Chapter 142: Level 41

Seeing that the little black-feathered eagle was sleeping, Yunqing still spoke in a soft voice, "Big Eagle, I am going to cook the fish I caught in the past three days right here."

What was cooking? The little black-feathered eagle did not understand, and being one who did not understand, it refused to ask, as that would severely damage its dignity.

It knew about the fish caught by the cook three days ago. Although it had intended to remain silent, it ended up saying, "That fish is full of dark poison. Go somewhere far away to process it; don't make this place dirty."

Fish full of dark poison? Yunqing reacted; the little black-feathered eagle was referring to the polluted fish, all of which she had already purified.

So the poison produced when the dark night arrived was called dark poison by the fierce beasts. Upon coming into contact with different species, the dark poison would generate different toxins, such as soul-corpse poison, venomous-mosquito poison, and so on.

Yunqing took out a piece of purified fish meat and said, "Big Eagle, look, this fish meat is clean and non-toxic. However, I will still go further away to process it."

Seeing the fish meat the human took out, the little black-feathered eagle noticed it seemed non-toxic. The fish she had caught were clearly poisonous, yet right now, how could this fish meat be completely free of poison?

How truly strange. She could render the fish meat non-toxic, whereas she herself was covered in dark poison.

Unable to figure it out, it simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, it had no appetite for eating an angler, so the little black-feathered eagle could not be bothered to pay attention to Yunqing anymore and disturb its sleep.

Seeing that the little black-feathered eagle gave no response, Yunqing took it as tacit consent. She moved away from the pool, took out cooking utensils, fine charcoal, and seasonings from her system inventory, marinated the fish meat, and started a fire.

Yunqing was busy with various tasks. Having woken up and not knowing what cooking was, the little black-feathered eagle had no desire to sleep anymore. It secretly observed Yunqing's various busy activities as she tossed an unranked piece of fish meat back and forth in all sorts of ways.

So this was cooking? With this much effort, the fish meat would have already been digested.

An unranked piece of fish meat—even if it weren't toxic, it wouldn't eat it even if given to it. It continued to sleep.

Before long, a pleasant fragrance drifted over. The little black-feathered eagle opened its eyes slightly and looked toward the source of the aroma: it was the human's fish meat, roasting over the fire and emitting a scent that tempted birds.

Crafting Experience +100;
Obtained: Grilled Carp.

Having finally grilled a piece of fish, Yunqing glanced at the big eagle in the tree. Although it was still in the same tree, the position of its head seemed to have shifted.

Whether the big eagle wanted to eat grilled fish was its own business; whether she invited it or not was her intention.

Naturally, she was interested in the big eagle, so she called out to it in her mind, "Big Eagle, would you like to try some of the fish I just grilled?"

The little black-feathered eagle thought to itself: Unranked food, don't even think about tempting me.

The next moment, its form flew right beside Yunqing. Using spiritual sense to manipulate objects, it picked up the fish Yunqing had just grilled.

It's... a little hot.

For it, being at the peak of the sixth tier, this was nothing.

Hm? This flavor possesses a unique charm compared to the small silverfish.

The little black-feathered eagle looked at the grill; there was still one more piece.

It did not fly back up to the tree, but quietly stared at the other fish, which had been roasted to a golden brown. The meaning was crystal clear: this one was also meant for it.

Yunqing did not really mind. She could not possibly eat all these grilled fish herself, and since she was about to reach the Qi Condensation stage, their utility for her was no longer that significant. She could sell them for silver, but she would need to go to a human city to do so. In any case, she had already reaped all the experience points associated with this fish.

Being as noble as it was, it had to be picky about this unranked food. When eating the second piece, the little black-feathered eagle remarked, "The taste of this fish is passable, but it's too big."

Complaining that the fish was too big? The bigger the fish, the fewer bones and the more meat it had. Why complain that it was too big?

Yunqing looked at the big eagle. This fellow had no teeth and didn't bother to peck the meat into smaller pieces before eating, yet it still complained that it was too big. Yunqing said, "Big Eagle, I'll cut it smaller for you so it's more convenient to eat."

"Hmm!"

After grilling the fish, Yunqing gained a minor task: removing the large central spine of the fish, cutting the meat into sections about an inch wide, and offering them to the big eagle.

The little black-feathered eagle watched Yunqing process the fish. She handled it exceptionally well, except it was much too slow. If it had to process it itself, it certainly wouldn't bother; going through all that trouble was far inferior to swallowing it whole in one gulp.

Yunqing's grill was not dedicated to a large kitchen; she had picked it up in Wheatfield Village, so it couldn't grill much at a time, and its speed couldn't keep up with the little black-feathered eagle's eating pace.

Yunqing accelerated her fish-grilling, while the big eagle beside her drew closer and closer. In the end, the big eagle forgot about the odor of dark poison on Yunqing and stood right beside her in front of the grill, waiting for the next grilled fish to come out.

Cook Yunqing had no objections to this and was actually quite pleased. The big eagle giving her this much face was the ultimate recognition of her culinary skills.

It wouldn't take long before her big eagle would definitely let her cuddle it.

With a fellow standing right beside her, eyes glued to the grill waiting for the next fish to be done, and projecting an overwhelmingly strong presence, the pressure was actually quite high.

All of Yunqing's energy was concentrated on the grilling. The moment she heard the system prompt, she removed the fish from the grill, de-boned it, and cut it into pieces.

Although the little black-feathered eagle stared eagerly, it still maintained its composure. If this human didn't prepare the fish properly, it would never take a bite; if it lowered its guard and ate too quickly, then after this first time, this human wouldn't carefully grill fish for it in the future.

Yunqing noticed that although the big eagle didn't rush forward to snatch the fish, its sharp beak was practically reaching right onto the charcoal.

She was currently not short on this bit of food, and the bird she had her eyes on wasn't hers yet. Since it liked it, she had nothing to be stingy about, and while grilling fish for it, she could build some rapport.

"Big Eagle, how is the saltiness of this fish? Do you prefer a heavier flavor or a lighter one?"

"The way it is right now is quite good!" Saltiness? Heavier flavor? Lighter? What were all these things? The little black-feathered eagle had no idea, but it couldn't let this human know that it didn't know.

"I wonder if the big eagle likes spicy food? Should I add some scallions, ginger, and garlic?"

Spicy? Scallions, ginger, and garlic? It really wanted to know if those tasted good, but it was unwilling to ask, as it would make its worldly experience seem too lacking. It glared fiercely and said, "Just keep it like this!"

"Then I'll add some cumin; it'll be even more fragrant."

Fragrant? That sounded acceptable. The little black-feathered eagle was just about to reply when it heard Yunqing continue, "Too bad, I didn't gather any cumin."

What on earth was cumin? First she wanted to add it, and then she didn't have any—it didn't have any cumin either, alright!

Unable to help itself, and in order to cover up the fact that it understood none of this, the little black-feathered eagle spread its wings and flapped them, saying, "Hurry up and grill! If you keep chattering, I'll throw you to the hyenas."

The wind kicked up by its wings blew the ash off the fine charcoal, making the fire burn even more fiercely. Yunqing hadn't expected that the pet she had her eyes on could also double as a roasted meat assistant.

Flipping the grilled fish at a steady pace, she grilled them one after another, de-boned and cut them into pieces, and every single piece went straight into the little black-feathered eagle's belly.

Good grief, it always ate faster than she could grill.

After grilling goodness-knows-how-many fish, Yunqing suddenly heard a wonderful system prompt:

Crafting Experience +100;
Obtained: Grilled Catfish.

"Congratulations, your crafting level has increased to Level 41."
"Congratulations, your character level has increased to Level 41."

Yunqing only felt a flash of white light wash over her entire body, as comfortable as having her vital meridians unblocked. Her internal energy, which had been considerably depleted from grilling fish, was instantly replenished to the brim.

This time, the little black-feathered eagle could not conceal its astonishment. It was the first time it had ever seen someone break through to the first tier under such circumstances.

Having reached Level 41, Yunqing no longer wanted to grill fish for the little black-feathered eagle. She was now too impatient to do many other things, such as practicing the Boundless Art, upgrading skills, and drawing lottery rewards.