As Colby pondered how to make the Butterfly Ginger chewy, he retrieved some from the The Cheesetastic Fridge.

  Good thing that during his depressive spiral, he had somehow managed to kill the Butterfly Ginger and stuff them into The Cheesetastic Fridge, all without realizing it. Even when he had lost his mind, he still acted on his cheese instinct.

  As implied by its name, Butterfly Ginger was ginger in the shape of a butterfly. Though instead of brown skin, this one was a smooth milk-white. Also, it was technically an animal.

  So did this count as butchery? Not like it mattered, he just enjoyed the thought experiment.

  Using Curd-Cutter, who was starting to get a bit peeved about the lack of curd cutting, Colby peeled off the white skin of the ginger, its legs, eyes, antennas—basically everything that reminded him he was dealing with an insect—finally revealing the pale yellow interior. Sappy sweetness filled his Core as he took in a deep breath.

  This was definitely the right ginger. But how could he make it chewy? Maybe even gummy?

  That gave him more ways to throw.

  Chewy was overhand, gummy underhand. Unfortunately, he could only think of chewy and gummy; if not, he could’ve filled in the forehand and backhand slots. Maybe even the coveted hand throw. That was a throw that combined all of the other throws, meeting right in the middle—definitely not something he had come up with just to give his brain a bit more time to spark an idea as he rambled.

  And…

  Nothing.

  That sucked. Hopefully, he would get lucky just like with filtering off the mold by getting Bowl-lander to sweat out the enzyme.

  First up was the gummy angle. What made something gummy? Obviously gums. And what did he know about gum?

  Well, he knew about the gums in his mouth, which were filled with teeth. And the way to make that gummy would be to knock out all of the teeth from his mouth. Therefore, by an extremely long stretch, the best way to make the Butterfly Ginger gummy would be to knock its teeth out. And the best way to do that was punching.

  But as far as he could tell, butterflies or even ginger, for that matter, didn’t have any teeth. That idea was a waste of about thirty seconds of precious brain time. Also, technically, the ginger would end up mashed rather than gummy.

  What about chewy? What if he—more specifically, one of his Core Constructs—were to chew the Butterfly Ginger and spit it out, thus making it chewy.

  That was currently his best idea. But not his only idea. His other idea—the worst one—would be to ask Ms. M about the secrets of making candied ginger.

  Colby already knew what would happen if he did that. He knew, because he had already done it. Thankfully, all he had gotten was an earful from his parents.

  Chewing it is.

  Now, which would be the perfect Core Construct to chew the ginger?

  Realistically, none because they all lacked mouths, though some of them had features that were close enough. There was The Cheestastic Fridge with his doors, Smart Waiter with his hatch, and Stove also with his doors.

  Yeah, he really was grasping at straws. But you know what else grasped straws? Mouths. Therefore, with tons of leaps of logic that would make a bunny jealous, he was on the right track.

  More importantly, as long as he was able to imbue his intent through his Core Constructs, everything would work out. It’s just that some Core Constructs were more straightforward than others, case in point, Curd-Cutter being able to cut out concepts just because he was a knife.

  Having burned through every stalling maneuver he could concoct, all in the hopes of sparking a flash of inspiration that was better than ‘chewing’, Colby went along with the chewy idea.

  Cutting the single piece of Butterfly Ginger into three, something that required minimal Mana and intent, he wandered off to the three prospective Core Constructs. First up was The Cheesetastic Fridge.

  Colby walked up to him, opening his door.

  “Do you think you can chew this so that it becomes chewy?”

  The Cheesetastic Fridge slammed his doors shut.

  That was a bust.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Colby looked at Stove, not feeling confident about the prospects either.

  That left him with Smart Waiter.

  Walking over to the Core Construct, he held out the peeled Butterfly Ginger and repeated the same question.

  Instead of flat-out rejecting him, Smart Waiter opened up his hatch and held out a sign that said, “Maybe.”

  Good enough for him.

  Colby placed a piece inside Smart Waiter before closing his hatch. The hatch immediately opened up. Now, the Butterfly Ginger was between the two signs that Smart Waiter used to communicate.

  Wait, that’s it.

  Smart Waiter was a genius, and by extension, so was he—on the technicality that he had created and upgraded the Core Construct. The signs on the newly upgraded Smart Waiter could be considered a mouth. He flapped his signs—lips—to communicate, which means it was technically a mouth.

  To those who disagree, well, too bad. His Core, his rules.

  Smart Waiter brought the two signs together, using the top one to flap up and down as if he were chewing.

  Colby watched in anticipation, feeling Mana pour into the Core construct as he channeled the intent of making the Butterfly Ginger chewy. The pale yellow piece of ginger slowly transformed into a slightly springy and stretchy pile of not quite mush.

  Pressing a finger into it, he watched the ginger squish in, then slowly spring back to its original shape. It was more chewy than gummy, but that was exactly what he wanted.

  Colby grabbed the chewy mush of Butterfly Ginger from Smart Waiter’s signs and replaced it with the two non-chewed pieces.

  After a quick mouthing off, he retrieved the gingers.

  Congratulations! Smart Waiter has reached Level 11!

  “Thanks, Smart Waiter,” Colby said. “And congratulations!”

  “Much obliged,” he signed. “And thank you once again for the upgrade. I truly appreciate it.”

  Smiling, Colby walked back to Stove. Flames still licked away at Pottingham’s bottom, and the level of rennet had dropped, becoming thicker and more viscous. That looked good enough to him—definitely not because he was eager to finally get this show on the road.

  He switched off Stove’s flames and thanked Temp-tation before he grabbed Pottingham, pouring all of the thick, syrupy liquid into an empty bottle he had retrieved from his Inventory.

  Finally, the day had arrived. He could make his cheese once again. This time, using only ingredients he had procured.

  With milk from the Daisy Cow’s he had milked, citric acid powder he had ‘collected’ from the LeMonkeys, the rennet he harvested and purified from the Myconet, and the see-salt he had earned as hush money, Colby made a ball of mozzarella.

  It looked the same as any other ball of mozzarella. Pressing down on the cheese, it sank in before firming back. It even felt the same, too.

  Now for the taste.

  After placing the ball into Smart Waiter and closing the hatch, Colby opened his eyes, watching as the ball of cheese materialized in his hand.

  In the real world, the sight, smell, and touch of it felt correct. Tearing a small piece, he plopped it into his mouth. It tasted similar to what he normally made, but slightly worse. That was the dip in quality his mother alluded to when self-procuring ingredients without the expertise.

  It’s okay, he’d find a way to compensate for quality with skill and technique.

  Now, onto the more important part, making a piece of flavored cheese that not even his mother had attempted yet.

  Colby honed in on his Core once more.

  After making another ball of mozzarella, he started to incorporate the Butterfly Ginger into the cheese. For now, he’d keep it simple.

  Using Curd-Cutter, he sliced up the chewy ginger pieces into even tinier pieces, cooked them with the help of Pottingham and Stove, before simply kneading them into the ball of cheese.

  The result was mozzarella with small pale yellow bits sticking out of it. It was so simple, you didn’t even need to be a Cheesemancer to make this.

  After loading up the cheese into Smart Waiter, he eagerly watched as it materialized in his palm.

  Congratulations! [Cheesemaking] has reached Level 16!

  That was great! Another step closer towards making the ultimate cheese.

  Now for the taste test.

  Once again, Colby tore out a piece and popped it into his mouth. A burst of spicy-sweetness mixed with milky creaminess bombarded his taste buds.

  This was miles better than just mozzarella on its own. Though he had no doubt that a mozzarella made by a master Cheesemancer would eclipse it.

  This was a good start.

  The taste was similar to when bits of candied ginger were mixed in with Brie’s mozzarella. But it lacked something.

  Mozzarella wasn’t the best pairing with the candied ginger. It was delicious, no doubt, but there was something missing. The ginger was too overpowering. He was trying to make flavored cheese, not flavored ginger. The ginger was supposed to enhance his cheese, not the other way around.

  He needed a stronger cheese, but not too strong. Something like…chévre.

  Unfortunately, chévre required goat milk, and he hadn’t procured any Skate Goat milk. Not yet, at least.

  That was a project for another day.

  Right now, it was high time he paid Elaine a visit. He needed to apologize to her and also deliver a special treat as her reward for becoming a Knight-in-training—something miles better than a pot from her parents’ kitchen.