"Brother Galen, another bowl."
The stone bowl in Dorick's hand was being held out to He Xi for the third time.
He Xi stared at the thick, dark-green soup inside.
Forcing out a smile, he pushed it slightly farther away. "I... I'm really not that hungry."
"Not that hungry?" Brendan wiped soup from his beard. "After walking all that way, and helping the Cyclops solve its trouble, how could you not be hungry? Here, good food mustn't go to waste!"
As he spoke, he ladled another spoonful into He Xi's bowl.
He Xi even saw some unknown dark-green substance rise from the bottom of the spoon.
"It's such a pity that brat Fletcher didn't come! I followed every step in the Cooking Manual exactly as he asked. After he finished it last time, he insisted the flavor lingered in his mouth endlessly. He even specifically begged me that the next time I cooked, I had to follow the book exactly—not a single step could be changed!"
"A cooking manual?"
"This... this kind of dish actually has a manual recording it?"
He truly could not imagine what sort of manual would contain a recipe that challenged the limits of life itself.
"Of course! This is the crystallization of culinary wisdom!"
Seeing the words "I don't believe you" written all over He Xi's face, Dorick gave a hey, wiped his hands on himself, then pulled a small booklet from his clothes.
The booklet had weathered countless storms. Its corners were curled, and its cover was smeared with suspicious grease stains and some dark sauce, making its original color nearly impossible to discern.
Yet He Xi could still barely make out the title, written in both Dwarven and the common tongue:
<Not Just Stones: Discovering the Dazzling Inner Nature of Ingredients>
Dorick clearly