How to cook your dragon

Alex was eventually left with a little less than half the flesh he had arrived with and even then it was because he put his foot down and forced the scholars to stop from taking more. The fleet commander had an awkward expression at Alex's angry stare since he hadn't expected the scholars to go so overboard with their collections. Finally left alone with what was left of his haul Alex hefted the thick flesh sack up to the canteen. The head chef was also showed great interest in the meat since it was very rare to the point of being almost unheard of for someone to eat an elder.

It was considered a sort of taboo to eat elder flesh since many people believed that it would enrage other elders. This of course wasn't actually true in most cases since elder dragons were just stupidly powerful animals and hunted and fed on each other like normal animals as well. The best known example of this was with the rajang species that hunted those of the kirin species for their horns. Sometimes the kirin who was hunted would also die in the process which led to the corpse usually getting eaten over time by small monsters or even other kirins.

The skin on the outside of the flesh was inedible so the chef removed it which led to an amazing discovery. Just a few inches below the skin in the center of the mass of flesh was a gem with a glowing red luster to it that Alex wasted no time snatching away before anyone could do anything about it. This was one of the most precious items that could be found within the bodies of both very old and very powerful monsters that slowly developed.

Alex had no doubts at all that if he were to eat this gem he would generate an incredible trait. However as much as saving it for later pained him Alex also knew he would definitely not be able to unlock the trait he got anytime soon. The most common use of these gems however also interested Alex as their main purpose was to upgrade elemental armaments or armors used by hunters. Alex knew he could probably commission a piece of equipment to be made using this gem at the smithy but he wasn't sure whether or not it would be worth it.

For now however Alex merely stored the apple sized jewel in the leather pouch tied around his neck. This pouch was the very same kind as what the hunters themselves used out in the field with built in waterproofing and elemental resistance features along with the crazy spatial distortion it had that made the inside bigger than the outside. How this worlds people could make something so crazy despite being very primitive in their lifestyle was beyond Alex but he didn't feel like jumping down that endless rabbit hole and just decided to ignore these inconsistencies.

The chef came to the first problem with cooking zorah's meat however when he cut off a small piece to test it's flavor. As a fire attribute monster zorah's flesh was incredible resistant to heat to the point when the chef put it on the stone flat top it didn't start cooking at all. The meat didn't sizzle or anything despite sitting on a piping hot stone with a roaring fire directly under it. The chef didn't look too bothered by this since other fire attribute monsters flesh tended to have similar properties. The solution to this was a sort of a marinade that chefs had developed over the years that killed the cellular activity of the flesh basically stripping away the fire resistance without damaging the flavor.

A short five minute soak in the marinade later and the meat was back on the grill except this time it started to sizzle and cook immediately. Once thoroughly cooked the chef popped the small piece of meat into his mouth and chewed with a serious expression before swallowing. This was all the chef needed to know what he wanted to do with the meat apparently as he sliced the rest of the flesh into large strips before dropping them in the vat of marinade to soak for a bit.

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