Chapter 107 (continued)

Telingewei turned to Xie Juanhan and said, "It's been a while since we've been to the Demon Wolf's territory, let's go take a look around."

Upon hearing the keyword, Harper immediately perked up her ears. "Chirp?!"

Several of the quicker-reacting Companion Beast simultaneously widened their eyes and exclaimed, "Chirp!"

Telingewei looked at them. "You want to go deep into the Magic Forest to pick fruit, and while you're at it, go play with the Demon Wolf?"

Harper: "Chirp!"

Telingewei: "That's what you said, I didn't bully you."

The Companion Beast were absolutely certain. "Chirp!"

So Xie Juanhan and his group split into two teams again.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei were picking fruit on the outskirts of the Magic Forest, and also going on a date.

Harper and the others went deep into the Magic Forest to gather [something].

Before parting, Telingewei said, "Run faster on your journey, or Nibote can carry you. Come back before sunset."

Nibote listlessly replied, "Meow."

They collected the samples separately.

As evening fell, the furry creatures indeed emerged from the depths of the Magic Forest.

Telingewei glanced at the bags strapped to Moli and Nibote's bellies and said, "We only managed to gather so little during our date on the outskirts of the Magic Forest, how come you gathered so little too?"

It would have been better if he hadn't said that.

One story goes that after a long day in the Magic Forest, the furry creatures, exhausted and almost panting with their tongues hanging out, suddenly widened their eyes.

Haxi even stood up on its hind legs, hooked its two front paws in front of its body, and chirped angrily.

I want to curse the dragon.

"Thank you for your hard work." Xie Juanhan reached out and patted Haxi's soft back. "We'll go collect tree leaves to make sugar later."

With Xie Juanhan smoothing things over, the furry creatures were finally calmed down.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei made another batch of gummy candies, this time only one large ceramic jar.

Princess Tina Flower are almost past their peak season, and the number of blooms is decreasing.

Even Xie Juanhan and the others ate the gummy candies sparingly, they still finished them off quickly.

Xie Juanhan and his group tried to buy some in Teme Port.

The best gummy candies in Teme Port are only slightly better than licorice candies; they're not as chewy, but they completely lack the alluring aroma and molten filling.

Xie Juanhan ate too many homemade gummy candies and couldn't stomach a single bite of the ones sold outside.

It seems this is the end of our gummy candy feast for this year; we'll have to pick more flowers next year.

Xie Juanhan sat on the edge of the field to rest, staring at the other side of the river, still thinking about the batch of gummy candies he hadn't had enough of.

The wind blows from the fields to the mountains and forests, creating wave after wave of green waves on the wheat seedlings on the opposite bank.

Xie Juanhan had simply been staring blankly at the opposite bank.

Upon noticing the wheat seedlings, he suddenly looked up, his expression shifting.

Telingewei: "What's wrong?"

Xie Juanhan: "Didn't you tell me last year that there's an Ajax Tuber in the Magic Forest, when we went deep into the Magic Forest to check on the advanced magical creatures?"

Telingewei didn't understand why he would suddenly bring this up, and looked up at him. "Hmm?"

Xie Juanhan smiled and said, "You told me back then that the tubers also had a certain Magic Power, and that Harper others liked to dig up those tubers to eat when they were hungry, because they were powdery and soft."

"They used to love eating them, but since you came, they've never dug up any wild tubers again. They don't like the grassy smell inside."

"It's alright, as long as the tubers are soft and edible." Xie Juanhan's eyes lit up. "Let's go dig up Ajax Tuber, I'll make some sugar."

Telingewei: "It has almost no sweetness; you can't boil down any sugar."

"Who said that?" Xie Juanhan put his hand on Telingewei's shoulder and pulled him close. "Let me show you the magic of my hometown."

Telingewei: "Didn't you say that most people in your hometown don't know magic?"

Xie Juanhan smiled and said, "Turning ordinary food into sugar, isn't that a kind of magic?"

Xie Juanhan wanted to dig up the tubers, Telingewei didn't ask any questions, simply helping him search.

Not only did Telingewei search for them, but he also assigned Harper and the others a task, asking them to help with the search as well.

Harper and the others no longer like eating Ajax Tuber.

There's so much delicious food at home, who wants to eat that stuff?

The thought of having to travel so far to dig up heavy Ajax Tuber made them lie on the ground and act spoiled.

"Chirp chirp." The Companion Beast lay on the ground, refusing to get up, several of them rolling around and exposing their bellies.

Nibote immediately followed suit.

They looked like their bottoms were too heavy to get up, and they didn't want to move at all.

Telingewei pushed their rear ends, but they didn't move.

Telingewei looked at them and said, "Don't dig up the tubers; even after the sugar is cooked, don't eat them."

The Companion Beast completely ignored the threat. "Chirp."

Telingewei turned to Xie Juanhan: "Let's dig near the Demon Wolf territory; the soil there is looser, and there are more Ajax Tuber."

Xie Juanhan could even reply, Harper and the others suddenly sat up abruptly. "Chirp?!"

"Chirp!" Harper said seriously, indicating that they were going to dig.

Moli: "Awoo."

Moli was willing to go too.

Telingewei stared at the furry creatures. "The road is a bit long, and the tubers are a bit heavy. Can you carry them?"

Harper turned to look at Nibote and Moli: "Chirp."

Telingewei: "Are you really going? Don't force yourself."

Harper said with a determined look, "Chirp!"

The other Companion Beast also chimed in with unwavering determination. "Chirp!"

Xie Juanhan noticed, turned his head and smiled, but didn't stop the little ones.

They split up.

While the little ones dug up the tubers, the others hovered in the sky, searching for the remaining Princess Tina Flower.

In the evening, the fuzzy creatures returned home, panting, carrying their tubers on their backs.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei cleaned the stems, cooked them, mashed them, and let them cool.

The furry creatures twitched their noses, carefully sniffing the air, but couldn't detect even a hint of sweetness.

Xie Juanhan: "The stems aren't sweet; you need to mix in chopped wheat sprouts and let them ferment before they become sweet."

Telingewei pondered, "Like fermented wine?"

Xie Juanhan: "Almost? Wheat seedlings contain an enzyme that can break down the starch in the stems and tubers, turning it into sugar."

Xie Juanhan speaks both the words "enzyme" and "starch" in his hometown dialect.

Telingewei didn't understand, and even after using his mental powers to read it, he still couldn't figure out what it was.

The furry creatures were even more confused.

Xie Juanhan smiled and said, "Decomposition takes some time. We'll know tomorrow morning when we get up."

The furry creatures. "Aww."

Harper and the others were far less interested in maltose than in the syrup from Princess Dina Flower.

They had absolutely no intention of guarding outside the kitchen.

After dinner, they went into the study and fell fast asleep.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei could hear their snoring even in their bedroom.

"Looks like you're really exhausted today," Xie Juanhan said after listening carefully.

Telingewei casually cast a spell to block out sound, "It's normal to be tired after running so far."

This silencing spell was something Telingewei recently learned.

The hut on the mountaintop is too far away, and they've been too busy lately to go there often.

Using a silent magic device at home would be much more convenient.

There are more restrictions at home than at the Cloudtop Cottage.

Xie Juanhan, unaware that Telingewei's thoughts had drifted off again, said to him, "Take it easy, don't really piss Harper and the others off."

Telingewei: "No, I know what I'm doing."

The next day, the two dragons squeezed the juice out of the stem.

After being broken down by the wheat seedlings, the filtered juice from the stems was indeed sweet, and even had Magic Power.

Xie Juanhan scooped some for the furry creatures to taste. "How was it? I wasn't lying to you, was I? These tubers really can be made into syrup."

Harper's eyes were bright. "Chirp!"

The juice from the tubers is fragrant and sweet, with little grassy taste; drinking the juice alone makes for a pleasant beverage.

Xie Juanhan: "After boiling it into syrup, we can make it into gummy candies. In my hometown, we also make similar gummy candies using maltose. Try the gummy candies made from the stems and see how they differ from the authentic gummy candies made from Princess Tina Flower."

The furry creatures excitedly replied, "Aww!"

Xie Juanhan and his group picked Princess Tina's flowers yesterday, filtered out the juice, and mixed it with the juice from the leaves to give the gummies a unique flavor.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei were boiling sugar in the kitchen.

As the steam rose, the sweet aroma inside and outside the cabin grew stronger.

Harper and the others lay on the mats in the hallway, their tails swaying, contentedly inhaling the unique, sweet scent.

Xie Juanhan and his team filtered out three large basins of liquid.

Even with a large wood-fired stove, three pots of food must be cooked.

Xie Juanhan poured the juice from Princess Tina Flower and leaves into two large basins, and then took out starch to prepare to make gummy candies.

Just as he was about to start, he turned and called to Telingewei, who was standing in front of the pot, "Don't we have too much syrup? And the sap from Princess Tina Flower and leaves seems a bit lacking?"

Telingewei: "Want to collect some more?"

Telingewei casually called to Harper and the others in the corridor, "Go and collect some more."

Harper and the others heard every sound from the kitchen.

Hearing Telingewei shout, they stood up dejectedly.

Xie Juanhan grabbed Telingewei, both amused and exasperated. "No, the Princess Tina Flower has outside are all out of season. Where are you going to find them?"

Telingewei: "Oh."

Xie Juanhan: "What I was thinking was, why don't we go pick some Star Berry and make real fruit gummies? Star Berry are juicy, have a rich Magic Power, and smell wonderful; they should make great gummies."

Telingewei: "You could give it a try, Harper-- "