When Yasenia returned to the kitchen, she had Kaleina coiling around the crown of her head like a beautiful and stylish headband. Yasenia gave her one last caress and spoke with Kaleina. "Let's cook together, dear. We'll be cooking for your…."
Yasenia blinked twice, 'Right, what are they for Kaleina? Mothers? That's not right… Aunts? That's also not right. Mother-aunt? That's quite a mouthful. Hmm, I think the best way would be to call mother and their name when they are referring to other mothers and just mother when they are referring to their biological mother.'
Yasenia then became confused. 'So… What will they call me, then? Father?'
Yasenia stood still, giving the matter some spins.
Kaleina looked at her standing still mother, filled with confusion. The thoughts were obviously childish, but the general feeling was like this: 'Why is she standing still? Wasn't mommy going to show me something?'
Yasenia smiled and spoke to herself. "Ah! I know, I'll be mommy~. Hmm, such a sticky and sweet way of calling is best~. Even if they called me daddy, I wouldn't mind. Although I share more similarities with a female figure, I can't deny that I have what it takes to pass as a male. Either way, it must be a sweet and sticky calling."
Meanwhile, Kaleina, who had already called her like in her mind, was confused about all that rambling. Her immature mind couldn't keep up with the speech and only got a general and unclear idea.
Yasenia shook her head and focused on the ingredients in front of her. "Well, Kaleina. To cook the big wolf and make accompanying foods at the same time, we first have to chop it in pieces and then cook it in portions. That's why our kitchen has ten cooking spots. Naturally, cooks can work together, but a skilled Spirit Cook can simultaneously use those ten spots with all their fires and utensils as if they would be used individually."
Kaleina blinked, not understanding a thing. However, she felt good listening to Yasenia's voice.
Yasenia continued talking. "And that's not counting on more advanced ones who can use tens, hundreds, or thousands of cook spots at the same time. I've been practicing this skill, so your mommy is very good at it and can use between ten and twenty spots! Are you impressed, dear?"
"Squeak!" Exclaimed the small dragon after hearing her name.
Yasenia laughed proudly, looking weirdly cute.
"Cooking meat is not that difficult, dear. Everyone can make a stake on a pan with oil and some spices just by eye. However, that's only if you cook it without striving for perfection."
"When meat is perfectly cooked, it melts in the mouth with one or two chews, spreading rich and strong flavor and making you wish for more. Not to mention, meat can be accompanied by a wide variety of vegetables, sauces, and many other things."
Yasenia laughed. "Speaking of sauces, mommy has a special one made from her breastmilk~. It's extremely delicious and goes quite well with almost everything. Well, you like to take it directly the most, right, Kaleina?"
"Squeak!" Answered the little dragoness again after hearing her name.
Yasenia approached the wolf and summoned [Draconic Heart]. "Draheart, it's time for us to shine."
After hearing the motivated buzz from her sword-kitchen-knife, Yasenia got to work and slowly separated the giant wolf into usable parts.
The beast was three meters tall and almost six meters long. Moreover, being a winter wolf, its body had plenty of meat. 'Hmm, I should use half of the food for my dears and the other half for Sierra.'
Yasenia looked at the wolf's organs and tilted her head. 'What should I do with these? Should I throw them away?"
Yasenia sniffed and licked her lips, her eyes shining with a predatory light. "However, this rawness and bloodiness bring the beast within me to light. Maybe I'll keep them as snacks."
Yasenia waved her hand and kept everything she wouldn't use in her ring.
Then, she began the cooking process. "Well, Kaleina. To be a good Spirit Cook, you must understand ingredients to the most basic level. Their composition, reaction with energy, adequate heat, what other items can be mixed to bring forth their flavor, and everything that can make it worse."
Yasenia blinked. "Well, besides how it reacts with energy, not much change from the way of a normal cooking master. However, this extra layer gives such a depth that it transforms into something completely different."
As Yasenia said, the spirit chef must understand the ingredients and meld energy with their fibers to cook with energy and add the effects.
If you misuse energy on a dish, the ingredient could react violently and have its flavor changed, the item melt, become harmful, and in extreme cases, even explode!
When inserting energy inside the ingredients, the cultivator has to feel its energy flow and enhance it. Dead items naturally have a lack of apparent flows, so it Is a very delicate job.
The stronger the creature or plant when alive, the more complex was finding these patterns. Not to mention, once you dab into these to help them enhance a cultivator body, you have to make it so that the cultivator body won't react wrongly.
Cases of Spirit Food Poisoning are not unusual.
As you've most likely guessed, Yasenia's previous energy was unstable.
Although her constitution maintained it in check inside her body, Yin and Yang would react once it left her, and anything she tried to create would become waste.
Unless Yasenia conquered the energy in her body and allowed it to maintain balance outside, Yasenia would never be able to work in a profession. Thankfully, she was reborn, and her new energy naturally combines Yin and Yang, creating a perfect harmony that eases everything she can do.
This new primary energy Yasenia used is a lower version of the pure Celestial energy in the middle of the dantian.
Celestial energy was Yin and Yang in harmony with cosmic elements that could only be found in the dawn of time. Therefore, it could live in balance even outside Yasenia.
The more Yasenia increases her strength, the more her energy will slowly grow in quality and purify until it is wholly Celestial. When Yasenia reaches that point, well, let's not spoil the future~.
Anyway, as Yasenia heated the pans and cut the vegetables, she was constantly revising the energy use method in her mind.
Yasenia began spreading oil in the pans and made normal cooking actions. Naturally, she was also creating accompanying dishes, a salad, to be specific.
She had to control the energy and slowly refine the ingredients. Her energy sunk into the meet and enhanced its properties, making it glow in unnatural ways.
Yasenia's mind processed the ingredients' information, temperature, and integrity without losing sight of other actions.
Her figure moved fast all around, and her tail nimbly helped her move things from side to side.
Everything kept the usual rhythm, and Yasenia created the food rapidly and efficiently, not losing in the care department. Her face was unusually serious.
Yasenia always smiled while cooking because she knew her food would feed her dears. However, she was trying to Spirit-Cooking today and was unprecedentedly serious.
Slowly but surely, a pleasing scent began spreading from the prepping food. Kaleina was observing everything with her shiny golden eyes and suddenly sniffed.
The smell of cooked meat filled her nostrils, making her stomach growl a bit even though she had just eaten.
Yasenia felt Kaleina's stomach sounds and laughed. "I'll give you a bit later, don't worry, dear."
Kaleina squeaked happily and licked Yasenia's cheek with her tiny tongue. Yasenia lost her serious expression as a gentle smile appeared on her lips.
As the meat sizzled and released its flavorful juice, Yasenia's energy made it much more tender. Moreover, she had used the [Red Honey] her bees in the ring created to make it even more delicious and soft.
As the meet continued to cook, she used her own milk and strange blue potatoes in her ring to create the mashed potatoes. Naturally, there were other ingredients involved, but nothing too complicated.
Usually, to create creamy and delicious mashed potatoes, ingredient proportion and cooking timing were key. There weren't any other complex steps to do it.
Thanks to her secret ingredient, the breast milk, she could refine the dish much easier, creating a thick but not too dense paste that smelled heavenly.
The aroma of her Spirit Cooked food spread and reached the living room.
All the people in the living room caught a whiff of the scent and gulped a mouthful of the pooling saliva.
Their eyes couldn't help but gravitate toward the kitchen and look on eagerly. 'It appears to be successful! Today's dinner will be delicious!'
In the kitchen, Yasenia cooked the whole three-meter-tall wolf with different methods.
She used a wide variety of spices and other supplementary ingredients to make it more delicious. Yet, Yasenia didn't overdo it because she mainly wanted to highlight the meat's flavor, not to cover it with spices and other things.
Yasenia took an hour and a half to cook everything because including energy into the food was not easy and fast. However, Yasenia was confident in drastically reducing this time as long as she kept practicing. "It smells delicious. I'm sure my dears will like it. Hm?"
She lifted her finger and touched her forehead, only to touch a slimy, transparent liquid.
After using her spiritual sense, she saw Kaleina drooling while looking at the dishes-filled table. Yasenia burst into laughter and picked her with her hand. Then, she used a finger to clean the drool and said softly. "Let's wait until we go to the table and eat with everyone, okay, my little dear?"
Kaleina's tail wagged, and she nodded, eager to try the food she had just seen come into being.
Yasenia slowly spread her energy around her and reached for all the dishes she had cooked. Then with a single command, she was about to take everything into her ring. However, she stopped.
Yasenia smiled and muttered. "I should carry everything myself. It is a bit bothersome, but to see their faces as I carry the food feels more… Natural."
Yasenia used her hands and tail to help herself and walked toward the dining room.
The other people idling in the living room heard the kitchen door opening with their sharp ears and stood up immediately.
They caught up with a food-carrying Yasenia and gulped. The image of the black-semi-transparent-lace-wearing dragoness with their food felt like it tickled a deep part of their core, making them feel their heart beating slightly faster.
Yasenia wasn't surprised when they all flashed and overcame her, sitting around the dining table almost instantly.
Ghana was a bit shameless this time and imitated their actions, also sitting at the table with the others.
Yasenia smiled softly and began setting up the table. "I hope you like it, dears."