Breath of the Wild, Part 11: Now We're Cooking

Today began with a shrine that I discovered in the middle of Lake Hylia. Although I still don’t have a Korok leaf, and therefore no raft access, the Lake Tower is tall enough that I could glide all the way there. This Shrine Challenge was called “Shatter the Heavens”, and inside was a giant stone block on a track, beneath which was a chute to drop a bomb into. Ok, I have to ride the block like an elevator, that’s easy enough...

...nope, I should’ve paid more attention to the challenge title. I hit a ceiling and died instantly. What I didn’t notice was that the ceiling is made of bombable blocks. I tried a few different things, but soon realized a bomb arrow would do the trick. I did not have any bomb arrows.

Instead, I decided to explore the island this shrine is on and the islands that surround it. Not much to report, I’m afraid, although I did discover a new kind of Octorok (they have a fake treasure chest on their head, which is the pits) and I met a Zora named Mei. Mei’s a fishmonger who’s collecting fish to sell at Zora’s Domain.

Let’s pause for a second. This is a Zora. Yesterday I met a Rito. Wind Waker says the Zora became the Rito after the Great Sea formed. There are no Zora in Wind Waker or any of its sequels, so what gives? The plot thickens on where this game falls in the timeline.

Anyway, I set out to get some bomb arrows and got distracted by finally trying my hand at cooking food. I didn’t do anything fancy, just cooked individual ingredients to see what they become. Turns out there are different categories of dishes that various items fall into. All mushrooms become mushroom skewers, all plants become mixed vegetables, etc. But different items can become different versions of a dish (a sneaky mushroom skewer vs a durable mushroom skewer, for instance), and even items that become the same dish might have different stars (a mushroom skewer worth 3 hearts vs a mushroom skewer worth 5 hearts). If you try to cook something that can’t be cooked, you get “dubious food”, which still provides a heart but may have side effects, I can’t really tell.

I figured the guy at the archery camp would have bomb arrows and I was right. I figured while I was there that I should try the archery game again. Mistake. I won’t even talk about it.

The shrine was easy and I got my fourth Spirit Orb, so I prayed to Hylia for more stamina. With this, plus some bonus stamina I got from a cooked endura carrot, I was able to mount and tame the Giant Horse, which I named Nightfury. 

Nightfury has max strength, 5 stars. I hear there are two other Giant Horses, so I imagine they’ll have max speed and max stamina, respectively. Brunblitz will still be my main steed for now, but I’m glad to have Nightfury, especially since it means I completed my first sidequest!

As I headed to the stable to register Nightfury, I ran into a guy named Chumin, who’s a salesman. He was on his way to Lurelin Village. I have no idea where that is, but I can’t wait to go there!

I wanted to close the night by doing the stable’s riding challenge, but the Switch died right as I was about to. Tomorrow then!