The Second Ring Achieved

The next morning, Xue Xi rose early and dove into the virtual space, full of confidence. She used her God's Tongue to refine the flavors of eleven Hong Rank dishes, elevating their taste by several tiers until even the taste buds of her God's Tongue felt immensely satisfied.

However, not a single dish broke through to the Cosmos Rank. Xue Xi frowned in contemplation as she exited the virtual space. While preparing to open the restaurant, she repeatedly scrutinized the details of her cooking: where exactly had things gone wrong? Her technique and flavor profiles had already reached their limit under the influence of her psychokinesis.

The only drawback was the low grade of the ingredients; they were all Apprentice Rank. It seemed it was time to seek the assistance of King Rank Monster.

These things were the prized possessions of every faction on Earth; buying or selling them was out of the question. It appeared she would have to wait until she made a breakthrough herself before she could go out and hunt them personally.

Having guessed the direction for improving her dish grades, Xue Xi was immediately filled with motivation. With a surge of psychokinesis, the restaurant was instantly cleaned to a shine. She placed the housekeeping robot at the checkout counter and began another day of business.

"Yo, Old Zhang, you've had a good harvest lately, huh? Back at Cat Ear for a meal again?"

"Aren't you the same? With the food support from Cat Ear Restaurant, my strength has been skyrocketing these past few days. I reckon I'll be able to touch the War God circle in a few days."

"Is that so? Then I'll be waiting for you at the War God Palace!"

"??? You dog, when did you make your breakthrough without a sound?"

"Hehe, I put together a Combat Meal, killed a Lord Rank Steel-Tooth Rabbit, and immediately traded the money for a second-tier Crab Roe Soup Dumpling. Tsk, guess what? I broke through that very day."

"Exactly, Old Zhang, you're too conservative. If you'd been with us that day, you would've already made a name for yourself in the War God Palace."

"No way, Old Xiao, you've surpassed me too?"

"Hey, what are you saying? It was just luck, pure luck, hahaha!"

The diners walked into the restaurant chatting. Now that the restaurant was several times larger, there was no need to queue outside. Everyone ordered and paid at the counter, then obediently took their number plates and waited at their assigned seats.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was peaceful and serene. Even if enemies crossed paths, they would only huff and maintain a distance of a hundred thousand miles while eating, never causing any trouble.

Xue Xi looked at the menu on the screen, not flustered in the slightest. She cooked in an orderly fashion. With her formidable physical fitness combined with psychokinesis that moved as easily as her own limbs, the kitchen looked like a choreographed dance—her movements were elegant, and the aroma was intoxicating!

Plate after plate of food, carried by her psychokinesis, floated precisely to the tables of each customer who had ordered. Everyone was long accustomed to this, sighing at how terrifying the shopkeeper's strength remained, before burying their heads into the gourmet food they had been craving.

When Xue Xi had a moment of leisure, she asked Hong how to comprehend a domain. He said that, in his view, a domain was essentially a field of energy that combined genetic origin power, physical strength, mental power, and consciousness to resonate with the universe.

Everything in the world could be divided into four levels: Foundation, Artistic Conception, Domain, and World.

According to Hong himself, one didn't necessarily have to practice martial arts. As long as one reached the level of a domain in any endeavor while possessing Planetary Realm attribute origin power, one could possess a domain. He himself had possessed light-attribute origin power at the Planetary Realm and had elevated his spear technique to the level of a domain, which was how he mastered the Light Force Field Domain.

Actually, that was precisely the difficult part. Why was he the only one among so many Planetary Realm powerhouses on Earth to possess a domain? Even Thor, who had a higher cultivation level than him, didn't have one. The problem lay right there.

After listening, Xue Xi was still completely confused. If it could be anything, what about in the field of culinary arts? Her foundation was definitely at the required level, but what on earth was this "Artistic Conception"? How was one supposed to comprehend the artistic conception of cooking?

Unable to find an answer, Xue Xi decided to let herself off the hook for now; her primary profession was more important.

Time is the most precious thing in the world, but at the same time, it is also the most worthless. In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.

During this time, while cooking, she had constantly pondered what the artistic conception of culinary arts could be. In the end, there were no results. This was normal; Thor had been pondering for years without a hint of progress, and she wasn't exactly a genius.

However, today she wouldn't dwell on those trivial matters, because the progress bar for the Gourmet Anchor was full!

After seeing off the last table of guests and hanging up the "Closed" sign, Xue Xi turned and entered the martial arts room.

Unable to wait, she clicked to settle the progress, and the bar instantly returned to zero. Xue Xi was once again pulled into that vast yet colorful world by the Red Grimoire in her mind.

This time, she didn't pass out; perhaps it was because her psychokinesis had grown stronger.

She saw the Red Grimoire, just like last time, growing countless times larger, suppressing everything in the void above her head.

The catalog transformed directly into a vortex, absorbing the colorful clouds around it. Then, wisps of colorful threads shot toward the center of Xue Xi's brow once more. Clearly, the threads had become much thicker, changing from the size of a hair to the size of a needle tip.