Chapter 32: Bread Juice

Chapter 32: Breadfruit Juice

She made her way slowly down the mountain.

At the fork in the road at the foot of the mountain, Moran parted ways with Vasida and Sylph.

Moran went straight back to the dormitory, while Vasida and Sylph took the right fork; one was heading to the ingredient collection point, and the other wanted to find Beryl in the farmland.

After returning to the dormitory, she took out a basket of breadfruit to experiment with different ways of cooking it.

Since heating would destroy the breadfruit's mana-restoring effects, Moran decided to try cold pickling instead.

Referencing the method for pickling plums, she cut the breadfruit into small pieces, flattened them with the back of a knife, and pickled them with different seasonings.

She made small dishes of sugar-pickled, salt-pickled, and savory-spicy varieties.

The estimated pickling time ranged from thirty minutes to two hours.

Then, using a large amount of salt, she pickled a small jar of plums; after letting them sit overnight and draining the moisture, she would add minced garlic and rock sugar—this batch was intended to pickle for a week.

It was a pity she didn't have soy sauce; otherwise, she could have pickled a batch with that as well.

Once those were finished, Moran began attempting to squeeze the breadfruit into juice.

There was no juicer in the dormitory kitchen, so she could only cut the breadfruit into as small pieces as possible, place them in a basin, and use a wooden pestle—the kind used for crushing garlic—to slowly pound and press out the juice.

When eating them raw, she felt the breadfruit was quite substantial, similar to the sensation of eating an apple.

But when it came to actual juicing, five or six breadfruits filled a large basin, yet she only managed to produce a single cup of thick breadfruit juice after several rounds of squeezing and filtering.

Moran took a sip. The sourness was so intense that she had no desire to try a second sip; it was several times more sour than eating the breadfruit raw.

However, it didn't matter; she had other methods.

She brewed a pot of warm honey water, adding quite a bit of white sugar, and stirred it thoroughly until dissolved. She took a sip.

It was cloyingly sweet, the complete opposite of the breadfruit water.

While waiting for the honey-sugar water to cool, Moran activated her energy vision and began tasting the pickled breadfruit dishes she had prepared earlier.

The sugar-pickled breadfruit pieces were sweet upon entry, but as soon as the teeth bit down, that hint of sweetness was washed away by sourness.

The salt-pickled ones were the same, though they tasted salty at first.

One could only say the mouthfeel was slightly better than eating them raw, but after that, it was much the same.

The satiety effect was unaffected, and under her energy vision, Moran saw that after eating these two plates of breadfruit, her energy aura brightened slightly, proving that the mana-restoring effect had not been compromised.

It seemed cold pickling was indeed a viable path, though short-term pickling didn't allow the flavors to penetrate deeply enough to significantly improve the taste. The ones in the jar might develop a decent flavor given enough time.

As for the savory-spicy variety, the initial taste was salty and spicy, followed by sour and spicy. The sourness and spiciness blended together, amplifying each other's intensity. The aftertaste was endless; before she could even finish a single bite, she was streaming with tears and snot.

Moran didn't even have time to observe her mana recovery before she rushed to gulp down several large glasses of water. It took several minutes before she recovered.

Once she had recovered, she immediately eliminated the savory-spicy version from her list.

One bite and she wasn't even full of breadfruit, yet she was so full of water from the spice that it was more agonizing than eating the breadfruit raw.

Her stomach was too bloated; even though the honey-sugar water had cooled down, Moran had to pace around the room to digest it before she could continue, fearing she might vomit.

After wandering for a while and feeling she had some energy left, Moran began adding the honey-sugar water to the breadfruit juice, tasting a bit after each addition.

It wasn't until the entire pot of sugar water had been added that the taste reached the level of a normal, pleasantly sweet and sour, palatable juice.

Moran took a few small sips and observed the changes in her aura's brightness. She was surprised to find that these few sips provided a recovery effect equivalent to the small pile of pickled breadfruit she had eaten earlier.

She took a few more sips. She wasn't mistaken!

Perhaps it was because it took several breadfruits to make the juice; indeed, concentration is essence.

Since her mana had not yet fully recovered, she drank a few more sips.

As she drank, Moran sensed something was off. She patted her stomach

"Based on this recovery effect, the satiety effect should be very strong too! Why has my energy aura brightened a bit, but my stomach doesn't feel particularly full?"

This effect felt wrong. Could the sensation of fullness have been affected?

She hadn't intended to disturb her companions tonight, but she couldn't hold back any longer.

Before long, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph arrived after hearing the news.

"Try some!" Moran poured a cup of honey breadfruit juice for each of them.

"Made by Moran? No need to taste it, I already know the flavor won't be wrong!" Vasida praised it before even drinking.

After all, she came from a world with a rich culinary culture!

"That's because you didn't see the miserable state I was in while testing other things just now." Even thinking about it now made Moran's scalp tingle.

Vasida grew curious: "What thing? Could it be worse than breadfruit?"

"Since you put it that way, I'll have to let you taste it!" Moran was very glad she hadn't thrown away that small dish of savory-spicy breadfruit yet.

She turned around, brought it over, and thoughtfully placed it in front of Vasida.

"..." Vasida wished she could slap herself!

"Added chili? And garlic? Raw?" Lilith wrinkled her nose. "I really can't imagine what breadfruit, chili, and garlic mixed together would taste like raw! But I've eaten this kind of chili; it's not very spicy! Vasida, just be careful not to eat the minced garlic and you should be fine."

Vasida took Lilith's advice, pushed aside the minced garlic, and picked up a tiny piece.

Moran silently brought her a large teapot.

The next second, Vasida was jumping in pain from the spice. Moran timely placed the teapot in her hands, and she grabbed it, gulping it down frantically.

Moran was not surprised. She turned and went to the washroom to get a wet towel. Once Vasida had calmed down a bit, Moran pressed the towel against her face, wiping away her tears and snot.

Vasida was dazed from the spice. She looked at Lilith accusingly: "Senior! You set me up!"

Lilith didn't believe her at all; she even thought Vasida was acting!

She also picked up a piece and put it in her mouth: "How could it be this spicy! I grew this chili myse—Hah! Water! Water!"

She had eaten too hastily, and Moran hadn't had time to pour the water.

Lilith couldn't take it anymore and directly used a Spring Spell to pour water into her mouth.

The first thing she did after catching her breath was ask, "Why is it so spicy!"

"It's likely the acidity of the breadfruit triggered the spiciness of the chili," Moran said.

The only survivor present, Sylph, felt extremely lucky that she was a slow-paced person, which had allowed her to escape disaster.

She quickly took a sip of the honey breadfruit water to calm her nerves.

The next moment, her eyes lit up: "This is delicious! You guys, try this!"

Hearing this, Vasida and Lilith also took a sip.

"It really is delicious!"

"It's worlds apart from that savory-spicy pickled breadfruit from just now!"