Chapter 1032 – Mo Lan’s Laid-Back Daily Life 16

The seed shot with precision toward the Armored Crusher Worm that was rapidly burrowing through the shallow seabed.

The instant the seed touched seawater and the giant worm’s hardened carapace, it erupted with terrifying vitality. Dark blue vines—thick as the roots of a thousand-year-old tree, covered in suckers and razor-sharp barbs—burst forth from the seed, growing, spreading, and coiling at a horrifying speed visible to the naked eye.

They sought out every gap in the carapace and every weak joint, drilling in and cinching tight.

No matter how frantically the Crusher Worm thrashed its body, tore with its mandibles, or even spewed streams of powerful acid, it could not break free from these vines specifically designed to strangle aquatic prey.

In the blink of an eye, the enormous worm—over ten meters long and terrifyingly strong—had been trussed up into a massive, continuously writhing “vine-wrapped dumpling.”

With a flicker of intent, Sylph manipulated the vines and “rolled” the heavy “dumpling” all the way back to the sandy shore with remarkable efficiency.

The remaining target—the Ghost Jellyfish King, elusive and semi-transparent like an enormous specter—naturally fell to Mo Lan.

She lightly raised a finger toward it.

In an instant, the surrounding seawater silently converged, spiraled, and shaped itself into a perfectly transparent spherical “water prison,” seamlessly encapsulating the Ghost Jellyfish King along with a small pocket of seawater, completely isolating it from the outside world.

The prison walls appeared thin as cicada wings, yet were incredibly resilient. The Ghost Jellyfish King inside rammed futilely against the invisible barrier, unable to budge it in the slightest.

With a flicker of Mo Lan’s intent, the enormous “water prison bubble”—over fifteen meters in diameter—rose steadily from the sea surface, drifting gently through the air back to the beach, where it settled softly onto the sand.

Nearby, Zhizhi saw that all the “ingredients” had been captured and hauled ashore with clean efficiency. She immediately planted her hands on her hips, puffed out her little chest, and facing the sea—still churning with dark currents and filled with more lurking, watchful eyes—let out a clear, majestic, drawn-out cry!

The cry wasn’t loud, yet it held together without dispersing, carrying the oppressive aura of a high-tier magical creature as it radiated outward.

The other sea beasts that had been restlessly stirring and trying to approach were struck by this wave of pressure as if doused with ice water, their ferocity extinguished in an instant.

They let out panicked whimpers and shrieks, unhesitatingly reversed course, and at speeds even greater than when they’d approached, plunged frantically into the deep sea without a backward glance. In moments, the sea surface returned to calm.

Zhizhi withdrew her gaze with satisfaction, hopped back onto Mo Lan’s shoulder, and struck a “See? Aren’t I amazing?” pose, clearly fishing for praise.

An unconscious Shadow Sea Dragon Eel, a near-dead Rift-Tooth Hammerhead Shark, an Armored Crusher Worm trussed up like a Rice Dumpling Corpse, and a massive water prison bubble containing a Ghost Jellyfish King—together they packed the beach to bursting.

“Perfect! Now we have everything we need!” Vasida rubbed her hands together, the smile on her face practically overflowing.

“Processing these big boys will take a bit of time. Sylph, didn’t you want to explore the seafloor?”

While directing her enchanted kitchen tools to get to work, Vasida said to Sylph:

“Go now! This stretch of ocean should be peaceful for a while. And while you’re at it, see if you can find any ‘Luminescent Sea Fennel,’ ‘Tidal Lemongrass,’ or ‘Abyssal Black Pepper Vine’ nearby.

These are all top-tier deep-sea spices. The Card Shop sells processed versions, sure, but they always seem to be missing that ‘fresh-from-the-ocean’ zing.

If you spot any good ones, gather some and bring them back—we can use them for marinating meat, mixing sauces, and making soup later!”

“No problem! Leave it to me!” Sylph had been hoping for exactly this. Her Witch’s robe instantly glowed with a soft green light, its material seeming to shift into something as soft and form-fitting as seaweed, automatically reshaping itself into a sleek wetsuit better suited for underwater activity.

She waved to her friends, executed an elegant dive, and slipped noiselessly into the ink-blue seawater.

Then Vasida pointed to the specially made grill rack and said: “Lilith! In a bit, I’ll have the preliminarily butchered Dragon Eel tenderloin strips, Hammerhead Shark live-cut meat, and Crusher Worm snow-white meat strips prepared and set out here. I’ll need you to use your red Dragon’s breath to help me slow-roast them—that perfect state where the outside is slightly crispy and charred while the inside stays tender and juicy. Only red Dragon’s breath can achieve that!”

Lilith happily accepted the task.

She’d never tried using dragon breath to grill meat before. Walking over to the grill rack, the moment the first cuts arrived, she began exhaling her dragon breath.

Mo Lan’s Culinary Magic and culinary magic skills were both at a high level, so she contributed her {Mobile Kitchen} as well, helping Vasida as an assistant.

Vasida herself grabbed her largest silver-white chef’s knife and, eyes blazing with excitement, strode toward the main ingredient—the Shadow Sea Dragon Eel—ready to personally handle the most critical cuts.

Seeing everyone busy at their posts, and even her own kitchen tools “on the job,” Mo Lan felt perfectly justified in wandering over to a stretch of dry, soft sand nearby.

Sentai’s vines swiftly crept over and wove themselves into a soft, comfortable lounge chair beneath her.

Clack produced a small enchanted ice bucket from who-knows-where, filled with chilled bottles of Melis’s signature fruit wines from the Merfolk Tavern.

Zhizhi obediently hopped onto the armrest of the lounge chair, serving as a hand warmer.

Mo Lan settled in comfortably, picked up a chilled bottle of fruit wine, popped the cork, and took a leisurely sip.

Above her stretched a brilliant river of stars and a luminous moon. In her ears mingled the rhythmic crash of waves, the sizzling of fat on the grill, and the rhythmic chopping sounds of the kitchen tools processing ingredients.

She half-closed her eyes, feeling the sea breeze on her face, savoring the crisp sweetness of the fruit wine, watching her friends’ busy, absorbed silhouettes.

“Now this is living…” Mo Lan sighed softly, a contented smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Lilith stood by the grill, maintaining a steady posture as she controlled that thread of pure red Dragon’s breath.

Dragon breath was millions of times more intense than ordinary fire, requiring the caster to maintain continuous, precise control to achieve the perfect results Vasida demanded.

At first she’d found it interesting, but as time passed—especially when she needed to simultaneously tend to cuts of varying thickness across different sections of the grill, making fine adjustments to the heat—the work became considerably less relaxing.

She had to concentrate fully, sensing the heat changes in every piece of meat, adjusting the size and angle of her dragon breath accordingly.

Her cheeks ached slightly from the sustained exertion of channeling her breath, and a fine sheen of sweat had appeared on her forehead.

She instinctively wanted to raise a hand to wipe the sweat, but feared disrupting the stability of the heat. She could only wait until one batch was done and placed under a freshness-preserving food cover, then quickly wipe her brow in the gap before the next batch arrived.

Having just wiped her sweat, her gaze swept over to Mo Lan lounging peacefully on the beach. Lilith couldn’t help but walk over.

A short while later, there were two people at the grill breathing dragon fire—two poor, hard-working stokers.

Although Mo Lan hadn’t been reborn as a Dragon in the Seran world, she hadn’t neglected the dragon-tongue magic of the various dragon species. Blazing Breath—a skill red Dragons could master at the young dragon stage—was well within her repertoire. (End of Chapter)