He pointed his thick index finger at the suspicious white smoke:

"And that 'heating stone'! It's a mineral from the Redbeard Clan's hunting grounds. Please leave our clan's wealth and don't attempt any dangerous actions!"

When Mark's team heard the words of the dwarf opposite them, they felt inexplicably embarrassed and their eyes involuntarily drifted towards the steam.

At this time, the steam from where Enzo was lying was rising faster and faster. One could almost hear the hissing and wailing sound like suppressed lava overload, and a red light flickered under the steam.

The dwarf warrior's roar, full of vigilance and questioning, echoed in the cold wind. The double-edged battle axe in his hand, which looked like it could split an iceberg, was pointing directly at the "suspicious ore" that was still "puffing" and emitting increasingly thick white steam and faintly revealing a red light.

If the huge rock that Enzo turned into was not too conspicuous, the dwarves' attention should have been focused on Anna and Monica in black scale armor.

After all, when they first appeared, Monica didn't even have time to fold up her shadow wings.

Anna had already silently placed her hand on the bowstring, and her dark purple pupils had begun to search for the vital points of these dwarves.

However, he saw the dwarf warrior on the opposite side staring stubbornly at the boulder that Enzo had turned into.

While Mark breathed a sigh of relief, the corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch violently.

After quietly performing camouflage surgery on herself and Anna, Monica resisted the urge to hold her forehead and the pain deep in her soul. She took a step forward gracefully and walked out from behind Mark, with just the right amount of apology and friendliness in her burgundy eyes.

"Respected warrior of the Redbeard Clan," her voice was as gentle and clear as a hot spring flowing across the icy plains, "please forgive our intrusion. We did not intentionally trespass on your hunting grounds. It was simply... an unexpected magical teleportation that flung us from the Lily Kingdom thousands of miles away to this unfamiliar icy plain."

She turned slightly to show the people behind her who were exhausted and equipped with various equipment, and at the same time cleverly used her body to block most of the still steaming "ore" Enzo.

"We are adventurers from Osborne Town, carrying out a guild mission, and we encountered an uncontrollable accident. This..." She pointed at Mark, "is our captain, Mark, a favored one of the Holy Light, and also a culinary enthusiast with a deep understanding of food."

"A patron of Holy Light? A cooking enthusiast?" The leading dwarf warrior's beard twitched, and he lowered the tip of his axe slightly. A hint of doubt flashed in his small eyes, but more of it was vigilance towards the "strange adventurer" and "that hot stone."

"The Light's Favored One came to the Northern Ice Plains to research food? Also, what's going on with that stone? Why is it constantly smoking? Is it some kind of dangerous magical creature or unexploded alchemical product?"

Just when Mark was thinking about how to explain that "this stone is actually a very failed disguise of our dwarf teammate who is afraid of scaring the fellow villagers."

The Forbidden Tome in his arms seemed to heat up slightly as he sensed the pure elemental aura related to forging and fire coming from the dwarves, and he caught the scent of hunger.

At the same time, his instinct as a "soul reconciler" was also stimulated by the immediate environment.

The biting air, the body in dire need of hot food, and the dwarf's eyes that clearly showed special interest in "hot food"...

Mark was enlightened, and immediately put on his deceptive, gentle, and sincere "signature smile of a priest" on his face. He took a step forward and spoke in a gentle voice:

"Dear warrior, this is not dangerous. It's just... one of our special cooking utensils malfunctioned along the way and is dissipating heat. You see, in this icy and snowy place, meeting is fate. We were planning to use local ingredients to make some hot food to ward off the cold. Would you mind inviting everyone to share it? It would be an apology for our presumptuous intrusion into the hunting grounds."

"Cooking utensils?" The dwarf warrior's nose twitched subconsciously. Although he didn't smell anything, the words "hot food" had unparalleled appeal to the dwarf who was traveling in the cold wind.

The other dwarves behind him also began to whisper to each other, the vigilance in their eyes slightly reduced, and began to be filled with curiosity and anticipation.

Ever since the dwarves migrated to the Arctic Ice Fields, they have not had contact with the human kingdoms in the central continent for hundreds of years.

Only a few small clans that are relatively close to the human kingdom will occasionally go to the human kingdom to trade, in exchange for some relatively rare materials to return to the dwarf clan.

They also miss human delicacies very much.

"Yes." Mark's smile remained unchanged, and he began to take things out from the gap in the starlight naturally.

A huge, sturdy-looking soup pot, several bottles of strong-smelling seasonings, including his special soul-igniting hot sauce, and some long-lasting dry food and dried meat.

"We're from the south, and we're experts in a cooking style called 'hot pot.' In this freezing place, sitting together, eating hot, spicy, and delicious hot pot food, and drinking a few sips of strong liquor is definitely the best way to beat the cold."

"Hot pot?" The dwarves repeated the unfamiliar word, their eyes fixed on the big pot.

Just do it!

Mark gave the order confidently: "Anna, please go to the beach and see if you can find some fresh shellfish or seaweed. Monica, see if there are any hardy, edible roots or fungi nearby. I'll take care of the dried meat and soup base..."

As he spoke, he seemingly inadvertently kicked an ordinary piece of ice at his feet, causing it to roll next to the "faulty cooking utensil" that was still stubbornly emitting white steam, slightly blocking his view.

The misunderstanding is temporarily resolved!

Mark deftly started a fire using the collected dry lichen and a small piece of accelerant. He first fried the base ingredients until fragrant, and then poured snow water into the pot.

As if by magic, he took out some fresh meat marinated with special spices that was stored in the gap between the stars and prepared in Osborne Town, and cut it into thin slices with a dagger.

At the same time, several kinds of plump cold-water clams that Anna found, potato-like roots that Monica found, and a dark blue cold-resistant mushroom were processed clean.

When the soup base in the pot began to boil, Mark threw those mysterious seasonings, especially the small spoonful of concentrated bright red and attractive special hot sauce into the pot——

"Gudong."

A clear swallowing sound was heard from a young dwarf from the Redbeard Clan.

The rich and complex aroma with strong spicy and umami flavors, like an invisible field, expanded instantly, domineeringly dispelling the surrounding chill, and firmly grasping the olfactory nerves of all dwarves!