Chapter 114. The Missing Part

Mira lifted the third piece of meat from the Blackstone Cooking Slab. The red and blue light stayed around it for several seconds before fading.

She placed it on a clean plate away from the other two samples.

"Nobody eats anything yet," she said.

Carlos had not moved toward the plate, but he stepped back anyway.

Cosmic remained beside the kitchen door with both arms folded. The two Hearthkeepers stood across from Mira and watched the three pieces carefully.

The first piece had only ordinary salt. Its surface was dark from the heat, but there was no light inside it.

The second piece had Mana-binding Salt. Red lines remained beneath the cooked surface.

The third had the same salt and one drop of juice from the Water-affinity Silverwood Fruit. Its red lines were weaker, while a pale blue colour had gathered along one edge.

"Hmm... This is ordinary meat. I need to test them before I put either one on the Emberhorn Meat."

She cut the second piece open and heat escaped at once. It was not normal by any means.

One Hearthkeeper moved her hand away from the plate.

"The Mana-binding Salt held too much heat in one place," Mira said. "That would definitely burn it."

Carlos looked at the third piece. "And that one?"

Mira cut it open too. The centre was almost cold. Red light remained on one side and blue light on the other.

"Safer," she said. "But not right. The water property pushed the heat away instead of carrying it through the meat."

Mira moved all three control pieces aside. She cut a piece from the Emberhorn Meat next. It was smaller than Carlos’s thumb.

"Now the real test?" he asked.

"A small one."

Mira placed the Emberhorn piece on the cleaned slab. She added only a few grains of Mana-binding Salt, then touched one edge with a drop of the fruit juice.

Red light spread through the meat at once. The blue light stopped it from reaching the other edge, leaving the two colours divided through the centre.

A system panel appeared above the table.

--

[Controlled ingredient test completed]

[Emberhorn heat retained]

[Destructive heat expansion partially suppressed]

[Ingredient properties remain separated]

[Further development requires a compatible stabilizing ingredient]

--

Mira read the final line twice.

"At least you know what is missing now," Cosmic said.

"I know what the system calls it now," Mira replied. "But it still does not mean I know what ingredient it is."

Carlos opened his message panel. "I can ask the Lord if he has any more ingredients."

"Ask him to send their system listings first," Mira said. "I need to see what they do before he sends the actual ingredients."

Carlos sent the question through his existing private conversation with the Unknown Lord.

Mira covered the failed samples. She had used very little Emberhorn Meat, but the salt and fruit were still limited.

She did not throw the samples away.

"Bring me three containers," she told the Hearthkeepers. "Separate ones. Mark what went into each piece and how long it stayed on the slab."

One Hearthkeeper collected the containers while the other brought the small record board used for kitchen orders.

Mira dictated the amounts slowly. Ordinary salt on the first piece. Three grains of Mana-binding Salt on the second. Three grains and one drop of fruit juice on the third. The Emberhorn sample had used two grains because its own heat was stronger.

Carlos watched the Hearthkeeper write everything down.

"You remember all that?" he asked.

"I remember it now," Mira said. "That is not enough. If the next attempt works, we need to know what changed. If it fails, we need to avoid repeating the same failure."

She pointed toward the ordinary meal pots on the other side of the kitchen.

"We also keep this slab away from normal cooking until it has been cleaned. No knife or spoon used here goes back to the other tables."

Both Hearthkeepers nodded.

The older one lifted the container holding the second sample. "Should this go into Cold Storage?"

Mira inspected it again before answering.

--

[Failed Mana-binding Test Sample]

[Unstable heat concentration]

[Consumption not recommended]

--

"No. Keep the record, not the meat. Bury the failed pieces beyond the cultivated ground after they cool. Do not feed them to anyone or leave them where an animal can reach them."

Carlos looked at the tiny pieces. They did not appear dangerous anymore, but the panel was enough.

"I will tell the gate guards where you are taking them," he said.

Mira nodded and assigned one Hearthkeeper to dispose of the samples. The other remained beside her and copied the final system result beneath the ingredient amounts.

The attempt had failed, but the kitchen now had a proper record of why.

"Can you try again today?" Carlos asked.

"Not without the missing part. Another attempt with the same things will fail in the same way."

Carlos nodded. "Then stop here."

Mira looked toward him.

"You are not going to tell me to keep trying?"

"You already told me what will happen. I believe you."

Her expression softened for a moment before she turned back to the table.

Carlos’s message panel flashed before he could answer.

--

[Unknown Lord] - The Emberhorn Meat and Hellfire Peppers were the only special cooking ingredients I had.

[Unknown Lord] - I can search for more, but I have nothing else to send right now.

--

Mira read the reply over Carlos’s shoulder.

Carlos looked at Cosmic. "Then we use the market."

Cosmic nodded. "Tell me what to look for."

"I do not know the ingredient’s name," Mira said. "Look for cooking ingredients with a stabilizing or carrying property. Bring me the system listings before you buy anything. I will tell you which ones might work."

"That I can do," Cosmic said.

Mira began cleaning the Cooking Slab. The test had not produced the meal they needed, but she no longer looked uncertain about the next step.

They needed one specific kind of ingredient.

Now they had to find it without wasting everything else.