The Middle-earth Continent, the Grand Palace.
This is not only the most ancient regime of the Human Realm but also the gathering place of the Human Realm's guardians.
The Human Emperor is also here.
However, the current Human Emperor is ill-informed, having lost contact with the Gourmet World and control over the Human Realm, resembling the powerless Zhou Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
"Elder Mo, within a week, robbery cases in the entire Human Realm have surged by fifty-five times. Almost all of these incidents target rare ingredients!"
Elder Mo said indifferently, "The Human Realm is in chaos, what are a few robbery cases? Besides, isn't this what you all wished for?"
A person wearing a bull-horned helmet whispered, "I've reviewed the case files. This batch of bandits should come from a single faction."
"Why?"
"Their targets are extremely precise. They breach large ingredient treasuries. Despite having more valuable ingredients, they only take a few items, completely disregarding other delicacies... They are definitely not ordinary thieves. Furthermore, these people are highly skilled; no matter how strong the guards are, they are defeated cleanly and efficiently."
Elder Mo asked, "And what does that prove? Is their strength over level 100?"
The bull-horned helmet replied, "These cases are astonishingly similar, indicating they come from the same organization. This organization's strength far exceeds the normal limits of the Human Realm. I believe we should strike against them and drive them into the Gourmet World!"
"Do you have any leads?"
"Yes, the case leads point to an underground force called the Black List. My informant has already begun investigating."
"Black List?"
"What, Old Mo, you know about it?"
Elder Mo coughed lightly and said, "I know a little. Leave this matter to me; it's a trivial matter."
The bull-horned helmet said sternly, "This is no trivial matter. This force is unimaginably large. To be able to cultivate so many excellent subordinates in the Human Realm simultaneously, they must possess no small number of chefs. With the increasing disputes in the Gourmet World, we must mobilize all our forces."
"You don't need to worry about this matter. I will give you an answer in some time."
With that, Elder Mo turned and left.
He left the Human Realm guardians looking at each other in dismay.
Someone exchanged a glance, and the bull-horned helmet nodded, leaving through another large door.
...
In the left side hall, Zhang Wei had just finished his lecture for the chefs and was inspecting a construction project.
"Boss, the Levitating Element you gave us has been fully integrated into the building materials. We've optimized the manufacturing structure, and the new building materials are becoming increasingly sturdy."
Load-bearing giant stone blocks.
Made of cement, steel bars, and gravel, each block is 1.5 cubic meters in volume. For structural strength, up to 25 kilograms of Levitating Element were added, generating 25 tons of buoyancy.
Buoyancy cannot be concentrated at a single point, or it would cause structural stress.
Another person presented a design drawing. It was a blueprint for a super-large foundation structure, assembled from hexagonal composite hooks. The most ingenious part was that to expand, one simply assembled hexagonal floating bricks around the perimeter, with no upper limit to expansion, which would be highly beneficial for future extensions.
Additionally, there were easily detachable structures between the hexagonal floating bricks, making repairs simple if damaged. Each brick also had hooks for attaching protective armor or building foundations as needed.
It was a pity that Zhang Wei's current replication capacity was only 2000 tons of Levitating Element per day. With a thousandfold buoyancy, this could float buildings weighing 2 million tons.
This output was currently more than enough, and there were still too few workers.
In terms of area, the base of Zhang Wei's floating castle would be an inverted hexagonal pyramid. While 2 million tons sounded like a lot, it was only a platform with an area of about 130 by 130 meters, enough to build half a sports field.
"For now, let's keep working hard."
The second building was a giant water tank constructed at Zhang Wei's request.
Large quantities of yeast, along with various grains and fruits, were stored here, emitting a fragrance that could be smelled from afar.
"It's been a while since I brewed wine. Come to think of it, my brewing skills are still rudimentary."
The first ingredient chosen was Rock Rice!
It was abundant and very suitable for practice, with hundreds of thousands of tons easily available.
It was divided into one hundred vats for various recipe experiments.
Zhang Wei took out the Rock Rice from the warm water and observed, "The soaking was very successful. Rock rice really absorbs a lot of water; it's become more lubricated after soaking."
After this, it was only low-temperature steaming.
This step had to be done slowly, not like cooking rice, but to gently and fully develop the Rock Rice.
The water content varied for each.
It could also be cooked like porridge; the key was controlling the moisture.
Then came...
Zhang Wei went to a cellar where spoiled grain was stored, with fine mycelia growing on it.
This was...
The cultivation base for Aspergillus!
Aspergillus, also known as mold, is a microorganism used for fermentation. Mixing these molds with food could produce delicious alcoholic beverages.
Producing mold was quite difficult.
No matter how large the brewery on the market, they couldn't reduce the wild yeast in the mold, so they could only mix them together. As long as it wasn't too severe, it wouldn't affect the taste of the wine.
However, this was the Gourmet World, where numerous brewing masters existed. Many of Zhang Wei's students were already skilled when they enrolled, possessing brewing techniques from all over the world. Zhang Wei benefited greatly from his exchanges with them.
"Under the influence of yeast, the sugars are converted into ethanol."
After adding the mold, Zhang Wei stirred it evenly and sealed it in clean ceramic containers to prevent the growth of wild yeast.
Generally, grain wine requires ten days of fermentation, while fruit wine requires five days.
This depended on the sugar, starch, and moisture content of the raw materials.
After that came the distillation step for spirits.
In traditional culture, distilled spirits have a long history, but they were always disdained by high society.
'Spirits are spicy and crude, unsuitable for formal occasions.'
In ancient times, distilled spirits were consumed by commoners, while the elite mostly consumed yellow wines and other beverages with an alcohol content of around 12-15%.
Herbs and other Chinese medicines could also be added during the brewing stage to improve the taste and nutritional value of the wine. Pure alcohol alone could not satisfy the demands of the upper class.
Looking at the hundreds of vats, Zhang Wei whispered, "Dionysus's Wine Island... perhaps somewhere there, I can find mold that can withstand Yuan Water."