In the middle of the clearing filled with spirit freshwater creatures and thousands of Elemental Fiends of different colors, a rge empty spot was made at the very center. In it, a woman cd in bck tights covered with a loosened faded yellow shirt stood tall while weaving her arms just like a maestro conducting an orchestra. Her thick single hair braid whipped about, although no air currents were blowing harshly around her. She was closing her eyes and concentrating in front of a rge circur one-meter diameter bubble filled a third with roiling transparent liquid. A few steps away, the cnsmen of the Serpent’s Lair, who were of differing species, surrounded her in a loose circle. They were singled out from the rest of the spectators.

  The sun was nearly high upon their heads, and the rays were especially gring at the clearing. However, no one seemed to notice it. It was because thousands of tiny multicolored birds filled up the airspace above, blocking the rays of the sun. The rger ones were a bit further back.

  Everyone was observing the Mistress in silence as if they were holding their breath. Some even tried to memorize the Mistress’ movement, as they thought it might be some more obscure technique imparted to those lucky spiritual beasts.

  The Mistress was performing a mysterious ceremony with her ‘people’ at the very center and the Elemental Fiends at the very back. The freshwater creatures and the birds were looking in awe at the increasing energy emitted in real-time by the Mistress’ faction!

  Besides the missing Lightning Serpent, all of them were there, in the middle of cultivating their personal cultivation methods while simultaneously performing tasks together! Even the useless chubby brown bird who was rolling in mud before joined the ceremony and stayed still for once.

  They respectfully listened to the susurration of unknown nguage melodiously spoken by the Mistress, who seemed to be in a trance. They reveled in the fact that they could feel the chants from within their very soul though they didn’t form any bonds with the Mistress! The melodious words spoken by the Mistress did not have a hint of aggression nor ill intent. However, they still had the power to coax them in the most mysterious ways. It was that powerful.

  Excellent job, everyone. Let’s wrap up!

  Unknown to the rest, Hana had been revising the Micro Control Technique extensively with her pets within the Soul Hall Domain. They had just completed the final weaving of a spiritual energy net together for practice. The shape was solid, the weavings were acceptable, and the overall product looked sturdy.

  Within the Soul Hall Domain, Hana, in her astral form, nodded with satisfaction to all the sparkling multicolored ‘stars’ present around her. Her ‘family’ had grown rger in such a short time. She felt somewhat touched. These cute pets were loyal to a fault and always tried their best to accommodate her whims. Only Arash patiently treated her that way before.

  She cpped her hands merrily to catch the stars’ attention.

  Alright. Let’s start for real this time. Minimize mistakes. Aim for stability.

  A few Elemental Fiends scurried forward through the masses. They appeared beside the Mistress with a transparent bag of white pearlescent ‘seeds’ within. The Mistress gave the Elemental Fiend a nod, and it gently sshed the top part of the transparent bag.

  The Mistress plunged her right hand into the bag. She threw upwards three handful of seeds into the air, where they froze in pce all of a sudden. A brown crocodile who stood on its hind legs not too far away extended its two forelegs forward in all seriousness; it was evident that it was controlling the movement of the tiny ‘seeds’. Beads of sweat could be seen forming on its temples as it tried its best to focus.

  The princess of the Waterwave cn floated forward and sent over a miniature pilr of water towards the static floating seeds. The water pilr turned into tiny water bdes as they rotated with speed in between the seeds. The seeds were grounded into specks of sand-like substance.

  However, some of the spiritual beasts noticed the Mistress’ frown.

  “Again. Alpy, Chomper, assist.” The Mistress didn’t open her eyes, but she spoke gently before continuing the modified Lightning Emperor’s Divinity Soul chant. She wasn’t observing with her eyes, but with her soul, as all of them were currently connected to her within her Soul Hall Domain, Kuro included, who acted as an observer this time. Since Chomper wasn’t part of her soul s, ehem, pets, she had to articute her words to inform the snakehead fish. Nonetheless, Chomper was already considered part of the team; this lovable snakehead fish had been performing seamless cooperation between himself and the others of the Lightning Serpent’s Lair since the very beginning.

  I’m so sorry, Mistress. Ara’s telepathic voice tinged with tears echoed within the Hall.

  No worries, Ara-chan. Practice a little bit more afterward, okay? Everyone is here to help each other. The aunty coaxed the sniffing little princess gently.

  Chomper came forward, made an enormous bubble at the vicinity of the levitating ground fragrant rice while excluding the current oil-containing bubble in front of Hana effortlessly. He then compressed the bubble into the size of an orange with exquisite control. His method was very poised, efficient, and rapid, earning a praising stare from both the Mistress and Lord Shiro.

  It was to be expected; Chomper had been working his ass off for the Serpent’s Lair and was actually the third one who was most proficient in using Micro Control after Kuro and Shiro. He gave a nod to the turtle not far away opposite him, signaling him to start.

  Alpy bowed deep to Hana first and to Shiro, second. The shrewd turtle knew who he had to pay attention to and to ftter. Shiro returned Alpy’s bow with a slight acknowledging nod.

  He stepped forward with renewed gait amidst thousands of stares without feeling nervous. A small rotary water bde with four-axis appeared over his head. With a soft puff from Shiro, the water bde turned into ice. The four-axis bde entered the bubble without bursting it and started rotating in multiple directions at high speed!

  Hana was really impressed with the turtle’s ingenuity! This turtle had better application sense than Shiro!

  The course rice specks finally turned into dust! Rice flour checked!

  On the side, Mata the golden mahseer fish had been working together with a few freshwater creatures, assisting Shiro with meshing a new batch of tapioca with freshly grated coconut floss atop their heads. All were done remotely by melding the spiritual energy of the heavens and earth. Their cooperation needed some work, but it produced quite an acceptable spiritual energy weave.

  Hana helped complete the tapioca-coconut floss mixture by sprinkling a pinch of salt and some frozen course honey. She still couldn’t let go of the most essential part! She was the only person who knew how an actual Getuk Ubi tastes like after all. The result was a pile of cream-colored dough. Checked!

  Hot coconut oil for deepfrying! Checked!

  Hana walked away from Mata and co. to return to the middle of the clearing. She stood a few paces away from the oil-containing bubble and cpped her hands to get the attention of her pets; they were all still linked with Hana within the Soul Hall Domain. She then tapped her palms downward while closing her eyes.

  A bubble immediately appeared in front of her. It fttened down into the shape of a ft circle. Ara, who was floating nearby, showed deep concentration as she focused her all on maintaining the weird shape of the bubble. Hana’s hand nded nicely on the ft-shaped bubble as she smiled in appreciation.

  This time the Young Miss couldn’t make the same mistake again.

  Chomper, this all-rounder helpful attendant, encased three more yers of bubbles atop the original one supported by Ara without being asked, making it sturdier. Finally, Kolo carefully worked with Gramps Alpy to move the white dust towards the levitating ‘table’ made from fttened three-yered bubbles.

  Bring over the first batch, Shi-chan dearest. Learn well, everyone. Hana instructed her beloved fox to bring over the tapioca-coconut fkes dough balls personally prepared by Shiro during the first round. The first batch of tapioca-coconut fkes dough balls has been sealed in a levitating icebox. Although they were pced inside a hollowed-out ice cube, the dough balls weren’t frozen.

  Under her pets’ concentrated stares, Hana mixed the newly made rice flour with a bit of salt and water into a thick paste excitedly atop the bubble ‘table’. The mixture floated upwards slightly, forming a circur shape. This crucial part was controlled by Shiro. However, she couldn’t get over the feeling like she had transcended into a Spirit Chef from those fancy C-novels who cooked levitating stuff using chi. It was so cool! The levitating dough balls moved through the rice flour paste, coating them nicely before they directly flew into the main rge bubble filled with hot coconut oil as per Hana’s instruction.

  Around 2 minutes ter, ten perfectly round sweet-savory Getuk Ubis with crunchy yellowish crust were ferried out gently. They nded on a prepared pink ‘pte’ yered with fresh young leaves. A lovely sweet yet nutty aroma permeated the air around them as everyone nearby inhaled deeply. The most shocking thing was, dense spiritual energy could be felt permeating through the tasty-smelling Getuk Ubis!!!

  Did a true blue advancement meal finally appeared this time?!

  The eyes of the freshwater creatures turned red with desire! Everyone was doing their best to contain themselves!

  “Behave, Little Ones. I don’t like the look in your eyes.” Hana spoke firmly. The guilty ones immediately looked down worriedly, afraid that the illustrious Breakthrough Specialist could read their covetous minds. In this pce, the Mistress’ words are the Law; they learned it through the hard way since they stepped on the Serpent’s Lair.

  “This is just the first batch. Wait patiently, and you’ll be rewarded for your patience. The ones who dared to try something not so nice, be prepared for the consequences. Humph!” Hana added when she noticed that the ones who didn’t look down had gazes full of restlessness and dissatisfaction. Either everyone was too stressed with the recent ‘training’, or they were eyeing for the kuih, or both!

  …

  mrandmrsmooncat