I repeat, examinees participating in the transfer student assessment, please proceed to the location specified in your application notice now.
Arrive within ten minutes.]"
"[Trigger Task]: Chief Examiner of the Transfer Student Assessment"
"[Task Description]: After various events, you have grown to become the First Seat of Far Moon, enjoying immense prestige but not widely known.
All those participating in this assessment are prominent figures from culinary families, holding certain influence in the Japanese culinary industry, and possessing considerable skill.
Please demonstrate your professional knowledge in this assessment to select sufficiently talented individuals for Far Moon."
"[Task Requirements]: Select talents whose strength meets Far Moon's standards."
"[Task Rewards]: Recruit a student of sufficient level +1000 Prestige Points; Recruit a student of insufficient level -1000 Prestige Points."
As the call ended and the broadcast sounded, the examinees who had been waiting outside began to move, and Hoshino Sora's mind also received a system prompt.
Tsk, this was the first time the system had issued a task that would deduct prestige points.
It had to be said that this system really knew how to give him a hard time.
Since it concerned prestige points, it would be hard to play favorites now.
Looking at the examinees arriving one after another, Hoshino Sora and the other four stood in a line at the very front, waiting.
"Cough, cough."
When the time was almost right, Hoshino Sora looked at the dense crowd below and coughed lightly twice, attracting everyone's attention.
The scene became very quiet because of these two coughs.
As it concerned their admission, they naturally dared not offend the chief examiner.
"You have all come a long way, so I won't say any unnecessary words.
I believe everyone here is to join Far Moon and has some understanding of this assessment.
Now, you have two hours, and the theme is 'Flour'.
You can restart if you fail, as long as you make a dish that satisfies three of us within the allotted time to pass the assessment.
This is the only assessment to pass this transfer student examination.
The cooking stations are already set up on both sides, and the ingredients are behind us.
Now, get to work!"
As his words fell, the family disciples participating in the assessment immediately sprang into action.
In less than twenty minutes, everyone had chosen their ingredients and returned to their cooking stations.
Seeing this, Hoshino Sora was too lazy to elaborate further and leisurely strolled around, focusing mainly on the areas near Shinomiya Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai.
Because they were the only two he knew at the scene.
However, during his stroll, he discovered a few talented young men.
Their cooking techniques were seasoned and mature, their expressions calm and unhurried, and the dishes in front of them were fragrant.
"The quality of this batch of transfer students is good, it seems I'll be earning quite a few prestige points this time."
After all, they were all family scions from big restaurants, and more or less had some skills.
Although many of their techniques seemed too immature to Hoshino Sora, he had to admit they were very talented.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Hoshino Sora's face.
However, Shinomiya Kaguya's presence here was quite unexpected for him.
Although this was a world centered on gourmet food, culinary culture was even more prevalent than in the original work!
"You're making fruit pastries, aren't you?"
So exquisite!"
Suddenly, seeing the vivid fruit pastry platter on the cooking station, Hoshino Sora's face showed an expression of surprise.
Although the color of the fruit pastries was a bit off, from the outside, they truly resembled real fruit!
"Shh, Hoshino, Chief, carving fruit pastries requires concentration.
Could you please not make a sound?"
Looking at Hoshino Sora, who had appeared before her at some point, Hayasaka Ai made a shushing gesture with her hand, then refocused her attention and began carving the rather difficult fruit pastries.
Hearing Hayasaka Ai's words, Hoshino Sora nodded and remained silent, then moved to Shinomiya Kaguya's side.
She was making ordinary pasta and was currently in the kneading stage.
After just a few glances, Hoshino Sora lost interest and casually found a chair to sit down.
Soon, as time passed, the first student to finish their dish brought it up.
Seeing the freshly made dish, Hoshino Sora became interested, picked up his chopsticks, and was the first to taste it.
"Your noodles are overcooked, they're not chewy at all!
They're a soggy mess!
Unqualified!"
As soon as he picked up the noodles and put them in his mouth, Hoshino Sora's brows instantly furrowed.
This bowl of noodles hadn't been properly handled when the dough was prepared, let alone the subsequent cooking.
"Mainly, if the seafood isn't cooked through, it will cause diarrhea.
Would you like to try the seafood on the side instead?"
Hearing Hoshino Sora's words, the first examinee to go on stage felt their heart sink by half, but still unwilling to give up, they reached out and pointed to the seafood on the side, hoping to salvage their image.
"This assessment is about noodles, not seafood.
No matter how well you make the seafood, you won't pass.
You've even misunderstood the theme, so please come back next year."
Waving his hand, Hoshino Sora directly vetoed it without waiting for the others behind him to taste, his eyes incredibly cold.
If such a fellow were recruited into Far Moon, it would only tarnish Far Moon's reputation!
"So strict, oh no!
My noodles seem overcooked too."
"Damn, mine too."
As the first contestant was eliminated and Hoshino Sora pointed out the problem, the surrounding contestants immediately looked into their own pots to check for deficiencies.
It was at this moment that another contestant stepped onto the stage.
"The theme is flour, and I've made pan-fried buns.
Please, chief examiner, have a taste!"
Opening the lid, a rich aroma instantly wafted to Hoshino Sora's nose.
From this point of view, it was not bad.
Next was the taste of the dish.
"The taste is mediocre.
To be honest, I can't pass a dish like this.
Go ask them, and by the way, a piece of advice for you and all the examinees: the theme is 'Flour'."
Of the entire plate of pan-fried buns, Hoshino Sora only tasted one.
The taste wasn't bad, but it was very mediocre, ordinary.
In simpler terms, it had no distinguishing features.
"I think the taste of your dish is okay, but it's really too simple.
If you could knead the dough a few more times when making the wrapper, it would be much chewier, and the texture and taste would also improve.
I can't pass you with this level of cooking."
"I've learned a lot.
I'll come back next year."
Tasting the dish in front of her, Yumeko Jabami said softly, once again crushing his hope.
Afterward, he didn't go to the third judge but silently left after leaving a remark.
After that, many more people came on stage, but none passed the assessment.
The atmosphere at the scene also unknowingly became oppressive, and for a long time, no one came on stage.
Until...
"This is my dish, Fruit Pastry Basket!"
Placing the dish in front of Hoshino Sora, Hayasaka Ai's eyes held a hint of sharpness.
This was her masterpiece.
Although she had only studied for less than half a year, her talent in cooking was very high.
Especially in pasta!
This assessment was truly a blessing in disguise, one could only lament the serendipity.
"That's really well done.
Originally, I thought the color of your fruit pastry was off, but now it seems I was shallow.
The color of fruit pastry changes after steaming, and now it's just right!"
Looking at the fruit basket made of flour in front of him, Hoshino Sora's face showed a hint of admiration.
Ultimately, he had been shallow, but it was normal, after all, he had never dealt with fruit pastries before.
Looking at the exquisite fruit pastry in front of him, Hoshino Sora put away his pride.
After a series of continuous victories, he had already started to develop such emotions.
Now it seemed that there truly were always people better than you!
"This is a dish I've been learning for half a year.
If I still can't do it well after studying for so long, wouldn't I be useless?
Hurry and taste it!"
Hearing Hoshino Sora's praise, Hayasaka Ai gave a playful smile.
At this moment, she had long forgotten what the other party had done to her earlier.
She only wanted him to taste the fruit pastry dish she had made with all her heart.
"That's amazing, it looks just like the real thing!"
As they talked, Alice Nakiri also gathered around, her expression surprised as she looked at the apple-shaped fruit pastry in the basket, which looked exactly like a real apple but was slightly smaller.
In Japan, there were not many chefs with such skill.
"It's certainly impressive!
I just wonder how it tastes."
Yukihira Soma had also gathered around at some point, his expression subtle as he looked at the exquisite fruit pastry dish in the basket.
This was the first time he had seen a pasta dish that so closely resembled real food.
The skill of the maker was evident.
"This type of dish mainly focuses on appearance and color; the taste is not the key."
"I think..."
...
"In any case, let's taste it first."
Looking at the dish in front of them, Hoshino Sora and the others chattered and discussed.
Finally, Hoshino Sora slammed the table, deciding to taste the dish first before deciding anything else.
Thinking of this, everyone focused their attention on the dish.
One picked an 'apple,' another an 'orange,' and yet another a 'pear.'
Soon, the entire basket of fruit pastries was divided.
At the same time, all the examinees' gazes converged.
It was not difficult to hear from the judges' comments just now that they had high expectations for this fruit pastry dish, which meant that Hayasaka Ai was very likely to be the first to break the deadlock!
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