Chapter 720 – Dreamweaver World 58

Chapter 720 – Dreamweaver World 58

The moment she stepped into the dream realm, Mo Lan had already deftly summoned the Book of Cards. The Mobile Kitchen Card flew out from within, and she promptly stored it inside the Spatial Card.

After heading down to the first-floor common area, Mo Lan took out several kitchen utensils she would need, then had her shadow make a show of supervising the utensils’ shadows as they guided their physical counterparts in preparing breakfast.

The kitchen knife’s shadow hugged the handle and tap-danced across the cutting board, mincing mushrooms and smoked meat into uniform fine pieces.

The frying pan’s shadow propped up the pan’s handles, keeping the metal body hovering steadily above the fireplace flames.

The instant Mo Lan’s shadow poured the golden egg mixture into the pan, the sizzling of oil and the aroma of something savory and crisp filled the entire Living Room.

The spatula’s shadow clutched its spatula and diligently flipped the edges of the fried eggs, while Mo Lan’s shadow bugs were responsible for transporting firewood.

The utensil shadows all appeared to be working hard, but in reality, most of it was for show — the utensils themselves were doing the bulk of the work.

But in the dream realm, aside from Mo Lan, no one could tell the difference, much less imagine that ordinary kitchen utensils could possess a will of their own.

Mo Lan watched for a while, and once she was sure they didn’t need her help, she sat down with peace of mind and went back to reading.

Before long, the aroma of cooking fat drifted up into the Second Floor corridor, and once again, Matina woke from her slumber swallowing saliva.

“That girl…” Matina sighed. Though she was amazed by her apprentice’s culinary skill, she didn’t want her spending time every day personally cooking meals for her.

A young person’s time should be spent studying more advanced shadow magic, not fussing around pots and pans.

The household’s utensil shadows could cook too — the taste just wasn’t as good, that was all.

She was about to prop herself up on the edge of the bed when the shadow bug at her bedside chittered and burbled for a moment.

Matina started in surprise. “What? Moira’s shadow pets are the ones cooking?”

She quickly changed clothes, threw on her cloak, and headed downstairs, arriving just in time to see the spatula transferring fried eggs and meat cutlets from the frying pan onto a plate, while a ladle nearby was spooning meat stew into bowls.

The utensils were finely crafted, but clearly not the old ones from her kitchen.

Matina narrowed her eyes, noticing that each utensil had a shadow connected beneath it, and those shadows were working hard to “operate” their physical counterparts.

She suddenly recalled something, and the corner of her mouth curved upward slightly. “Well, of course — she can tame an entire bottle of subterranean worms in just a few minutes. Taming some kitchen utensil shadows would naturally be no challenge for her!”

“Another night without rest?” Matina deliberately made her footsteps heavier, drawing Mo Lan’s attention up from her book.

“I went back to our adventurers’ world in between and rested there. I even tamed quite a few shadow bugs!” Mo Lan gestured for Matina to look at the shadow bugs transporting firewood.

Only then did Matina notice that several shadow bugs of varying forms were working together to carry firewood.

There were ironclad cricket shadows leaping great distances in a single bound, shadow spider shadows hauling firewood on their backs, and moonlight firefly shadows working from within the darker patches of shadow…

This couldn’t be explained away as simple shadow Transfiguration! At a rough glance, shadows of nearly every common insect species suitable for making into shadow bugs could be spotted among them.

“Are you trying to collect every type of shadow bug pet?” Matina couldn’t hide her astonishment. “You should have seen in the books that it’s emphasized — it’s best to focus on taming shadows of the same species!” Everyone who tamed creature shadows tended to choose the same type.

Take her own shadow bugs, for example — they were all tamed from subterranean worm shadows, with only a rare two of other varieties.

This was because the more you tamed shadows of the same species, the easier it became, allowing you to scale up more quickly.

Taming shadow pets required considerable mental energy and couldn’t be done continuously. Generally speaking, the number one could tame was limited.

Under those circumstances, taming shadows of the same species yielded greater returns.

Even with her confidence in Mo Lan’s abilities, she was worried the girl might have gone down the wrong path.

“After taming all these shadow bugs, I didn’t feel any discomfort. I think my threshold is relatively high, so the number shouldn’t be an issue. I figured I’d try taming more different kinds of shadows. Besides, look —” Mo Lan pointed toward the working shadow bugs. “Different species of shadow pets can achieve unexpected results when they work together. I don’t want to give up the advantages that come with either quantity or variety.”

Of course, the more important reason was that she needed to master the taming methods for more types of shadow pets, which would make it easier for her to create additional Shadow Summoning Cards.

She never collected Magic for the sake of magical potency — she collected it for magical diversity.

Matina studied Mo Lan’s complexion and mental state, and indeed found nothing amiss, which finally put her at ease. “Experimentation is fine, but if you feel any discomfort at all, you must stop immediately.”

In the end, she decided to let Mo Lan go ahead and try. After all, with her abilities, even if this path proved to be a dead end, she could release the tamed shadow pets and quickly get back on the traditional taming track.

“Mm!” Mo Lan nodded. “Teacher, come try the cooking my shadow pets made!”

The two sat down at the dining table.

Matina cut off a small piece of golden fried egg and placed it in her mouth. The rich flavor of the egg and its crispy edges blossomed on her tongue, making her eyes narrow involuntarily. She then spooned up a mouthful of mushroom meat stew — the rich broth carrying tender shreds of meat and bits of mushroom slid down her throat. After just two bites, she couldn’t help but praise sincerely:

“Compared to what your utensil shadows can make, the food my utensil shadows prepare is practically inedible! It’s true what they say — a shadow’s abilities are largely inherited from its master!”

The compliment brought a faint blush to Mo Lan’s cheeks, and even her shadow unconsciously straightened its back and lifted its head with pride. “I’ll handle all the meals from now on! It’ll be good practice for my shadow pets!”

This time, Matina didn’t frown and try to dissuade her as she usually did.

She elegantly dabbed the corner of her mouth, thinking to herself, “Who wouldn’t want to enjoy such exquisite, delicious meals every day?”

Besides, it was Mo Lan’s shadow pets running the kitchen now. It wouldn’t interfere with her magical studies, and it satisfied her appetite — a perfect arrangement that benefited everyone. As her teacher, she was naturally happy to see it happen.

After breakfast, Matina fulfilled her duties as a teacher. “Let me have a look at those little ones you’ve tamed!”

Mo Lan had her shadow bugs line up neatly on the coffee table for Matina to inspect.

She nodded from time to time, occasionally let out a soft “mm,” and finally was satisfied to find that all the shadow pets demonstrated good flexibility, stable conditions, and tight bonds with Mo Lan. Only then did she truly relax.

“The taming results are all quite good. It seems your willpower truly is extraordinary. Go ahead and continue studying according to your own plan!”

Having received Matina’s approval, Mo Lan happily picked up her book and continued reading.