The next morning, Xue Xi got up bright and early and dove into the virtual space, brimming with confidence. Using God's Tongue, she refined the flavors of eleven Hong Rank dishes, elevating their taste by several notches. In the end, even the taste buds on her God's Tongue were completely satisfied.
However, not a single dish had broken through to Cosmos Rank. Frowning in thought, Xue Xi left the virtual space and began preparing to open the restaurant, repeatedly pondering the details of her cooking. What exactly was the problem? With the aid of her mental power, her techniques and flavors had already reached their limits.
The only flaw was that the ingredients were too low-grade. They were all Apprentice Rank. It seemed it was time to seek help from a King Rank monster.
Such creatures were the prized possessions of Earth's various factions, so buying or selling one was out of the question. It looked like she would have to wait until she broke through, then hunt one herself.
Having guessed at a way to improve her dishes' rank, Xue Xi was immediately full of energy. Her mental power swept through the restaurant, leaving it spotless in an instant. She placed the housekeeping robot on the cashier counter and began another day of business.
"Hey, Old Zhang, looks like you've been doing well lately. Back at Cat Ear for another meal?"
"You too. With the food from Cat Ear Restaurant helping me out, my strength has been shooting up these past few days. I reckon I'll be able to enter the War God circle in a few days."
"Is that so? Then I'll be waiting for you at the War God Palace!"
"??? You bastard, when did you break through without telling anyone?"
"Heh heh, I got a Combat Meal and killed a Lord Rank Steel-Tooth Rabbit. I used the money to immediately buy another serving of the second-tier Crab Roe Soup Dumpling. Guess what? I broke through that very day."
"Exactly, Old Zhang, you're too cautious. If you'd come with us that day, you'd already have made a name for yourself at the War God Palace."
"No way, Old Xiao. You're ahead of me too?"
"Hey, what are you saying? I just got lucky, that's all. Hahaha!"
The diners chatted as they entered the restaurant. It was several times larger now, so there was no need for people to queue outside. Everyone ordered and paid at the cashier, then obediently took a number and waited at the corresponding table.
The restaurant was peaceful and quiet. Even when enemies ran into each other, they would only snort and then sit as far apart as possible to eat, never starting trouble.
Xue Xi looked at the menu on the screen without the slightest hint of panic and cooked in an orderly fashion. With her powerful physique and mental power that obeyed her like an extension of her own limbs, the kitchen became like a perfectly choreographed dance: her movements graceful, the aromas irresistible!
One dish after another floated under the guidance of her mental power, landing precisely on the tables of the customers who had ordered them. Everyone was used to it by now. They marveled that the owner was still as terrifyingly powerful as ever, then buried their heads in the food they had been dreaming about.
When Xue Xi had a spare moment, she asked Hong how he had comprehended a domain. He said that, in his view, a domain was a type of force field that combined genetic Origin Energy, 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, one did not necessarily have to practice martial arts. As long as someone reached the domain level in any endeavor and possessed the Origin Energy attribute of the Planetary Realm, they could wield a domain. He had possessed light-attribute Origin Energy at the Planetary Realm and raised his spear technique to the domain level, which was how he had mastered the Light Force Field Domain.
The difficult part was precisely this. Why was Hong the only one among so many Planetary Realm experts on Earth to possess a domain? Even Thor, whose cultivation rank was higher than his, didn't have one. That was the crux of the matter.
After listening, Xue Xi was still completely confused. Anything could do? What about cooking? She had definitely reached the foundation level, but what was this artistic conception? How was she supposed to comprehend the artistic conception of cooking?
After racking her brain to no avail, Xue Xi decided to let herself off the hook for now. Her main business came first.
Time was the most precious thing in the world, yet at the same time, it was worthless. In the blink of an eye, a week passed.
During that time, she continued to ponder the artistic conception of cooking while preparing meals, but in the end, she came up empty-handed. That was only natural. Thor had spent years trying to comprehend it without any results, and she wasn't some kind of genius.
Still, she wouldn't dwell on any of that today, because the Gourmet Anchor's progress bar was full!
After seeing off a table of customers, she hung up the closed sign and turned straight toward the training room.
Unable to wait, she tapped the settlement button. The progress bar instantly reset to zero, and once again, the Great Book of the Gourmet Catalog in her mind sucked her into that vast, empty world of dazzling colors.
This time, she didn't pass out. Perhaps it was because her mental power had grown stronger.
The Red Grimoire expanded countless times over, just as it had the last time, suppressing everything in the void above her.
The Catalog transformed into a vortex, sucking in the surrounding colored clouds. Then strands of colored light shot toward the space between Xue Xi's brows once more. The change was obvious: the strands had thickened considerably, growing from the width of a hair to that of a needle.
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