They descended the stairs slowly, the winding path beneath their feet crunching softly as they made their way to the base. The air was cool, and the trees lining the trail swayed gently in the breeze. The descent had been peaceful, but when they finally reached the fork in the road, it was time to part ways.
At the junction, Lyra gave a small wave to Vasida and Sylph. Vasida had plans to head to the food collection point, while Sylph intended to visit the farmland to look for Bi'er. The two took the path on the right, chatting animatedly as they disappeared into the distance. Lyra, however, took the path straight ahead, bound for the dormitory.
Once back in the quiet comfort of her room, she set down her belongings and immediately turned her attention to the basket of breadfruit she had gathered earlier. She had been thinking of new ways to prepare the fruit, and an idea struck her: perhaps cold pickling could preserve its magical properties. Heating, she knew, would destroy the breadfruit's healing essence, but cold pickling might just work. Inspired by the way plums are pickled, she decided to experiment.
Lyra carefully sliced the breadfruit into small chunks, each piece firm and fragrant. Using the back of a knife, she gently flattened the pieces, preparing them for the marinade. She created several small dishes of seasoning; one sweet with sugar, another salty, and the last one spicy. She arranged the breadfruit pieces, submerging each in their respective flavors, and set them aside. The marinating process, she calculated, would take anywhere from half an hour to two hours, allowing the seasonings to seep in.
Next, she turned her attention to another task; preparing a batch of pickled plums. She poured copious amounts of salt over the fruit, letting it draw out the water overnight. Tomorrow, she'd drain the plums and add garlic, rock sugar, and other spices. Without soy sauce, she couldn't make her favorite soy-pickled version, but she'd make do.
Her next challenge was to juice the breadfruit, but there was no juicer in the dormitory. Undeterred, Lyra chopped the breadfruit into smaller chunks and placed them in a large bowl. Armed with nothing but a wooden pestle; the kind typically used for mashing garlic, she began the painstaking process of squeezing out the juice. Breadfruit, raw, had the satisfying crunch of an apple, but juicing was another story entirely. It took five or six whole breadfruits to yield just a cup of juice. After several rounds of squeezing and filtering, she finally had a cup of thick, golden breadfruit juice.
Excited, she took a sip and immediately regretted it. The juice was so sour it felt like her taste buds had been shocked awake. It was far more tart than the fruit in its raw form. But Lyra wasn't one to give up easily. She had another trick up her sleeve.
She quickly prepared a pot of honey water, dissolving copious amounts of sugar into warm water and stirring until it was a syrupy sweet concoction. She tasted it and smiled. It was the polar opposite of the breadfruit juice; sickly sweet, but perfect for her plan. She left the honey water to cool and turned her attention back to the breadfruit pickles.
Activating her energy vision, Lyra examined the marinated breadfruit pieces. She started with the sugar-pickled ones. The initial sweetness was pleasant, but as soon as she bit into them, the sourness overwhelmed her senses. It was like the sweetness vanished into thin air. The salty pickles were much the same, pleasantly salty at first, but quickly overtaken by the sharp tang of sourness. Still, both were an improvement over eating the breadfruit raw. And as she watched her energy halo brighten slightly, she knew that the breadfruit's magical properties had remained intact. Cold pickling was indeed a valid option, though the short marinating time hadn't allowed the flavors to fully develop. Perhaps the batch of long-pickled jars she was preparing would yield better results.
Then came the moment of truth: the salty and spicy pickles. She took a bite, and immediately her mouth was on fire. The initial saltiness quickly gave way to a potent mix of sour and spicy, the flavors battling for dominance. Her eyes watered as she tried to swallow, but it was no use, before she could finish the bite, she was gulping down glass after glass of water. The heat was relentless, lingering long after she had stopped eating.
Once she regained her composure, she looked at the offending plate and sighed. There was no way she could handle another bite of the salty and spicy breadfruit. The combination was lethal; so spicy that she couldn't even focus on the breadfruit's magical effects. It wasn't long before she decided to eliminate the dish altogether. Breadfruit was supposed to fill you up, but this version left her stomach bloated and her throat burning.
Her experiment hadn't gone exactly as planned, but she had learned a lot. As the honey water cooled, she walked around the room, trying to ease the uncomfortable fullness. She'd have to wait before tasting the breadfruit juice mixed with honey, but for now, she'd learned her limits when it came to spicy food.
After wandering for a while, feeling the weight of exhaustion creeping in, Lyra decided it was time to mix the honey syrup into the thick breadfruit juice. She carefully poured in the syrup, watching the amber liquid swirl into the cloudy juice. Once she had stirred it all together, she dipped a spoon in and took a tentative sip.
The first taste was sour, but pleasantly sweet. As she continued sipping, the overwhelming tartness that had bothered her earlier mellowed out into a balanced harmony of flavors. It was only after the entire pot of sugar water had been added that the juice reached a perfect balance, tangy yet sweet, refreshing, and surprisingly enjoyable.
Lyra drank a few more sips, focusing her energy vision on her aura. To her astonishment, the brightness of her energy halo had noticeably increased. She blinked in surprise. Could a few sips of this juice have the same restorative power as a small stack of pickled breadfruit?
Intrigued, she took another long drink. Yes, the effect was undeniable. Perhaps it was because several whole breadfruits had gone into making the juice, concentrating their restorative essence into a single cup.
She was about to set the cup down when a thought struck her. Her magic power was still low; why not take advantage of the juice's potent effects? She took a few more gulps, feeling the magic flow back into her, but something felt off. She pressed a hand to her stomach and murmured to herself, "Hmm, my energy halo's brighter, but my stomach doesn't feel particularly full. Shouldn't it, though? This juice should be just as filling as eating several breadfruits."
A sense of unease began to grow. "I hope this doesn't affect how full I feel," she muttered, her brow furrowing in thought. Normally, breadfruit left her feeling satisfied, but the juice was behaving strangely. She couldn't ignore it any longer; this needed a second opinion.
Without hesitation, Lyra reached out to her friends. Despite the late hour, Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph soon arrived, curious about what was so urgent.
"Here, try this!" Lyra said eagerly, pouring each of them a glass of the honeyed breadfruit juice.
Vasida, ever the optimist, accepted her glass with a smile. "If it's made by Lyra, it's bound to taste great!" she praised before even taking a sip.
Lyra smirked. "You didn't see the disaster I had earlier with the salty and spicy breadfruit," she said, her face twisting slightly at the memory.
Vasida raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh? Could it be worse than regular breadfruit?"
Lyra grinned, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Since you said that, let me show you!" She quickly retrieved the untouched plate of salty and spicy breadfruit from earlier and placed it in front of Vasida with a flourish.
Vasida stared at the plate, instantly regretting her words. "Oh no…"
Lilith leaned in, wrinkling her nose. "Wait, is that raw chili and garlic mixed with breadfruit? I can't even imagine what that tastes like! But those peppers don't look that spicy. You should be fine if you avoid the garlic," she offered with a shrug.
Vasida, encouraged by Lilith's words, cautiously picked up a small piece, carefully avoiding the garlic. Meanwhile, Lyra silently placed a large teapot beside her, just in case.
The second Vasida bit into the breadfruit, her face twisted in agony. She jumped from her seat, her mouth ablaze from the intense spiciness. Lyra, already prepared, calmly handed her the teapot, which Vasida clutched like a lifeline, gulping down the water between bouts of laughter and pain.
Lyra watched the scene unfold, utterly unsurprised. She turned away to fetch a damp towel, and when she returned, she gently wiped Vasida's tear-streaked face and cleared the snot that had dripped down from the spice overload.
Vasida, still recovering, glared at Lilith in mock betrayal. "You tricked me, Senior!"
But Lilith didn't buy it. She was sure Vasida was exaggerating. "It can't be that bad," she said confidently, popping a piece into her own mouth before Lyra could stop her.
Lilith's expression changed instantly. "It's not that—" Her words trailed off as the heat hit her full force. "Spicy! So spicy!"
She swallowed the bite too quickly for Lyra to help, and in a panic, Lilith resorted to casting a Clear Spring spell, pouring cool water directly into her mouth. As she caught her breath, she stared at the plate in disbelief. "How is it this spicy?"
"It's probably the sourness of the breadfruit enhancing the heat of the peppers," Lyra explained, trying to keep from laughing at her friends' reactions.
The only one left untouched by the chaos was Sylph, who had wisely held back. Grateful for her patience, she cautiously sipped the honey breadfruit juice. The moment the sweet liquid touched her lips, her eyes lit up. "This is actually really good! You guys should try this instead!"
Vasida and Lilith, still recovering from the spicy ordeal, eagerly grabbed their glasses and took a sip.
"It's amazing!" Vasida said, her eyes wide with delight.
"Completely different from that disaster of a pickle I just had," Lilith added with a grin, her face finally relaxed.
They laughed together, the tension of the earlier mishap melting away as they enjoyed the sweet, refreshing drink, their energy slowly restoring with every sip.