A month passed quickly.
Zhang Wei and Mr. Luo became disciples of Granny Qian. From Granny Qian, they learned that fifty years ago, she was already a top ten-star chef on the continent.
In the original work, only head chefs of top restaurants were eligible for evaluation.
If a restaurant had a ten-star chef, then even if the establishment was dilapidated, it would be recognized as a ten-star grand hotel by the Gourmet Association!
Lou Ming, the chef from the Black List who had a decisive battle with Zhang Wei, was only around 8-star. Mr. Luo was likely 9-star.
It was just that, like Zhang Wei, Mr. Luo had never participated in any rating competitions.
Early in the morning.
The two of them entered the mushroom house together.
“Grandmother, what are we practicing today?”
Granny Qian showed her signature smile. “You two are the most talented disciples I’ve ever seen. Frankly, there’s nothing more I can teach you.”
“Grandmother…”
Zhang Wei felt a bit down.
This past month had been the happiest time for Zhang Wei.
Every day, without a care, he would take out ingredients and start cooking and preparing. The three of them would chat and laugh, constantly exchanging insights on their culinary skills.
Not only had Zhang Wei’s techniques improved significantly, but Mr. Luo and Granny Qian had also learned Zhang Wei’s unique, formulaic art of refined food.
This kind of life was simply paradise.
Granny Qian chuckled. “Don’t be sad. This old woman can live for a long time.”
“If you miss me in the future, just use the Camping Toad to come see me. I’ll always welcome you.”
Yes.
The time for farewell had finally arrived.
“Zhang Wei, where are you planning to go?”
“I… I’ll probably go back to the Great Glacier. I’m still a bit worried about that place. What about you two?”
Mr. Luo said, “I’m going to find Tian Zui. Without me, the team is missing its core.”
“Alright.”
Qian Xun also walked over and gave Zhang Wei a childlike hug.
Zhang Wei took out some apple peels and handed them to Mr. Luo. “Don’t forget the chef’s knife you promised me. Get one for yourself too.”
Mr. Luo took the apple peels and said with a wry smile, “With my current abilities, I can’t process this stuff.”
After all, Zhang Wei’s Heart Fire was too overpowered; such a terrifying skill was rarely seen in the human world.
Mr. Luo continued, “However… I heard that on the other side of the continent, there’s a range of mountains called the Melk Mountains, which has the best whetstones in the entire human world. I must go there when I have time.”
Melk Mountains…
It sounded so familiar.
After bidding farewell to Granny Qian and the others again, Zhang Wei entered the Camping Toad and transformed into a thick mist, disappearing from the spot.
“Camping Toad, do you have a name?”
‘No.’
“How about I give you one?”
‘For a mobile house, a name is meaningless. Strictly speaking, my previous name was ‘Mist’s Small Inn.’
Constantly communicating with Heart Fire all day was too tiring.
Zhang Wei decided to modify it, install a loudspeaker or something, just like Granny Tong back then.
“I’ll call you Warm Harbor, implying a warm, home-like refuge.”
Warm Harbor…
The Camping Toad nodded, accepting the name.
Zhang Wei took out a map, showing the Northern Territories and surrounding areas.
Including the Northern Territories, the West Coast, and the Arid Stone Plateau, it covered more than half of the Northern Continent!
The human world was roughly divided into five regions: the Core Area and the four cardinal directions—East, South, West, and North.
The Core Area was the largest human settlement, its shape and size almost identical to a flat map of ‘Blue Star,’ with faint outlines resembling Eurasia, the Americas, Antarctica, and Oceania.
The Northern Territories belonged to the northwest corner of the Northern Continent, and the Northern Continent spanned over 400 million square kilometers, with water bodies making up the majority, and land area only a quarter.
Zhang Wei located the Great Glacier on the map and asked, “Can you go here?”
‘Alright.’
Mist erupted again.
Warm Harbor vanished from the spot and reappeared at the entrance to a cave in the Arid Stone Plains.
“Traveling thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye, it truly is a teleportation skill.”
“Warm Harbor, can you explain this skill of yours?”
“Is there a distance limit, or something else?”
Warm Harbor explained, “I generate a vast amount of mist in the area I’m about to reach, covering millions of square meters.”
“Then I can move between the mist and the mist. As for the distance limit… the further the teleportation, the greater the consumption. The cost of teleportation is tens of times that of walking.”
Zhang Wei continued to ask, “Then why didn’t you just teleport directly to the Great Glacier? Is it a problem of stamina?”
“No, I have never left any traces there, so I cannot reach places I have never been.”
So that’s how it is.
This seemed more normal.
Otherwise, this teleportation would truly be a divine skill, with no obstacles between the ends of the earth.
The so-called ‘traces’ were places where Warm Harbor’s mist had once covered.
As a toad, Warm Harbor had to maintain its moisture at all times, so mist would spread wherever it went. Generating mist consumed a large amount of water and stamina, and sometimes, when there was no water, it had to endure damage from dryness.
For example, the Arid Stone Plateau was extremely windy and dry. When Warm Harbor came here, it ran out of water and food, so it could only reach this point.
“Water… isn’t there as much as you want?”
Saying this, Zhang Wei entered Warm Harbor’s auxiliary space.
This space had once been flooded by Zhang Wei with ten times the amount of water as West Lake, indicating that its capacity had limits.
According to Warm Harbor, its storage capacity was at most a few million cubic meters of water; any more would affect its mobility.
And wherever Warm Harbor went, dense fog would inevitably appear!
The amount of water consumed was astronomical.
For every kilometer traveled, it required thousands of tons of water. Filling it up with water would only last for a few thousand kilometers, which was not a long distance on the planet in the age of great cuisine.
After filling the space with water, Warm Harbor began to expel mist.
The immense energy of the Apple, combined with sufficient water, allowed Warm Harbor to expel a large amount of mist. In the mist, Warm Harbor’s crawling speed increased from thirty kilometers per hour to 400 kilometers per hour!
More than thirteen times faster!
It took about ten hours, with a brief replenishment of water in between, and Warm Harbor reached the Great Glacier!
The Camping Toad’s capture level had reached 151, and its height was over a thousand meters. Its appearance in the dense fog instantly caused widespread panic.
Five figures soared into the sky.
They were A Jin and others who had previously competed with Zhang Wei for the Yin-Yang Broth Base.
The giant toad opened its mouth, and Zhang Wei emerged. “Everyone, don’t panic. This is my pet and partner.”
“It’s Zhang Wei!”
“Chef Zhang!”
…
The snow near the Great Glacier was constantly being cleared, and thousands of laborers were working tirelessly.
Over a dozen large temporary warm shelters had been erected, deeply inserted into the ground, where fires could be lit to boil soup and ward off the cold for everyone.
Thousands of flying dragons were continuously transporting various supplies and personnel. In addition to the materials needed for construction, there were also large amounts of firewood, blankets, and winter clothing.
Among them, the fire-friction clothes produced on the other side of the continent were the most popular. With just a slight movement, they could generate a lot of heat through friction and provided excellent insulation.
In addition, Xifeng had also hired all the camel caravans from the Ice Hell Plains, with perfect-grade Ice Plains Yaks as rewards. These were the most perfect breeding bulls and could improve the entire camel caravan.
“Xifeng, where did you get so many people?”
Xifeng chuckled and said, “We have Chairman Mo Du to thank for this!”
The Northern Allied Forces numbered 400,000. After the war, they were not completely disbanded. The Northern United Government still retained some elite forces.
Among these troops, Mo Du selected three thousand and dispatched them as mercenaries to this place.
Of course, Xifeng had to be responsible for their living arrangements and pay them sufficient compensation.
Xifeng continued, “Some of them also came here by reputation.”
“Came by reputation? Reputation for what?”
“Of course, it’s the Chef Academy affiliated with the Gourmet Bank!”
The profession of a chef was the most respected in this era!
Every newly established chef academy represented a force that would shock the continent. Many opportunists would try to get acquainted in advance, looking for any chance to help.
Once this chef academy became successful, the investment would yield tenfold returns!
Many people contributed their labor and effort here just to secure an enrollment quota for their children.
The wealthy invested, while those without money might have their spouses come along to work as free laborers.
Zhang Wei chose the largest warm shelter as his office.
After relocating the people inside to other places, Zhang Wei began to review the accounts.
“Construction… Academy advertising… Admissions… Teacher training… Ingredient collection…”
There was also a ledger for ingredient collection instructions.
According to Zhang Wei’s requirements, to enrich the reserves of the Gourmet Bank, all types of ingredients must be stored.
Investigation and collection were both necessary!
Among them, Class 1 ingredients numbered 189 types.
Class 2 ingredients numbered 201 types.
Class 3 ingredients numbered 285 types.
Class 4 ingredients numbered 301 types.
Class 5 ingredients numbered 312 types.
Class 6…
…Da Feng Novel Network
“These are the known ingredient catalogs of the Northern Territories and surrounding areas. The Great Glacier currently only has half of them, and the inventory is not sufficient. Most of them are not of high grade.”
“Calculated by area, the variety of ingredients in the entire human world is more than ten times this amount…”
“This is merely collecting low-grade ingredients; the difficulty of higher grades can be imagined.”
However, Zhang Wei intended to collect all the ingredients, one by one, and bring them all to perfect grade!
The Gourmet Bank was the means to achieve this goal effortlessly!
With it, Zhang Wei could sit at home and collect all the ingredients in the human world!
“Xifeng, how much has been spent on collecting ingredients so far?”
Xifeng replied, “It’s a bit of a loss… Your spoils of war have been settled, totaling 11 billion worth of ingredients, mostly high-end ones.”
“The ingredient market transactions are very stable. We can’t easily intervene, so we can only exchange with more precious, higher-grade ingredients. That’s how we’ve managed to get this much.”
The price of Class 1 ingredients ranged from 1 to 3 Berries. 98 types, tens of thousands of portions were obtained, with a total weight exceeding 2 million kilograms!
Class 2 ingredients sold for 2-5 Berries. 105 portions were obtained, with a total weight of 26 million kilograms.
Class 3 ingredients sold for 3-8 Berries. 130 portions were obtained, with a total weight of 37 million kilograms.
Class 4 ingredients sold for 4-12 Berries. 230 portions were obtained, with a total weight of 55 million kilograms.
Class 5 ingredients sold for 5-17 Berries. 210 portions were obtained, with a total weight of 66 million kilograms.
…
…
The price of Class 1 ingredients alone was 60 million Berries, and the cost of Class 2 ingredients was 15,000 Berries… The consumption for Class 5 ingredients exceeded six hundred million!
Currently, the Gourmet Bank had invested over a billion in this.
Zhang Wei’s savings were getting tight.
Moreover, the ingredients currently collected were mainly below Level 15. If it were in the future…
It would be an astronomical figure!
Zhang Wei thought for a moment and began to take stock of the wealth in the Treasure Hall.
The Ball Potato, collected one hundred thousand times, weighed 3 tons. Its flavor alone could sell for at least 20 Berries, amounting to 60,000 Berries per day! It was the best Class 1 ingredient at present!
Ice Plains Yak: one per day, sold for 600,000 Berries.
In the Ice Hell Plains, Zhang Wei collected about 300 types of ingredients, 80 of which reached perfect grade. If we only calculate the stable output of one perfect-grade ingredient per day, it could generate about 20 million Berries in value per day.
During the Mo Cheng competition, about ten types of ingredients were collected to perfect grade, valued at 3 million Berries.
The Cloud Country had over 50 types of perfect-grade ingredients. Their grades were generally higher, and the ingredients were also quite precious, valued at over 80 million!
Salt Essence: Zhang Wei’s daily output was tens of kilograms. Each gram sold for between 4,000-6,000 Berries. After deducting costs, it had a value of 50 million Berries.
Generally speaking, ingredients that reached perfect grade were usually produced in very high quantities and were relatively common, with not very high prices.
Those truly high-value ingredients, such as Jelly Deer, Rainbow Fruit, Hot Pot Spirit… were very difficult to achieve perfect grade.
Later, a considerable number of ingredients were collected in the Great Transverse Mountains, with twelve types reaching perfect grade. These ingredients were not only of high grade but also extremely rare. These twelve types alone were valued at over 150 million!
This did not include the perfect-grade Yin-Yang Broth Base, Bronze Apples, and Silver Apples.
The Yin-Yang Broth Base normally sold for around twenty million per kilogram, with a single portion selling for at least eighty million. Perfect grade would sell for at least 1.5 billion!
A single Bronze Apple sold for 150 million. A perfect-grade one was five times larger and had double the effect, selling for no less than 2.5 billion.
As for the Silver Apple, it was too terrifying. A single one could sell for tens of billions. Even without its rare properties in the future, it would still fetch around 3 billion per piece. A perfect-grade one would be at least 16 billion.
Later, in Grey Furnace Fort, a lot of seafood was collected. Among them, the Exploding Pufferfish and Jetting Geoduck reached perfect grade, along with Ruby Peppers, etc.
A total of nine types, with a minimum value of about 110 million.
And this!
This was just Zhang Wei’s perfect-grade output for one day.
If all of it were counted, it would be at least another 2 billion.
Zhang Wei mumbled, “In other words, Warm Harbor ate at least 315 billion Berries in one go…”
Damn it!
A money-guzzler!
No wonder even a high-level ferocious beast of level 145 could level up six times and recover from near-death instantly, and in such a crude way of eating…
It was all money spent!
“Since the Gourmet Bank has excess transport capacity, let’s use it to sell high-grade ingredients.”
“Excluding the Yin-Yang Broth Base, Bronze Apples, and Silver Apples, the daily output of ingredients is worth 400 million!”
These three items had to be excluded.
Once these three appeared… even if it wasn't far, the Olympus Divine Realm would definitely go crazy.
“Besides… with such perfect quality, even low-grade ingredients would be too eye-catching, right? And so many appearing at once…”