[81] - Banquet Cuisine, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall!

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"I'm up against Yuuki, huh? Looks like my Autumn Election journey ends here too. Yuuki, remember what you promised us—DON'T hold back!"

Shun Ibusaki didn't react much upon seeing his opponent was Yuuki.

Everyone had been mentally prepared; with so many people, someone was bound to face Yuuki.

Among the top eight, seven were from Polar Star. The probability of encountering Yuuki within their own group was too high, so Shun wasn't discouraged or surprised learning his opponent was Yuuki.

"Of course. I promised you all," Yuuki said with a smile.

Facing someone from Polar Star, he would definitely use his full strength, absolutely no holding back.

As soon as these words were out, the Elite Ten members present all felt their hearts skip a beat. Yuuki, using his full strength—they couldn't even imagine what kind of dish he would create...

Although surprised, what needed to be done still had to be done. After choosing their opponents, it was naturally time for the themes.

And the theme Yuuki and Shun Ibusaki drew was "Banquet Cuisine."

This theme could also be considered very broad.

The moment Yuuki saw it, he basically knew what dish he was going to make.

As the Strongest, Yuuki was arranged by the Elite Ten to compete last.

This was also out of consideration for the previous competitors. Someone like Yuuki, the star of the show, naturally had to appear last.

....

"Yuuki~"

After everyone else left, Alice Nakiri approached Yuuki, her voice sickeningly sweet. This voice made even Yuuki shiver involuntarily; this kind of voice was indeed a bit against the rules.

Megumi Tadokoro, comparing her current behavior to Alice's, found that she couldn't possibly act as cloyingly sweet as Alice, or even make such a saccharine voice.

Just imagining herself making such a sound, Megumi's face instantly turned red. If this were in an anime, Megumi's head would probably be steaming right now.

It could only be said that Alice Nakiri's mental strength was very strong, terrifyingly so... She was completely unaffected by external factors. Even with so many people around, she could shamelessly act cutesy toward Yuuki.

"I know, I know. It's that dish from before, right? I'll make it when I get back."

Yuuki knew why Alice was making such a voice.

It was definitely because of that modified Fiery Ice Fresh Fish Mountain dish from earlier.

That dish, whether it was the preparation process or the final product, was incredibly impressive. Furthermore, no one could replicate this dish yet.

Because if others tried to copy it, the dish they made would just be a subpar imitation. They didn't have Yuuki's Freezing Air and couldn't use it to lock in the fresh flavor while also preserving the fish meat's texture.

Without being able to replicate this one step, even if the dish were copied, it would only be similar in appearance.

"Speaking of which, I'm also a bit curious—the white mist coming from your knife when you were preparing the dish before. That was cold air, wasn't it? How can you RELEASE cold air?" Ryōko Sakaki asked curiously.

Everyone knew Yuuki had the Inferno special ability, but Inferno released high-temperature steam and flames—

—What Yuuki released before was clearly cold air.

"I was able to do that only after further developing my Inferno special ability. Not only can it increase the temperature, but it can also lower it, thus releasing Freezing Air. It then uses the Freezing Air to lock in the freshness of the ingredients." Yuuki didn't mention that he had obtained another special ability, but instead continued to use Inferno as cover.

After all, he was the only one who possessed Inferno. So, what its effects were naturally also up to him to say.

Besides, since he had used high-temperature steam and flames, conversely, being able to lower the temperature after that and use Freezing Air wasn't really that hard to accept, right?

Upon hearing this, everyone instantly fell silent. They indeed believed Yuuki's words. They were so shocked now completely because they felt this Inferno ability was too absurdly powerful.

Being able to release high-temperature steam and control flames was one thing; they hadn't expected it to also lower the temperature, and after lowering the temperature, it could even release Freezing Air—This was simply outrageous!

They no longer knew how to describe this overpowered special ability and could only repeatedly praise it.

....

Soon, the group returned to Polar Star.

Yuuki didn't disappoint and made a modified version of the Fiery Ice Fresh Fish Mountain dish. This time, there was plenty of fish for everyone.

After finishing the dish, everyone went to rest. They still had to prepare for the upcoming dishes.

....

The Autumn Elections proceeded as planned.

The first match was Soma Yukihira versus Zenji Marui. Without a doubt, the final victor was Soma Yukihira.

In terms of theoretical knowledge, Soma wasn't Zenji's match. But in a pure Culinary skill competition, Zenji was no match for Soma.

In the second match, Megumi Tadokoro was the winner, crushing Akira Hayama. While Akira was skilled, he couldn't compare to this super-powered Megumi Tadokoro.

In the third match, the final victor was Alice Nakiri. After winning, Alice Nakiri was incredibly happy. She hadn't been Ryō Kurokiba's match for a long time now.

For Ryō Kurokiba, her attendant, to be stronger than her in cooking was something Alice Nakiri couldn't accept. But even though she couldn't accept it, she couldn't defeat him.

On the contrary, the gap between them was gradually widening.

Until she met Yuuki...

Under Yuuki's guidance, Alice had finally won this time.

Ryō Kurokiba, on the other hand, was extremely annoyed by this. Being defeated by someone he had previously defeated—he couldn't accept it.

It was clear Ryō Kurokiba would be even more driven to improve his Culinary skills in the future.

And today was the final match: Yuuki versus Shun Ibusaki.

To take on Yuuki, Shun brought out all his treasured ingredients.

He specialized in smoked cuisine and had many rare ingredients he usually wouldn't bear to use. But facing Yuuki, even if he was reluctant, he had to use them.

Even though he knew that even using them, he would still lose, he absolutely had to give it his all.

....

Wherever Yuuki appeared, Senzaemon Nakiri would also be there.

And sure enough, Senzaemon Nakiri appeared again at the judges' table. Besides him, there were two other elderly gentlemen.

These two were also prestigious figures—

—This arrangement was mainly due to how awkward things had been for those two graduates in the previous match.

So, this time, two elderly gentlemen were invited. Although their family's power and influence couldn't compare to the Nakiri family, they were very familiar with Senzaemon Nakiri.

So, they weren't nervous in front of Senzaemon but rather quite casual.

"Banquet Cuisine, huh? I wonder what kind of dish student Yuuki will bring out." The other two had also heard of Yuuki's reputation and had also watched the recordings of Yuuki's previous matches, so they were also incredibly curious about Yuuki.

"These ingredients... if I remember correctly, these should be ingredients for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, right?" Senzaemon Nakiri was taken aback after seeing the ingredients Yuuki brought out one after another.

(PS: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a Shark fin Soup, Quite similar to Naruto's Ichiraku Ramen!)

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?! Is he really going to make that dish? Although it perfectly fits the theme of Banquet Cuisine, the time is a bit too short, isn't it?!" The two elderly gentlemen also knew about Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

This dish was extremely famous. And for an authentic Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, just making it required a great deal of time.

In a time-limited competition, no one would be willing to make this dish because it required long hours of stewing to reach its most delicious state. The competition's time limit was not enough.

"Time isn't a problem. This kid's Inferno ability can accelerate cooking. As long as he controls it properly, he can definitely shorten the time." Senzaemon Nakiri didn't doubt Yuuki's decision.

The Inferno ability was too powerful; it defied logic.

Although in cooking, there were things like pressure cookers, which could cook ingredients that required a lot of time to tenderize, even make them very soft, in a short amount of time—

—Correspondingly, doing so would affect the taste of the dish.

The accelerating effect of Yuuki's Inferno was even better than a pressure cooker's. And the power of the flames could directly extract the deliciousness from the ingredients, so there was no need to worry about the loss of flavor.

"This special ability is something countless Chefs dream of! Unfortunately, the awakening of a special ability is completely random—" The two gentlemen expressed both their envy and their helplessness.

The awakening of a special ability was uncontrollable. And a special ability like Inferno—from Ancient times until now, there had only been this one.

But thinking about it, it also made sense...

After all, this Inferno special ability was so overpowered—if it appeared in large numbers, that wouldn't do. There having been only this one from ancient times to the present only proved Inferno's value even more.

....

As the host announced the start of the match, the competition officially began! This time, Yuuki was making the "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall"

So, even with his extreme speed, he would still need to spend some time on this dish.

With the ingredients rapidly processed one by one, the audience also gradually realized that the dish Yuuki was making seemed very complex.

"So MANY ingredients! Abalone, sea cucumber, clams, scallops... What on earth is he planning to make with so many ingredients?!"

One of the students, while expressing his surprise, also had a puzzled expression. It was clear he had never seen this dish before.

This was actually quite normal.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was a very famous dish in the culinary world, not many knew how to make it or knew the detailed ingredients list.

After all, once they heard about the preparation's difficulty, they basically started to back away. Wanting to integrate so many ingredients together was extremely difficult.

"Those are ingredients for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall—but some of them I've never even heard of! It seems different from the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ingredients I know!" A student from the Chūkaryōri RS said.

Other Chefs might not be familiar with it, but Chefs in the Chūkaryōri RS were very familiar with it.

As for the ingredients Yuuki was using, although slightly different from what they knew, the versions of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall were very numerous, so the ingredients also kept changing.

Because there were too many types of ingredients, even Yuuki spent a bit of time processing them.

"He's making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?! Even if he has his Inferno special ability, isn't this too much of a gamble?!"

Among the Elite Ten, Terunori Kuga immediately recognized the dish Yuuki was making.

"It's definitely a gamble! While I haven't made Buddha Jumps Over the Wall myself, I've eaten it and heard about it before. Making this dish seems to require a lot of time to stew, right?"

"The time needed is several times, even dozens of times, longer than cooking normal dishes." Eishi Tsukasa nodded.

This Buddha Jumps Over the Wall dish was very special. He even doubted if Yuuki's Inferno could fully bring out the deliciousness of this dish in the end.

"What are you two even worried about?! Since he wants to make this dish, he obviously has his reasons! And besides, even if he can't complete this dish, just completing a semi-finished product—do you think he'll lose??" Rindō Kobayashi rolled her eyes.

Their worries were completely superfluous. Hearing what she said, Eishi and Kuga also reacted.

Indeed, Yuuki couldn't possibly screw himself over.

As for the opponent—although the opponent wasn't weak, this "not weak" was in comparison to other students, not in comparison to Yuuki.

Just as Rindō Kobayashi said, no matter how much Yuuki messed around, he would surely win in the end. His opponent was too weak.

At this moment, the Elite Ten members finally relaxed and stopped worrying, just watching Yuuki operate.

As for Yuuki, he didn't know what these people were thinking, nor would he care if he did know. He was currently focused on his dish.

The ingredients were processed one by one, Yuuki directly poured these ingredients into the pot he had prepared.

What Yuuki was making was an even more Enhanced version of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

As all ingredients were stuffed into the jar, Yuuki directly controlled the flames to begin to rise.

....

Finally, a huge pillar of fire completely enveloped the pot, even engulfing Yuuki himself in flames. Others could only see a massive pillar of fire standing in the center, unable to see anything else clearly.

This scene made Senzaemon Nakiri's eyes widen a bit.

He still remembered the last time he saw such a scene was when Yuuki made that special Mapo Tofu. He hadn't expected this scene to appear again now.

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