He exerted force with his mouth and pressed down hard, and immediately the voice of Challenger Tips rang out in his mind.
[Challenger Tips: Successfully killed the monster "Silver-Tailed Fish", obtained 112 Evolution points, and received 22 points of sacrificial power reward.]
After three identical prompts, a prompt of whether to Decompose the Silver-Tailed Fish surfaced in his mind.
Qin Kong decisively chose no and stored the dead three Silver-Tailed Fish into his Space Bag.
At that moment, his Physical Strength was also exhausted. Facing the ferocious fish formation attack of the Silver-Tailed Fish swarm, he completely lost his resistance ability and closed his eyes to accept defeat.
The screen also gradually dimmed at this moment.
"Eh, it’s another hour in the little black room."
Qin Kong logged into the game and appeared at the Imperial Tomb Village Resurrection Square.
After passing through the Teleportation Array and arriving at the Colorful Mist Coast Region, he decided to start making the first Spirit Food dish in the game right away.
How to make it, he had already thought of the plan during the hour in the solitary confinement.
Leaving the Space Square, he found a deserted beach and continuously took out tools from his Space Bag.
Metal stands, heat stove slabs, wood, flint... After taking out all the tools he needed, he began to get busy.
First was igniting the wood, then placing the heat stove slab above the metal stand on top of the campfire.
This slab was obtained by him at the foot of a volcano in the Earth Split Furnace Region of Emperor Tomb Mountain Range. Although not considered Spirit Ore, the stone contained energy that was constantly dissipating outward, keeping the stone’s surface at a consistently high temperature.
But the current temperature was still not enough; he needed to heat it further with the flame.
After all this, Qin Kong took out a bottle of Basic Recovery Potion from his Space Bag, but the white transparent shell contained not potion liquid, but plant seed oil he had pressed by hand.
Using a brush made of wood shavings, he coated the stone slab with oil, and immediately there was a sizzling sound, and a faint fragrance began to spread.
Qin Kong’s nose twitched, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
All these things were obtained by him from nature and handcrafted, which was significant.
After brushing a layer of oil, he then took out various spices contained in Potions bottles from the store, and placed them neatly beside him.
Lastly, he took out the protagonist of this cooking session: the Silver-Tailed Fish.
Different from when seen underwater, the Silver-Tailed Fish shone with silver brilliance under the sunlight, and the eyes still retained the deep sea’s gloom, appearing like a work of art.
With a flick of his wrist, he picked up the tail of the Silver-Tailed Fish and placed it on the oiled stone slab.
Immediately, there was a sizzling noise.
The fish scales gradually curled under the high temperature, and with his other hand, Qin Kong took out a Sword used for weapon forging that he had picked up from the Ancient Battlefield Region and skillfully scraped off the scales on both sides.
He originally wanted to take out the innards of the Silver-Tailed Fish.
But upon further thought, there was no need to do so.
Doing so in reality was because fish innards accumulate harmful substances, and for hygiene and safety reasons, they need to be removed.
As for the impact on taste, he had not yet found any material in spiritual food that affected the taste.
For the preliminary attempt, he decided to keep the innards and continue cooking.
As the stone slab’s temperature continued to rise, the fish flesh on it began to emit an enticing aroma.
But Qin Kong didn’t hurry to flip it, patiently waiting for a thin, golden brown crispy skin to form between the fish flesh and the stone slab.
The fragrance that permeated the air became even stronger during this period.
Finally, when one side of the fish flesh was grilled to a golden brown, Qin Kong decisively used thin wooden chopsticks to gently flip the Silver-Tailed Fish over. The other side quickly became golden and crispy on the high heat of the stone slab, while the inside of the fish remained tender and juicy.
Next was the choice and use of spices.
He first picked up a piece of fish flesh with chopsticks and chewed it in his mouth to taste it.
The Silver-Tailed Fish was crispy and golden on the outside, with tender flesh inside. The process of tasting it carefully was like tasting the flavor of the sea.
Its delicate texture, as smooth as silk, glided over the tongue, followed by the rich juices contained in the fish flesh, which freely flowed in the mouth, bringing a burst of sweet and refreshing flavor, like a stream in the heat of summer, refreshing and invigorating.
After tasting the original flavor of the fish, Qin Kong had an idea.
He cut the fish flesh on the stone slab into segments and then took out Ganlu Sauce and Big Spirit Pepper from the spices, and poured them evenly onto the surface of one segment of the fish flesh, spreading it thoroughly.
The temperature of the stone slab caused the spices to Dissolve, seeping into the fish flesh.
Instantly, the aroma in the air changed.
At this time, Qin Kong picked up a piece of seasoned fish flesh and stuffed it into his mouth to taste it closely.
This attempt made him shake his head involuntarily.
The taste of the fish, with the combination of the two spices, had more layers, but the taste became cluttered, and the overall flavor was actually worse.
After eating the entire piece of fish, he started on the rest of the fish flesh.
In the process of trying, every detail of Qin Kong’s revealed his respect for the ingredients and his love for cooking.
However, the process wasn’t as smooth as expected.
After repeated failures, Qin Kong took out another Silver-Tailed Fish and started to grill it anew.
This time before grilling, he used Clear Spring Water to wash away the stains on the stone slab, ensuring that the ingredients would not be tainted by the spices just sprinkled.
After cleaning, he brushed plant oil anew, skillfully prepared it after removing the fish scales, and started cooking.
Half an hour later, Qin Kong couldn’t help but shake his head again, and then took out another Silver-Tailed Fish.
After repeated attempts, he found that while spices could indeed bring different flavors to the fish flesh, tasting it always failed to compare with the fish’s own flavor.
It seemed that using spiritual ingredients to make spiritual food, the original flavor was the most perfect presentation.