Frostfire Legacy

An eternal noon-like brightness covers the first floor's dungeon. As such, it felt a little weird for Aster as he started setting up tents, feeling like he was setting them up too early or something.

"You really can't tell the time based on the light in here, huh?" He muttered under his breath. "It's impossible to figure out that it's already midnight without looking at a clock."

"Well, that IS the unique property of this floor," Cassy answered, shrugging and pulling at the other end of the tent, helping Aster set it up. "Or more like, for the first ten floors, to be specific."

Dungeon properties change per floor, but having similar features between floors is not weird. For example, the first ten floors, considered the "Beginner Zone," were covered by eternal daylight. Warm and welcoming.

"Three, two... Hup!"

With their combined efforts, the two were able to set up all the tents in under 10 minutes. Although there were tents that could automatically set themselves up, and some were even equipped with monster-repelling functions, those were too expensive and outside of his budget. Going simple is the best, at least for now.

After the tent was set up, Aster moved to his pack once more and took out the portable campfire. Yes, not a stove, but a "campfire."

Aster threw the round disc before the two tents, and it suddenly popped up, creating a small fireplace and exuding heat that could warm their bodies or be used for cooking. Of course, this one did not use gas or anything but rather utilized the mana in the air to activate a fire-element engraving in its circuit.

A magic campfire!

"I'll be cooking dinner then. Any requests?" Aster asked while checking the ingredients available.

All he had were a few vegetables, a condiment set, packed noodles, and dried meat. It wasn't much, but he could still take a little liberty with it and arrange a couple of dishes.

"Soup would be fine. Noodle soup!" Cassy raised her hand, suggesting something that was completely within the range of possibilities. "We could even save its soup for tomorrow morning!"

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She was also present when Aster got the ingredients for their dinner/breakfast, after all.

The two then turned to Kali, who was standing a short distance away, keeping watch of the surroundings. She was on the lookout for monsters, of course, since even though they were in a wide clearing, the fact that they were in the middle of hostile territory didn't change.

"... Steak." She suggested.

"That..." Aster felt a little troubled.

After all, they don't have meat on hand other than a few preserved, dried meats. That wasn't something he could turn into a steak, or else that would be like magic!

Kali realized that she was asking for the impossible too, but as a cat beastman, she was more interested in eating meat than slurping noodles with veggies.

"Wait here," Kali exclaimed before running away.

Neither Aster nor Cassy were able to stop her, and they could only watch as her figure slowly faded into the distance. While she was gone, Cassy took over guarding duties, while Aster started cooking the noodle soup as requested.

With a knife and chopping board, Aster was unstoppable! He finished preparing the ingredients in just two minutes and placed the multi-purpose pot on top of the campfire. Then, he used the water from their pack to fill it until it was half-full, before dropping the chopped meat jerky inside. This was to reduce the salt content and, at the same time, tenderize them.

Of course, they couldn't waste water, as they only had a limited supply. The purpose wasn't to remove the salt but rather to dilute it in large quantities of water. After letting it simmer for five minutes, he then dropped the hard vegetables like carrots and potatoes.

"Now we wait."

It was a simple, almost bland cooking method, but it should still get the job done!

*THUD!*

"I'm back."

And just as he was about to sit back and relax, Kali returned, throwing a wolf corpse in front of Aster. "Can you dismantle its meat? I heard wolf meat is edible."

"... Edible, yeah, but not palatable in the least," Aster commented, scratching his head. "Well, I'll try my best."

Of course, Aster was no butcher. As such, he simply cut off a few parts—the short loins and tenderloins—enough for six portions and set them aside. What remained of the wolf was moved a short distance away, left for the dungeon to "absorb."

"Hmmm... What to do?"

Wolf meat was lean, with little fat, and mostly all muscle. Furthermore, it had a strong, gamey smell and flavor. "First, we need to soften it up."

Kali's request was steak, meaning he couldn't let the meat soften by boiling, so Aster took liberties. He took out a fork and started stabbing the meat many, many times before "slapping" it with the base of the knife, tenderizing it. With this, it shouldn't be too tough when eaten.

After that, he took out a small container and placed all the meat inside before adding condiments to lessen the game-like smell and taste. Pepper, salt, bay leaves, and cooking wine were added.

"I should've brought a whole bottle." Aster lamented since he only had a small vial of wine on hand, a part of the condiment set.

After mixing the meat, he then let it sit for a while. During that time, he attended to his noodle soup, adding the noodles and waiting until they became soft before dropping the remaining vegetables and removing the pot from the open flame.

After he transferred its contents into a thermoplastic container, he rinsed the pot with a little water and returned it to the fire. He then added all the butter they had, letting it melt in the pot until it covered the entire base.

Right after, Aster added one meat after another, sizzling from the hot butter. The rich smell of roasting meat wafted in the air. He cooked them until they were medium-well, with two portions left at medium-rare as per Kali's request.

After the meat was done cooking, Aster added a small amount of water to lift the mix of butter and marinade off the pot, added a few condiments to adjust the taste, and set it aside as a dip.

"Finally complete...!" Aster smiled, satisfied. "Well then, let's eat!"