Chapter 14 (continued)

He crouched down to examine it.

Chimerao had been killed in a single blow. It could not have been any deader.

"Has the Demonic Core been taken out?"

"Not yet."

"Then we need to take it out first, or it'll contaminate the other parts."

Xie Juanhan hadn't known that. He leaned closer. "Where's the Demonic Core?"

Telingewei drew a dagger and stepped aside. "In the heart."

Xie Juanhan moved into the space Telingewei had made, braced his hands on his knees, and watched Telingewei extract a green Demonic Core the size of a duck egg.

The Demonic Core's color was so rich that it was brilliant.

It had excellent clarity, with a smooth, lustrous texture and a faint translucence.

As soon as it was removed, it gave off a soft glow.

Xie Juanhan's eyes widened slightly. "It's beautiful."

Telingewei hefted the Demonic Core, feeling the energy inside it. "A level-four Demonic Core," he judged.

Xie Juanhan carefully reached out and took it. "It's only level four, with quality like this?"

Telingewei nodded. "If a level-four Demonic Core detonated, the energy inside could blow up a house. A level-five Demonic Core would be enough to blow up my cave."

Xie Juanhan looked at the cave close by. "..."

He immediately had a general idea of what a level-five Demonic Core could do.

Telingewei handed the Demonic Core to Xie Juanhan and continued processing Chimerao. "Its heads, internal organs, bones, and tendons are poisonous. They need to be removed as soon as possible, or they'll contaminate the other edible parts."

As Telingewei explained, he said to the Companion Beasts, "Go get two basins."

The little ones didn't bargain. They scurried into the cave and dragged out two large basins, four to each one.

Xie Juanhan glanced at them.

Sure enough, they were two large, gleaming gold basins.

Telingewei cut off Chimerao's lion, goat, and snake heads and put them in one of the large gold basins. He then removed the internal organs and cut out the tendons. "These parts are poisonous, but they can be sold to a potion master."

After looking at the organs in the gold basin, Telingewei judged, "They're worth at least two level-two Demonic Cores."

Xie Juanhan nodded repeatedly. "I'll take them to town and sell them tomorrow."

Telingewei continued cutting out the meat.

Xie Juanhan watched from the side. He was a little surprised to see that the meat Telingewei removed was a translucent pale pink throughout, with none of the faint green found in the bones and tendons.

Still, something seemed off about the meat.

Xie Juanhan looked at the meat Telingewei had cut into neat pieces and reached out to poke it.

The meat had been cut into neat rectangular blocks and piled in the gold basin, making it look as though the basin were full of bricks.

Ordinary magical beast meat wasn't this hard.

"All done." Telingewei folded up Chimerao's hide and set it aside. "You can take the hide to a leatherworker for processing tomorrow while you're at it. It's worth about two gold coins."

Xie Juanhan nodded, turned to the meat in the basin, and said, "Want me to give you some?"

"No need," Telingewei refused. "It tastes bad."

The little ones nodded vigorously in agreement. "Chirp, chirp!"

It was clear they really hated it.

"Is it really that bad?" Xie Juanhan hesitated. "It smells all right, doesn't it?"

The meat did look a little hard, but with a dragon's teeth, it probably wouldn't be much of a problem.

It was getting late, so Xie Juanhan politely declined Telingewei's invitation to come inside and sit for a while, intending to head back first.

Carrying the gold basin full of bones, organs, and the like, Telingewei accompanied Xie Juanhan back to his temporary shelter with the little ones and firmly declined his invitation to stay for a meal.

Xie Juanhan watched Telingewei turn into a black dragon, carry the little ones, and fly off into the distance.

Then he looked at the meat in the gold basin.

Is it really that bad?

It didn't smell strange, either.

Muttering to himself, Xie Juanhan decided to treat this basin of meat with care.

I'll grill it.

Meat couldn't taste too bad if it was grilled.

Xie Juanhan carefully marinated the thinly sliced beast meat in white wine, fish sauce, and crushed spices.

He deliberately left it to marinate longer. Only after night fell did he carefully heat a stone slab, coat it with a thin layer of oil, and sear both sides of the meat slices to an enticing brown.

He sat in front of the stone slab, picked up a fragrant piece of grilled meat with his chopsticks, and solemnly tasted it.

Then.

The tough, bland taste of fatty meat instantly filled his mouth.

Expressionless, Xie Juanhan spat out the meat and looked at the pieces cooking on the stone slab.

He didn't understand.

Why did it still taste like raw meat when the surface had been grilled crisp?

Why was the meat so hard?

Biting into it was just like biting into a frozen rubber band.

It squeaked with every chew.

The meat tasted truly awful.

Yet the energy inside it was very dense. Even though he had only tasted a little, Xie Juanhan could feel a trace of warmth rising from his stomach.

Xie Juanhan raised his chopsticks, then lowered them, only to raise them again.

Even though he had prepared himself to eat it as if he were taking medicine,

he still couldn't bring himself to take a second bite.

At that moment, he deeply empathized with Telingewei and the little ones.

This really was magical beast meat that made people recoil.

How could beast meat taste this bad?!

Unwilling to give up, Xie Juanhan got another pan, heated it until it was scorching, and poured in cold oil.

A hot pan, plenty of oil, a quick stir-fry, and a starch slurry to thicken the sauce.

The resulting slices of meat were like rubber bands coated in sauce.

Biting into them again released a taste of raw fatty meat.

Even stir-fried shoe insoles would probably taste better.

It had been a long time since he had failed this badly.

Xie Juanhan stared at the slices of meat.

He began to question his life as a dragon.

Xie Juanhan suspected that meat this tough would leave a mouthful of rubbery granules even if he minced it for a topping or wrapped it in dumplings.

Granules that tasted like raw fatty meat.

It was impossible to eat, but he couldn't bear to throw it away.

It would be such a waste to throw out meat with such a high energy density.

Xie Juanhan was annoyed.

He would just freeze it and deal with it once he thought of a solution.

Recently, Xie Juanhan's hunting and gathering had been quite productive, and he had amassed a good number of Demonic Cores.

He was tempted to commission dwarves to build his entire house.

The quilt sewn by the fairy tailors was so comfortable that it had given him a very favorable impression of those magical beings.

Perhaps a house built by dwarves would be very comfortable to live in, too.

With that thought in mind, Xie Juanhan made a point of asking around the next day when he went to town to sell Chimerao's heads, bones, organs, and other parts.

Nearly everyone was full of praise for Dwarf craftsmanship.

They also thought hiring dwarves to build a house was a good choice.

The only problem was-

The dwarves had their own cities and territories. They usually kept to the depths of the mountains, didn't deal with humans, and weren't easy to hire.

It would probably be difficult to hire dwarves through the humans.

Xie Juanhan decided to ask Telingewei when he got back.

After returning to his temporary camp, he decided to pay Telingewei a visit.

While rummaging through his large icebox for a gift, he unexpectedly noticed that the Chimerao meat he had frozen earlier seemed to have changed a little.

Xie Juanhan took out the Chimerao meat and examined it closely.

The beast meat had been stored at an extremely low temperature, yet it hadn't frozen. Instead, it seemed to have softened a little.

He picked up a strip of meat and held it in front of his eyes. He soon saw that he wasn't imagining things.

The grain of the meat had been very distinct yesterday.

After being stored at a low temperature until today, however, the grain had become slightly blurred.

It looked as though it had melted a little.

Perhaps enzymes in the meat had been released, softening it slightly.

Xie Juanhan guessed that the meat stored in the ice had undergone a reaction similar to "dry aging."

His interest piqued, Xie Juanhan wrapped each strip of meat in dried grass and large leaves he had gathered earlier, then put them in a chest made of ice.

The secret to dry aging was to let the enzymes in the food and the microorganisms outside it slowly break it down in a cold, dry environment.

It needed to be chilled, but not frozen.

Xie Juanhan might not have been as skilled at other things.

But controlling temperature and humidity was a piece of cake for him.

He carefully controlled the temperature and humidity, allowing the Chimerao meat to age slowly.

The changes weren't obvious on the first or second day, but from the third day onward, the meat changed every day.

The meat was no longer so hard.

The fat inside slowly melted, forming a beautiful pattern.

The smell also gradually softened, becoming less sharp.

The initial smell of raw meat and raw fat turned into hints of nuts, cream, and meat.

As time passed, the complex aroma grew stronger and stronger.

Xie Juanhan felt the meat gradually "ripening," like fruit slowly ripening after it had been picked.

From its texture to its smell and even the nutrients inside it, everything was undergoing subtle changes.

Without even tasting it, Xie Juanhan knew it was bound to taste good.

So Xie Juanhan invited Telingewei and his Companion Beasts over to taste the aged Chimerao meat.

The little ones came to play with Xie Juanhan every day.

When they heard he wanted to treat them to Chimerao meat, the little ones didn't react at all. Those sleeping soundly continued to sleep, and those playing nearby continued to play.

It was as though Xie Juanhan hadn't said anything.

Xie Juanhan picked up one of the little ones and set it on his lap, holding it under the arms with both hands as he looked into its eyes. "Don't you want to eat it?"

The little one stared back at Xie Juanhan, their eyes wide.

It held back for a moment, but couldn't help itself. "Whimper."

Xie Juanhan asked, "Is it really that bad?"

The little one squirmed in his hands. Without extending its claws, it patted the backs of his hands with its soft pads, struggling to get down. "Chirp, chirp."

Xie Juanhan looked at the other little ones.

They all looked away, pretending to be busy.

Xie Juanhan had never seen them so focused on any task.