The Cornflower Witch Chapter 163

During the time of recuperation, the other members of the team gradually left Beig Town, with only Bona and Hylial remaining.

This day, Bona rented a small hut in the town and began to teach Hylial cooking techniques.

“When it comes to cooking, you absolutely have to mention the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect,” the short red-haired girl said, pointing a finger up.

“The meaning of the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect lies in reshaping the world, which means transforming one thing into another with completely different forms and uses.”

“This ‘Aspect’ was originally mastered by ‘Alchemists’ and flourished. You can understand our Transcendent-class chefs as a variation of ‘Alchemy’.”

“However, in the Ninth Epoch, after the opening of the Covenant Epoch, the invention of the ‘steam engine’ profoundly impacted the world and eventually reflected back into the ‘Aspect’ law, transforming the original ‘Alchemy’ Aspect into the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect.”

“Mystic Words, Castle, and Gold Steam – these three Aspects were all born after the Eighth Epoch and are very young Aspect paths. No [Hour Lords] have emerged from them yet.”

“At the same time, the birth of these three Aspect laws is closely related to human activities, and they are also called the “Human’s Three Natures” by other races.”

“Now that we’ve covered their origins, let’s talk about the characteristics of the ‘chef’ profession and culinary techniques.”

“If ‘Alchemists’ pursue the ultimate transformation of value, then we are relatively less extreme, believing that pursuing the taste and texture experience for people is as important as the quality of the product.”

“If you truly pursue the ultimate transcendent effects of food, then you are not a chef, but an Apothecary or an Alchemist.”

“Well, the boundaries aren’t that clear, actually. I’ve seen many seniors dabble in both alchemy and cooking,” Bona shook her head.

“In my opinion, to be a good chef, the most important thing is to have a delicate and understanding heart. Unlike dealing with cold data, a chef needs to constantly adjust flavors based on the diners, and that’s what makes a good chef.”

This point bore some resemblance to gardening; each plant’s rhythm and pace had subtle differences. If one couldn’t perceive and control these, at best, they would only cultivate ‘Excellent’ quality crops.

In the following days, Bona continued to teach the characteristics of various ingredients and how to process them to highlight their flavors and make them more suitable for consumption.

Each ingredient had different properties: some would turn mushy with a little cooking and were suitable for stir-frying or grilling, some were best eaten fresh, while others had to be heated by fire to change their properties, and so on.

Hylial spent three days gaining a general understanding of the common properties of ingredients and their processing methods.

“Now, it’s time for practical application.” Bona was quite pleased to see how well the girl retained information.

Over the next week, Hylial learned common bread and pastry making, as well as the process for roasting meats. The reason it was called a “process” was because deliciousness was somewhat subjective, and she would need to supplement it with experience and gradually accumulate insights.

After teaching the common procedures known to ordinary chefs, Bona finally began teaching the true transcendent abilities.

“Does Lia truly want to learn?” She had initially thought Hylial was only mildly interested, but after spending these few days together, she realized the girl was genuinely learning and very seriously at that.

“Although making food is enjoyable, it will occupy valuable ability slots. I actually don’t recommend you try to master so many abilities.”

“It’s fine. I’ll learn it first, and if I need the ability slots later, I can just forget it,” Hylial could only explain it this way for now. “Alright then.” Bona thought about it. If it was a low-rank ability, the difficulty of re-learning was relatively low. While troublesome, it was indeed a way to manage ability slots at lower tiers.

“I haven’t reached the Third Rank yet, but I hear you get an extra slot at the Fourth Rank.” Bona stopped dwelling on this point and began earnestly teaching her insights into the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect.

…

Two days later, Hylial sat in front of a small pair of bellows, slowly pressing them with her hands, watching the airflow shuttle through the charcoal. Transparent flames gently licked the pieces of meat above, slowly cooking them until the aroma gradually wafted out.

This feeling was quite extraordinary.

Blood Discipline, Beast Fangs, and Dragon Eye—these three represented the flesh, bones and teeth, and scales of living beings, respectively. These were intrinsic to life, so one could gradually learn them through self-perception.

Sun, Moon, and Stars, the three major and nine minor Aspects, represented a marvelous connection between abstract concepts and the intrinsic nature of things. For example, the hidden form of ‘Mist Shadow’, the death of ‘Dead Ember’, or the vitality of ‘Blazing Sun’.

However, Mystic Words, Castle, and Gold Steam were purely abstract concepts, with very little connection to the self. The consequence of this was that other creatures with lower intelligence, if unable to grasp these abstract concepts, simply couldn’t rely on physical perception to understand and learn them.

For example, the croaking toads in the valley could learn things like ‘Blazing Sun’ and ‘Mist Shadow’ by instinctively perceiving these phenomena, gradually understanding their concepts, and then mastering them further.

But asking them to analyze specific chemical and physical formulas would be beyond their cognitive capacity; their subconscious and instincts wouldn’t be able to assist.

No wonder they were called the ‘Human’s Three Natures’. In this world, apart from the superior races, only elves and a small number of other races possessed such intelligence, and humans greatly outnumbered them, likely accounting for 95% of advanced intelligent life. Other races with insufficient intelligence were inherently disadvantaged when learning these three Aspects.

She had originally thought that the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect was similar to ‘Glorious Moon’ and ‘Blood Discipline’, requiring perception or instinct to find a certain ‘rhythm’ or subtle feeling. However, to her surprise, she discovered that it was, in fact, a very objective and precise Aspect.

When is the meat cooked? The degree of doneness wasn’t a vague sensation, but rather relied on precise control through perception. At a specific temperature, the Maillard reaction would achieve its optimal effect, thus perfectly bringing out the nutrition and flavor.

From this perspective, it was somewhat similar to ‘Emerald Honey’: if one could understand the essence of a thing, they could continuously adjust it based on its condition to maximize its effect. However, even with the same ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect formula, different people would achieve different results.

This was like how a box of paints in the hands of an ordinary person and a painter could produce vastly different artworks.

‘Emerald Honey’ could nurture plants by following their natural growth patterns and veins, whereas the ‘Gold Steam’ Aspect faced a vast, empty wilderness.

Given the same few stones, you could simply forge them into primitive stone tools, or you could use complex methods to extract metals and then craft them into incredibly precise mechanical instruments.

Its starting point was to perceive the essence of things and then utilize it, while its end point was endless transformation, repeated reshaping, and constantly exploring the boundaries of possibility.

Watching the meat on the rack slowly cook, the young girl’s eyes seemed to be tinged with a faint golden-red flame, and finally, a neatly bordered pale gold card appeared in her fate plate.

【Baking Method Lv.1 (Gold Steam)】: The ability to use high heat to roast food, altering its internal molecular structure, and enhancing its nutrition, texture, flavor, and characteristics.

To establish oneself on the land with ‘Castle’ as a shield and roof, to record and accumulate past memories and experiences with ‘Mystic Words’, and to forge a path forward with ‘Gold Steam’ — these were the three Aspect Law revelations that the human race brought to this world, marking their rise since the Eighth Epoch.