Yasenia looked at the maids and said, "We are back, Flora, Leila, Alaia."
The maids bowed and said, "Welcome back, young miss!"
Leila, the brown, gentle-looking dog-kin, said, "Young miss, all your credits have been used buying the tools needed for Spirit Cooking."
Yasenia frowned, "We will have to go on some missions... Can I change coins into credits?"
Alaia, the yellow-blue, voluptuous, seductive dragon-kin, said, "Yes, miss. However, I don't recommend it. The conversion rates are awful."
The light-green-skinned beautiful dryad, Flora, shook her head, rustling her branches as she said. "Lady Tatyana didn't want rich people from the outside buying her resources, so she made the conversion rates absolutely nightmarish. This, however, doesn't stop the Academy's purchasing power since we have coins coming from our shops on the outside."
Yasenia lifted her eyebrow, "Then, can't they do the same? Setting up shops and winning credits?"
Alaia smirked and said, "They can, but they must place a shop with better items than ours, which would benefit us. And most importantly, they must amass wealth from the beginning again. If they go bankrupt, the number of coins they have to pay is rather... profitable."
Yasenia asked, "So what is the main power that my mom controls?"
None of the maids answered; Yasenia tsked, "Since you were answering everything so nicely, I hoped you would slip up."
The maids kept silent and smiled at her, making Yasenia pout, a critical strike for everyone present! Leila said, "I'm sorry, young miss. Even if we are completely loyal to you, Lady Tatyana is someone we can't go against."
Yasenia turned and walked toward the house sensually, "Nevermind, little by little, I will uncover her secrets~ I'm not in a hurry to do so."
The rest followed behind the dragoness, looking at her back. Yasenia said, "I'm going to the kitchen to make the dinner since it is already quite late~. Wait for me in the living room."
Yasenia walked toward the kitchen. It was very big, clear that they had put effort into making it. There were normal cooking tools, advanced ones, and giant ones. Yasenia looked curiously at the three-meter-long kitchen "knives," or five-meter diameter saucepans, frying pans, and more. 'What will I do with these? Maybe some technique in the spirit cooking book will need them later?'
Yasenia shook her head and began reading the spirit cooking book. She saw the way of applying energy to the food, how the quality of the food affects the result, and that the condiments are also extremely important. The level of the beast or plant someone could cook was the deciding factor in ranking a spirit chef.
It was easy to cook high-level meat, but to spiritually cook them was an extremely different matter. With spirit cooking, second-ranked beast meat can compare with fourth-ranked beast-meat nutrient-wise.
Yasenia used her super-enhanced mind and read at extremely high speed. It was a shame that she was still in the first level, and she only had her thinking speed accelerated. 'I want to reach the seventh level... The comprehension enhancement will be a very big plus.'
After thirty minutes, she memorized the first book. She picked up the cooking knife, low-level first-ranked beast meat, and started. 'Let's start low and go up. I have some time to practice before I need to make food for my dears.'
Halfway through, while Yasenia heated the stove with the meat in it, she added her energy to begin refining the food. The thing that happened with Alchemy and Blacksmithing happened again.
Her energy went astray inside the tool, and all the food was ruined, burned, and melted at the same time; a very unsightly mess. 'Why is my energy always reacting so differently with the tools!?'
Yasenia sighed as she looked at the mess she had made. "Not even mortals would eat this... They would die!"
Yasenia looked at the hour and saw she had time for two more attempts. She tried again. This time the food literally blew up from the stove, staining everything. Yasenia stood there, with dead eyes, looking at the mess she had made. She sighed and began cleaning everything. "Cooking normally is going to be the way...."
Yasenia thought for a moment and smiled, "I will make a cream with my milk to be more nutritious. I'm sure my dears will like it~."
She took out a milking tool and pressed it on her nipple; then, she milked herself. After four minutes, Yasenia looked at the filled two-liter bottle with a smile. "I'm rather productive~ Let's make something delicious for my dears~."
She decided to do a lasagna!
She took the tools and heated two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Then, she put the onion and diced it with her tail instantly. She sauteed it for some minutes until it was soft and translucent.
Yasenia nodded as she put the 500 grams of spirit beast ground beef until it browned, breaking it with a wooden spoon. She added one teaspoon of cinnamon, black pepper, salt, and minced garlic.
Yasenia smiled as she saw her dish coming into being.
Then, she added tomato sauce, tomato paste, some basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram and let it boil for five minutes. Finally, she added half a cup of hot water and let it simmer for 30 minutes, lowering her Sun flames.
While that simmered, she went to do the béchamel!
In another saucepan, she melted one-quarter of a cup of butter with the flour at medium heat. After whisking for three minutes until it was golden brown, Yasenia picked up her recently milked warm milk. She put two cups of it and one cup of heavy cream. 'Mortals should warm the milk and heavy cream for one minute, making it warm... Well, it is warm since I just milked it~ Fufufu, so convenient~.'
After pouring them, she whisked constantly. Then she added minced garlic and a pinch of nutmeg. She reduced the heat so that the mixture simmered and continued to whisk until it thickened. 'Mortals should take 8 to 10 minutes to thicken it... Weak.'
She sped up her hand at inhuman speed and used her energy to create that thick, delicious sauce. Yasenia smirked and thought, '30 seconds, and it is done!'
She turned off the heat and mixed some cheese. 'Special cheese made from my milk! It is delicious~.' (recommended Parmesan cheese).
Then, she set it aside to cool slightly. Yasenia tasted it, 'Mmm~ Delicious, my dears will love it~.'
She preheated the oven to 180 C (350F) and coated the bottom of the 9x13 inch ceramic baking pan with a little of her delicious béchamel sauce. 'Like this, the lasagna noodles won't stick to it~ I wouldn't like my dears receiving a broken lasagna!'
She waited for the meat to simmer. When everything was prepared, she placed one layer of uncooked lasagna noodles on the bottom of the pan. After covering everything with them, Yasenia nodded, 'Completely covered~ Like I cover my dears with my love! Without letting anything out!'
After placing that base, it was time to build the layers! Yasenia poured one-third of the meat sauce, and on top, one-third of the béchamel. Then dry noodles again, another third meat sauce, another third béchamel. Finally, the last layer, doing the same order of noodles, meat, and bechamel. Yasenia picked her specially made cheese again and added some shreds on top. (Mozzarella cheese or shredded parmesan can work too).
She covered it with her energy (Or loosely covered foil) and let it bake for 30 minutes. While those thirty minutes passed, she began making more meat sauce since she would do more than one lasagna.
Conveniently, when that half an hour passed, she made the energy dissipate (Or remove the foil) and left it inside another 5 to 10 minutes until it was golden brown and bubbling. 'Like my baby will be when she knows the ingredients, a bubbly happy cutie.'
She took it out, and an aromatic and delicious smell spread around. Thanks to the special ingredient, the smell was so potent that the others in the living room had their noses twitching when the smell reached them. Kali asked, surprised, "Is that Yasenia cooking? It smells heavenly."
Angel nodded, excited, "Yasenia's cooking is the best! You won't be able to taste normal foods again~."
Meanwhile, Yasenia thought, 'How many lasagnas do I make? I'm afraid my little baby and darling will devour one each. I will also make two extra for the maids...'
Therefore, Yasenia made another six of them simultaneously. With accompanying food like salad, some roasted vegetables, and some steamed vegetables. 'Eat healthily, and your mind will remain healthy! Well, us being cultivators doesn't affect us at all....'
Another hour passed, and Yasenia finished making all the lasagnas. Yasenia called the maids, "Anna, Eve, Flora, help me carry this to the living room."
The three appeared and looked at the food with raised eyebrows. Flora sniffed and said, "What did you use as ingredients? It smells delicious~."
Yasenia chuckled as she said, "Well, one ingredient was myself~."
They couldn't help but look toward the tail, and Anna asked, "Dragon meat?"
Yasenia almost tripped. "Milk! I used my breastmilk! Did you think I would amputate myself... for a... dish...?"
Yasenia asked, "Is dragon meat tasty?"
This time it was their turn to almost trip; Flora said, "Please, young miss, although we are all eager to eat you up, we don't mean it the literal way! Control yourself!"
Yasenia mumbled under her breath, "Dragon steak? Maybe... Fried dragon barbeque with cheese sauce?"
Anna pleaded, "Please, young miss, it was a joke! I'm afraid of becoming addicted to your flavor in more than one way!"
Yasenia's eyes shone as she said, "I can make it for Kali then!"
These thousand-year-old cultivators wanted to cry, 'Why do I feel like I opened a whole new realm for young miss!?'
Leaving the self-cooking aside... For the moment. Anna, Eve, and Flora went to the dining room with the dishes while Yasenia called her dears. Yasenia took Kali's hand and guided her excitedly, "Today is the first day you try my food~. Can I feed you, honey?"
Kali was a little shy, but she nodded. Seeing the veil wave with Kali's nod, Yasenia was elated. Yasenia sat with Angel and Evelyn at her sides. Kali was confused, 'Where should I sit?'
Yasenia answered her question by coiling her tail around her waist and carrying her to sit on her lap in one motion. Kali felt her butt land on the soft thighs of the dragoness, and her scent surrounded her, making her a little stiff. Then, Yasenia's arms went around her, and her softness pressed on her back, making the hard tips poking at her back quite hard to miss.
Poor Kali's brain froze again, which the dragoness didn't miss and took advantage of by taking off her veil. Yasenia looked at Kali and smiled, 'I can finally see the face of my little fox~.'
Yasenia observed her face and kissed her on the scar on her cheek, bringing Kali back from feeling those wonderful sensations. Now that she had her attention, Yasenia asked, "Can I see your face as we eat? I want to see your reaction to my food."
Kali looked into her golden slit eyes and was comforted. She nodded, "Okay."
Yasenia rewarded her with a peck on her lips, making Kali's lips arch uncontrollably. 'Feels so good to be pampered...'
Yasenia talked with the others while she rested her tail on Angel's lap, letting her play with it. The maids served the food.
After everyone had their portion in front of them, Yasenia cut a slice of the delicious-looking lasagna and carried it to Kali's mouth. She whispered sensually, "Open your mouth, honey."
Kali became fidgety but obeyed her words, 'Being fed by someone is more embarrassing than I thought....'
The food entered her mouth, and a flavor explosion occurred in her mouth, which made her widen her eyes. When she started munching and the flavor spread, she couldn't help but moan in delight. 'Oh, my heavens, so delicious~.'
The other three reacted the same way, as this was the first time Yasenia used her breastmilk to make something that wasn't on the breakfast. Yasenia looked at their gleeful faces and chuckled, "Do you like it~?"
However, no one answered as they were occupied savoring the food, making Yasenia laugh. After the second bite, Andrea asked, amazed, "You've done this dish before, but it wasn't this delicious. What did you do differently?"
Yasenia's tail wagged happily as she answered bluntly, "I made the cheese and sauce with my breastmilk!"
While munching the third bite, Kali choked and entered a coughing fit. 'HER WHAT!?'