As Zhang Wei closed his eyes in thought, the human-skin doll fully embodied its role as a bodyguard and protector.
About ten hours later.
Zhang Wei gradually regained consciousness.
"Chef, what were you doing?"
Zhang Wei scratched his head and said sheepishly, "I was trying to come up with a new recipe, but I failed." Big Wind Novels
Sweetheart.
Made with fruits and sugar as the main ingredients, accompanied by some sour elements for contrast.
Although it was ultimately successful, both in taste and quality, it was far inferior to Formless.
Logically, this dish should evoke a sweet, love-like feeling, as if one were being mesmerized by a lover... but while this dish was delicious, it was far from achieving that effect.
"I need more ingredients."
"Let's go!"
...
...
The action continued.
The entire mountaintop spanned over 3,000 square kilometers, while these ten caves occupied less than 300 square kilometers. Within this vast region, there were still more marvelous items hidden.
Zhang Wei flew through the air.
The human-skin doll, transformed into a bat, flapped a pair of large wings.
Since receiving the blessing of Olympus, the human-skin doll's control over its cells had reached another level. Whether it was mimicking clothing or armor, or transforming into various animals, it was easier than before, and the performance was stronger!
The human-skin doll said, "It's a pity I can only mimic scales and flesh membranes now; I can't do feathers or gills yet."
"Never mind, you'll get there someday."
At this moment, the human-skin doll pointed in a direction and said, "Chef, look."
Following the direction pointed by the human-skin doll.
It was a cave!
The cave of the bronze apple tree!
"There's still another one!"
"Perhaps this indicates that the silver apple tree is not unique. If that's the case, then as long as we can find other silver apple trees, we can eventually find the legendary Olympian Sacred Tree!"
At this point, the cave guards were completely unable to stop the two, and the traps seemed childish and ridiculous.
Behind walls that were identical to each other, a solitary bronze fruit tree bearing seven or eight fruits grew.
"Look at the direction of the leaves; it's not the direction of the silver apple tree we just found. This means this is a companion to another silver apple tree!"
No nonsense!
Zhang Wei reached out and picked it.
[Stored Ingredient: Bronze Apple]
[Replication Time: One Day]
Inside the Treasure Hall, the exhibit had grown slightly larger.
Continue!
[Stored Ingredient: Bronze Apple]
[Replication Time: One Day]
[Stored Ingredient: Bronze Apple]
[Replication Time: One Day]
...
Leaving the cave, Zhang Wei followed his previous experience and deviated 40 degrees to the left...
Indeed!
There were more!
The pattern was exactly the same for both.
"This time there are five."
"Continue!"
Six...
Four...
Five...
With each successive storage, the quality of the bronze apples improved, and each time, their volume increased by about 40-60 cubic centimeters.
This number was one-tenth of the volume of a bronze apple.
It was just like the spherical potatoes and the glacial yaks before, except that the bronze apples were clearly much more precious.
The bronze apples were now five times larger than the originals, and their effects were even more potent. A perfect-grade replica could have at least ten times the effect of a regular bronze apple!
Mapping out the area, Zhang Wei soon found the location of the second silver apple tree.
This time, they needed to be fully prepared.
The guardian beast might be even more powerful than the crocodile dragon.
Thinking of this.
Zhang Wei took out a perfect-grade bronze apple from the Treasure Hall and said, "Here, I'll teach you how to solve the Tangram puzzle."
"This is the simplest version, solvable in seventeen moves. With your hand speed, you can peel it open in a second."
Looking at the perfect-grade bronze apple, the human-skin doll's eyes widened: "This... why is this fruit so big? And so shiny!"
"Did we pick this before? Why don't I have any recollection of it!"
Zhang Wei coughed lightly, "Don't worry about the details. Memorize the steps well, as it might be a matter of life and death later."
"Oh, okay!"
Upon arriving at the destination.
Zhang Wei's spiral fist struck directly through the ground.
After a while...
Nothing happened.
"What's going on? Did the guardian beast go to the restroom? I'll go down and take a look first."
"I'll go with you."
Zhang Wei thought for a moment, "Alright, but be careful. It's too dangerous here."
Beneath the soil, there was another world.
It was a structure with obvious signs of artificial construction, and its style was identical to that of the first silver apple tree.
As expected, these apple trees had long been discovered and occupied.
The guardian beasts were deliberately placed there.
"What kind of person could possess such strength... According to this power level classification, they should have the combat power to enter the Gourmet World, yet they are still lingering in the mortal realm."
"Don't the mortal realm guardians do anything? Or is this the doing of a mortal realm guardian?"
Search!
The scale of this building was not small.
It was constructed from a large amount of stone, with flowing cloud patterns and unknown characters.
Perhaps there was a possibility that an ancient civilization once existed here. Following the pattern of bronze fruit trees bearing fruit in ten years and silver fruit trees in a hundred years, the Olympian Sacred Tree, at its level, would take a thousand years to bear fruit?
If it grew any larger, it would rival the Peaches of Immortality.
However, in the Great Gourmet Era, age did not determine the quality of an ingredient. In the Gourmet World, many ingredients rated at hundreds of levels bore fruit every few days.
The sound of flowing water...
As they advanced, the sound became clearer.
Turning a corner, the silver apple tree was surprisingly located above a pool of water.
"No way?"
"This feels so familiar..."
"Could it be the Apple Tree Anglerfish?"
Splash~
A figure leaped out from the water, wearing a set of comically tattered clothes haphazardly pieced together from what seemed to be animal hides of unknown species.
He couldn't be described as unkempt, but his messy hair and full beard indicated that he hadn't taken care of himself in a long time.
Around his neck was a metal collar, shining brightly, which was completely out of place with his overall appearance.
As soon as he saw someone enter, the beast-skin clad man immediately began to stammer, but it seemed that he hadn't spoken for too long, and his pronunciation was unclear.
"Don't rush, speak slowly!"
"You... I... you..."
"Take your time."
Zhang Wei maintained a suitable distance, showing no intention of advancing or retreating.
The man pondered for a long time, then pointed to himself: "Garu!"
"My name is Zhang Wei."
"It's been a long time... since I've seen a living person. I... I'm so happy."
Zhang Wei looked around and asked, "Have you been living here all along?"
"For many years... for many years!!!"
Garu fell to his knees, weeping uncontrollably!
"I can't remember how long it's been. I can't see the sun here, and there's nothing but fish. I'm going crazy! I'm going crazy! I just want someone to talk to!"