Chapter 24: Breadfruit Cake

Chapter 24: Breadfruit Cake

At the ingredient collection point, Vasita picked up a basket of ingredients for egg fried rice, steak, and vegetable salad. After meeting up with Moran, she glanced into Moran's basket and froze

"Moran! Why did you take so many seasonings, especially salt and sugar?"

"I'm afraid I won't have the stomach for other foods for the next few days, and breadfruit is just too terrible to eat. So, I want to try making it taste a bit better."

As Moran spoke, she picked up a jar of honey from a passing shelf.

Breadfruit only smelled like bread, but its moisture content was actually quite good; juicing the breadfruit was another possibility.

"Didn't Senior Lilith say that breadfruit can't be cooked?" Vasita finished her sentence and then slapped her forehead. "Oh right! Moran, you are a soul from another world. Perhaps cooking methods from another world will work!"

"If I succeed, I might have to ask you to help me taste-test it," Moran said.

While other witches were satisfied with just a little bit of breadfruit, only Vasita could eat hundreds of skewers at once when she was hungry!

"Sure, sure!" Having tasted Moran's egg fried rice, Vasita was incredibly expectant.

If breadfruit could become delicious, it would be perfect!

After carrying the basket home, Vasita even went with her to the breadfruit grove to help pick a few clusters of breadfruit.

She stayed by her side, curiously acting as an assistant.

Moran decided to try making candied fruit first.

Candied fruit was easy to preserve and carry, making it suitable for the breadfruit's effect of providing quick satiety and energy replenishment.

Breadfruit had no seeds and a very thin skin, so Moran directly sliced two breadfruits and put them in the steamer.

With Senior Lilith's warning in mind, she and Vasita pressed the lid down tightly and waited nervously.

After less than a minute of steaming, they felt "bang, bang, bang" thumping sounds coming from inside the pot, with considerable force.

After a while, once they were sure the explosions had ended, they finally lifted the lid.

The entire pot was filled with fine, yellow fruit pulp. At first glance, it looked like some kind of excrement. Vasita frowned, "Can this still be used?"

"It looks like I can't make candied fruit, but it'll work perfectly for breadfruit cake."

Moran collected all the fruit pulp and stirred in sugar.

Thinking that breadfruit was even more sour than sour jujube, she added even more sugar.

To enhance the flavor, she also mixed in some pumpkin puree.

Once fully stirred, she spread it onto a baking tray, put it in the oven to dry at a low temperature, and then cut it into small pieces to complete the process.

Two breadfruits and one pumpkin produced a full basket of breadfruit cake.

"Try some!" Moran and Vasita each took a piece.

"Mmm! Delicious! It's sweet and sour!" The joy in Vasita's eyes was impossible to hide. "Moran! You succeeded on your first try! You're amazing!"

Moran shook her head. "It's too early to say! It just means the flavor is acceptable, but I don't know if the special effects of the breadfruit have been destroyed!"

She had eaten an entire breadfruit this morning and still didn't feel hungry; she probably couldn't sense the satiety effect of the breadfruit.

Vasita was much the same; eating one or two pieces of the cake, even though it was made of breadfruit, didn't make her stomach feel much different.

Moran looked at the sky outside. "It's still early; Senior Lilith and Sylph shouldn't have eaten yet!"

"I'll go call them!" Vasita ran out in a flurry.

A few minutes later, the four little witches gathered together.

Lilith and Sylph stared at the yellow slices on the table. "This was made from breadfruit?"

Moran nodded. "I added pumpkin too. Vasita and I have tasted it; the flavor is okay, but I don't know if the super satiety and mana recovery effects are still there."

Only then did Lilith and Sylph take a piece to eat.

"How is it?" Moran asked expectantly.

"The taste is amazing! I love it!" Sylph could hardly believe this was made from the tooth-achingly sour breadfruit.

Lilith nodded. "The taste is good, but the mana recovery effect seems to be gone... Did you heat it up?"

"Yes, I steamed it," Moran said.

"That explains it. A senior once researched this and found that once breadfruit is heated and explodes, the mana recovery effect disappears. That might be what caused the explosion," Lilith said.

The effect Moran wanted to preserve most was the mana recovery, so she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed upon hearing this.

At that moment, Sylph said, "But the satiety effect of the breadfruit seems to still be there! I was a little hungry just now, but after eating one piece, I feel full. It feels similar to taking a bite of raw breadfruit."

"The satiety effect is unaffected," Lilith confirmed.

"Then this can be a portable snack! You can take some when you go to the castle for class, and that solves lunch," Vasita suggested.

"That's true! This is easier to carry than regular bread pastries, and the satiety is stronger. Since it's made of breadfruit, it's also nutritious. It's great for a quick snack to fill the stomach."

Lilith felt there was indeed merit to the idea.

Moran felt a bit better. Even if it couldn't restore mana, it would be good for filling her stomach when she didn't have time to cook.

Besides, this was only her first attempt.

If it were truly that easy, even if only an unskilled little witch were researching it, people wouldn't still be eating raw breadfruit to this day.

Moran divided the breadfruit cake she made into four portions, wrapped them in greaseproof paper, and gave one portion each to Vasita and the other two. "This is for you!"

"Oh, we couldn't possibly!" Lilith felt embarrassed to accept food from a junior who hadn't even learned cooking magic yet.

Without using magic, one had to try doing things by hand, and making food was not easy.

"It's a sample gift!" Moran said. "I still have other ideas I haven't tried yet, so I'll have to rely on you all to taste-test them later!"

"Then I won't be polite. Just call me next time!" Only then did Lilith happily accept it.

"Me too!" Vasita and Sylph added.

"Alright!" Moran said with a smile.

After seeing them off, Moran sighed, picked a smaller breadfruit, and began eating it in small bites.

Poor her—she had been busy all afternoon, yet she didn't dare eat much of the cake she made; she had to save room to eat breadfruit to recover her mana.

Classes would start tomorrow. No matter how much she felt sorry for her tongue, she had to recover as much mana as possible to deal with tomorrow's lessons.

The first class was at ten in the morning. Although the class time was late, she had to climb the mountain to reach the castle, which took two hours, so she had to get up at six tomorrow.

Therefore, she planned to go to bed early tonight. Fearing it would affect her sleep, she only ate until she was slightly full.

She wondered what "Introduction to Alchemy" would teach. It must be very interesting.

Would they hand out wands before class? Or the Witch's Book? Would they be given at the start of the semester or upon graduation...

After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, she finally drifted into a dream.

In her dream, she was holding a wand in class, going "biu~ biu~ biu~," feeling quite happy.

(End of Chapter)