While Kaito and Jutia were passing the time with small talk over tea, Nebula, Illness, and Canalis were gathered in a pocket dimension created by Canalis, hidden behind a special door deep in the backyard.
This space was primarily used by Nebula and Illness for their various crafting hobbies. While the two had often spent time there making things together, Canalis had recently joined them, and now the three of them frequently spent their hours engaged in mutual trial and error.
"For the ingredients... would cheese, bacon, and salmon be acceptable~?"
"Yes. Since this is strictly an experimental run, I believe standard items will suffice."
"Considering the size of the ingredients... Hup! The smoker should be about this big."
Nebula nodded after confirming the ingredients Illness had brought, and immediately afterward, Canalis lightly waved her hand to manifest a smoker. Their objective for the day was smoking food, and they intended to take a somewhat experimental approach to the process.
"Still~ I have never heard of smoking food using the World Tree before~."
"Even including the wood from my own body, the World Tree possesses immense resistance to heat and flame. At a temperature high enough to actually burn World Tree wood, the smoker and the ingredients themselves would be incinerated first. Under normal circumstances, it is a culinary impossibility."
"That is why I took the wood Nebula-san entrusted to me and gave it a few quick adjustments. I modified it so that it will burn under a normal fire, so we'll be using that for the smoking process. Tahaa~ I’m quite looking forward to seeing how it turns out. It would be a total spoiler to see the results beforehand with my future sight, so even I don't know the outcome yet."
The task the three were undertaking was smoking food with World Tree wood—a feat that should have been impossible due to the wood's nature and its incredibly robust resistances.
That said, for an Almighty God like Canalis, it was trivial to lower only the wood's heat and fire resistance. The preparations were finished in no time, and the smoking began in earnest.
"Since this is an experiment, shall we go with hot smoking to finish things up quickly? I mean, if I stop time within the smoker itself, we could easily do warm or cold smoking instead..."
"Haste is not always a virtue. Let us wait and enjoy the anticipation of the results. Since we are using the hot smoking method, it should be ready in about an hour."
"That is true~. Waiting leisurely~ is also quite nice~. Since we have the time~ I will go prepare some tea and light snacks~."
"Thank you, Illness-san."
There are three primary methods of smoking: hot smoking, which involves smoking at high temperatures for forty minutes to an hour; warm smoking, which takes several hours to a full day at temperatures between 30°C and 80°C; and cold smoking, which uses low temperatures between 15°C and 30°C for about a week. This time, they had opted for the swiftest method.
An hour passed as they chatted over tea, and once the timer was up, they set about sampling the finished results.
"It has~ almost no peculiar aftertaste~. It seems it would work well for delicate smoking too~. Is the flavor similar to~ walnut~?"
"Indeed. However, the aroma is much stronger than walnut. It isn't a sharp, smoky scent, but a sweet, fruit-like fragrance instead. It seems versatile, though it might not pair well with delicate white fish."
"I see, I see. So, in summary, it’s like a combination of walnut and apple? Oh, this bacon is incredible. Perhaps it’s the aroma, but I can detect a faint sweetness to it."
The food smoked with World Tree wood possessed a slightly sweet aroma and a clean flavor profile with very little quirkiness, making it quite palatable. As they were exchanging impressions, Nebula suddenly held out a piece of smoked cheese toward Canalis, cradling the underside of her hand as she offered it.
"Canalis-san, would you like to try the smoked cheese as well?"
"Ha-wheh!? A-Ah, I’ll have some!!"
Caught off guard by the surprise attack—and sensing from Nebula’s posture that she intended to hand-feed her—Canalis straightened her back as if trembling with unexpected, windfall happiness. She leaned toward Nebula's hand and accepted the piece of cheese.
"...It’s delicious. Of all the things I have ever eaten in my life, this is the best."
"I feel like that is a bit of an exaggeration..."
Nebula gave a wry smile as Canalis declared her verdict with tears of gratitude. However, for Canalis, who revered Nebula from the bottom of her heart, the mere act of being hand-fed by her was like having an excessive amount of the spice called 'happiness' added to the dish. To her, it was no exaggeration to call it a supreme flavor.
For Canalis, this was the absolute peak of happiness... and at the same time, it was the moment she guaranteed herself a future "Combined World-Slicing Chop" from her fellow gods, who would surely be driven mad with jealousy.
Machina: "By the way, apparently the power levels go: Galaxy Annihilation Punch < Combined World-Slicing Chop < Multiple Dimension Collapsing Kick."
Serious-senpai: "To get hit by that and have it end with just 'it hurts'... as expected of the Almighty Class..."