Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1639 Golden Hunger

"Is the cabbage delicious?"

"It's not tasty. But this Pearl Jade White Jade Soup is absolutely delicious!"

"I think so too."

On the way back, Shangluo was still savoring the taste of that dish. The single ingredient in that dish was actually something that could be bought anywhere. But that dish gave him a rare experience he hadn't had in a long time: hunger.

He hadn't truly felt hungry in a long time. Firstly, he was rarely alone, so he seldom had the opportunity to decide when to eat. And when he was with a group of people, someone would always suggest eating at mealtimes, and then he would start eating. He rarely felt hungry.

Secondly, as a celestial being, he had not truly felt hunger for a long time.

It's not just ordinary hunger, but a physiological feeling that causes discomfort, a strong urge to eat due to an empty stomach.

This is somewhat like chili peppers—chili peppers stimulate the mouth and produce a burning sensation, but this burning sensation can also stimulate appetite and make food a richer experience.

This bottle of tangible "hunger" had a similar effect. By inducing a certain level of discomfort from hunger, it increased his appetite. It made the ordinary vegetable and tofu rice soup delicious, even earning praise from Zhu Ling, who never eats vegetables.

"So, how did you do that? Can you get some more?" Zhu Ling asked. "This is so delicious!"

Zhu Ling felt the same way as Shang Luo. Based on their eating habits, they were mostly full and rarely experienced true hunger.

Therefore, this bottle of hunger was all the more effective for him.

[This is very expensive. First of all, hunger is an abstract concept; it cannot exist in nothing. If you want to make hunger concrete, you need to find a basis for that concrete hunger.]

In other words, hunger itself is just a symbol. This symbol has no substance; it needs to find a substance to exist.

This is actually the theory of the Alexandrian school of alchemy—to transcend the physical form of things that have substance, and to give substance to things that do not have substance.

"So, what physical entity was used for this?" Shangluo asked.

[As you can see, it's gold—this is important because even silver isn't suitable for large-scale ingestion. The finer the silver particles, the more likely they are to cause unpredictable reactions with the body. Even just pigmentation is not a consequence that should occur with food-grade seasonings. Only gold is suitable for this.]

"Actually, eating a small amount of silver wouldn't be a problem, right?" [It's mainly a matter of dosage. Like chili peppers, a small amount is ineffective. To elicit a reaction through oral ingestion, an extremely high concentration is needed. Silver can't handle enough "hunger"—you only added a tiny bit of gold-based hunger to create a feeling of hunger. But if you wanted to eat silver-based alchemical seasoning, you'd probably need to sprinkle on a layer of pepper-like silver, and the dish would be unappetizing. It would also get stuck in your throat. Therefore, silver-based alchemical creations are generally used for industrial purposes; gold is always used in food.]

"But can gold be refined? I remember gold being very stable?"

[That's the tricky part. Gold is a perfect metal, and enchanting it with symbols is extremely difficult—but you just tasted the effect.]

"The effect is just..." Shangluo covered his forehead, "too, too, too strong! Humans naturally have a sense of hunger, yet it can be detected so strongly. Did Roman nobles use this as a seasoning?"

"No, not at all. Actually, the golden hunger I'm giving you is a brand new product, only produced in a few laboratories. Most gold-based 'hunger' is actually purple—because gold compounds are usually purple. Before enchanting pure gold, it's usually produced by reacting gold compounds, resulting in a purple powder. But, to be honest, the effect is mediocre. Refining pure gold itself is an extremely profound art, involving advanced alchemy like the 'Radiant Transformation' technique. The final result is a dreamlike golden color. By the way, I haven't tried it yet, what do you think?"

"I feel refreshed," Shangluo replied. "I feel my appetite has become healthier, and I want to eat on time today."

"I suddenly want to eat cabbage," Zhu Ling said in a deep voice. "Although cabbage isn't very tasty, it doesn't seem so bad either. I feel like I could try it sometime."

"The effect is really good, just like a miracle drug. Shangluo, you must keep that small bottle safe. I'll try it myself when I get out in a while. After all, this golden stuff isn't easy to find."

"I have a question... I actually have a question." Shang Luo pondered for a moment, then spoke up, "This thing is really useful; it's like a new-age chili pepper. It seems that after ascending to the Celestial Realm, ordinary food has become quite unappetizing. If we could introduce this kind of alchemy, wouldn't it increase everyone's appetite?"

Compared to mortals, celestials and even higher-level beings have significantly fewer desires in many aspects. Celestials themselves are relatively free of these desires, but those above them become increasingly less so. If some form of hunger could be manually introduced, the pleasure of food could be brought back.

"Would you like to try alchemy? Actually, it's not impossible. I remember in Rome, people actually start learning alchemy from elementary school."

"Yes, I played with this when I was a kid. So, this is, the pure gold hunger?"

Back home, Victoria saw the bottle and was quite surprised: "It's amazing that our country's alchemy has progressed to this level."

"Is this rare for you too?" Shang Luo asked. He assumed Victoria must have eaten these things often before, after all, she was the Empress of Rome.

Victoria nodded. "I've tried Purple Hunger. It tastes alright, but it's like some kind of MSG. It can become delicious if left out in the right amount of time. But it's very unstable, extremely unstable. If you put it in slightly warm food, the flavor dissipates. It's like you haven't put it in at all."

It's like green wasabi. While the flavor is wonderful, it's extremely volatile. A large portion of this flavor disappears when heated, so it's only suitable for raw or cold foods. Even when used in noodles, it must be completely cooled before mixing. This significantly limits the uses of wasabi.

(End of this chapter)