Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Teaching doesn’t require standing this close, right!
That thick Foundations of Magic Studies, heavy enough to kill someone if thrown, was temporarily placed on the low table beside the sofa.
She picked up the feather duster again and continued cleaning the remaining areas.
Scarlet Moon on the sofa did not speak again, her gaze merely falling on her from time to time.
Finally, near noon, the cleaning of the entire hall was declared complete.
The floor was as smooth as a mirror, the bookshelves spotless, and even the gaps in the decorative armor gleamed with a metallic sheen.
“Miss, the cleaning… is finished.”
Ling Xi walked to the front of the sofa, bowed slightly, and reported her work.
“Mm.” Scarlet Moon let out a sound through her nose and stood up. “Perfect timing. It’s time for lunch.”
“Go make the meal. For two.”
“Eh?”
“The kitchen is over there.”
Scarlet Moon pointed in another direction down the corridor. “All the ingredients are inside. I’m not picky.”
The words “not picky” somehow sounded more like the subtext of “Make whatever you want. If it tastes bad, you’re dead.”
She sighed and resigned herself as she walked toward the kitchen.
The kitchen was larger than she had imagined, even bigger than the apartment she used to live in.
A massive stone stove occupied an entire wall, above which hung a row of copper pots of varying sizes.
On a long wooden preparation table were placed all sorts of ingredients Ling Xi had never seen before.
Standing in front of the table, she felt her cognitive system take a hit.
On the wooden board before her lay a piece of dark red meat, its surface covered in a layer of fine, sharp black scales.
She picked up what looked like the sturdiest kitchen knife beside it, gestured at the slab of meat, then brought the blade down with force.
Clang!
A piercing metallic scraping sound rang out, numbing her wrist from the vibration.
The blade left only a white mark across the scales.
In the basket beside it was a pile of mushrooms.
Each cap displayed an excessively vivid rainbow color, the hues slowly shifting and flowing.
If someone ate that, wouldn’t they start seeing their life flash before their eyes on the spot?
Just then, faint footsteps sounded from behind her.
Ling Xi’s body instantly stiffened.
Scarlet Moon walked in.
In her hand, she held a long boning knife, its blade gleaming with a cold light.
Ling Xi did not even dare to turn her head.
Scarlet Moon walked up behind her and stopped.
The distance was very close.
So close that Ling Xi could smell the familiar fragrance on her and feel the faint chill radiating from her body.
The cold blade extended past Ling Xi’s cheek, the tip lightly tapping the scale-covered meat.
“This is the loin of a Flame-Scaled Boar.”
Scarlet Moon’s chest lightly pressed against Ling Xi’s back.
Her voice sounded right beside her ear; their faces were almost touching.
“Its scales are harder than steel. Chopping it directly is useless.”
Scarlet Moon’s free hand reached over and grasped the hand Ling Xi was using to hold the kitchen knife.
Then Scarlet Moon’s hand covered it, completely enveloping Ling Xi’s.
The two of them held the knife handle together just like that.
Ling Xi’s mind buzzed.
“Don’t lose focus.”
Scarlet Moon’s voice carried a hint of amusement.
She guided Ling Xi’s hand, aligning the tip of the blade with the gap between two scales.
“You have to insert the knife from here.”
With a slight push from her, the tip slid precisely into the gap.
There was no resistance at all.
“Then, keep it close to the inner side of the scales and separate the meat.”
She guided Ling Xi’s wrist, controlling the blade, removing the scales covering the slice of meat one by one.
Throughout the entire process, Scarlet Moon’s body never moved away.
Ling Xi felt as if her back was about to catch fire.
[Scarlet Moon felt pleased by your clumsiness. Fate Points +1]
[Current Fate Points: 12]
“This is a Prismatic Mushroom.”
“The way its colors change represents the flow of the illusion toxin inside.”
“If you eat it directly, you’ll see the thing you fear most, until your mind collapses.”
Unbelievable. Truly a top-tier assassin in the culinary world.
“However,”
That hand brought the mushroom close to Ling Xi’s eyes.
The shifting colors on the cap were only a few centimeters from her eyeballs.
“It only has one poison gland.”
Scarlet Moon’s hand paused beside Ling Xi’s cheek. On the knife rack, another smaller, thinner blade flew into Scarlet Moon’s hand.
She pinched the small knife between two fingers, the edge hovering precisely less than a centimeter from Ling Xi’s cheek.
Ling Xi’s body tensed in an instant.
With the slightest movement of those fingers, a streak of blood would appear on her smooth skin.
“Don’t be afraid. With such a delicate face, I wouldn’t bear to ruin it.”
Scarlet Moon spun the small knife once between her fingers, the tip drawing a silver line through the air.
“Its poison gland is hidden at the very bottom of the stem. You have to cut in from a specific angle to remove it intact.”
The hand holding the mushroom, along with Ling Xi’s hand, was turned to a different angle.
The other hand holding the knife moved as well, aligning the tip with a certain point on the stem.
“This toxin doesn’t affect me,” Scarlet Moon’s voice brushed against her ear, “but for you, it’s more than enough to be fatal.”
The cold blade pressed against the mushroom’s surface.
Ling Xi’s breathing halted.
The tip pierced in, followed by an extremely delicate twist.
A black sac, smaller than a grain of rice, was cleanly lifted out and rested on the knife’s tip.
Scarlet Moon released her hand.
She directly stuffed the small knife into Ling Xi’s palm.
“Handle the rest carefully.”
Scarlet Moon’s voice was very soft.
“If you accidentally rupture a poison sac, no one knows what kind of scene you’ll see.”
“When that happens, if you want me to save you, compensation will be required.”
Compensation…
Hearing that word from her mouth alone was enough to send a chill down one’s spine.
Each mushroom represented a possible mental breakdown.
She took a deep breath and, imitating what Scarlet Moon had done earlier, aimed the tip of the knife at the base of the stem.
Her hand was trembling.
The knife tip trembled along with it.
No, at this rate it would definitely rupture.
Ling Xi closed her eyes and took another deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
She recalled the sensation of Scarlet Moon holding her hand just now, that steadiness and precision.
When she opened her eyes again, her hand was steadier.
The tip pierced in and twisted.
A black sac was lifted out.
Success!
With the first success, the following movements became somewhat smoother.
By the time she finished handling the last mushroom, the maid outfit on her back was already soaked with cold sweat.
She looked at the pile of processed yet still completely unfamiliar ingredients on the preparation table, and her mind once again went blank.
How was she supposed to cook this?
Pan-fry? Stir-fry? Boil?
How was this stove even lit?
There was some firewood piled in the corner.
Surely she wasn’t expected to start a fire by drilling wood?
Ling Xi, who had originally planned to save up her points, bowed her head before reality.
Helplessly, she opened the System Store and exchanged for [Beginner Cooking].
A stream of culinary knowledge poured into her mind.
The alien ingredients that had just left her at a loss now had perfectly clear preparation methods.
She walked to the stove, pressed her hand against the rune, and infused it with mental energy.
Blazing flames rose up.
The meat went into the pan, spices were stir-fried, her movements skillful.
At last, a normal food aroma drifted from the pot instead of the scent of a disaster scene.
The fragrance from the kitchen soon spread outside.
[Scarlet Moon felt despair at your cooking skills. Fate Points -2]