[132] - The Gourmet Show Window, The Best Teacher of Ingredient Fusion

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"Looks like we'll have to go inside the ice mountain."

After repeated failed experiments along the way, Jiro realized that the animals on the periphery rarely ventured into the mountain's interior. The Century Soup was born deep beneath the ice mountain, so the creatures outside were unlikely to be the key.

Still, they had tested the outer creatures just in case—

—Upon entering the ice mountain, the howling wind ceased; it couldn't penetrate this deep. Yuuki's Gourmet Cells were rapidly adapting to the environment.

His adaptation speed was far faster than Jiro had estimated—one of the benefits of a system-provided ability.

His Growth-type abilities didn't just increase his level; his Gourmet Cells' upper limit, recovery, and adaptability were all growing along with him.

That was why Jiro had misjudged his adaptation speed.

"Found it. The ruler of the Ice Hell, the Hellboros. I was drunk back then, and this guy was in my way, so I just used Knocking on it—"

Jiro said, looking at the Hellboros before them. He hadn't intended for the Knocking to last so long, but since he was drunk at the time, he'd been a little heavy-handed.

For the Hellboros, it was torture. After being knocked, its body was immobilized, but its consciousness remained. Even if its intelligence wasn't high, it was still a living being.

It had to be said, Knocking was a truly brutal technique sometimes. Yuuki could clearly see the special electromagnetic waves emanating from the Hellboros.

Its consciousness was awake. Upon sensing Jiro, besides some resentment, the overwhelming feeling it radiated was fear.

"To undo the Knocking on the Hellboros, you need Mid-Level Knocking."

With that, Jiro tapped the ice encasing the Hellboros with his hand. The next second, the ice shattered, and the imprisoned Hellboros was finally able to move.

The Hellboros looked massive, but it was actually an insect, and it had no food value whatsoever. That's why no one bothered with it, even though it had been knocked for so long.

Its flesh was completely rotten. This thing was absolutely inedible. Yuuki had no desire to eat it; the moment the ice shattered, a foul stench assaulted his nostrils.

"ROAR..."

Freed, all of the Hellboros's heads let out excited roars. But it quickly realized it couldn't stay here—not with Jiro around...

The Hellboros would never forget the being who had sealed it for a hundred years. This human was too powerful. If he wanted to, he could kill it in an instant. It had no desire to be sealed again, so it fled at its top speed.

....

"This guy's a real coward. I already released it; why would I knock it and seal it again??"

Jiro shook his head with a chuckle.

"That's what you think, but that's not what it's thinking. After being sealed for a hundred years, seeing the person who can easily seal and kill you—running away is the most normal reaction."

Yuuki smiled. Anyone would choose to flee in that situation.

"Well, let's not talk about that. By the way, aren't you going to take that thing's blood??" Jiro asked.

"That thing is inedible. We're better off testing the blood of other animals."

Yuuki shook his head. The Hellboros reeked, and its flesh was like carrion. If he didn't know which ingredient he was looking for, he might have tried it. But since he did, there was no way he was going to test this thing's blood.

"Good point. Let's find other animals!"

Jiro nodded, and the two continued on until they reached the location of the Gourmet Show Window.

"It's really completely dry. The last time I was here, there was still plenty of Century Soup."

Looking at the completely barren ice pond, Jiro couldn't help but shake his head. This was where the Century Soup appeared. Even if it hadn't matured, soup would gather here, and when the time came, it would mature naturally.

After maturing, an aurora would appear. But now, there wasn't a single drop of soup left.

"So this is the Gourmet Show Window!"

Yuuki looked up at the various ingredients displayed above.

"That's right. These are ingredients sealed here by the humans who used to live in this area. Unfortunately, with the changing times, no one lives here anymore."

"Many of the ingredients here are also extinct. It took Setsu decades to find substitutes for them."

"After I was here last time, Yosaku also came. According to his inspection, the Gourmet Show Window has reached its limit. He said this should be the last time it produces the Century Soup."

"But now it seems even that guy makes mistakes. Looks like it's already dried up this time."

Jiro shook his head.

"No, it hasn't dried up. I can clearly see the flow, but it's not here. It seems the birthplace of the Century Soup isn't just in one spot."

Yuuki had spotted some tiny cracks in the Gourmet Show Window. The number of ingredients in the Show Window was immense, and its scope was vast.

So, it was normal for there to be multiple birthplaces for the Century Soup.

Yuuki could see faint nutrients flowing towards another direction, and he could clearly see the tiny pipes connecting the ingredients below.

These pipes weren't man-made; they were formed over a long time by the flow of essence.

A normal person's naked eye couldn't see these things. And the people who came here were almost all powerful Gourmet Hunters; very few were chefs.

Even if a chef did come, without Yuuki's Evolving Vision, it would be difficult to see the things in the Gourmet Show Window clearly.

Yuuki discovered that these naturally formed pipes weren't random. On the contrary, based on the position of the ingredients, the order in which the extracted essences merged was completely different.

But he couldn't observe the entire process from this one spot, so he needed to find the entire Gourmet Show Window.

Of course, before that, they had to finish the Century Soup experiment at hand.

....

Led by Yuuki, the two soon arrived at another ice cave. Here too was a pond, but this one had a shallow layer of liquid in it.

This was the unfinished Century Soup. When it was complete, the aurora would appear.

"I didn't expect there to be another one. And there's still a little bit of Century Soup left. A pity it's not mature yet."

Jiro found it a bit unfortunate. If it were the mature Century Soup, they could just take it back directly.

"Master Jiro, there's movement over there. Let's go take a look." Yuuki said.

The two then walked towards a tunnel that was dozens of meters high. At the end of the tunnel was another massive ice cave.

"So it's Wall Penguins. Speaking of which, quite a few Wall Penguins in the Ice Hell have been hunted. These should be the last few remaining!"

Looking at the three Wall Penguins—two large, one small—Jiro remarked.

He felt helpless about it. The extinction of many creatures was due to humans. Because humans captured these ingredients, and for profit, they even fished to exhaustion.

The Gourmet Corp was the most typical example.

That's why the Gourmet Corp was reviled by everyone. Although the Earth was constantly creating new ingredients, humans couldn't just recklessly drive other creatures to extinction—

—As a child raised by the Wolf King, and having lived with Acacia and the others, Jiro knew the importance of nature. He would never casually destroy it.

But he couldn't control others. Although the IGO also cracked down on such behavior, as long as there was enough profit, there would still be people willing to take the risk.

"This is probably what we're looking for. This family of Wall Penguins lives in a place connected to the birthplace of the Century Soup. We can try their blood." Yuuki said.

He had no intention of killing these Wall Penguins. He wasn't a member of the Gourmet Corp—he wouldn't do such a thing.

Of course, if it were an ingredient he was interested in, he would capture it directly.

The smallest Wall Penguin should be Yun from the original story, Komatsu's pet. Because its parents were casually killed by members of the Gourmet Corp, it had no choice but to follow Komatsu.

It eventually became the key to completing the Century Soup.

Neither Yuuki nor Jiro had any intention of killing the Wall Penguins, so they both opted for Knocking.

Yuuki didn't even need to act. Jiro stomped on the ground, and the force traveled through the ground to the three Wall Penguins. Instantly, the three of them passed out.

"It's easier to work with them knocked out."

Jiro said with a smile.

Yuuki didn't hesitate. Since they were already down, he would just take a bit of blood; it wouldn't cause them any harm.

Taking a single drop of blood, Yuuki placed it in a box containing the semi-finished Century Soup.

As the drop of blood entered, the red color quickly vanished into the transparent soup. The next second, a small aurora appeared above the box.

"It's done! It's the Wall Penguin's blood!"

Seeing this, Jiro's face lit up with joy. It was a success, which meant that Yuuki's and Setsuno's theories were correct.

And Setsuno's century-long obsession could finally be put to rest. A hundred years—for the sake of the Century Soup, Setsuno had truly spent a century.

And it wasn't that she had spent all this time just to get to this point. Decades ago, her Century Soup was already just one step away from completion.

It was this final step that had stumped her for decades. So, seeing the Century Soup finally completed, Jiro was naturally ecstatic.

"Looks like these Wall Penguins have been drinking the Century Soup since their ancestors' time. By the way, Master Jiro, you should take the Century Soup back first. I might need to stay here for a while."

Yuuki said.

"Stay for a while? Why? To adapt to the environment? But with your Gourmet Cells' current state, the time it takes to walk out of the Ice Hell should be enough!"

Hearing this, Jiro was a bit confused.

What did Yuuki want to do here?

Was it for the Century Soup??

But it would still be some time before it matured.

And they already had the finished product in their hands. Why wait for the immature one??

....

"I want to stay here because of this!"

Yuuki pointed upwards.

"The Gourmet Show Window?? The essence of the ingredients in the Gourmet Show Window has basically been squeezed dry. Even if you take the ingredients out, it's useless."

Jiro shook his head. He still remembered what Yosaku had said.

If it were Yosaku or Mōyan Shaishai, they might be able to save the Gourmet Show Window, but Mōyan Shaishai had disappeared, and Yosaku didn't seem to have any intention of doing so.

"It's not for the ingredients, but for the Gourmet Show Window itself. I'm a chef, and my eyesight is pretty good. When I was observing the Gourmet Show Window just now, I noticed that there are extremely fine, natural channels beneath the ingredients."

"These channels merge the essences extracted from the ingredients in different orders and at different times, ultimately forming the Century Soup."

"So, the Gourmet Show Window is an incredible treasure for me. I need to stay here to study the fusion of these ingredients. I'll go back after I've thoroughly analyzed the entire process."

Yuuki explained his reason. The Gourmet Show Window was like a natural teacher to him, so studying here for a while would be very useful.

"I see. Now that you mention it, I see it too. A pity I'm not a chef and not interested in the process. In that case, I'll take the Century Soup back. With your strength, you won't be in any danger here."

Jiro nodded. He couldn't stay here with Yuuki forever; he had to take the Century Soup back to Setsuno.

As for whether Yuuki would be in danger here, there was no need to worry. In his view, with Yuuki's strength, even the Hellboros couldn't do anything to him, let alone other creatures.

"Right, and the Tundra Dragon's corpse. Please help me take it back too!"

Yuuki suddenly remembered the Tundra Dragon. If left there, once its aura dissipated, it would be eaten by other beasts.

"Mm, I'll move it back. I'll leave the Jellyfish for you, too. I'll go back on my own."

With that, Jiro left.

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