Chapter 24 – Bread Fruit Cake

At the Ingredient Collection Station, Vasida picked up a basket of ingredients for egg fried rice, pan-seared steak, and vegetable salad. When she met up with Mo Lan and glanced into her basket, she froze.

“Moira! Why did you grab so many seasonings, especially salt and sugar?”

“I probably won’t have the appetite for other food over the next few days, and breadfruit really is just too awful. So I want to try making it taste better.”

As she spoke, Mo Lan grabbed a jar of honey from a shelf they passed.

Breadfruit only smelled like bread. In terms of moisture content, it was actually decent—juicing the breadfruit was also an idea worth considering.

“Didn’t Senior Lilith say breadfruit can’t be cooked?” Vasida said, then smacked her forehead. “Oh right, Moira, you’re a Soul from Another World! Maybe cooking methods from your world could work!”

“If I manage to make something, I might need you to help me taste-test it,” Mo Lan said.

Other witches only needed a small bite of breadfruit to feel full. Only Vasida could eat over a hundred skewers in one sitting when she was hungry!

“Yes, yes please!” Vasida, who had tasted Mo Lan’s egg fried rice, was beyond excited.

If breadfruit could actually be made to taste good, that would be absolutely perfect!

After carrying their baskets home, Vasida accompanied her to the Breadfruit Grove and helped her pick several skewers of breadfruit to bring back.

Curious, she stayed to help as Mo Lan’s assistant.

Mo Lan first tried making candied fruit.

Candied fruit was easy to store and carry, well-suited to breadfruit’s quick satiation and energy-replenishing properties.

Breadfruit had no seeds and very thin skin, so Mo Lan simply sliced two breadfruits and put them in a pot to steam.

Heeding Senior Lilith’s warning, she and Vasida pressed down firmly on the pot lid together, waiting nervously.

Less than a minute into steaming, they felt the “bang, bang, bang” of impacts inside the pot. The force was considerable.

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

The entire pot was filled with fine yellow pulp. At first glance, it looked like some sort of actual excrement. Vasida wrinkled her nose. “Can this still be used?”

“Looks like candied fruit is off the table. But this is perfect for making breadfruit cake.”

Mo Lan collected all the fruit paste and stirred in sugar.

Thinking about how breadfruit was even more sour than wild jujubes, she added extra sugar.

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

Once everything was thoroughly blended, she spread it flat on a baking tray, put it in the oven to dry at low temperature, then cut it into small pieces. Done.

Two breadfruits plus one pumpkin yielded a full basket of breadfruit cakes.

“Try some!” Mo Lan and Vasida each took a piece.

“Mmm! Delicious! Sweet and sour!” The joy in Vasida’s eyes was impossible to hide. “Moira! You got it right on the first try! That’s amazing!”

Mo Lan shook her head. “It’s too early to celebrate! This only proves the taste is passable, but I don’t know if the breadfruit’s special effects have been destroyed!”

She had eaten a whole breadfruit that morning and still didn’t feel hungry, so she probably couldn’t gauge the satiation effect.

Vasida was in a similar situation. Eating one or two slices of fruit cake, even if made from breadfruit, didn’t register much in her stomach.

Mo Lan glanced at the sky outside. “It’s still early. Senior Lilith and Sylph probably haven’t eaten yet!”

“I’ll go get them!” Vasida dashed out in a whirlwind.

A few minutes later, all four young witches were gathered together.

Lilith and Sylph stared at the yellow slices on the table. “These are made from breadfruit?”

Mo Lan nodded. “I also added pumpkin. Vasida and I already tried them—the taste is decent. I just don’t know if the super-filling and magic power restoration effects are still intact.”

Only then did Lilith and Sylph each take a slice to eat.

“How is it?” Mo Lan asked expectantly.

“It tastes amazing! I love it!” Sylph could hardly believe these were made from the tooth-achingly sour breadfruit.

Lilith nodded. “The taste is quite good, but the magic power restoration effect seems to be gone… Did you heat it?”

“Yes, I steamed it,” Mo Lan said.

“That explains it. Some seniors have researched this before—once breadfruit is heated and bursts open, the magic power restoration effect disappears. That’s probably what causes the explosions in the first place,” Lilith said.

What Mo Lan most wanted to preserve was precisely the magic power restoration effect. Hearing this, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Then Sylph spoke up. “But the breadfruit’s filling effect still seems to be there! I was a little hungry just now, and after eating one slice, I already feel full. It feels about the same as taking a bite of raw breadfruit.”

“The satiation effect is unaffected,” Lilith confirmed.

“Then these can be portable snacks! Bring some when you go up to the Castle for classes, and that solves lunch,” Vasida said.

“That’s true. These are easier to carry than regular bread or pastries, more filling too, and since they’re made from breadfruit, they’re nutritious. Great for a quick bite to tide you over.”

Lilith found merit in the result after all.

Mo Lan felt a little better. Even if the cakes couldn’t restore magic power, they’d 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 the unskilled young witches who had been researching it would have figured it out by now, and everyone wouldn’t still be gnawing on raw breadfruit.

Mo Lan divided the breadfruit cakes she had made into four portions, wrapped them in parchment paper, and gave one to each of the other three. “These are for you!”

“I couldn’t possibly!” Lilith felt embarrassed accepting food from a junior who hadn’t even learned Culinary Magic yet.

Without magic, doing everything by hand made preparing food no easy task.

“Consider them taste-testing souvenirs!” Mo Lan said. “I still have some ideas I haven’t tried yet. When the time comes, I’ll need you all to taste-test for me again!”

“Well then, I won’t refuse. Just call me anytime!” Only then did Lilith happily accept.

“Me too!” Vasida and Sylph chimed in.

“Deal!” Mo Lan said with a smile.

After seeing them off, Mo Lan let out a sigh, picked out a smaller breadfruit, and began eating it in tiny bites.

Poor her—she had been busy all afternoon, yet didn’t dare eat too many of the fruit cakes she’d made. She still had to save room for gnawing on raw breadfruit to restore her magic power.

Classes started tomorrow. No matter how much her tongue suffered, she needed to restore as much magic power as possible to prepare for tomorrow’s lessons.

The first class was at ten in the morning. Though the start time was late, the trek up the mountain to the Castle took two hours, so she’d need to wake up at six.

So she planned to go to bed early tonight. Afraid that eating too much would interfere with her sleep, she only ate until she was slightly full.

She wondered what “Introduction to Alchemy” would teach. It had to be fascinating, right?

Would they receive their wands before class? And the Grimoire—was it given at the start of the school year, or only upon graduation?

She tossed and turned in bed for a long time before finally drifting off to sleep.

In her dreams, she waved her wand around in class—”pew~ pew~ pew~”—happy as could be.

(End of Chapter)