Arriving in New Eridu, things could finally be considered on the right track here.
“Congratulations to Firefly One for taking another step forward on the path to becoming the Cake God, even though it’s only the very first step.” Firefly paid no mind to HQ’s words, holding a large bowl of egg and flour mixture in her hands.
Her hands stirred rapidly, and at this moment, she firmly believed she could make the first true cake in the truest sense!
But with a slip of the hand, the large bowl she had just been cradling slipped from her grip, and all her hard work fell apart at the last moment.
The spilled mixture splashed all over the floor, and Firefly froze.
She was at a loss, still holding the egg beater in her hand.
Firefly didn’t say a word as she silently cleaned up the wasted eggs and flour.
Firefly took off her apron and sat on the sofa to rest.
She stared blankly at her fair and tender hands.
These hands were very clean, yet they were stained with blood.
Firefly had forgotten how long it had been since she last baked a pastry herself; after all, the Stellaron Hunters were simply too busy, and if she wanted to make anything, she only needed a universal synthesizer.
She was far too out of practice.
Since morning, Firefly had been trying to make a small cake, thinking she could easily handle it with one hand, but the reality was that she was the one being handled.
The first attempt finished beating the eggs, but after putting it into the oven, she failed to control the heat properly, causing a simple and delicious cake to go wrong.
During the second attempt, she tried her best to keep the heat at a gentle level, but she ignored the aeration level of the custard, and ultimately the texture was simply unacceptable, prompting a third attempt.
And then her hand slipped and she knocked it over.
“Are you feeling down because you think you can’t become the Cake God?” “If you could be a little quieter, maybe I could properly digest the Remembrance you gave me.” A memory regarding how to make a cake echoed in her mind, but compared to other memories, this one was a bit too dazzling.
Firefly already had a complete method in her mind, but her hands just didn’t know how to do it.
“HQ is very worried that you might get distracted during the next step, so HQ is always ready to disturb you.” “You’re not even pretending anymore, are you?
And who on earth wants to become the Cake God anyway.” Firefly felt a bit resentful; this was also a manifestation of their friendship progressing further, and HQ knew that Firefly treated it as a friend.
“Firefly One, you have about twenty days left.
If you still haven’t learned how to make a cake by the time your store’s renovation is finished, you’ll have to put your worn socks on your shelves.” “There has to be a limit to joking, who would want worn socks anyway.” “Hard to say.” HQ seemed very keen on chatting with Firefly, but it still had to remind her that time was running short.
“You’re very idle right now, so let me recount the guidance instructions once again.” “Firefly One must quickly learn how to make at least three types of cakes, and at the same time learn to bake bread and make pastries.
After the store opens, HQ will score the daily guest receptions: ordinary reception, where guests only purchase existing pastries, cakes, and other food, can be scored based on the number of people; special reception, featuring special guests of New Eridu who might possess certain combat power and status—such guests may make custom requests, scored based on their satisfaction; special reception, guests from the Astral, anyone could be one.
This type of guest must be received with a custom cake, and depending on their level of happiness, they may gift you a new item.” “I suddenly feel like a chess piece planted in New Eridu.” “Please don’t let your imagination run wild.
Settling down in New Eridu requires a legitimate job, just like Phaethon running a Video Store while being a Proxy, and you can also be a Molten Knight running a cake shop.” Firefly sighed, got up from the sofa, and put her apron back on.
“It would be great if you could demonstrate it.
Let me taste the cake you make and maybe I can learn faster.” Firefly was in a somewhat low mood as she recalled that abrupt Remembrance in her mind once again.
“Since you’ve put it that way, it’s not out of the question for HQ to demonstrate it once.” Firefly frowned.
Could it be that HQ had a physical form or could possess her?
But that kind of situation didn’t happen; instead, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air beside her?
Or rather, it couldn’t quite be called a human figure—it was clearly a humanoid memory entity, and its form was an exact match to Firefly.
HQ’s emotionless voice came from the memory entity, “Watch closely and learn well.” Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks, then mix and knead the egg yolks and flour into an egg yolk batter.
Then the memory entity began beating the eggs, adding some sugar to the separated egg whites and stirring with an egg beater until the sugar dissolved, then adding milk and oil to continue stirring until they completely blended.
Next was an important step: adding some lemon juice and continuously and vigorously beating it until it foamed up.
Watching from the side, Firefly had to admit that it really whipped up a beautiful meringue.
Afterwards, the memory entity took one-third of the meringue and evenly smeared it onto the mixture of egg yolk and batter, stirring the egg yolk batter evenly just like stir-frying a dish.
Pour the stir-mixed egg yolk batter into the remaining two-thirds of the meringue and continue folding it, which could prevent defoaming.
Very quickly, the foundation of a cake was completed.
The memory entity took out a mold, brushed it with oil, poured in the well-prepared batter, and then shook it a few times on the table to ensure there were no air bubbles inside, before placing it into the preheated oven, slowly raising the temperature to 115 degrees Celsius.
Then the memory entity disappeared.
“Just let it bathe in the heat of the oven like this for about thirty minutes.” Firefly took in all the techniques with her own eyes.
Watching it on the spot was indeed much clearer than recalling it from her Remembrance.
Soon thirty minutes were up.
Firefly took the mold out of the oven, inverted it onto a plate, and waited for it to cool before removing the mold.
Before long, a golden-colored cake presented itself before her eyes.
This was a semi-finished product; as long as it was frosted with cream and decorated, it could be sold.
“I didn’t expect that while you’re usually unreliable, you actually look quite professional when making cakes.” Seeing this cake, Firefly couldn’t help but praise HQ.
“That goes without saying.
With the Cake God above, HQ has to dabble a bit in everything.” Firefly cut the cake open, forked a small piece into her mouth, tasted it carefully, and then swallowed.
After a three-second silence, Firefly gave her evaluation.
“Did you mix up the salt and sugar?” “…” Firefly: Stare.
“I swear by the Cake God, I didn’t make this.
It was made by the memory entity, and that memory entity is the future you, so this cake was actually made by you.” Firefly was left speechless: “Your speed at shifting the blame is way too fast, isn’t it?” Facts proved that two unreliable people working together to accomplish something could still succeed, it just required much more hard work than anyone else.
After countless eggs suffered a miserable fate and just before the flour and the oven were about to undergo a chemical reaction, a qualified cake was finally completed.
This was a qualified sample made personally by Firefly, and both its color and taste could be said to be absolutely up to standard.
But it was only up to standard; Firefly still had a very long way to go on the path of the Cake God.
Keep it up, maiden, in order to become the Cake God!
So said HQ.
“Who wants to become the Cake God!” So said the maiden.