Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

What Li Tao didn't expect was that Sister Lan actually found him on the eve of the finals and asked him to represent the Adventurer's Guild and serve as the notary and host of the finals.

"What's going on? Also, why me?" Li Tao was full of doubts.

Sister Lan explained to him, "Large-scale competitions like this always require a notary... Originally I was supposed to go this time, but something suddenly happened at the association, so I had to go to Mondstadt. I recommended Catherine to my superiors, but they rejected my proposal and immediately picked an idle adventurer to replace me as the notary."

Li Tao blinked: "What about the host? I haven't received relevant training, right?"

Sister Lan pushed him and said, "I haven't received any training. Isn't the job of a host just to memorize the script and not be stage-frightened? I believe in you, it'll be fine."

I have questions!

Li Tao was extremely speechless, but he couldn't refute anything, so he could only prepare in advance...

//////

On the day of the final, Li Tao had to bid farewell to his teammates and go to the competition field.

"Welcome everyone to the finals of this year's Liyue Chef Competition. I am the adventurer Li Tao, invited by the Food Festival Organizing Committee to serve as the notary and host of this competition."

"Oh, Brother Li is really hosting the show. He looks quite impressive!"

Looking at Xingqiu and Chongyun waving at him with smirks on their faces, Li Tao could guess what they were talking about.

He tried to maintain a serious expression and continued to introduce to everyone: "After discussion by the organizing committee, the Chef King Competition, which has been held twice, has been restructured this year: instead of being led by a private business association and funded by various businesses, it will be hosted by the Liyue Seven Stars and undertaken by multiple units;"

"At the same time, the competition format has been changed from the two-stage 'qualifiers-finals' to the three-stage 'qualifiers-eliminations-finals'. Now, the qualifiers and eliminations have ended, and the finals will be held here, right in front of you!"

"On behalf of the Food Festival Organizing Committee, the Adventurers' Association, and all the people of Liyue, I am here to notarize the competition and ensure the fairness of the entire competition process!"

"Next, let us invite the four judges to come on stage! They are——"

"Lord Tianquan Ningguang!"

"Secretary Yue Haiting, Miss Ganyu!"

"Experienced gourmet, Uncle Tian!"

"And...the head of the Wangsheng Hall, Kurumi!"

That's right, not only Li Tao was the host of the finals, but Hu Tao also served as a judge. As for who he was, it was of course a certain old man who was invited by the organizing committee but did not want to show up for the time being.

As for Yuheng Keqing, she did not serve as a judge after serving as a judge in the elimination rounds to avoid risks. But she also watched the finals from the back of the arena.

Li Tao glanced at the four familiar judges sitting on the judges' bench, and continued to force himself to recite the script in a calm tone: "...In addition to these four, the organizing committee will also select ten people from the audience to taste the dishes prepared by the contestants and vote."

"That is to say, there are a total of fourteen judges on and off the field, and fourteen valid anonymous votes will be cast for the two contestants respectively. The one with the higher number of votes will be the champion today!"

"Woo——"

The audience burst into cheers again.

Li Tao also felt that he was infected by the atmosphere and became excited: "Of course, how can we miss the protagonists of this final? Let us welcome the two teams that have entered the final!"

"The team standing on my left is the representative team of the Chenyu Valley region. Their team is composed of chefs from a caravan. Their chief chef is Lawrence, a merchant from Mondstadt!"

"The team standing on my right is one of the Liyue Harbor teams, the Wanmin Hall team! Their head chef is Wanmin Hall's cook Xiangling, and the original Wanmin Hall chef, Xiangling's father, Master Mao, only appeared as her assistant chef in the finals. Oh, and of course there is Xiangling's mysterious assistant partner. The three of them make up the entire Wanmin Hall team."

Kurumi burst out laughing: "What's the point of that introduction?"

Li Tao continued in all seriousness, "Next, please ask the two main contestants to swear to me: As a finalist in this year's Chef King Competition, I will go all out and complete the competition process fairly."

After Lawrence and Xiangling repeated this sentence, Li Tao continued: "Well, next, please invite the judge, Master Ningguang, to announce the theme of this competition!"

Ningguang stood up from the judges' seat and used elemental power to strengthen her voice, spreading it far away so that the audience could hear it: "Thank you all for coming to the finals of this year's Chef Championship. I am Tianquan Ningguang. On behalf of the organizer, the key word I propose for this year's finals is: "Ancient Charm, New Flavor."

After the topic was announced, Li Tao immediately explained: "You only need to make one dish. At the same time, the contestants will have five minutes to think about the dish they are going to make next. After that, the two teams will have half an hour to complete the dish using the ingredients provided by the contestant."

Ningguang spoke again: "I hope both teams can understand the key to this final - the winner takes it all." After that, she nodded towards where Li Tao was.

Li Tao raised his hand and announced loudly: "Then, this year's Chef King Competition officially begins! The countdown will start in five minutes!"

//////

"Ancient style with new flavor... How should this theme be interpreted?" Li Tao retreated behind the scenes and pondered this question. He could not go to the audience to discuss it with his teammates for the time being, so he could only ponder on his own while watching the two teams on the field.

However, neither Xiangling nor Lawrence seemed to dwell on this matter for a long time, and they each thought of the dishes they were going to make. After all, they only had five minutes to think, and only one hour to make the dishes. If they wasted too much time thinking about the dishes they were going to make, they would not be able to finish them when they really started.

Li Tao stopped letting his imagination run wild and instead watched the actions of both sides curiously.

Xiangling selected chicken breast, shrimp, golden arowana, spinach, eggs, dough, starch and some seasonings, and then started to prepare the various ingredients with Chef Mao.

On Lawrence's side, after discussing with other caravan chefs, he selected some apples, a fresh bluefin sea bass, a few lemons, some olive oil, black pepper and other ingredients, and also began to divide the work to process the ingredients of his choice.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two teams showed their talents, and soon there was a wisp of smoke rising from the field. The whole field was filled with fragrance, as if every corner was filled with the aroma of delicious food. The audience was attracted by the fragrance and looked at it from afar, as if they were in a kingdom of food. The chefs sweated in the fragrance, cooking each dish carefully, striving to present the most delicious food to the audience.

"Hmm... From this position, it's hard to see what the two sides are doing. Let's wait for the final tasting stage."

Li Tao, standing backstage, could only wait impatiently for the hour to pass.

I believe that both teams will give their best to create enticing dishes, right?

......

Because the host still needed to guide the scene, after the two teams finished cooking, Li Tao came on stage again and announced to everyone: "Time is up! The contestants of the two teams have finished their dishes. Now, please ask the two chefs to send the dishes to the judges' table for them to taste."

"In order of completion, first let Xiangling introduce her team's dish."

Xiangling said confidently: "This is the dish I made - Emerald Dragon and Phoenix Roll! It is a combination of chicken breast, shrimp and golden arowana. In terms of the cooking method, this dish uses the traditional Liyue frying method. The tender meat of chicken breast and golden arowana is cut into thin strips, added with vegetable cubes and small shrimps, rolled into pre-wrapped dough, coated with egg liquid and starch, and fried in a pan."

Isn't this just a spring roll with extra ingredients? Li Tao understood immediately.

"Meanwhile, take out the blanched spinach, drain it, sprinkle it with salt and serve it on a plate with the dragon and phoenix rolls. Finally, pour the prepared sauce on the dish. This is the entire production process of this [Emerald Dragon and Phoenix Roll]."

Judge Tianshu smiled and said, "It draws on the traditional Liyue snack spring rolls, and boldly adds many delicious ingredients to innovate. This is indeed a dish with an ancient charm and a new taste. However, you still have to wait to taste it to understand how it tastes."

Li Tao quickly said, "So, contestant Lawrence? Please introduce the dishes made by your team."

"This dish is pan-fried bluefin fish with apples." Lawrence stepped forward and said, "I believe you can see that this is a Mondstadt-style dish."

“This dish uses a lot of apples and some lemons, which greatly enhances the sweet and sour flavor of the dish. At the same time, the method of frying the fish and the vegetable oil used are absolutely strictly in accordance with traditional cooking methods.”

"After preparing the fish, my partner and I marinated the fish with salt and black pepper, and washed and sliced ​​the apples. Then, we controlled the heat and fried the fish. We added olive oil to the pan, fried the fish fillets on the pan, sprinkled with apple slices, and dripped lemon juice. Finally, we added some coriander as garnish, and the dish [Apple Pan-Fried Bluefin Fish] was ready."

“Interesting,” Ningguang said. “Mondstadt’s cuisine really likes to use apples, and also uses local ingredients from Liyue… Can this be considered an exotic [Ancient Charm with New Flavor]?”

Walnut said with a smile: "However, the final decision is not entirely in our hands - which side's food is more popular, let the host first announce the list of ten lucky audience members who are fortunate enough to participate in the vote!"

......

Li Tao immediately read out the names of the lucky audience members who were selected to vote according to the list handed to him by a staff member. Interestingly, Chongyun's name was also on the list. Therefore, the ten audience members happily ran to the stadium, and Chongyun quietly approached Li Tao and asked, "Brother Li, those two dishes are not spicy, right? Don't make me look bad..."

Li Tao also whispered to him: "One is fresh and fragrant, the other is sweet and sour, and not spicy. You can eat and vote without worrying about it. You don't have to deliberately take care of Xiangling."

However, the opportunity to comment is of course left to the judges.

The first person to comment was Wang Xiaomei from Yuehaiting... Ah, the Seven Star Secretary, Ganyu. She only picked up the spinach and apple from the two dishes, and tried to smile and said, "Ahahaha... Because I'm a vegetarian, I can't taste the essence of the two dishes. But for me, the spinach in Xiangling's dish is more to my liking. The apple slices on the other dish have been soaked in fish flavor, so I can't eat too much."

Lawrence's expression suddenly became tense - how come there are vegetarians among the judges!

Li Tao just complained silently: Ganyu’s race is all like this...well, it’s caused by long-term vegetarianism.

Fortunately, except for Ganyu, everyone else was pretty normal. At least Tianshu clearly praised the dishes of both teams: "This [Emerald Dragon and Phoenix Roll] shows Xiangling's clever use of ingredients and her love for food. The combination of chicken breast and shrimp symbolizes the auspiciousness of dragon and phoenix, while the emerald spinach adds a touch of fresh green, making the whole dish both traditional and innovative."

"This dish [Seared Bluefin with Apple] is also - I have eaten Mondstadt cuisine, so of course I know the taste of traditional Mondstadt cuisine. This dish combines traditional Mondstadt cuisine with advanced cooking techniques, presenting a perfect fusion of refreshing fruity aroma and delicious fish. The sweetness of the apple and the sourness of the lemon complement each other, making the fish more delicious. At the same time, the addition of rosemary adds a touch of fresh fragrance to the dish, which makes people linger on it."