After returning from the sea, life settled back into its usual rhythm.
Morpheus, as carefree as ever, occasionally attended school but spent most of his time wandering around Tokyo.
Time passed day by day.
Only ten days remained until the Dark Tournament.
Morpheus received a prayer from Nikola Tesla, who claimed to have a new invention for him to evaluate.
Without hesitation, Morpheus cast a teleportation spell and arrived in Raccoon City.
Yes, this place had become the new headquarters of the Umbrella Corporation.
Morpheus wasn't sure what Nikola Tesla was thinking, but after becoming the new director of the Umbrella Corporation, he had relocated its headquarters to Raccoon City.
Inside the Umbrella Corporation's new headquarters, in the laboratory, Nikola Tesla led Morpheus to inspect a massive machine he had recently built.
One end of the machine resembled a giant pressure cooker.
As Nikola Tesla activated it, a large quantity of food was fed into the machine.
With a rumbling sound, the machine began to operate.
Using a clairvoyance spell, Morpheus could see clearly: the machine's interior used a unique vibration method to pulverize and break down the food, turning it into liquid.
This liquid then flowed through a pipeline, exiting the machine.
It underwent dozens of processes—purification, filtration, and others Morpheus couldn't fully comprehend—before transforming into a golden liquid, which was injected into three separate glass vials.
Each vial contained roughly ten milliliters.
Curious, Morpheus asked, "What is this?"
Nikola Tesla replied, "Gourmet Cells."
Morpheus let out a surprised "Hah!" The answer shocked him. He knew what Gourmet Cells were, of course, but he hadn't expected Nikola Tesla to extract them from food.
Impressive.
Truly worthy of the man closest to divinity.
In Toriko, awakening Gourmet Cells typically required one of two methods.
The first was eating.
Many foods contained Gourmet Cells.
If you ate enough, a few lucky individuals might awaken them.
The second method was injecting Gourmet Cells.
However, the technique for extracting Gourmet Cells was something only a select few could master.
Morpheus hadn't anticipated that Nikola Tesla would deliver such a surprise by successfully extracting Gourmet Cells from vast quantities of food.
"Remarkable."
Morpheus gave a thumbs-up, praising Tesla, then asked, "What's the success rate of injecting these Gourmet Cells?"
Nikola Tesla answered, "One hundred percent. The Gourmet Cells I've purified will awaken immediately upon injection, with no issues whatsoever."
As expected of you, Tesla.
Morpheus praised the man again, then handed over a large quantity of food to Nikola Tesla.
According to Tesla, about ten tons of food were needed to extract a single dose of Gourmet Cells.
Of course, higher-grade food required less quantity.
Fortunately, Morpheus had an abundance of food—ten tons was a trivial amount for him.
In Toriko, there were countless massive creatures.
Take the Regal Mammoth, for instance.
Known as the "Ancient Food Treasure," This enormous mammoth grew rapidly, reaching fifty meters in length within weeks of birth.
While its reproductive rate was low, it was incredibly long-lived, surviving over five hundred years and growing continuously.
As its size increased, so did its capture level.
Fully grown, it exceeded fifteen hundred meters, with a capture level of forty-eight.
Its weight surpassed five thousand tons.
Notably, somewhere within the Regal Mammoth's body lay the Jewel Meat, a delicacy combining the finest flavors of all its parts.
Its location varied by individual, making it extremely difficult to find.
As a premium ingredient, its rarity made it the ultimate delicacy in ancient times, and its gem-like brilliance even led to its use in… wedding rings.
Not only was it a gift for men to woo women, but slaying a Regal Mammoth also proved one's strength.
Thus, since ancient times, the Jewel Meat was a treasure only heroes could obtain.
Naturally, Morpheus's Light Dimension housed Regal Mammoths.
Originally scarce, their numbers surged after Morpheus's cultivation efforts. Now, the Light Dimension contained hundreds, if not thousands, of them.
Additionally, Morpheus used his Annihilation Maker magic to produce smaller Regal Mammoths.
These were only about a hundred meters long.
Yet their meat was identical in quality to the Jewel Meat.
Their weight was around a hundred tons.
So, ten tons of food was no issue for Morpheus.
He could easily provide Nikola Tesla with tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of tons of food.
This was enough to extract Gourmet Cells for thousands of people.
Gourmet Cells had far greater growth potential and limits than the Blacklight Serum.
Compared to Gourmet Cells, the Blacklight Serum was utterly inferior.
Thus, Morpheus reserved Gourmet Cells exclusively for his followers—non-followers could not access them.
This was, in essence, his core product.
Morpheus then distributed the Gourmet Cells extracted by Nikola Tesla to each of his followers via the follower platform.
He instructed them not to share or give the cells to others.
As for Erina Nakiri, though she had already awakened her Gourmet Cells, Morpheus, for fairness, gave her a new dose as well.
What she chose to do with it was her decision, and Morpheus wouldn't interfere.
It was Erina's rightful share.
Without her, Morpheus wouldn't have devoured the Gourmet World, gained access to vast amounts of food, or enabled Nikola Tesla to develop the Gourmet Cell extraction technology.
Thus, Erina had the right to distribute her Gourmet Cells as she saw fit.
She could give them to anyone she wanted.
Even if she gave them to a dog, Morpheus would only applaud.
However, Erina didn't squander them so extravagantly as to give them to a dog.
Instead, she gave them to someone Morpheus hadn't expected.
Alice Nakiri.
Well, that was…
Morpheus had assumed Erina might give her dose to her grandfather, Senzaemon Nakiri, who had raised her.
Or perhaps to her mother, Mana Nakiri, despite their strained relationship.
Yet, Erina handed the Gourmet Cells to Alice Nakiri, which was surprising.
Still, since it was Erina's decision, Morpheus had no objections.
So be it.
He had plenty of Gourmet Cells to spare, after all.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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