Night fell.
Neon lights glittered, illuminating the entire metropolis.
In a dim room, a red-haired woman slowly opened her eyes.
“Mmh…”
Gloria sat up in bed and stretched comfortably.
Her silk nightgown clung to her voluptuous curves, accentuating her impressive chest.
She hadn’t slept this soundly in a very long time.
Rubbing her eyes, Gloria checked the time.
Ah, it was already 22:00.
Whoa!
10:00 PM already?
Gloria’s slightly groggy mind cleared instantly.
She had only meant to close her eyes for a bit; she hadn’t expected to fall into such a deep sleep.
“I haven’t transferred the rest of the money to Lin Ke yet.
He hasn’t gone without dinner, has he?”
With that thought, Gloria scrambled out of bed, unlocked her bedroom door, and rushed out.
But as soon as she stepped outside, a rich, savory aroma of cooking meat wafted straight into her nose.
*Gurgle…*
Involuntarily swallowing her saliva, Gloria followed the scent to the kitchen doorway.
She peeked inside.
Two figures were standing around the stove, chatting.
“Well?
Is the steak I made delicious or what?” Lin Ke said with a smile.
Under the influence of his Chef talent, his cooking had completely eliminated the gamey, metallic odor of the wild meat.
Even with just a pinch of salt, the natural flavor of the meat itself was mouthwateringly delicious.
“Yeah, really ‘ood,” David muttered, nodding vigorously.
He swallowed the thoroughly chewed meat and added, “It’d be even better with a bit of black pepper or ketchup.”
“That’s all artificial additives.
Eating too much of that is bad for you,” Lin Ke said dismissively.
Of course, if he had natural seasonings, he wouldn’t mind adding another layer of flavor to his dishes.
“It’s a deal, then.
I treat you to a meal, and in a bit, you show me how to tweak the sensory data on the Braindance wreath.
Also, lend me those private BDs you’ve been hiding so I can check them out.”
“Sure thing, sure thing.
Let me finish this piece of meat and I’ll set it up for you.
My private collection of BDs is absolutely wild.
I guarantee once you start watching, you won’t be able to—”
*Cough, cough.*
Gloria stood behind them with her hands on her hips, coughing to interrupt their transaction.
“David!
How many times have I told you?
Stay away from things that distract you from your studies.
Hand them over.
Confiscated!”
David froze.
He turned around with a long face, having no intention of resisting, and could only say with deep sorrow, “Yes, Mom.”
Beside him, Lin Ke smiled.
He grabbed a plate, picked out a slightly larger steak from the cooking station, and handed it to Gloria along with the knife and fork he had bought that afternoon.
“Here, Gloria, give it a try.
How does it taste?”
As a chef, his food always needed someone to appreciate it.
Praise for the flavor of a dish was the ultimate validation for a chef’s work.
[Salt-Seared Steak] Extraordinary Meat Quality: Common Description: A fully cooked steak grilled with salt.
Long-term consumption can increase physical muscle strength.
PS: Have a bite of salt-seared steak, and the whole family will be happy.
The aroma was incredibly tantalizing!
Looking at the golden-brown seared steak on the plain white plate, Gloria’s mouth watered rapidly.
Having slept until now, her stomach was already growling with hunger.
At this moment, smelling the rich meat, her weak willpower made it impossible to refuse.
As for her confusion about where Lin Ke got the money to buy such premium meat, it was instantly thrown to the back of her mind.
*Gurgle…*
Swallowing her saliva, Gloria reached out to take the plate.
“Okay.”
…
“This is so good!”
In the empty cave, Lin Ke couldn’t help but shout aloud.
Dammit!
Those days of gnawing on raw fish were practically subhuman.
Recalling the taste of that fish while chewing on this fragrant, juicy steak, tears of joy—or rather, drool—practically ran down the corners of his mouth.
This flavor…
even Wagyu, celebrated as the pinnacle of beef, probably couldn’t match the salt-seared steak he was eating now.
After finishing his third piece of steak, Lin Ke took out another steaming-hot piece from his inventory, impaled it on a small knife, and brought it to his mouth to bite into.
It really felt like he couldn’t stop.
Soon, he finished his fourth piece of steak.
Lin Ke rubbed his full belly through his clothes, thoroughly satisfied.
He stood up from the stone stool, walked out of the cave, slid down the slope under the clear moonlight, and returned to the snowy ground.
Pulling out his soup bucket, Lin Ke found a patch of clean snow.
He scooped up the snow with the bucket, packed it tight, dumped out the cylindrical block of compacted snow, and stored it in his inventory.
After spending half an hour collecting fifty cylinders of snow, he stopped.
He climbed back up to the cave, entered his tent, stripped down, and prepared to crawl into his sleeping bag to sleep.
He had to wake up early tomorrow to make his way to Astera!
He didn’t want to stay up late.
***
Late at night, Gloria and David were both asleep in their respective rooms.
Lin Ke stood alone before the cooking stove, melting the blocks of snow in his soup bucket.
Then, he tossed in the meaty bones of the Cortos and began brewing soup.
Tonight, he planned to pull an all-nighter.
He needed to level up his Chef class and gain skill proficiency as quickly as possible; he still had two World Quests waiting to be completed.
[Cooking complete.
Obtained 3 EXP.]
[Soup proficiency +8]
Storing the finished soup in his inventory, Lin Ke opened his Class panel.
***
Class: Chef Level: 1 EXP: [101/100] (Ready to Level Up)
Class Talent Super Tonic (Unique)
Class Skills [Soup (Novice)] [Proficiency: 280/300] [Effect: When boiling ingredients, all nutrients can be fully infused into the soup.]
***
With a thought, he clicked level up.
The system prompt rang out.
[EXP consumed.
Chef level has increased by 1.
Free Attribute Point +1.]
“Oh?
It looks like besides Hunter talents, leveling up a class is another way to acquire attribute points.”
Class: Chef Level: 2 EXP: [1/200]
The reward of a free attribute point brought a smile to Lin Ke’s face.
He immediately allocated the attribute point to Spirit.
His heavy, sleep-deprived head was instantly wrapped in a refreshing coolness.
“Incredible!”
The instinctual drive of living beings to evolve filled Lin Ke with motivation.
He threw himself wholeheartedly into the next round of cooking.
…
Early Morning 07:10
The grease on the cooking station sizzled as it seared a nearly golden-brown steak.
The moment each steak was cooked through, it instantly vanished without anything touching it, as if swallowed by some invisible maw.
Standing before the cooking station, Lin Ke’s eyes shone brightly.
His originally dark-brown irises had turned into a pure, absolute black.
Anyone looking into them would feel as though a cluster of starlight was being nurtured within his deep pupils.
This was the strength he had gained from pulling an all-nighter.
The meaty bones in his inventory had now all been brewed into soup.
Nearly a hundred liters of bone broth sat suspended in a corner of his inventory, occupying a tenth of its capacity.
And over two hundred pounds of the Popo’s three-hundred-plus-pound leg meat had been consumed, seared into over four hundred steaks.
His Chef level had leaped straight to Level 4.
The two newly acquired free attribute points were both dumped into Spirit.
Lin Ke felt that increasing his Spirit would help him sense danger beforehand.
In this cybernetic world where people shot randomly on the streets, sharpening his sensitivity to threat was of paramount importance.
An attribute score of 10 in Spirit had granted him a new ability.
Perception.
He could now store and retrieve items from his inventory at close range purely through his willpower.
His hands were completely freed.
***
Name: Lin Ke Age: 20 Identity: Player Dimensional Inventory: 1 cubic meter [Bone Broth × 100, Salt-Seared Steak × 400, …] Equipment: Cyberdeck / /
General Talents Civilization, Eye of Truth, Learning
——Physical Attributes—— Strength: 8 (+0.1) Agility: 7 Constitution: 8 Spirit: 10 (Sensory Detection)
Evaluation: Entered the Extraordinary.
Thought, mind, and spirit as one, nurturing a powerful perception.
***
Class: Chef Level: 4 EXP: [21/600]
Class Talent Super Tonic (Unique): Grants special buffs to dishes during cooking.
Ingredient quality determines buff intensity.
Generates Class EXP upon cooking completion.
Class Skills [Soup (Proficient)] [Proficiency: 150/600] [Effect: When boiling ingredients, all nutrients can be fully infused into the soup.
Added Skill Trait: Purify]