“Would the other steps also be fast like this?” Rezen thought to himself as he licked his lips
If his crops were really so special that he can process them into various things in a short period of time then there’s a chance that he and his subordinates can have a meal tonight using things that came from his farm although the dishes would be vegetarian or vegans
“I guess, I also have to start raising livestock. Maybe if I feed them crops that I have grown personally, they would also taste better?”
Rezen added another thing to his already long list of to-do things. There is the raising his physique to accommodate 3rd rank Mystic Tattoos, tame tens or hundreds or even thousands of crows, earn tons of lottery tickets and blessing points, upgrade his farm, and some more miscellaneous things including his farm work
Rezen had some of his subordinates go to the city to buy him some utensils. He planned on cooking outdoors today
There’s still the meat from the bears that he fought and killed before. Since he might be able to create soy sauce today, a little barbecue doesn’t sound bad, right?
The day is still quite early and Rezen still has a lot of time!
——-
Rezen waited for around an hour before his subordinates returned and he cannot help but envy them
Whenever he goes somewhere, something bad would always happens. However, his subordinates didn’t encounter anything
Sending them to the city on their own despite this time being the first time is really the right choice!
They are not the same as him that is a danger magnet! Rezen is envious!
His subordinates brought quite a lot of things and for the full experience, Rezen gathered some firewood with his subordinates
Since Greenwood City is surrounded by greenery, they don’t need to go far to get some wood
In just a matter of minutes, they returned to the farm and Rezen chose a suitable place around his farm to place the firewood and started a fire using a little bit of fire magic
After that, Rezen placed the big pot that his subordinates bought for him on top of the burning wood
The pot was filled with some water and the soybeans that were hydrated in the same pot
Rezen originally planned on trying the ‘ancient’ method but even though his beans are hydrated fast, the other process might still need a long time. Since he wanted to have soy sauce by tonight, he decided to try a version that he found on the internet that he thinks would take a lesser bit of time
He slowly boiled the soybeans in the pot. Although he knew that it would take a long time to soften the beans but after the water boiled, he took out a bean and he tried to pinch it
To his surprise, the soybean was already very tender! This process would normally take more than an hour!
“My lovely soy sauce, wait for me!” Rezen said with a grin
Since the soybeans are already soft, he stopped cooking them and drain the water before using a blender inside his farmhouse
The blender was a normal blender, not his Spirit Plants Essence Condenser
He put the soybeans inside the blender and blended them into a paste until all the soybeans have been processed
The next step was adding flour. This time, since Rezen is in a hurry, he used flour that was bought from the market
He planned on slowly turning his crops into cooking materials in the upcoming days but for now, a store-bought floor would be fine
After adding flour, Rezen used several large rectangular baking pans. It was a bit unsanitary but he placed the pans on the floor since he cannot fit all of them on his table or kitchen counter
Rezen sat on the floor as he seriously shaped the bean-floor mixture into a log and used a kitchen knife to slice them about 1/4 inch in thickness
“Woah, soy sauce is very common nowadays that who would think that the process involves so many steps?” Rezen mumbled and he was about to stand up when Zero handed him wet paper towels, precisely the things he needed next
“Didn’t I say that I can do these alone?” Rezen said. He asked his subordinates do whatever they want whether that be training or fooling around
“Master, my hobby is helping you” Zero said sincerely and Rezen almost went blind
Fortunately, despite Zero having a handsome and beautiful features, he is still a bit below Claude’s charms
If not, Rezen might not be able to stop himself to pounce on this beauty that is spouting that kind of sugary words
Rezen doesn’t want to be the type of person that has the mindset of “If there’s a hole, there’s a way”. Just thinking about it already made him shudder
“A-alright, thanks. If you want to help me, breakthrough to the 4th fusion rank, alright? I really want to do these things on my own” Rezen said with the same sincerity
The point of him doing all this work is to reignite his love for his hobby
In the past, Rezen only planted some crops in pots. They are either flowers or things that are easy to grow just like red peppers or calamansi
He likes using those things that he had grown personally but what he can plant was limited
Only now did he have the chance to make something like soy sauce and extract oil from olives. He found these things enjoyable
He can also do this with his subordinates but that would be for the future, right now, Rezen wanted to do these alone
“Understood, Master” Zero said in a dispirited tone. His shoulders hanging low as if he was a puppy that just got scolded which made Rezen feel guilty
“D-don’t be like that. Think of it like this, I’m just doing these as a hobby but if you increase your strength, master can rely on you for protection!” Rezen said in hopes that it would help
Fortunately, his words were effective and the gloomy atmosphere around Zero instantly vanishes
“Master, can I go to the Rataois Mountain for training? I can fight magic beasts and also gather spirit plants” Zero asked and Rezen nodded his head
“Yeah, sure. And oh, if you ever encounter spirit plants, you can use them but make sure to bring the seeds, especially the ones that we don’t have a seed yet!” Rezen agreed and Zero excused himself, ready to train crazily to reach the 4th rank
In fact, this matter made Rezen remember one problem. Zero and the others have their inherited memories
It wouldn’t take them a long time to reach the 4th rank. They might not be able to master and personally comprehend the mysteries of the universe included in their memories in a short time but upgrading their tattoos at the 4th rank shouldn’t be that hard
They might not be saying anything but Rezen felt like he was holding back their growth since he cannot provide them with resources to improve their physique
After all, it would take more time before Rezen can upgrade his farm again
“Sigh… life is hard. I want to grow stronger as fast as possible but I also want to have peaceful and enjoyable times so that I wouldn’t have many regrets even if I die early” Rezen muttered with a sigh. Even his own words made him feel like he turned into an old man that experienced numerous things in life
Rezen can only shake his head as he continues what he was doing. He arranged the sliced bean-flour mixture on the baking pans and placed wet paper towels below and above them
When Rezen was done with the paper towels, he covered the shallow baking pans with a cling wrap
“Done, time to wait for them to grow mold” Rezen muttered
He washed his hands first before turning his attention back to the olive paste that he was working on earlier
Rezen put some olive paste on the tall drinking glass before adding about 3 tablespoons of hot water for every glass
After that, Rezen took the immersion blender. He placed the immersion blender inside the tall glass with olive paste and water before turning the blender on
He pressed the olive paste with the immersion blender, grinding them further until beads of oil began rising to the surface
Seeing that, Rezen’s eyes glowed. Oil! That’s olive oil!
It was very fragrant! If he use the oil to fry foods, especially meat, how wonderful would it taste like?
Even if he won’t use the oil for frying, he can use it for baking!
He also has a few banana trees on his farm, should he bake a banana cake?
It would even be better if he processed his wheat to make the flour!
The number of possibilities was endless and Rezen becomes excited just by thinking about all the delicious foods he could make