Chapter 10
I brought up the recipe and started getting ready to make the butter mochi.
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King Slime Butter Mochi.
1. Beat 1 egg, then add milk (200 ml), melted butter (30 g), and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. (Amounts may be adjusted.)
2. Sift the salt, tapioca starch (20 g), and glutinous rice flour (170 g) into the egg mixture and combine. (Amounts may be adjusted.)
3. Add the King Slime Jelly, blended with 1 low-grade mana stone (about 200 g), to the well-mixed batter, then mix well again.
4. Strain the batter through a sieve, then pipe it into the molds using a piping bag.
5. Bake the batter in the molds in an oven or air fryer for 30 minutes.
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What was so special about this that it became a trend, and why was the system following it?
Though, since I could follow the trend and earn points at the same time, I couldn't complain.
I felt a little strange about it.
“Well, whatever.”
I shook my head, dispelling the odd feeling, then picked up a couple of the eggs I'd just bought.
The recipe called for one, but it also said the amounts could be adjusted.
More than anything, I planned to use both chunks of King Slime Jelly, so I needed to adjust the measurements.
Gulp—
“Phew….”
Why was I so nervous about this?
I'd only ever cooked simple meals for myself, so I'd never made anything like dessert before.
“No, I went to the Tower and back. Surely I can handle this, too.”
Still, it was something I had to do.
I took a deep breath using the Lamaze breathing method, then quietly gripped the mixing bowl.
Tap. Tap.
Crack—
I tapped the eggs against the rim of the mixing bowl, cracked them open, and let their contents fall inside.
Then I stirred them with the whisk I'd bought today.
The whites and yolks mixed together into a pale yellow egg mixture.
It seemed to have turned out pretty well.
“All right, let's see... milk and melted butter...”
I immediately poured 400 ml of milk into the well-mixed egg mixture,
then added the melted butter I'd microwaved and cooled beforehand along with the milk, just in case the eggs cooked.
Since I was making a larger batch, I added a little less than double the amount of each ingredient.
“Hmm… not bad?”
So far, everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Though I was a little worried about the measurements.
I had no choice but to trust my instincts.
“And now, vanilla extract.”
I added a tablespoon of vanilla extract, then mixed it in again.
If you're wondering why I hadn't just added it at the same time as the milk and butter...
Honestly, I'd forgotten.
Anyway, I added the tapioca starch and glutinous rice flour to the finished egg mixture.
Of course, I didn't forget to sift them in properly.
“I like it, I like it, I like butter mochi.”
As I stirred with the whisk, the egg mixture, tapioca starch, and glutinous rice flour came together into a batter.
The batter that began to form was runny, closer to a liquid than anything stiff and solid.
“Hmm… this is kind of fun.”
I gazed at the finished batter.
It didn't look like a failure at all.
Maybe this was talent.
Well, up to this point, anyone could do it.
Still, it felt good.
“And… blend the mana stone and King Slime Jelly.”
Humming cheerfully, I put one mana stone and the King Slime Jelly into the blender beside me.
“Please, I bought a good blender on purpose. Don't break on me…!”
I was a little worried.
I was about to blend a rock and some unknown substance, after all.
I nervously started the blender.
Whirrrrr—!
Krrreeeeek—!
“Please…!”
The ominous noise coming from the blender made my heart pound along with it.
I kept it running, praying it wouldn't break, and...
Grind, grind, grind, grind.
As if to tell me my worries were pointless, the blender ground the mana stone and jelly perfectly.
“Ooh—Samsung really is something…!”
The mana stone and jelly had blended smoothly without a single issue.
A sound of admiration escaped me automatically at the sight.
I'd bought this blender after looking at reviews on several Galleries and other sites.
As expected, it performed great.
“Phew… So now I pour this into that batter, right?”
The ground-up mana stone and jelly were mixed together.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
It reminded me of that pasta, and I felt my PTSD starting to act up.
“Phew… no, it might taste good this time, too.”
My PTSD made me hesitate a little,
but I remembered the smoothie, which smelled bad but tasted all right,
and decided to give the butter mochi the benefit of the doubt.
I immediately brought the mixing bowl full of batter over to the blender.
Then I poured the bluish stuff inside the blender straight into the batter.
The ordinary egg batter was instantly tainted blue.
It was seriously unpleasant to look at.
“Ugh….”
I suppressed the rising PTSD and slowly stirred the blue batter.
If there was one silver lining,
it was that the bizarre appearance gradually faded as it mixed into the batter.
Still, it was an appetite-killing color.
At least it looked much better than the ingredients had on their own.
“N-now I need to put this in the piping bag…”
After that, everything went smoothly.
I put a reasonable amount of batter into the piping bag, then piped it into the molds I'd greased with the remaining butter.
Then I put the molds full of batter in the air fryer and baked them.
The only issue was that there was so much batter, I had to bake it in two batches.
And here was the finished result.
“Ooh… blue butter mochi! Fuck!”
A blue something-or-other shaped like butter mochi sat before me.
Chunks of jelly were scattered through it like muffin toppings.
It was the kind of sight that made you swear just looking at it.
“…F-first, I should take a picture for proof.”
I gathered up the terribly underdeveloped-looking butter mochi and lined them up.
Then I set King Slime's Crown beside them and took a picture.
I was going to post it on the Gallery.
“Phew. Then now, t-time to taste…”
Once I'd taken enough pictures, the moment I'd been eagerly awaiting finally drew near.
The time for a happy(?) taste test.
Gulp—
I slowly calmed myself and reached for the butter mochi.
I picked one up at a snail's pace and brought it to my lips.
Squish.
“Guh…!”
The moment it touched my lips, I felt the jelly's squishy texture.
It was a pretty creepy sensation.
‘No, this isn't butter mochi. It's five points in my Magic stat, so just eat it…!’
I focused as hard as I could on the five points in my Magic stat I was about to gain, took a breath, and put the butter mochi in my mouth.
Squish. Squish.
The moment I bit into it, I felt the jelly's squishy texture.
The unfamiliar sensation nearly made a string of curses slip out, but I held them back.
Then I put the whole piece in my mouth and began chewing.
If I could just get it down, I'd be rewarded with dopamine, whether from the Gallery or the quest.
The taste of the butter mochi I'd put in my mouth with such grim determination was...
“Thith, why ith it tho good…? (Why is this so good?)”
It was far more delicious than I'd expected.
For some reason, the ground mana stone wasn't all that hard,
and while the jelly's texture was a little—no, a lot—distracting, it wasn't actually that unpleasant.
The subtle buttery aroma and sweetness were so well balanced that they made up for the awful texture.
“Hmm… It's edible, as long as I ignore the texture.”
I picked up and ate a few more pieces of butter mochi.
Ding.
Of the ten or so pieces I'd made, I'd eaten about five when a system window appeared before my eyes.
[You have consumed King Slime Butter Mochi.]
[The user's Mana has increased.]
[Magic stat increased by 5.]
“As expected, the effect is amazing.”
It seemed the effect kicked in after I'd eaten about one jelly's worth of butter mochi.
The effect was unmistakable.
But I was a little disappointed.
“Tsk… So I have to eat enough butter mochi to use up an entire King Slime Jelly to raise my stats?”
If eating just one piece of butter mochi had raised my stats, that would've been a sweet deal.
Well, I did get stronger, so I should be satisfied and move on.
I reached for the remaining butter mochi.
[Magic stat increased by 5.]
After eating the rest of the butter mochi, my stats increased, and I felt reasonably full.
“Ugh, I'm stuffed.”
Before, I wouldn't have gotten full from a few pieces of dessert.
But maybe my stomach had shrunk along with my body, because even this much had left my belly round and full.
I was patting my swollen belly and looking at the stat increase message when...
[Congratulations. You have cleared the quest.]
[As a reward, you have acquired 5 Free Stat Points and 5 Shop Points.]
“Ah….”
A system window appeared, announcing that I'd completed the quest,
and a voice steeped in dopamine slipped from my lips.
It was a total of ten points.
Five points each, but that was a huge amount for me right now.
And it was a reward for all the damn effort I'd gone through, too.
“I should use them as planned, at least.”
To make sure I didn't make the wrong choice,
I calmed my excitement and brought up my Status Window.