the taste and the benefits would differ somewhat. Although the difference wouldn’t be drastic, some of the ingredients couldn’t be more than an hour stale.” Punya nodded as if he understood something and replied “But you can cook a beast meat even if it is preserved right.”
The three people in the room sighed. The clan leader was almost perfect in every aspect except when it came to food. With his nature, he would probably sell the heritage of the clan for good food. Amrit could only emit a forced chuckle at the question of his father and replied “Yes father but anything above the second grade middle tier would be a little strenuous. I do have some recipes that could even help cultivators of your realm but most of the herbs and minerals are rare. But even some of my simple second grade dishes should benefit you in the long term.”