We finally reached the 19th floor, the so-called Reptile Zone. [5] [4] “Do you know what kind of monsters we can expect here, Elland-san?”
“Hmm, this floor isn’t especially rich in Drops, I believe this place is inhabited by a type of turtle monster…”
“It’s here,” said Fer.
[8] I squinted my eyes down the slightly shadowy passageway. Stomping slowly over to us on its hind legs was a…
“Hey? Isn’t that a softshell turtle?”
[8] That’s right, the creature was relatively flat and oval-shaped, with a long neck and stumpy legs. It’s mostly turtle-shaped, but I could tell from its snake-like neck and weird snout that it was definitely a softshell turtle. It was close to a meter tall and relatively slow moving. Behind the first one came 10 other shadowy figures, their necks unnervingly long for turtles.
“Softshell turtle? I’m not sure what those are, but these are Big Bite Turtles. I haven’t seen one in a while. They might be slow, but their bites are vicious. They won’t let go until they die,” said Elland-san.
[8] That confirmed it for me, “Those are definitely a type of softshell turtle,” I said confidently. [5] [6] I’ve made quite a study of softshell turtles back in my past life. You could say that I like them very much.
“It would be a waste to use the Dark Spheres on such slow creatures,” observed Elland-san. “We can just take them out in the regular way.”
I nodded agreeably. [5]
“Nu, too boring. You guys can take them,” said Fer with a huff.
I looked at the large group of turtles still stomping over. Well, they are kind of slow… [TZ 1] [5] So, I can just stab them from a distance with my spear, [6] I’ll just have to make sure to avoid that biting head.
As usual, my two smaller familiars were rather energetic.
““Ou! Leave it to me!””
““Sui will defeat lots~!”” [5]
Dora-chan went on the offensive first with his ice spikes. The spike stabbed into the turtles, but then bounced back against the flexible shell. ““Eh? Spikes don’t work? Humph, let’s see you try and defend against Thunder Magic!””
Boom! Boom! Boom!
[5] [7] Ah, I think I may have seen the softshell turtle bones…
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Sui’s Acid Bullet strikes worked as usual, melting holes into the poor creatures…
Oh? We have a Drop item, let’s see…
Elland-san was closer, so he picked it up first, “Hm? Isn’t this a piece of meat? Big Bite Turtles are edible?”
[6] “Did you just say meat?” I sidled up closer to take a look, a faint sense of excitement welling up inside me. [5]
“My [Appraisal] said that it’s delicious, but it was really nothing special. Not bad, but not particularly good,” was Fer’s bored answer.
“Oho?” even more excited now. I cast my own [Appraisal] on the meat.
[Big Bite Turtle Meat]
Light but very delicious. Rich in collagen and good for the skin.
Isn’t this the general description for softshell turtle meat?
Ahh, when it comes to turtle meat, one should have it as a hotpot. A hotpot I tell you…
“Ahh, Fer, did you eat it raw?”
“Of course. It’s not like I can cook it the way you humans do,”
“I see, well, turtle is actually really good as a hotpot dish,”
“Hm? Is that so?”
[6] Ah, Fer, your face is too close…
“For real?!”
[6] Elland-san, y-your face…
[6] I backed away quickly, “Aaah, well, the meat is pretty good, but the best way to eat it is to cook it as a hotpot meal,”
[6] Suddenly, everyone around me became extra motivated. The battle cry for the day was ‘Meat! Meat! Meat!’ [5]
Thus, our softshell turtle hunt begins.
I should mention that in addition to meat, we also collected vials of Turtle Blood and Turtle Shells. Ah, but the main thing we’re hunting for was MEAT!
Even I got into the action. Naturally, I stabbed the turtles from afar with my spear or take off their heads first to avoid getting bitten. It was quite ridiculous really, this floor was basically a treasure trove of luxury meat and easy experience points.
Or so I thought.
We got to the Boss Room in record time and found six huge turtles. Each of the hulking monster was about three meters tall!
“Ah, so Giant Bite Turtles really do exist,” murmured Elland-san. [5]
“A huge turtle like that must have lots of meat, [5]”
Fer, you’re salivating.
““Ou! Let’s go!””
““Meat~!””
Sui, that battle cry is…
Dogoooon!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Pew! Pew! Pew!
[6] “…”
One after another, the six Giant Bite Turtles fell to my familiars’ attacks. All that was left behind was a small magic stone and two large chunks of meat.
““Oh? Big meat! Big Meat!””
““Meat~! It’s meat~!”” [5]
“Hey, make this into a hotpot now,” was Fer’s remark. [5]
“Ah, right,” I said. “But not here, if the Giant Bite Turtle respawn here, it’ll just disturb my cooking.”
“Nuu, you’re right. Let’s go to the safe area,” Fer bounded off before I could say anything.
Well, at least the safe area was not far from the Boss Room.
~ ,=,e ,=,e ,=,e
By popular request, tonight’s dinner is Softshell Turtle Hotpot.
In fact, these impatient familiars of mine kept rushing me even as I was trying to buy the necessary ingredients for a hotpot from [Net Super].
Cooking turtle meat isn’t as difficult as one might think. I took out my magic cooking stove as well as all the claypots I owned and got ready.
The first thing to do is to boil the turtle meat to remove the lye [9]. This is a crucial step for clearer and tastier broth.
It’s thanks to the internet that I even have the opportunity to eat softshell turtle on a semi-regular basis. If I were to eat Suppon Nabe at a restaurant, I could probably eat it only once or twice a year…
However, thanks to the beauty of the internet, I was able to order turtle meat online and just cook it at home. [6] Thanks also to the internet, I could follow step-by-step cooking from famous chefs too!
Ahh, home order luxury is the best!
Ahah, I’m starting to drool…
A-anyway, let’s get started. I’d better pay attention to the cooking steps. Otherwise, Fer and the rest would be angry with me if I mess up this dish. Heck, I’d be angry at myself for messing up luxury meat.
Alright, let’s fire up all four stoves!
Pots of water and kelp soup stock went into the pot along with a generous splash of sake. While the water was boiling, I cut down the turtle meat into smaller pieces. [6] Oho, since the turtle monsters were so huge, I don’t have to bother about cleaning the shells and other stuff. The meat was pretty clean already. Nice.
I placed the cut up meat into the pots and let it boil. Meanwhile, I stood with my fine-mesh skimmer [10] at ready. [6] When blobby white foam appeared on the surface of the pot, I scooped it out and discarded it in a bowl of cold water. This is a very important step. I refused to let my familiars rush me on this.
Once the pots of turtles stopped producing these white foam, I added cut Chinese cabbages and sliced green onions. Once the vegetables were tender, I adjusted the flavour with some soy sauce and added cubes of soft tofu.
That was it.
The simplest form of hotpot is the best.
I ladled out the vegetables and tofu onto deep wooden bowls first before piling on the turtle meat. [6] Huhuhu, look how these turtle meat jiggle, it’s almost like jelly.
“Here you go,” I handed out the bowls to Sui, Fer and Dora-chan. “Careful, it’s hot,”
“Umu,”
““Oooh, so this is turtle meat?””
““It smells yummy~””
[6] My familiars hovered over their steaming bowls while I served up smaller bowls of the Softshell Turtle Hotpot for myself and Elland-san.
“Mu, muumuu… delicious, it’s delicious…” [5]
““The meat looks kind of weird and black, but it’s good,”” remarked Dora-chan.
““Yummy~~”” [5]
Ah, Sui seemed to have become more… jiggly? Is this an aftereffect of eating the hotpot?
I handed Elland-san a bowl, “Please have some too,” [5]
“A- ahah,” Elland-san stared into the bowl uncertainly. Well, I guess for the uninitiated, softshell turtle meat looked kind of weird. It’s black and knobbly and jiggles in a really weird way.
The first person who dared to eat a softshell turtle must have been a really brave man. In my case, these weirdly black, knobbly and jiggly meat spells deliciousness. So, I happily raised a piece of the jiggly meat to my lips and took a bite.
“Deliciousss~”
Light and gentle, yet still quite robust. What bones I found had been reduced to jelly and added to the gelatinous sensation of the broth. Huff, huff, this is even better than the ones I ordered online. I quickly became absorbed in my enjoyment.
“Mukouda-san, you sure made it look delicious,” said Elland-san.
[6] “Hm, hmm, hmm!”
[8] Elland-san gave his bowl a reluctant look and bravely scooped up a bit of the broth and took a small sip.
“This is…” [5] [6] “Hm, hmm!”
[6] “Hm!”
Soon, the both of us were engrossed in eating our Softshell Turtle Hotpot.
To be honest, I mostly served the meat, vegetable and tofu to everyone while conserving the soup. I poured the soup into a spare claypot and cooked another round of luxurious hotpot on all four stoves. In fact, I got out all my cassette stoves and set out claypots of turtle cooking. I didn’t actually have that many claypots and bought more from [Net Super].
Let’s cook up lots and lots of Turtle Hotpot!
[8] After everyone more or less had their fill, I revealed the piece de resistance.
[8] The Rice Soup.
[6] That’s right, remember the delicious Turtle Hotpot soup I’ve been saving?
[6] It’s for this!
The exquisite soup coupled with gorgeous Japanese rice is just too delicious. Everyone had nothing but praises for it. [5]
Elland-san became a major convert, “This is definitely a new discovery for me. I had no idea Big Bite Turtles could be so delicious, let alone edible.”
[4] [8] “Right? Right? This is definitely something I’d want to make again,”
“Oi, how much meat do you have left?”
“Hmm, from the way you guys eat, maybe another five, no, four portions left.”
“Yosh, I’m going to give this floor another run-through,”
““Oh, are we meat gathering? I’m coming too!””
““Sui wants to go too~~ This meat is delicious~~”” [5]
“Sounds like a great idea, Elland-san, do you want to challenge this floor again?”
“Of course, if you’ll let me have this dish again,”
“Naturally,”
In the end, we ended up going through the entire floor couple more times before settling down for the night. The next day, everyone woke up early and was filled with energy. We concluded that it must be due to the softshell turtle meat.
In the end, instead of advancing to the next level, we stayed on the 19th floor all day running back and forth for meat and easy experience points.
[TZ 1: I’m already feeling bad for the turtles at this point] [Gumihou: Er, Gumi felt even sorrier for them later…]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken
[9] Butchering and cooking softshell turtle (GRAPHIC! So please be warned)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdjpaDJZNxM
[10] Fine Mesh Skimmer