Chapter 352: Can't Break 80 Points?
"Heartblossom Delight"—this was perhaps Qi Han's peak moment in naming dishes.
Inspired by both the use of the dragon heart as the main ingredient and the floral presentation, Qi Han had a sudden flash of inspiration and chose this poetic name.
Though the name was lovely, the dish's score was not. With only 55 points, submitting it as part of his promotion quest would yield a poor reward. He still needed to create more 2 Star recipes and earn higher scores.
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Training Space, Day 27…
Qi Han carefully removed strips of meat from the spine of the Armored Wild Dragon. After cleaning, he sliced them diagonally into long, oval-shaped thin cuts. After marinating them briefly, he coated them in the holy trinity of frying—flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs—before gently placing them into hot oil.
The moment the breaded spine meat hit the oil, the pot erupted with bubbles and crackled crisply. A rich aroma instantly filled Qi Han's nose. Meanwhile, the surface of the meat turned a beautiful golden hue, looking irresistibly appetizing.
When the timing was just right, Qi Han fished the slices out and let the excess oil drain. He plated them neatly, drawing a decorative pattern with a lemongrass chilan fruit sauce he had crafted himself, then began to taste.
This lemongrass chilan fruit sauce was a sudden stroke of culinary inspiration—by blending the sweet freshness of the chilan fruit with the tartness of lemon, Qi Han created a sweet-and-sour sauce that outshone ketchup. The refreshing flavor was especially suited to fried dishes.
He picked up a slice and took a bite. The tangy sweetness perfectly cut through the oiliness, whetting the appetite and complementing the savory fried meat beautifully.
The spine meat itself was incredibly tender and juicy. Thanks to the frying process, all the juices were sealed within the crispy outer layer. With Qi Han's precise heat control, the result was a crispy exterior and juicy interior—each bite burst with flavor.
"Ru Yi, how many points?" Qi Han was confident this dish had met the 2 Star standard.
[Scoring ]
[Taste (out of 40 points): 40
Ingredient Originality (out of 20 points): 19
Method Originality (out of 20 points): 10
Cooking Difficulty (out of 20 points): 1
Total: 70 points]
With a flick of her finger, Ru Yi summoned the scoring screen before Qi Han.
"The ten points for cooking method originality come from your invention of the lemongrass chilan fruit sauce," Ru Yi explained before Qi Han could even ask.
So that's how it was.
"What will you call this dish?"
"Let's go with something simple—Golden Dragon Spine," Qi Han said after a moment of hesitation, giving up on clever names.
"2 Star recipe: Golden Dragon Spine— successfully recorded!"
Seventy points. Onward to the next one!
Qi Han finished the plate clean, then dove eagerly into the development of his next 2 Star dish.
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Training Space, Day 41…
Qi Han took a delicate bamboo steamer from the pot and opened the lid. Inside were fifteen exquisite dumplings, arranged with care. The dumpling skins were slightly yellow with a translucent sheen, giving a glimpse of the savory filling within.
The filling was a mix of hundred-year-old Dragon Blood Mushroom and meat from the wind-element spirit beast Wind God Bird's wing root, also known as Dragon Treasure Meat.
With its plump texture and juicy tenderness, Dragon Treasure Meat struck Qi Han as perfect for dumplings.
He picked up one dumpling and took a bite. After a few chews, a look of delight bloomed across his face.
The dumpling skin perfectly trapped the juices and tenderness of the Dragon Treasure Meat, while the Dragon Blood Mushroom's unique earthy aroma slowly melded into the meat during steaming. The result was a fresh, surprising, and exquisite new dimension of flavor—truly stunning.
Yet the score still wasn't high.
[Scoring ]
[Taste (out of 40 points): 38
Ingredient Originality (out of 20 points): 15
Method Originality (out of 20 points): 0
Cooking Difficulty (out of 20 points): 0
Total: 53 points]
Another double zero.
Even this dish scored lower than Heartblossom Delight, mainly because of the use of flour. Compared to the previous dish, where five-spice powder was considered a seasoning, flour counted as a supplementary ingredient, which lowered the ingredient originality score.
But this didn't surprise Qi Han. After all, steamed dumplings involved no real innovation or difficulty in cooking.
"This dish… I'll call it Steamed Dragon Dumplings."
"2 Star recipe: Steamed Dragon Dumplings— successfully recorded!"
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Qi Han's research in the training space continued.
Having already suffered twice from the lack of originality in cooking methods, he made a decision: no more basing his dishes on existing recipes. From now on, he would explore entirely original culinary directions.
He began by cutting thick chunks from the belly meat of a Volcanic Rock Dragon, its most prized cut. He marinated the meat in a mixture of juice made from three delicious fruits native to the Star Dou Forest, then skewered them on branches from the chilan fruit tree, and grilled them into skewers. This creation, named Fruit-Scented Dragon Belly Skewers, earned a 72-point rating.
Next, he extracted intercostal meat from the Feather-Crested Serpent Dragon, a serpentine sub-dragon. Carefully tearing it along its muscle fibers into ultra-fine threads, he simmered it in a clear chicken broth until it reached a thick, soup-like consistency with no grainy texture at all. He named it Dragon Serpent Soup.
This 2 Star dish scored even higher than the previous one—an impressive 79 points.
Thanks to its nearly original cooking method, this dish received 18 points in that category. If not for the inclusion of chicken broth, which slightly lowered the ingredient originality score, it might have broken the 80-point barrier.
Encouraged, Qi Han pressed on.
This time, he used the prized dragonhide from the Shadowless Drake, thoroughly cleaned and slowly simmered to extract its natural gelatin. After seasoning it and allowing it to cool and set in molds, he created a jelly-like cold dish with varied shapes, naming it Jade Dragon Crystal.
While this dish had strong scores across flavor, ingredient originality, and cooking method originality, the simplicity of its steps meant it got zero in cooking difficulty, resulting in a final score of 74—once again, just shy of the 80-point mark.
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"Phew…" Qi Han sighed, rubbing his face in frustration.
He had now spent over a hundred days inside the training space and had used ingredients from five different dragon-type spirit beasts to create six brand new 2 Star recipes.
Aside from the Armored Wild Dragon, the other four sub-dragons had only contributed a single cut of meat each.
Yet not a single dish had scored above 80.
Qi Han's desire to break that threshold was simple—Ru Yi had already explained the reward structure for this promotion task:
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★ 2 Star Recipe Scoring & Rewards:
0–59 points
Reward: Title Promotion — Intermediate Chef & associated privileges.
60–79 points
Reward: +1 Spirit Power Level, 1x 3 Star Recipe Fragment (selectable), Intermediate Chef title & privileges.
80–89 points
Reward: +2 Spirit Power Levels, 2x 3 Star Optional Recipe Fragment, Intermediate Chef title & privileges.
90–99 points
Reward: +2 Spirit Power Levels, 3x 3 Star Optional Recipe Fragment, 1x 3 Star Random Recipe Drop, Intermediate Chef title & privileges.
100 points
Reward: +2 Spirit Power Levels, 4x 3 Star Optional Recipe Fragment, 2x 3 Star Random Recipe Drops, 1x 4 Star Optional Recipe Fragment, Intermediate Chef title & privileges.
<+>
Qi Han knew that scoring above 90, let alone getting a perfect 100, was highly unlikely—but he still had hope of crossing the 80-point threshold.
Which made his current best score of 79 feel all the more bitter.
So... how exactly could he create a 2 Star dish that breaks 80 points?
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