In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

Regarding the legend and the legendary favor, Lu Mingfei only glanced at them and knew that such things existed, but did not investigate them further.

After all, these things are too far removed from him. Until now, he is only a level 4 newbie, and in the judgment of the comprehensive network, he is even at the 'apprentice' level.

—The apprentice level refers to level 1 to 5, but level 5 can be considered the official level.

Level 5 is a game-changer for almost all spellcasters, especially for mages, who are often stereotyped as spellcasters. From this level onward, a very important spell opens its doors to them—Fireball!

"But that's a bit too far ahead... Speaking of which, improving this profession's experience through learning seems to take far too long. So far, every rapid level up has come after multiple battles. Does that mean the next battle won't be until next year's Halloween event?"

Is there anywhere I can gain a lot of combat experience?

"Hmm... Duel Club?"

-

Even if he were to join the Duel Club, he'd have to wait until Traveler's Street opens this week. In the meantime, Lu Mingfei has other important matters to attend to:

"I never knew there was so much to learn about cooking..."

Looking through the book in his hands, Lu Mingfei's face showed emotion.

His understanding of cooking was almost entirely limited to one thing: cooking food by various methods.

But now that I look at it, there's actually far more to it than just mastering it, and there's more than one way to do it. Cold dishes are one way to prepare them, vegetable dishes are another, and pastries and bread are almost all new ways to make them.

Beyond the cooking methods, there are also various differences in ingredients, seasonings, and cooking utensils—

"Sigh, aging, steaming, boiling, frying, roasting..." Lu Mingfei rubbed his temples, throwing another spark into the fire to maintain his efficient learning.

—But even while learning, Lu Mingfei could clearly perceive the limitations of his own skills, and the integrated network interface was a very obvious example of this:

The index is indeed increasing, but the skill "Cooking" has not appeared on the panel.

It's as if no matter how much Lu Mingfei looks at these things on paper, he still can't get the network to recognize him and make the skill appear on the panel.

Lu Mingfei put down his book and looked down when the index stopped at 99 and showed no sign of rising.

Of course, he wasn't looking at the floor; he was looking at a part of an academy he had never been to before:

"The kitchen..."

-

Saint Marian's kitchen was run by a group of halflings.

Most halflings consider a stable home their life goal: a peaceful and tranquil dwelling, far from plundering monsters and warring armies, with a warm fireplace, three meals a day, and wine to share.

Therefore, although there are many halflings, it is rare to see caravans or mercenary groups composed solely of halflings. They also do not have their own country. Most of them form teams with other people, usually out of friendship rather than for money or glory.

Compared to these two, halflings prefer to receive something they like as payment. This might be a recipe or a uniquely designed outfit.

Therefore, most of the dishes at Saint-Marie are very simple. There's no elaborate plating, no breathtaking decorations—at least not for the dishes displayed in the main hall.

Yes, it does, but it uses very high-quality ingredients and is cooked with great care, just like the "half-body human flesh soup" that Lu Mingfei has been longing for.

"You want a stove here?" The stocky halfling smiled. "A knight? Rare, very rare—"

"Generally speaking, those who have this kind of idea are fools. Their dormitories are right above ours, and they often enjoy cooking, even bringing dishes from all over the world..."

"So, Lu Mingfei, why do you want a stove?"

"Hmm... because I want to learn how to cook?" Lu Mingfei thought for a moment. "I recently came across a book, 'The Book of Dragons - The Book of Food,' and I'm thinking of delving deeper into this field."

"I've looked at a lot of cookbooks in the library, but no matter how I look at them, the knowledge still feels very awkward to me, so I thought I'd try putting it into practice..."

"Oh! Sure, sure, welcome, welcome." The halfling reached out and grabbed Lu Mingfei's arm, leading him deeper into the cave. "We can't help you with how to cook for dragons, but we certainly won't hold back the basic cooking methods—"

"But I have to tell you."

The halfling led him to a stove designed to fit Lu Ming's non-human physique. "There are some other requirements here that you must abide by:"

"Regarding the use of fire, you can check the notice at the entrance. Simply put, the fire must be turned off when leaving a room. If you need to keep the stove burning continuously, you need to tell us in advance to avoid a fire."

"Regarding the time, we halflings need to sleep, so this place closes at nine o'clock at night, and you need to go back to sleep. If you forget the time, go find the people on night patrol, and they will open the door for you."

"Also, you can bring your friends here, but you're not allowed to play around with food."

Lu Mingfei nodded, noted everything down, and finally replied with a smile, "I thought there would be some kind of requirement like 'you have to eat the food you cook yourself'."

"That's impossible." The halfling shook his head. "To improve one's culinary skills, one needs far more practice than eating for one person. It would cause problems if one were to eat it all."

At this point, the halfling clapped his hands: "That's perfect, let's learn some basic cooking skills!"

"How about we start with the most basic thing: an 'egg'?"

Pour oil into the pan to coat it, crack an egg on the side of the pan, and use both hands to toss the eggshell back and forth between the two halves, letting the egg white fall into the oil while the yolk remains in the shell. Then sprinkle in a little salt.

Only after the egg whites in the oil were almost set did the person add the yolks and toss the pan.

The final result is a perfectly fried egg.

"See? It's very simple, why don't you give it a try?"

After the demonstration, the halfling jumped off the stool, making way for the stove: "Don't worry about the ingredients. Since this is for practice, these expenses are acceptable."

"Cooking skills naturally require a lot of training. Especially since you're planning to cook for dragons, you'll definitely need to train even harder, right?"

Lu Mingfei nodded, controlled the stove to start the flame, and poured oil to coat the pot.

Then, with utmost care, he cracked open his first egg.