Chapter 178: Notes and Music Box

Of course, what was missing was nothing particularly important.

After all, the recipe for that cake is truly simple.

Regarding the ingredients and the method, Yun Mu had already written them down on paper.

What was missing were merely some details during the cooking process and the detailed proportions of the ingredients.

These things, relying on Chef Torres's skill and experience, would surely be something he could figure out on his own.

As for how the taste compared to the one on Earth... she had never eaten it, so how would she know?

It's just that every chef has their own unique understanding of cooking, so it would likely still be a bit different.

Moreover, the dried fruit in a Dundee Cake must be soaked in rum for a month; just in terms of the rum's flavor, it is unlikely to be exactly the same.

Looking at Chef Torres's expression, he should be quite satisfied with this recipe.

After all, no matter how you put it, this thing is food that could be served on a president's table, so it certainly has its value.

Even if the recipe lacked some details, it still could not conceal the charm it inherently possessed.

It was just a pity that no information about any deity popped up on the Game Panel this time, which made her feel somewhat unaccustomed to it.

"A recipe from ancient literature?"

Chef Torres stroked the beard on his chin with interest and said, "Do you know which era it comes from?"

Without waiting for Yun Mu to reply, he began to speculate, answering his own question.

"With such rich ingredients, the territory and regions covered by the planting areas alone are extremely vast, and the method of using rum to soak the dried fruit is also quite interesting."

"A country capable of inventing such a recipe must either have a very vast territory, containing all the regions where the ingredients are grown, or have very developed trade, capable of importing these rare fruits from other countries."

"And as far as I know, the number of ancient kingdoms that could satisfy these conditions simultaneously and might have discovered the lost recipe doesn't even reach double digits."

"Hmm, if you discovered this recipe within the Frost Kingdom, then it is highly likely a product of the Scarlet Court."

"I'm right, aren't I?"

After his analysis, Chef Torres looked at Yun Mu with his face written with the four big characters of "erudite knowledge" and asked.

"Y-yes..." Yun Mu said, feeling somewhat ashamed.

"I discovered these documents inside a Treasure Chest monster. After being appraised by the curator of the Point Library, he believed that the pattern on that Treasure Chest monster indeed came from the Scarlet Court."

Her words were mixed with partial truths, making it impossible for anyone to tell she was lying.

"Hahaha, I knew I hadn't guessed wrong."

Chef Torres laughed triumphantly, not putting on airs because of his status as an elder.

He stood up, walked toward the stairs next to the living room, and said, "It's rare to have juniors visiting my home, so I'll give you a gift as well."

"Wait for me here for a moment."

As he spoke, his figure disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

"This..."

Yun Mu looked at Brenna with some surprise, and the latter, after noticing her gaze, merely shook her head, signaling her to wait patiently.

After about five minutes passed, Chef Torres walked down the stairs, holding a wooden box in his arms with a slightly old notebook placed on top of it.

"This is a notebook I wrote when I was young. At that time, I was just a country bumpkin who had just arrived in Winter City from the countryside to work in the kitchen of a restaurant."

"Inside are my thoughts on cooking and life over many years."

"I hope the Princess can hand it to Elena."

Chef Torres said with deep emotion, took the notebook off the wooden box, and handed it to Brenna.

"..."

"I will." After a moment of silence, Brenna reached out and took the notebook.

Except for Yun Mu, no one else present heard the heaviness hidden in her words.

"Hmm." Seeing Brenna take the notebook, Chef Torres nodded with satisfaction and said, "If the Princess is interested, you can also open it and take a look on the road."

"Although the content inside is a bit dull, it's still not bad for passing the time."

After saying this, he opened the wooden box on the table and took out a square metal box from inside.

"This is a Music Box I picked up from a trading market half a year ago. As long as you turn the key on the box one full circle, the Music Box will randomly play one of three songs."

*Creak, creak. * Chef Torres turned the key on the back of the metal box and then gently released his fingers.

"~~~~"

A light and melodious sound of music was released from the box. Surprisingly, after this music began to play, the Spirituality in Yun Mu's mind suddenly surged.

【You are affected by the skill 【Requiem】 of the item 【Meirniya's Music Box (Purple)】. Will +1, Focus +2, Calm +3, Spirituality recovery efficiency +380%】 【Effect duration is 8 hours.】 "Did you feel it?" Chef Torres asked softly, seeing the expressions on everyone's faces change.

"This is..." Brenna looked at Chef Torres with some surprise.

"Hehe." Noticing her gaze, Chef Torres chuckled and said, "This is a Supernatural Item. I don't know its name, but you should have all felt its effect."

"It has two other songs; one can make people feel invigorated, and one can make people become very cold."

"And after playing one song, do not turn the key on it again for the next twenty-four hours."

"Will it produce any side effects?" William, who was on the side, asked curiously upon hearing this.

"That's right." Chef Torres nodded and said, "I actually don't know the specific time, but after playing a song, if you turn the key again immediately, the Music Box will play a, um..."

After thinking for a while, he found a precise word and said, "A very... grotesque song. Under the influence of that song, you will subconsciously believe that you are an Undead."

"You will become afraid of fire and sunlight, and you will want to go to a damp and dark place. The most dangerous time was when I wanted to dig a hole and Bury Alive myself..."

A look of lingering fear appeared on Chef Torres's face as he said, "Fortunately, I am already old and not so nimble when it comes to doing work, otherwise I would have killed myself."

"An item that can affect self-perception?" Brenna looked thoughtfully at Yun Mu—no, to be precise, she was looking at the Legendary Necklace worn around Yun Mu's neck, hidden beneath her clothing.

"In any case, ever since that incident passed, I have never dared to use this Supernatural Item casually again." Chef Torres pushed the Music Box in front of everyone and said:

"This Old Man is just an ordinary person; this thing should be kept by you Transcendental ones."

"... No problem." After a moment of silence, Brenna nodded.

Supernatural Items are indeed very dangerous for ordinary people; this refers not only to the potential side effects but also to those who might set their sights on the items in your hands.

After all, for a true Transcendental, wanting to snatch a Supernatural Item from the hands of an ordinary person is truly the simplest thing imaginable.

What's more, the person holding the Music Box is an old person nearly seventy years of age. "It's about time."

After Brenna accepted the Music Box, the group chatted in the room for a long while; when the Sun in the sky gradually sank and the time reached 4:30 PM, Brenna spoke up.

"Are you leaving?" Chef Torres looked at the time displayed on the clock and asked.

"Yes." Brenna nodded. She stood up from the sofa and said, "I will return tomorrow after I finish my business. Before I leave, I want to see the Warm Winter Art Festival."

"The one being held at Warm Snow Park?" A look of realization appeared on Chef Torres's face. He smiled and said, "Then hurry and go; if you wait any longer, you won't be able to grab a spot."

"My legs and feet aren't very convenient, so I won't see you out," he said.

"Alright. Then we shall take our leave."

Brenna stood up from the sofa and, taking Yun Mu and William with her, left Chef Torres's home.

After walking about ten meters away from the doorway, she suddenly let out a long breath.

Turning her head to look at the building shrouded in the night behind her, Brenna said slowly, "I will come back again, I promise."

"Phew, let's go." After saying this, she turned her head back, looked at Yun Mu and William, and said.

What is wrong with Brenna?

Even if William were stupid, he should have realized there was a problem by now. He looked at Brenna, his eyes flickering with a light of confusion.

But out of respect for privacy, and the thought that since the other party didn't want to say, he wouldn't ask, he ultimately didn't ask anything.

He simply followed behind Yun Mu and Brenna, watching them hail a Steam Taxi and head together to the location of Warm Snow Park.

"Wow, there are so many people here."

At the street by the entrance of Warm Snow Park, after the three of them stepped out of the Steam Taxi, Yun Mu looked at the dense crowd nearby and exclaimed.

The scenery of this Royal Capital is just different from Frostfall City, huh.

If it were in Frostfall City, at this time, the only way to see this many people would basically be over at Liuli Street, where white-collar workers are getting off work and rushing home.

However, in Winter City, besides those white-collar workers who seemed to have just finished their work hours, a large number of young people had gathered here.

Among them, a great many were students.

"Is Miss Yun interested in school?" Noticing Yun Mu's gaze observing her surroundings, Brenna asked with some curiosity.

"Ah?" Yun Mu looked at her with some confusion and said, "Why do you ask that?"

"It's nothing." Noticing her expression, Brenna shook her head and explained, "It's just that I saw you constantly observing those academy students, so I was a bit curious."

"I was just observing my surroundings out of curiosity; as for going to school and such, let's just forget it." Hearing Brenna's words, Yun Mu was momentarily speechless.

Before she transmigrated, she had already been in school for fifteen years. Although she would often recall her school days after growing up, there was absolutely no need for her to go back and attend school again.

"Let's head inside." Thinking of this, she immediately changed the subject.

"Okay."

Brenna nodded and followed her, passing through the dense crowd toward the direction of the stage they had walked past when they first arrived.

Along the way, many small stalls had appeared in the park.

Yun Mu and Brenna picked out things they were interested in, and regardless of the price, they just bought, bought, and bought.

This caused the faces of the stall owners to be filled with smiles.

In contrast to this was William's expression of being in such pain he could hardly breathe.

Of course, that guy was just pretending.

The customers these stall owners were targeting were the young people who came to visit the park.

How could they possibly sell things at a very high price? After Yun Mu and Brenna finished their shopping spree, it would be a surprise if they had spent even two Gold Frost Coins.

Ah, actually, two Gold Frost Coins is quite a lot.

If it were her predecessor, using them to buy rye bread, two Gold Frost Coins could buy a hundred portions! Since when did the value of Gold Frost Coins in her eyes start to gradually decrease?

"This young lady, would you like to try a divination?"

Just as Yun Mu was feeling sentimental in her heart, a young man wearing a blue Scholar robe and a feathered hat sitting behind a stall saw Yun Mu and Brenna walking past his stall without even a glance, and hurriedly called out.

He had been paying attention to the two of them for a while.

It wasn't because they were good-looking—although they were indeed very good-looking, that wasn't the point!

The point was that they were very generous with their spending.

He had originally envisioned in his heart that he would perform well in front of the two big spenders, but seeing that the two were about to leave without even looking at his place, he immediately grew anxious.

That was why he hurriedly spoke up to stop them.

"Divination?" Hearing the other party's words, Yun Mu stopped and looked at his stall with some curiosity.

"That's right!" Seeing Yun Mu turn her head to talk to him, the young man felt a surge of joy in his heart and immediately explained, "I am a student of the Salingduokasi Academy, majoring in Astrology."

"I can use astrology to perform a divination; would the two ladies like to try?"

"Salingduo-what?" Yun Mu asked with a strange expression.

"It's Salingduo~~kasi~, a transliteration based on the pronunciation of 'astrology' in the Ancient Northern Continent language." The young man explained to her with a strange trilling sound.

"Alright, so how do you perform divination here?" Hearing the other party say the words 'astrology', Yun Mu immediately became interested and asked.

It was just as well that she hadn't summoned Lucy, the Master of Astrology; otherwise, she would definitely have let the other party experience for themselves what this so-called astrology divination was all about.

Perhaps she would even be able to see some interesting expressions on Lucy's face? "Ahem." The young man coughed lightly to pull Yun Mu's attention back and said, "The method of divination is very simple. I have 111 Star Cards here, two Moon Cards, one Dark Night Card, and three Sun Cards."

"When the divination begins, I will shuffle all the cards in a random order, and you will pick three of them based on your intuition."

"Based on the content on the cards, as well as whether they are upright or reversed, I will interpret the content of the divination for you."

"That's it, isn't it very simple?"

PS: The Ancient Northern Continent language, as the name suggests, is the language used by the residents of the North Continent in ancient times.

This language is similar to Latin in reality, in that every region has a different way of speaking it.

Therefore, there are also versions such as Frost Ancient Northern Continent language, Scarlet Ancient Northern Continent language, and Dwarf Ancient Northern Continent language, among others.

(End of chapter)