Chapter 438: Braised Abalone with Oyster Sauce

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The giant clams and conches have yielded a large number of pearls, but the biggest contributor is actually the mermaid Acheronides. Bookmark this site for updates.

At the seaside villa that night, Liszt patiently listened as Acheronides recounted the sights of Black Pearl Lake and how the giant clams and conches fought for territory.

He first gave new names to the giant clams and conches—"Black Giant Clam" and "Pink Conch"—and classified both types of shells as sea monsters.

The reason was simple: the largest Black Giant Clam was brimming with magic power and could release magic—water bullets.

Fighting single-handedly against the strongest of the three Pink Conches, water vortexes and water bullets clashed, causing the seabed rocks to shatter and splash, turning the water murky and dark. Finally, when all four sea monsters were worn out, Acheronides easily rushed out and ended their lives. In other battles, the Pink Conches and Black Giant Clams also decided the winners.

Though the Black Giant Clams managed to repel the Pink Conches' attacks, they suffered heavy losses and had to give up half of Black Pearl Lake to the Pink Conches.

"Brother, Acheronides noticed that both the Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches are quite clever. They saw Acheronides hunting down many large Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches, so they actively stopped fighting. The Black Giant Clams left behind many small Black Giant Clams, and the Pink Conches left behind many small Pink Conches, then they all retreated."

The small Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches aren’t worth much.

"So, Black Pearl Lake is basically a shell nursery?" Liszt was curious about this behavior.

The large Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches clearly don’t live in Black Pearl Lake; they go to the surrounding deep sea to live, leaving their young in Black Pearl Lake to breed. This place was once the nursery for Black Giant Clams, but now it’s clearly split with the Pink Conches.

It doesn’t make sense to keep calling it Black Pearl Lake.

"Acheronides, what do you think this marine lake should be called—Black Pink Lake or Pearl Lake?" Liszt asked.

Acheronides tilted her head, thinking: "Brother, Black Pink sounds awful—let’s just call it Pearl Lake. Both the Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches can produce beautiful pearls." She held a black pearl the size of a sea bowl and a pink pearl the size of an egg, her eyes sparkling like stars.

Women can never resist pearls and gemstones—even though they are only provided by Liszt for her to study magic arrays.

As a great magician, learning magic is secondary—mastering magic arrays is what really matters.

After deciding to name the marine lake formed by the ring reef "Pearl Lake," Liszt bid farewell and left. Before leaving, he told Acheronides to keep an eye on Pearl Lake and monitor the situation of the Black Giant Clams and Pink Conches. One goal was to determine the breeding time of the two types of shell sea monsters, and the other was to wait for their next battle.

The territorial dispute won’t end easily—next time, it’ll likely bring another bountiful harvest.

...

The saga of the shell sea monsters at the ring reef and Pearl Lake has come to an end.

But the work related to seafood is not over yet. Liszt heads to Oyster Village daily to sort through the shallow-water seafood the fishermen bring in.

The variety of shallow-water seafood is significantly richer than that of the beach.

Not only are there more shellfish, shrimp, and crabs, but there are also many new and strange creatures.

There is a very tasty strange fish, named by Liszt as shrimp eel, which has become one of the daily dishes in the castle; there is a black lump with soft spines, named sea cucumber, which has also become a daily dish in the castle; there is also a soft, eight-legged little thing with legs and head together, named squid, which has also become a daily dish in the castle.

Now Mrs. Abi is busy every day figuring out how to cook these seafood dishes.

And the fishermen of Oyster Village are trying to quickly catch these shallow-water seafood.

Unfortunately, Liszt has called for the smoke mission several times, but the serpent tongue message remains unchanged: "Mission: The fishermen of Oyster Village are no longer afraid of the shallow waters near the shore and dare to dive into the sea to catch seafood, but they do not recognize all seafood. As a seafood lover, why not guide the fishermen to identify the delicious seafood in the sea. Reward: Mutant rubber tree."

Up until today.

On September 5th, right after a heavy downpour, the fishermen of Oyster Village couldn't wait to go out to sea to fish. By dusk, they brought back new seafood.

They brought it to the castle for Liszt to identify.

Liszt saw an ugly shell.

At first glance, the shell appeared fleshy and unattractive. Yet, he was thrilled by it. He had seen and eaten this seafood on Earth, a very precious delicacy known as the "gold of the dining table, the crown of sea treasures"—commonly known as abalone.

The value of abalone on Earth is immense, requiring no further elaboration.

Whether abalone in this world has such rich nutritional value can be determined by tasting it a few times. Once the toxicity test on the abalone was complete, Liszt immediately had Mrs. Abi focus on cooking methods for abalone—he suggested mixing oyster sauce, abalone, and seasonings, then cooking them together.

Soon, a fragrant dish of abalone in oyster sauce was ready.

The footmen served the abalone in oyster sauce to the table, and the housekeeper poured Liszt a glass of wine brewed in the territory's winery. Then he could start eating.

He used chopsticks for private meals, always preferring them.

He disliked using knives and forks.

He picked up a tender piece of abalone, chewed it thoughtfully, and remarked, "Not bad—the texture is delicate and smooth, though the oyster sauce is a bit overpowering. Next time, I should use less to highlight the natural flavor of the abalone." After savoring several abalones, he declared, somewhat reluctantly, that abalone would become a staple in the castle.

Lobster, crab, clams, mantis shrimp, razor clams, oysters, sea cucumber, squid, shrimp paste, flower snails, abalone, dried small fish, and occasionally turtle and geoduck—all these had already been included in the castle's menu.

Currently, the territory could largely sustain itself from the sea.

...

Once abalone officially became part of the menu.

The long-awaited smoke mission finally saw a change.

"Mission completed, reward: a variant fruit rubber tree."

A new mission was immediately issued: "Mission: Two second-hand sailing ships are about to join the territory's fleet, taking on the cargo transport tasks between Black Horse Island and Flower Town. Consultant Gort, who purchased the ships, seems to have brought very good news. Please seize this news. Reward: a variant corn grass."

"The variant fruit rubber tree, if nothing unexpected happens, should be a new rubber tree bred from insect grass, a rubber tree that can bear fruit—a rubber fruit tree."

Liszt speculated in his heart: "As for the variant corn grass, this time, it should be the turn for corn cobs, right?"

First, there was grain corn like sorghum, then oil corn that could squeeze out oil. The evolutionary direction of corn grass obviously still had corn cobs left.

"Actually, I suspect this is a chain mission about the corn grass spirit bug. Could it be that the corn grass spirit bug is about to evolve?" he suddenly thought, but quickly dismissed the idea, "It shouldn't be. The corn grass spirit bug hasn't been around for long, and it hasn't been 'restless.' The restless ones are the rubber bug triplets."

Coincidentally, this time's variant fruit rubber tree also seems to be a chain mission: "Could it really be the rubber bug triplets that are about to evolve?"