Reading the system's note, Pei Guang's eyes were practically glowing with gold light.
After spending enough time in this world, he knew that anything that said "please explore on your own" meant it was absolutely top-tier content with extremely high potential.
But at that very moment, a Cat Cake with a blue outer layer and red inner filling leapt over as if it had felt a call from destiny. Among all the Cat Cakes that Pei Guang and Stelle had created, it was the most ordinary and nondescript.
In terms of rarity, it was probably just a 3-star.
But now, it stepped forward.
Curious, Pei Guang handed the recipe over to it.
"Oh? You're interested in this? This is a cooking recipe, something you guys can learn and make. If you're interested, I'll give it to you."
The cat meal set recipe was a bit awkward, after all only feline-type creatures could learn it. But after checking the Cat Cake's attributes, Pei Guang laughed: this thing actually counted as a feline creature.
That was just how player logic worked.
In player-style classifications, if it looks like a cat and meows, it's a feline.
This Cat Cake was named Dingdang Cake. It meowed excitedly, and seeing how thrilled it looked, Pei Guang handed over the full course recipe.
"Here you go! Go study and cook! I'll give all of this to you. Since you're interested, I'll leave it all in your hands. From now on, I'm counting on you to handle the cooking!"
Dingdang Cake took the whole recipe book, and a special aura radiated from its entire pastry-like body.
"I will spread the glory of these fine dishes!"
Yes, it wanted to learn. But even more than that, it didn't want to keep the recipes to itself.
The moment it saw the recipe book, it formed a dream and conviction of its own. It wanted more people to experience this food: to enjoy the flavors the Cat Cakes could create.
It had found its purpose in life.
It picked up the book and began studying it seriously.
The other Cat Cakes, curious, gathered around. Some just glanced at it and turned their noses up—they had no interest in cooking.
But others were intrigued and joined Dingdang Cake to study alongside it.
At that moment, meows echoed through the entire section of the station.
"I've got it! I've learned it: this is how you cook?"
"This looks so tasty!"
"Ugh… we don't have any ingredients!"
The Cat Cakes meowed with either excitement or frustration. Hearing their cries, Pei Guang spoke up.
"Don't worry. If you all want to cook, I'll take care of the ingredients. I promise I'll gather enough materials for you to practice with!"
While flipping through the recipe earlier, Pei Guang's system had already logged the ingredient requirements. Although he didn't understand some of the items and didn't have any of them on hand, he reminded himself: this was Herta's Space Station.
And here? He had a very high friendship level with Asta.
Even if she didn't have these things in stock, Pei Guang knew her well: if it existed in this universe and was for sale, she could get it. So, he pulled out his phone and sent her a list of ingredients.
In the command module, Asta received a message from Pei Guang.
Pei Guang: "Heyyy~ you there~? I need some ingredients."
He sent her a screenshot. Upon seeing the list of items, Asta gasped.
"That's a lot… Some of these things are really hard to buy. Might take a bit of time…"
Pei Guang: "No worries, we've got plenty of time today. Even if the rare ones take longer, that's fine. I've got tons of recipes here, I can easily put together a full set. Oh right, once the stuff arrives, just send it to the Confinement Section. How much do I owe you?"
Asta: "If you mention money again, I'll get mad~"
Pei Guang: "Well, I can't let you do this for nothing. How about this: once everything's delivered, come by our place. I'll cook something delicious for you~ I'm telling you, the station's gonna have real food from now on~"
Asta: "Super looking forward to it~"
Putting away her phone, Asta took a deep breath as she looked over the list of ingredients Pei Guang had sent.
Most of them were easy to get, but a few were nearly impossible for ordinary people to acquire.
Fortunately, she wasn't an ordinary person.
Those rare ingredients were troublesome, but for the bulk of the list, Asta decided to just call for express delivery and have the company send them over quickly.
Meanwhile, Dingdang Cake was studying the recipe with great focus. And discovered it might really be a genius: after going through the recipe once from start to finish, it already understood the basic steps of the cooking process.
Technically, any Cat Cake could be a genius, as that was how Ruan Mei had designed them when creating these lifeforms.
Even if the final results didn't meet her expectations, the machines retained her original intentions. In a way, these Cat Cakes were truly born geniuses.
When the ingredients and kitchenware were delivered by Asta, Dingdang Cake began to display its natural cooking talent. Though it looked like just an ordinary Cat Cake, the aura it gave off was enough to make even Ruan Mei take notice.
Ruan Mei had interacted with many of these Cat Cakes before. Most of them were barely distinguishable from other lifeforms she had created.
Take Dingdang Cake for example: under the influence of Cat Cake of Knowledge, it understood the world a bit better, but in essence, it was no different from her other creations.
But now… she was sensing something different—an aura?
Not just Dingdang Cake. A few other Cat Cakes that were interested in cooking gathered around, ready to assist.
With the right number of helpers and all the ingredients prepared, Dingdang Cake began making Cat Food.
At first, Dingdang Cake was clumsy, as it was its first time cooking. But once it held the knife and began the process, its speed increased rapidly, and its skill became more refined.
Before long, a full meal from the golden recipe appeared before everyone's eyes.
The dishes were placed on the table, all covered by a giant lid. Pei Guang and Stelle had already gathered.
Stelle stared at the large lid and instinctively swallowed. "It's done already? So many dishes… and it hasn't even been that long. Also, why don't I smell anything?"
Pei Guang put on a thoughtful expression. "It should be done. As for why we can't smell anything…"
He reached out and lifted the lid himself. The moment it opened, golden light burst forth from within.
Pei Guang: "Golden light! The dish is glowing gold: it's definitely the most delicious kind of food!"
Stelle turned her head, curious. "Are you sure you didn't just add some special effects?"
Pei Guang: "Dishes that glow like this give you hallucinations of deliciousness that only happen when something tastes really good."
Stelle: "You sure you didn't add something else in there?"
Pei Guang chose to ignore Stelle's undermining remarks. His eyes were locked onto the dish before them.
It was a braised pork set meal, and the portions were massive. The braised pork alone was Cat Cake-sized, and there were six of those in the dish.
Alongside the pork were buns and dumplings, all stuffed with meat. Giant crabs, huge meatballs… just one of them would be enough to fill someone up!
At that moment, even Stelle couldn't keep up her sarcasm anymore, because the aroma was overwhelming. Everyone, humans and Cat Cakes alike, had their eyes fixed on the food.
Even Ruan Mei couldn't help but swallow.
And in her mind, a small thought popped up: There's no way one person could finish all that food. So maybe I…
As she was thinking, Pei Guang looked at Stelle and said, "If you eat the entire set by yourself, you get a stat boost. Are you going first, or am I?"
Before Stelle could reply, Dingdang Cake meowed loudly: "Meow~!"
Stelle: "!!! Fine! I'll take one too!"
As Stelle spoke, Ruan Mei also stepped forward. "Excuse me… may I have some too?"
"Meow~" Dingdang Cake happily agreed.
It wouldn't cook for just anyone, but Pei Guang, Stelle, and… Ruan Mei: those were family! And a family member's request would always be fulfilled.
Dingdang Cake sprang into action once more. As a chef, it would fulfill its diners' wishes.
And at the same time, it felt a joy it had never experienced before. With each step, its desire and motivation to explore the culinary world grew.
Dingdang Cake began preparing another round.
Pei Guang, seeing that Stelle wasn't in a rush, decided to start first.
Chopsticks? Too slow. He stabbed a chunk of pork with the chopsticks and stuffed it right into his mouth.
"So good! It's so good!"
Pei Guang mumbled as he chewed, and Stelle, now drooling, said, "Let me try some…"
Pei Guang: "No way! You have to eat the whole thing by yourself for the stat bonus! Let's test the meal effect first. Next time, when stats don't matter, we can share."
Stelle: "Fine… okay…"
The Cat Cakes worked fast, and soon both Stelle and Ruan Mei had giant dishes placed in front of them. When they opened the lids, golden light shimmered off a gout-inducing meat feast and an all-meat barbecue set.
The portions were so massive that even five or ten people might struggle to finish them. But seeing the dishes before them, both women eagerly began to dig in.
On this day, Ruan Mei, member of the Genius Society, temporarily became one of the players, joining them in enjoying the Cat Cake cuisine.
The food had an almost magical flavor, making it hard to stop once you started.
But no matter how delicious it was, after a while, the three of them were stuffed. Ruan Mei was ready to stop, but when she saw Pei Guang and Stelle still forcing themselves to eat, she looked confused.
Noticing Ruan Mei's puzzled expression, Pei Guang explained between bites, "You have to eat all of it in one go for the stat bonus! Trust me!"
Ruan Mei still wanted to stop; she knew that eating so much at once could overload her stomach and stress her organs, leading to bad consequences.
But… she was a genius from the Genius Society, an expert in biology. What would kill a normal person wouldn't affect her the same way.
If she simply increased her cellular metabolism a bit, eating it all wouldn't be a problem.
Remembering Pei Guang's earlier words, and all the strange wonders she'd seen from the players, this time, Ruan Mei chose to believe him.
And thanks to that choice… her once smooth stomach was now visibly bloated.