The car kept going until it dropped Jason off in front of the clinic on Sausage Street.
Hannibal hade out as soon as the car neared.
Standing on the steps in front of the door, he couldn''t help but smile at the sight of Jason getting out of the car.
"Jason, wee back."
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
After saying this and turning his head to thank the driver, the two walked shoulder to shoulder back into the dining room of the house.
The scent in the dining room was rich.
The pouch he had obtained earlier had already been opened, its meat sliced thin by Hannibal and arranged on a te. A copper pot with burning charcoal sat at the center of the table, surrounded by sesame paste, chopped green onions,tro, garlic chives, and chili peppers sprayed with oil, especially thetter. The scalding fat and chilies collided to unleash a distinct fragrance that made Jason''s eyes light up.
"ording to the description you gave me before, I''ve tried to recreate it."
"Some of the details may be different, but overall, it''s decent."
As he spoke, Hannibal brought out lettuce, tofu, and white radishes from the refrigerator.
"It''s already quite good."
Jason praised.
He had only casually mentioned some culinary practices from his hometown during a chat with Hannibal and hadn''t expected Hannibal to reproduce them so quickly, and specifically for ''food'' at that.
The piece of meat, with its mix of fat and lean, was truly the best for hotpot.
Jason sat down at the table and took a deep breath.
The aroma of ''food'' hit him full in the face.
But Jason didn''t start eating right away as he used to.
His reason was still intact.
He methodically picked up the green onions,tro, and chili oil, adding them in proportion to the sesame paste, all the while asking, "Where are Giselle and Griffin?"
"I invited Miss Giselle, but she seems to dislike me quite a bit."
"She has gone back to the police station with Griffin and Edward," Hannibal said with a smile.
It seemed the rejection hadn''t affected his good mood.
Or rather, he was quite satisfied with such an oue.
An outsider intruding into his home would make him very ufortable.
Jason?
Jason was not an outsider.
He was a fellow kindred spirit.
Hannibal couldn''t wish for more than to have him around every day.
The police station, eh?
If Edward was prepared, then that was secure enough.
Jason thought as he opened the suitcase.
The scent that emerged grew even stronger.
Jason took out a tendon and a thumb-sized white crystal.
He passed the tendon to Hannibal for processing.
The crystal, however, he held in his hand.
This crystal was what old Tedi called ''the eye,'' unknown from what ''food'' it came, but it was fragrant. The question was... how do you cook a crystal?
Jason pondered, quite straightforwardly cing it in an empty bowl anddling hot soup over it, rolling it several times before picking it up with chopsticks and putting it in his mouth.
He had never expected to find the secret technique corresponding to this crystal.
If the Prus Family hadn''t found it over so many years, how could he expect to find it so soon?
Instead of letting it sit idly by and go to waste,
It was far better to eat it directly, letting it be satiety and enhancing his strength.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, Jason cracked open a fissure in the crystal.
Immediately, juices from inside sprayed out.
The savory juice, with a rich vor reminiscent of beef broth, made Jason narrow his eyes with pleasure.
[You have consumed ''Zikxu''s Eye''!]
[Physical strength, energy (injuries) recover to the greatest extent!]
[Perception +0.1]
[Satiety +10]
[Satiety: 68]
...
Jason was stunned.
The increase in satiety was expected, but the increase in attributes was a surprise.
Could ''food'' from the instance actually increase attributes?
Why had I never noticed this before?
No!
It''s not that I hadn''t noticed before.
It wasn''t food that could enhance attributes, something I had never encountered before.
Instantly, Jason understood.
Then, filled with anticipation, he picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a slice of meat from the te, and ced it into the pot.
The meat tumbled in the boiling broth.
After some jostling, as soon as the color of the meat changed, Jason scooped it into his bowl and, dipping it in sesame sauce, put it in his mouth.
The meat was firm, utterly devoid of any gamey taste, and the marbled texturebined with the seasoning elevated the vor experience once again. Jason reminded himself to stay controlled, to remain calm.
But the calmer he was, the more vors he could taste and the more delicious they became.
Unconsciously, his chopsticks moved faster.
Although not as swift and lightning-fast as before, an array of phantoms still appeared with his movements.
[Devouring the flesh of Curde!]
[Determined it was masterfully cooked—satiation gain increased by 5%!]
[Physical Strength, Spirit, and injuries recover beyond the norm]
[Satiation +21]
[Satiation: 89]
...
A satiation that matched what Jason had spected.
He just didn''t know what ''Curde'' was.
With this thought in mind, Jason began to turn his attention to the lettuce and tofu after cing them into the pot, as Hannibal approached, carrying the ''tendons'' that had been trimmed and cleared.
The whole tendon, measuring 3 meters long, had been cut into 20 centimeter segments. They were thin, long strips, 15 in total, adorned with some basil on top.
Jason could see every strip had tiny incisions on it.
And as the tendons were cooked, those tiny incisions swelled quickly, making them easy to pick up.
Mixed with lettuce and tofu, Jason tasted the tendon''s springy texture one by one.
It was a bit like ss noodles.
That''s how Jason evaluated it.
[Devouring the sinew of the Tyrant Dragon Fish!]
[Determined it was masterfully reshaped by the chef—satiation gain increased by 1%!]
[Physical Strength, Spirit, and injuries recover beyond the norm]
[Satiation +9]
[Satiation: 98]
...
As the prompt appeared again, bing akin to having 30+ lives, Jason couldn''t help but heave a long sigh of relief.
The sense of urgency in his heartpletely settled at this moment.
As Hannibal began to clear the table, Jason started to check the trade items from the other two families.
[Prus Bounce Technique!]
[Prus Underwater Breathing Technique!]
The names of these two secret techniques were passed down in line with the [Prus Body Refinement Technique].
After carefully reading several times, Jason decisively got down on the floor and began to practice following the method recorded in the [Prus Body Refinement Technique].
Raise your right hand forward, lift your left leg forward, take a breath.
Afternding, switch to raising your left hand and moving your right leg forward, take another breath.
Breathe in and out while pushing off the ground with both legs.
Breathe in and out while feeling the flow of water.
Jasonpleted it quite smoothly the first time.
Even quite easily. But as he started the second time, his hand cramped up as he lifted it, and his leg cramped as he raised it. After pushing off, his chest felt tight, and as he tried to sense the water''s flow, he felt a sense of suffocation.
"Sure enough, there''s some difficulty!"
"But perseverance is victory!"
"I won''t give up!"
Jason''s eyes were resolute as he continued to practice.
Crack!
His arm bone broke.
Crack!
His leg bone broke.
Crack! Crack!
All the bones in his body broke.
Thump, thump, thump.
Beneath the suffocation, all the blood vessels in his body began to burst.
But Jason kept practicing with undiminished spirit.
Once, twice, three times.
By the fourth attempt, Jason''s vision suddenly altered.