When the Demon Chef announced that he was ready to present his answer to my doughnut challenge, we all gathered in the outer courtyard. We had just finished dinner, and everyone was looking forward to the dessert.

My apprentices and I clapped, and the staff cheered or hooted when Deming’s assistants brought in large serving plates loaded with different types of circular fried dough. There were savory ones made with various types of meat like pork, chicken, shrimp, etc. that were seasoned or spiced with salt, pepper, curry, chili, onions, and various herbs. The usual ones, topped with sugar, chocolate, whipped cream, icing, fruits, and so forth, looked scrumptious.

I, of course, immediately took a leche flan doughnut.

This particular treat was one of my favorites since it unlocked a memory of me watching a YouTube video about Kora’s bakery in New York with my family. Since we were living in Singapore at the time, it was impossible for us to get any, so my father made leche flan and bought regular sugar-glazed doughnuts. The result was really very good, and from then on we used to make our own doughnut toppings with cream, chocolate, fruit, and so forth.

I picked up the leche flan doughnut, the soft, pillowy dough giving slightly under my fingers, and bit into it. The fluffy, slightly chewy doughnut gave way to reveal the rich, eggy, custard center that released a cascade of silky custard that coated my tongue. The contrast in texture between the silky smooth flan and the fried dough was divine, and the caramelized sugar on top added a delicate crunch and an extra layer of sweetness that wasn't overpowering. I closed my eyes and savored each bite as the caramel notes lingered, the flavor and texture transporting me to a happier time before my parents died.

Eying the other delicious-looking pastries, I contemplated how many I could eat without suffering from a stomach ache. “I want to taste everything! Who wants to share with me?”

Mo and Kharli grinned and cut half a dozen of them into pieces which we three sampled. Lari was eating several whole doughnuts without a care in the world.

The sweet ones were as I expected, but, to my surprise, I found that the savory doughnuts were good, too, especially the onion-flavored ones which reminded me of bagels.

Afterwards, the maids cleared the tables and we went to the special demo room that I had prepared with a huge monitor on one wall and comfortable reclining chairs for the audience. I sat on the side of the middle row, facing the others, the better to check for their reaction. Lari, Kharli, and Mo seated themselves beside me while my household staff settled down with their usual small bags of watermelon seeds. The people of this world liked to eat those instead of popcorn whenever they watched something interesting.

I turned off the lights, drawing gasps from some, and started to play the movie.

Back on Earth, I knew that Adventure Incarnate had something called the Player Creator’s Studio which had basic image and video editing. People used it for sharing screenshots and such on social media, but I never touched it. However, now that I was stuck in a place with no internet, YouTube, TikTok, TV, movies, or any other modern forms of entertainment, I found the Player Creator’s Studio a godsend.

I showed the kids how to use it and we had a great time editing our cooking demo video and adding filters and special effects. Lari and Kharli loved the wackiest ones like the [Giga Chad] filter that turned people into bearded, square-jawed, exceedingly burly figures or the [Lemon Head] that turned people into lemons. Mo and I, on the other hand, spent hours using the beautifying filters and the cute animations that added sparkle and glow effects.

The movie started off with the title card that we made. “Lettuce Cook” was the title in English, but that was not a pun in this world’s language, so the official title was simply “Emberstone Farm Cooking Show.” The letters and characters flew into the screen one by one accompanied by a funny “boinking” sound effect like that of a rubber mallet hitting a hard surface.

The kids understood that a show was meant to have only the highlights or interesting stuff. Therefore, we were able to cut the raw footage into a mere fifteen minutes of cooking. At the end of it, the audience cheered politely.

I paused the playback and stood up. “And now, for the fun stuff!”

Then I sat back and played the blooper reel.

This time everyone was much more lively, cheering, laughing, and pointing at the monitor when they saw me burning the food, Lari accidentally getting flour on his face, Kharli dropping an egg, Mo mixing ingredients in a bowl so energetically that they spilled, all accompanied by sparkly and glowy special effects. As expected, the audience laughed uproariously when Lari turned into a [Giga Chad] and Kharli a [Lemon Head].

Next was the audience reaction segment. This was a normal part of the video with minimal effects since I felt it wouldn’t be right to modify other people’s images without their permission.

“Why am I in it?” Yinuo screamed in delight when she saw the scene of her holding hands with her two husbands.

They had no idea I was filming not only the cooking demonstration but also the staff who were watching.

“Is that what I look like?” one of the maids asked Yinuo.

Haoran pointed at the screen when his image appeared on it. “Who is that handsome fellow?”

“I think they like it,” I whispered to my apprentices.

Lastly, I played the cartoon segment which I secretly made by myself using the [Chibi Maker] filter.

“Why did we turn into babies?” Mo laughed so hard she almost fell off her seat.

“We’re adorable!” Kharli threw her arms around Mo in excitement.

Lari smiled and shook his head. “A baby cooking show!”

“Look at your tiny little baby fingers!” Kharli pointed at the screen where Lari was rolling the dough.

“You, too!” Lari burst into laughter when Kharli’s chibi form frowned cutely while cutting the flan.

Kharli's eyes twinkled. “Hey, why does Mo look like a steamed bun?”

“It’s her hat! It’s like the top of a meat bun.” Lari’s hands moved over his head to mimic the shape of Mo’s hat in the film.

My lips twitched. “Don’t pout, Mo. I think your chibi is the cutest.”

She just sighed and shook her head at their teasing. “It’s okay if I look like a meat bun. They’re delicious.”

At the end of the movie, everyone cheered and congratulated us on a job well done, and my apprentices and I used the portal to the desert farm where we placed three automatic cameras, set to film a few frames every few hours, to record the growth of three different trees. Emberstone Farm was too busy to film stuff in, but the relatively isolated Skyfang Hill should allow me to capture its development properly.

“But we’ll still write down our observations whenever we can,” I said to the others. “It’s important to keep an eye on things.”

“Yes, Teacher!” Mo saluted me and the others followed her lead.

***

“Although there are many different types of crops we could plant mid-season in the mustard tree farm, I’m glad that we all agreed on [Potatoes],” I said to my apprentices.

It was right after sunrise, and the field was ready for plowing. One-quarter of it was sown with grass for the farm animals to graze on. One quarter was where I had placed the eggs that should hatch into random legendary animals, but, seeing as the last batch were all qilin, I guessed that System shenanigans were in play. The other quarter was where the [King of Ginseng], [Lord of Rice], [Queen of Tea], [King Corn], and [Lady Wheat] plants were growing. They were now knee-high, and we were all looking forward to the time when they matured.

We were on the only quarter of the field that was still empty.

“[Potatoes] are traditional for us since they’re what you first grew and harvested, Teacher,” said Kharli.

“And they taste great, too!” said Lari.

Mo smiled. “And easy to cook.”

We worked all morning long, plowing, fertilizing, seeding, and watering the field. At the end of it, we all decided to cook some chips since all the talk of [Potatoes] had made us all crave it. We were cutting [Potatoes] in the demo kitchen, but without the cameras, when Fengying arrived with a dozen letters for me. I put my knife down, threw the [Burnt Potatoes] in the trash, and started reading them.

Most of them were regular reports from merchants, suppliers, and artisans, like the one from Deming’s friend the miller who wrote to ask how much wheat he should expect this spring harvest. Fengying and I discussed the replies to the routine inquiries, and she took charge of answering the letters for me.

A few were about the ongoing Demon Monarch event. Apparently, the clans had almost killed it. I checked my System event tab, smiling at the rewards I was going to get soon.

One letter was private and made my heart beat faster. “Guys! Prepare the third courtyard! My prince will arrive in ten days!”