Reincarnated into a Time-Loop Dungeon as a LVL100 Catgirl Chef!

Y read over the recipe again. He looked at the pot of cheese. And back at the recipe. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted, handing the book to Avi. “She’s short on instructions; maybe there’s some magical heat-based trick to getting the cheese to melt properly. You watched her enough times, don’t you know how she did it?”

Avi scanned the page. “She just put water and cheese into the pot and stirred, I think.”

Y shrugged. “Well, thankfully we have enough cheese to play with. Can’t you give the raptors non-melted cheese, with blackberries on the side?”

“I don’t know if they’d eat it,” Avi said. “They’re very picky.”

The kitchen door opened, and Nikki walked in. She saw Avi and stopped dead, staring. Avi stared back, claws digging into the cookbook. Y paused, feeling tension grow. Seconds ticked by in silence. 

“Ah, Nik!” he finally called, picking up the pot. “Why is the cheese curdling?”

Nikki tore her eyes away from Avi, stepping towards Y. “Did… the water boil? After you put cheese in?”

“Yes,” Y said. “Brought the water to a boil, dumped in cheese, stirred until the cheese became this.”

She shook her head. “Cheese doesn’t like to be boiled,” she said. “A simmer is about the highest it can go without… separating.”

“Mystery solved,” Y said, looking at Avi. 

Avi was frozen in place, half-hiding his face with the book. Nikki kept glancing at him, ears pinned back against her skull. 

Y checked an imaginary watch. “My, that late already? I must be elsewhere immediately! Nikki, Avi…” He teleported to Kimi’s shop without waiting for a reply. 

*****