After chatting for a while, Xingqiu took some packed Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to bring to his father and left with Chongyun. Hu Tao, meanwhile, took the prepared dishes and went off with Yun Jin to find Xinyan, who hadn't made it earlier.
As everyone returned to their places, Bai Mo left Wanmin Restaurant and headed back to his room in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He spent 100,000 gourmet points to lock the coordinates of the Teyvat world within his system. This allowed him to return to this world whenever he wished, with the added bonus of adjusting the time ratio, removing any inconvenience of world travel.
Now, he couldn't wait to open the so-called Newborn Gourmet World mentioned by the system.
[Bind to the Newborn Gourmet World? Yes/No]
How could he possibly say no?
The moment he selected "Yes," it felt like his brain had been whacked with a cudgel and stirred like a pot. Even with his current strength, he couldn't resist the shock and fainted on the spot.
As Bai Mo lost consciousness, a brilliant beam of light from the void shot directly into his forehead, starting to merge with his body.
The transformation lasted an unknown amount of time. When he awoke, he was lying in his own bed.
Shaking off the lingering headache, Bai Mo got up, wanting to understand what had happened. When he saw the barrage of system notifications, he finally understood—the new world had successfully fused with him.
Now he could open a portal to this world at will.
Wasting no time, he stepped through the portal and arrived on a desolate continent. Jagged cliffs and towering mountains loomed in every direction—there wasn't a single edible creature in sight.
"What's going on here, system?"
[This is a newborn gourmet world. The gourmet jellyfish in its oceans have already begun proliferating.]
Seriously? So he had to start everything from scratch?
"How long would it take for this world to flourish?"
[Based on calculations, approximately 300 million years.]
Bai Mo rolled his eyes. Three hundred million years? Are you kidding me?!
"Can I speed up the evolution process?"
[System lacks authority in this world. Host must make efforts personally.]
Good news: the world belonged entirely to him.
Bad news: it would take three hundred million years to naturally mature.
[Host can use gourmet points for species modification and mass deployment into this world.]
"Now we're talking!" Bai Mo finally let out a sigh of relief.
It was like gathering resources and modding a Minecraft world—something he was quite familiar with.
Immediately, he took out all the ingredients stored in his spatial inventory, intending to modify them into genuine gourmet-cell-based ingredients.
The system allowed this, but the cost of modification was shocking. Using ingredients from dead creatures cost three to five times more gourmet points than using living samples.
To develop this world quickly, he'd need living specimens.
After studying his new authority over the world for half a day, Bai Mo grasped the current structure of his newborn world.
It consisted of five major continents and countless island clusters. According to the system, thanks to the presence of gourmet cells, as long as enough nutrition was supplied, the world would grow indefinitely.
He chose the central southern continent as his base.
Now that he had full control over this world's core authority, manipulating terrain and reshaping geography was as easy as waving a hand.
With this power, Bai Mo began his remodeling work.
Looking at the freshly drawn map, he wrote the name "Pandaria" across his chosen continent.
As a long-time Blizzard fan, he may have lost faith in the company, but the iconic map layout was still nostalgic.
The remaining continents were named:
Gladesend
Karak'tor
Jangzula
The Shattered Isles
Mosherasil and the Dragon Archipelago
The eastern continent was named Dan Continent.
Since he used the world's native energy to reshape geography, the cost was minimal.
After this initial setup, Bai Mo returned to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
It was time to gather biological samples!
As he stepped outside, he ran into Lao Bai on guard duty. When he learned he'd been unconscious for two days, Bai Mo quickly offered a believable excuse—that the intense evolution triggered by eating Buddha Jumps Over the Wall had overloaded his body, forcing it into a self-protection coma.
He wasn't lying. After eating that dish, not only did his gourmet cell awakening increase by 30%, but he also broke through to the next stage of magnetic martial arts.
He had finally shed the constraints of electromagnetic propulsion and entered the realm of magnetic rotation—a threshold to the Heavenly Human Stage.
Though his magnetic force output was only around 2,000 horsepower, it marked his official entry into magnetic martial arts.
The path forward now was to continue tempering his body until he reached 90,000 horsepower—only then could he be called a Magnetic Martial God.
The fastest way to do that? Eating.
Seated outside Wanmin Restaurant, Bai Mo set down his bowl.
"Xiangling, another big bowl!"
"Sorry, Bai big bro," Xiangling said, slightly embarrassed. "We're out of cooked rice. The new batch is still steaming!"
Looking at the dozens of empty plates beside him, Xiangling added, "I heard you were still unconscious, and now you're eating so much right after waking up… Are you sure you're okay?"
"No problem. I'm just hungry. I'm only about half full now, but I feel much better."
"Only half full?" Xiangling raised her hand energetically. "Don't worry! I'll make sure you leave here completely satisfied!"
Bai Mo rubbed his slightly rounded belly, thinking that after world fusion and a martial arts breakthrough, his appetite had also grown immensely.
The caloric reserves accumulated via his gourmet powers had been depleted during the world remodeling, which explained his hunger.
And this might just be the beginning. Ordinary Teyvat ingredients were starting to feel insufficient.
He'd have to explore new worlds for better culinary materials.
But before that, he still had to complete his Food Theater collection!
Thanks to Xiangling's hard work, it took three pots of rice and over sixty dishes before Bai Mo felt satisfied.
Seeing the utterly exhausted Xiangling, he felt a bit guilty.
Just as he was about to leave, Xiangling stopped him and handed over a heavy-looking teapot.
"My master—uh, Granny Ping—asked me to give this to you. It's a Serenitea Pot. It has a small world inside. You might find it useful~"
Previously, Bai Mo might've been overjoyed. But now that he had an entire gourmet world under his control, the Serenitea Pot didn't seem that valuable.
Still, as a respectful gesture, he accepted the gift.
As for whether the Traveler would get one later—well, that wasn't his concern. He had it now, and he wasn't giving it back.
"Thanks, Xiangling. Please thank Granny Ping for me as well. If I find any interesting plants or ingredients, I'll bring them as a gift for her."
"No need to be so polite! Oh—almost forgot! Cloud Retainer also gave me a booklet on gourmet cooking. I made a copy for you!"
"Much appreciated!"
After bidding farewell to Xiangling, Bai Mo left Liyue Harbor and headed toward Mt. Tianheng. His plan was to travel across Lisha, Qingce Village, and eventually reach Chasm Valley via Yaoguang Shoal.
It would take a lot of time, so he'd already asked Xiangling to help him request leave from Hu Tao.
He chose to travel via remote trails. Along the way, he hunted all kinds of wildlife—chickens, rabbits, and more fell prey to his hands.
He avoided attacking sentient beings like Hilichurls, but everything else—Slimes, Mimics, Ruin Lizards—were fair game.
Half a month later, in Qiaoying Village, he even dug up two ancient tea trees from the hills.
As for the special soil and water needed to cultivate Jade Essence Tea, Bai Mo believed he could replicate the conditions in his own world.
He spent 400,000 Mora acquiring premium and secondary-grade tea samples before heading toward Wuwang Hill.
Rumor had it that a Pure Hydro Spirit resided near the hill's streams, capable of purifying water quality.
That was his target.
But after searching the mountains for three days and even draining part of the lake, Bai Mo couldn't find a trace of it.
Maybe the legend was true—perhaps the spirit only appeared when the local water was polluted.
Or… maybe he needed someone like Paimon or the Traveler as bait?
He laughed at the naive idea that the spirit would appear with just a tap like in the game.
Since he couldn't find it, Bai Mo instead fished up various aquatic species in nearby lakes and rivers.
Having basically completed his ingredient sweep of Liyue, he now set his sights on Mondstadt or Inazuma.
He wondered if that golden-haired Traveler had awakened yet.
Maybe he should go to Mondstadt and wait for her?
Thinking of Mondstadt's famous wines, Bai Mo changed direction and made his way there.
Surely Hu Tao would understand, right?
He wandered for twelve days before finally reaching Mondstadt City.
Dressed in typical Liyue garb, Bai Mo didn't attract much attention. Liyue and Mondstadt were neighboring nations, after all.
The city guards asked a few routine questions before letting him through.
He had expected to meet a certain outrider upon entry, but perhaps she was on vacation?
Slightly disappointed, Bai Mo headed straight for the best restaurant in Mondstadt—Good Hunter.
Compared to a certain outrider, gourmet food was more tempting.
The restaurant had a decent selection of dishes—Sweet Madame (a certain emergency food's favorite), Butter Mushroom, Lotus Seafood Soup, and Crispy Shrimp Potato Puffs.
But sadly, the only four-star dish here was the Moon Pie—clearly inferior to Liyue's cuisine.
Then again, Mondstadt was inspired by Germany and the Netherlands, both not known for their cuisine.
What they did excel at, however, was alcohol.
While sipping on the dandelion wine recommended by Sara, Bai Mo decided he'd buy several barrels from Angel's Share later.
As he tasted the dishes, a green-and-white clad bard carrying a lyre sat at the table next to him.
"One Grilled Fish and a Windbrew Platter, please! And a bottle of Dandelion Wine!"
Then he turned to Bai Mo.
"First time in Mondstadt? You must try our dandelion wine!"
"Oh, that reminds me. I heard there's a stash of century-old wine buried under the ancient tree in Windrise. Maybe I'll go dig it up!"
The bard's face twitched. "Uhh… that might belong to someone, you know? Isn't it kind of rude to just take it?"
"How do you know it wasn't buried there by one of my ancestors?"
"Hahaha! You're quite the character!" the bard chuckled. "I'm Venti, a bard of Mondstadt. What about you?"
"Bai Yujing, guest alchemist of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Liyue. Currently… off-duty."
"So it is you!" Venti laughed. "I heard someone in Liyue recreated the ancient 'Magic Stove Marksius 1.8' and made the legendary Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. The chef's name was supposedly Bai Yujing!"
"Oh no no, most of the credit goes to Xiangling. I'm just a freeloader."
Venti sighed with longing. "I wish I could taste that dish. Even Rex Lapis praised it! But alas… I'm broke."
"It costs 300,000 Mora a bowl, and that's if you can even get one. The ingredients are nearly extinct in Teyvat."
Nearly extinct here—but in Bai Mo's gourmet world, the modified, gourmet-cell-infused seedlings were growing rapidly.
Soon, he'd cook dishes far beyond six-star quality—maybe even seven-star!
He realized that any basic recipe had limitless potential, depending on the ingredients. Even a simple fried egg could become a top-tier gourmet dish.
Imagine using a phoenix egg… or a dragon egg!
With that in mind, Bai Mo no longer dismissed the common recipes he'd collected.
Meanwhile, Venti looked increasingly dejected. Though he loved wine more, he certainly wouldn't turn away great food.
Now learning that he might never taste the legendary dish made him visibly gloomy.
But Bai Mo wasn't about to indulge the bard.
Having cleaned off every dish on the table, he stood up.
"Well then, I'm off to Windrise for some treasure hunting. Farewell, bard~"
With a wave, Bai Mo departed.
Venti could only watch him leave, eyes filled with a mix of admiration and envy.
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T/N:
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