Although the Mana Storage Array had not yet been integrated into the Moon Well, the energy-gathering effect of its core was already absorbing the free mana in the surrounding environment on its own.
Wu Yao hummed a tune as she opened the Territory Management interface. The Moon Well icon was now lit up, and every single construction requirement listed next to it was marked with a green checkmark.
She opened the details page, but before her finger could even touch the build button, a system prompt suddenly popped up.
【Recommended construction location detected in the current territory. Would you like to view it?】
Wu Yao raised an eyebrow and clicked view.
The territory thumbnail automatically zoomed in, and a translucent golden ring began to flash slowly in the exact center of the cabin.
“Sure, let's put it here,” Wu Yao muttered, reaching out to tap the build button.
The Moon-Silver Wood floor beneath her feet suddenly glowed with a layer of silvery-white light. The glowing patterns rippled outward from the middle of the living room, outlining the shape of a wellhead in the very center of the floor.
A low-frequency hum resonated through the air as the Moon-Silver Wood floor slowly sank under the light of the runes.
At the same time, a large portion of her mana was drained. A system prompt informed her that the construction of the Moon Well had begun, with an estimated time of one hour.
Wu Yao exited the construction interface and stretched.
An hour wasn't particularly long, but it wasn't short either. Just waiting around would be a waste of time.
She turned her head to look out the window. The Bright Moon and Silver Moon hung high in the sky. Outside the territory shield, several corrupted giant birds were circling above, though they hadn't yet come close enough to attack.
Wu Yao's gaze fell toward the kitchen.
Ever since she had built the kitchen, she had only made sweet potato cakes, bread, and potato soup.
But she was a cat owner now, and a kitten couldn't just get by on makeshift meals like a player.
When she was sweeping through Qinghe Town, she had bought a bunch of ingredients out of curiosity and a collector's habit. There seemed to be a few pieces of raw chicken and mutton in there, and even a dozen eggs.
Time for her to show off her skills and whip up some cat food!
Wu Yao walked into the kitchen and began pulling out the usable ingredients one by one.
The ingredients she had bought in Qinghe Town last time were still piled in her Inventory. The warehouse didn't have a time-stop effect, so she couldn't store food there.
But her Inventory slots were limited, so this was the perfect opportunity to use them up.
Two pieces of boneless chicken thigh, which still looked quite fresh; a small piece of mutton with evenly marbled fat; and a small basket of eggs, their shells still stuck with a few pieces of dry straw.
“No milk...” Wu Yao frowned, recalling some cat-feeding videos she had occasionally scrolled through. It seemed newborn kittens usually drank goat's milk or specialized cat milk powder.
But there was obviously no such thing as a pet shop in this game, and Qinghe Town didn't have any milk-producing animals either.
Still, cats were carnivores, so eating meat should be fine.
Although Xuanmiao was small, her teeth were very sharp. Wu Yao had seen her four little fangs with her own eyes when the kitten yawned last time.
Puréeing the meat into a paste should work.
She flipped through the system recipes. The built-in recipes were entirely for human consumption, and all she could find were basic methods like pan-frying, roasting, stewing, and boiling.
Fortunately, the kitchen's manual processing mode allowed her to operate outside of the preset recipes. As long as she provided the ingredients and the processing method, it could execute the task.
“Purée the chicken, purée the mutton, mix in the eggs, stir thoroughly, and then steam it,” Wu Yao muttered to herself as she faced the counter, manually inputting the processing parameters into the kitchen's control interface.
The kitchen lit up with a pale blue operational glow. A kitchen knife floated in midair and began to spin rapidly. Within a few breaths, the two pieces of chicken breast transformed from whole chunks of meat into a fine, pinkish-white paste, with the mutton following close behind.
The two types of minced meat were mixed in a stirring bowl, and the eggs were cracked in. Under the control of magic, the egg mixture evenly coated every bit of the minced meat.
The thoroughly mixed meat paste was poured into a shallow clay dish and placed into the steamer.
Steam billowed from the edges of the lid, carrying the distinct savory aroma of the meat and egg mixture.
Xuanmiao had jumped up at some point and was now crouching next to the steamer. Her green eyes stared intently at the white steam rising from it, her whiskers twitching forward.
“Don't be impatient,” Wu Yao said, leaning against the counter. She gently pulled Xuanmiao back with one hand, worried she might get burned.
The steamer's timer went off, and the lid automatically popped open, releasing a rush of hot white steam.
Wu Yao used her bare hands to lift the clay dish out and set it on the counter. Once cooked, the minced meat had turned from pinkish-white to a light brown. The surface was smooth and even, and a quick poke revealed that the elasticity and moisture were just right.
She used a pair of chopsticks to pick up a small piece, blew on it a few times to cool it down, and then placed it in front of Xuanmiao.
Xuanmiao lowered her head, her emerald eyes drawing close to the still-steaming meat paste, her nose almost touching it.
Wu Yao held her breath.
Xuanmiao sniffed it for a solid five or six seconds.
Then, with a flick of her tail, she jumped down from the counter with an elegant feline grace and walked toward the bedroom without looking back.
“Wait, what...?” Wu Yao looked down at the meat paste in her hand, which actually looked quite decent.
Hadn't she looked so expectant just a moment ago?
Holding the dish of rejected meat paste, she sniffed the mixture she had made with her own hands and couldn't resist taking a bite herself.
It didn't taste bad. Although it lacked seasoning, the natural sweetness of the meat was still there, and the added egg gave it an extra touch of tenderness.
This dish would easily pass as acceptable on a human dinner table, so why wouldn't Xuanmiao even touch it?
Refusing to give up, Wu Yao carried the dish and chased after her into the bedroom.
Xuanmiao had already climbed back onto the Moon-Silver Wood Bed and was curled up next to the pillow, her tail lazily draped over her paws.
“Xuanmiao,” Wu Yao said, placing the dish by the bed. She squatted down to face her and said earnestly, “You haven't eaten anything since yesterday. This is meat. It's meat! Aren't cats supposed to love meat?”
Xuanmiao opened one eye to glance at her, then closed it again.
Wu Yao pushed the dish a little closer to her.
Xuanmiao chose to bury her head in her paws.
“Fine then.” Sighing, Wu Yao carried the dish back to the kitchen and stood by the counter, eating the rest of the meat paste bite by bite until it was all gone.
There was no sense in letting it go to waste, and it really did taste quite good.
As she ate, she rationalized the situation to save face. Xuanmiao was clearly unusual.
Since there was something strange about her, she probably wouldn't let herself starve anyway, so Wu Yao didn't need to worry so much.
She stuffed the last bite of the steamed meat and egg into her mouth, placed the clay dish in the sink for automatic cleaning, and the kitchen's pale blue operational glow faded as she turned to leave.
As soon as she walked out, she ran straight into two flustered figures.
Tiechui was running at the very front, her large ears pinned flat against her head from the sheer speed of her sprint, her brown eyes filled with terror.
Tongque followed close behind her older sister, her ochre curls matted to her temples with sweat. She was clutching the Portable Magic Environment Detector in her arms, its crystal needle spinning wildly on the dial.
“Your Excellency!” The moment Tiechui saw Wu Yao, it was as if a drowning person had found a lifeline. She rushed forward in three strides, arriving right in front of her. “S-Something terrible has happened!”
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