28

The kitchen was full of smells of world-class cooking, and with world-class beauties salivating while our hero was magically transforming normal vegetables and meats into offerings for the godly stomachs of his wives.

Which gossiped freely behind his back, sipping tea and resting.

Suddenly, the least goddess stood up. "It's not right! We should all learn to cook. We can't depend on the Emperor of the continent for our daily meals"

Pef smiled but pretended he didn't hear Si's outrage. Cooking was a hobby after all. Not necessary to further cultivation, or even keep the body healthy. Even crude maize would suffice.

"So, you learn to cook then. I have Xie to teach smithing, and maybe Jian as well." Lady Lin said with a careless shrug, and offered a hand to the new Earth ranked sage. Jian nodded with hopeful eyes, and gracefully took the offering hand. Learning from a master smith was an honor, after all.

Mia and Di looked at each other, and shook their heads, continuing to plan their next hunt trip, and safeguard the empire by massacring defenseless beasts.

They even made maps and charts to aid their next extermination phase.

"Fine! I will learn to cook. Someone has to feed and clothe this family." the seamstress grumbled and went to hug Pef's waist, decided to become useful and not get left behind.

She was a bit outshone by all the other wives, in cultivation and beauty.

Pef took a second to squeeze the lovely posterior with a free hand, the returned his focus on balancing and equalizing heat of the stove.

Soon after, the dinner was ready, cabbage soup and bacon with porridge, then orange juice in bluish glass glasses. Transparent glass would have to wait for a while, but any glass was better than no glass.

"Si, to practice my cooking you will need your Nascent Soul. There are colors and subtle changes you cannot see yet" Pef said calmly after tasting the first spoon of soup.

It was a bit sweet and not sour enough.

'I need to invent vinegar' he mused to himself with his eyes closed.

'You need to invent spoiled alcohol?' his glove asked in wonder.

'Human taste sense is more subtle. Don't worry'

Xia opened her silver eyes for a second, and closed them again. It seemed she won't get to be gently mouth fed by her husband today. Her body could eat on its own then.

Lady Si wolfed everything down in minutes, only stopping to enjoy the orange juice like it was the nectar of gods. "So, I can't learn to cook?" she asked a bit sad.

"You can learn my wife, the instruments, and the materials. Anyone can cook. But the reason you all love my meals is the qi. I will train you in the basics, and in a year we'll go hunting for your next rank" he answered with a kind voice.

Si grimaced a little. "It better not be snakes. Or spiders. Or anything that stings"

'She's a failure of a recruit. Get rid of her, Aspirant' the glove demanded gruffly.

'I think I should paint my glove...green or red, maybe black. My inks aren't that good though. What do you think, dear glove?'

'Nevermind. Having a Legion cook might be useful'

"Come Xie. Time to earn your keep." Pef said politely, holding a hand to his wife.

They walked into back garden, and Pef looked around for a decent place.

"Here, my husband? It's the middle of the day, and we're a bit exposed" Xie said shyly, looking around for perverts.

"I want a big hole in the ground. Starting here. 10 meters wide and 50 meters long. And its depth...one meter here, and gently going to 5 meters depth at the other end." Pef explained, drawing a line on the ground, 10 meters long.

"Oh. It's not what I expected..." Xie muttered confused.

"Pile the earth on the other end, like 10 meters from the edge" Pef continued, and walked away, leaving the woman to stare in disbelief.

The eyes soon changed to silver, and they measured the future task with a twinkle.

Then she looked around, scanning for vantage points.

"We'll need to set a tall fence towards the town. And craft ourselves a shovel. Our husband is bold, but that's why we like him" the warrior spoke to herself, then blinked. Brown eyes appeared instead of silver and stared at her ring.

Xie drew her spiked maul and began digging. Earth ranks were good at digging. The spike also made breaking the ground easy.

Our taskmaster hero intercepted Jian, as she was heading towards the smithy.

"Jian dear? There's something for you to do. And only you can do it" Pef said softly, and then smiled sweetly.

Jian blinked, worried her husband was planning something nefarious.

Still, she took the offered hand and followed him, ready to satisfy whatever desires her teenager husband would have...

They passed by Xie who had stripped to a sleeveless shirt and short pants, and was bulldozing the ground for whatever reason.

Pef eyes measured the dimensions, and picked a spot.

He drew a line in the ground, about 4 meters long.

"Dig a small foundation here, half a meter deep and 10 meters long. Then line the bottom with stones, til it's one meter tall. Then pour sand between them and melt it, to make a strong binding. I'll be back soon with the right trees" Pef explained while emptying exactly 20 cubic meters of crushed stone from his glove.

He stepped a bit further and emptied 2 cubic meters of sand.

The glove had amazing potential as an inventory, when it cooperated.

However, Mia almost died because damn glove wouldn't help with aim, when she fought those wolves. He had not forgotten.

Pef flew away, looking for some coniferous trees. Their wood would be great, for sauna walls.

And other amenities like showers and a tea pavilion beside the pool.

He roamed the forest for hours, picking the right trees and making thick boards from them.

When he returned, Xie had half finished the hole for the pool, while Jian was resting beside the hot foundation of the sauna.

Pef went to hug her, then sprayed the stone with water mist, making it steam into the air.

"Steam? Is that the purpose?" Jian asked a bit confused.

"Yes. It will help you reach Sky rank fast" our hero said with mischievous eyes and a light grin.

The Fire sage doubted her new husband a bit, but then again he did the impossible and crossed her into Earth rank, with just a few months of intense pain, and a few bouts of eager, if not skilled, lovemaking.

His moronic ways might work again. Plus heating the sand had forced her to open an acupuncture point so Pef might be onto something. Maybe.

The hero began assembling the thick planks into a wooden shed around the stone foundation,

with a couple of extra rooms on the side.

As evening fell, the sauna was ready, as was the ground hole for the pool.

Xie too had opened a couple acupoints in her back, from exerting herself all day.

Pef rubbed his hands, and looked around, as his wives, and even a few hired maids had gathered round and were observing curious.

"Should I cook something?" Pef asked with a bland voice.

The women nodded in agreement. Whatever stupid thing he was building again, his cooking made up for it.