44 Grueling task (2)

"Take one of the strawberries from the garden."

...

"Okay."

Xuanmei went out into the garden as the pot started bubbling slightly. Taking back a two strawberries and popping one in her mouth as she looked at Bluey for instructions, she held out the strawberry questioningly, eyes holding a hint of curiosity.

"Smash and apply the strawberry on the wood."

Complying, Xuanmei did as told, making a mess of her hand. Bluey handed her a handkerchief as he joined the two wood pieces together. Laying them back on the table, he pried the two parts apart again.

It turned out, to not be what Xuanmei expected. Instead of wood and both parts filled with smashed strawberries, it was, or became, actually quite empty, just a huge wooden husk.

Yet in the center, lied a liquid-y core that somehow stayed as a ball, floating in the central of the tree trunk. A slow boil came along just as they took out the liquid core carefully by psychic manipulation, setting it on the circular piece of wood they had sawed off.

Dripping a small droplet of dew into the water, the amount of water inside doubled in volume, and just as predicted, the mixture turned purple.

Glancing at it slightly, Bluey dismissed it, dishing out his next instructions;

"Peel five petals off the silver-gray moonlight rose, and drop them inside the Caldron when the mixture boils ferociously and turns dark purple. Then, place in the whole rose minus the stem, before placing in the liquid wooden golden plywood core."

Peeling off the outermost layers of the rose, Xuanmei carefully removed the stem as she waited patiently for the mixture to boil. When the mixture boiled ferociously, only half of the original mixture was left.

Placing in the rose petals, she waited as the mixture turned slightly paler.

After quite a while, she placed in the whole rose, well, excluding the stem.

"Stir continuously."

Bluey ordered while handing her a giant spoon.

Manifesting her own while ignoring Bluey, who left her to do this on her own, she started stirring the Caldron, not effortlessly, but she still put some work in it.

They- No, she, only had this one chance.

Bluey however, didn't think that, as he sat in a dark corner, sulking about how his mistress didn't appreciate him by her side anymore.

Ignoring the childish Blue Phoenix, Xuanmei, who had already stirred in the rose, placed the liquid wood inside, as she watched it finally turn a light silver.

"This is the last step, and quite honestly, one of the most important ones. All you have to do, is to just carefully split the pheonix feather into half at it's stem, before squeezing out a golden liquid into the mixture. Then, crush the feather into powder before dusting it into the mixture."

"Understood? You cannot mess this up."

The fire crackled loudly, as it licked the sides of the Caldron, taunting Xuanmei, as if telling her to do it if she dared, in which in reply, she stepped up, eyes ablaze.