After seeing Tony and Yinsen off, Evan returned to the restaurant, cleared away the dishes, and loaded them into the dishwasher.
He took off his apron, settled back into his usual seat by the window, and opened the System interface.
━━━━━ SYSTEM ━━━━━
Host: Evan Whitaker
Profession: Master Chef, Gourmet Hunter
Ability: Gourmet Cells (Awakening 40%)
Rank: Army-Class
━━
[📦 Item]
Derous Knife
Forged from the fang of Derous and imbued with the Dragon King’s intimidating presence
━━
[📋 Mission]
World-Specific Mission: Earn Money (500,000/1,000,000)
Normal Mission: Serve Customers (7/10)
━━
[🎁 Mission Reward]
Conceptual Armament (Garb)
Can transform into various forms of clothing.
Provides a degree of defense against attacks targeting the soul.
Automatically repairs itself when damaged.
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Almost there.
Once Tony’s payment comes through, I’ll be able to open the Dimensional Door to another world.
Evan studied the System panel thoughtfully.
The Marvel universe only had ordinary ingredients.
The world he had access to through the Gourmet setting, on the other hand, was overflowing with high-level ingredients.
Unfortunately, most of those ingredients were either terrifying beasts or equally dangerous plants found in the Gourmet World, which made obtaining them considerably more difficult.
The so called Human World was where human civilization was concentrated.
Ingredients there generally had low Capture Levels, were relatively easy to obtain, and existed in quantities large enough to support the daily needs of enormous populations.
The truly high-level ingredients were found in the Gourmet World.
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[The More You Know]
The Gourmet World comes from Toriko, a Japanese manga series.
Toriko is an action-adventure series about powerful “Gourmet Hunters” who search for rare and amazing foods in a world filled with dangerous creatures.
In the story, the Gourmet World is the largest and most dangerous part of the planet.
It is home to extremely powerful beasts, unusual environments, and some of the rarest ingredients in existence.
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The Gourmet World contained eight enormous continents, each one no smaller than the entire Human World.
Ingredients considered exceedingly rare in the Human World could be found almost everywhere there.
The problem was actually getting them.
Roaming disasters in the form of monstrous beasts were practically commonplace.
With Evan’s current strength, there was no guarantee he could obtain any genuinely high-level ingredient if he went in.
After all, high-level ingredients were either absurdly powerful creatures in their own right or plants that were extraordinarily difficult to harvest.
If you weren’t strong enough, you couldn’t even get close.
Hopefully the next world isn’t too dangerous.
Evan sighed inwardly.
And it’d be nice if it had plenty of things I can turn into ingredients.
That was about all he could hope for.
Just then, the doorbell chimed.
“Hello. Are you still open?” The Ancient One walked in wearing her yellow sorcerer’s robes.
Without the slightest hesitation, she crossed the restaurant and casually sat down across from Evan.
Judging by how naturally she made herself comfortable, it was clearly far from her first visit.
“We’re open. What are you in the mood for today?” Evan rubbed his face and stood.
“I’d recommend the mixed vegetable salad, a White-Haired Cinderella Steak for your complexion, and a Rainbow Cocktail made from Rainbow Fruit.”
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[The More You Know]
The White-Haired Cinderella and Rainbow Cocktail are both special food related items from Toriko.
The White-Haired Cinderella is a rare type of cattle known for its high-quality, luxurious meat, which is served as steak in expensive restaurants.
The Rainbow Cocktail is a colorful and exotic drink made from rare ingredients, fitting the series’ theme of unusual gourmet foods.
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As he spoke, he poured the Ancient One a glass of Air Aqua and tied his apron back on.
He and the Ancient One were already well acquainted.
The day Evan transmigrated into this world, the Ancient One had sensed the abnormal spatial disturbance and come to investigate.
That first visit had ended with her staying for a meal.
Afterward, she started showing up at roughly the same time every day to eat.
The Ancient One was also surprisingly easy to get along with, so over the course of the week, the two of them had naturally become fairly friendly.
“That will be fine.” The Ancient One had no objections.
She hadn’t even heard of most of the ingredients Evan had mentioned, so there wasn’t much advice she could offer.
Better to leave the meal in the chef’s hands.
“Coming right up.”
The Rainbow Cocktail had already been prepared in advance, so Evan only needed to make the salad and steak.
He walked into the kitchen and began taking ingredients from his Storage Space one after another: Cream Mushrooms, Almond Cabbage, several other vegetables, and the steak.
Why store everything in the Storage Space rather than refrigerators or similar appliances?
Simple.
The Storage Space preserved ingredients far better.
Whatever condition an ingredient was in when it went inside, it remained in that exact condition when taken back out.
And freshness was critically important when it came to food.
The freshness of the ingredients directly affected the final taste of a dish.
Evan had no intention of passing off inferior ingredients just because they were easier to use.
The restaurant’s kitchen was open-plan, allowing customers in the dining area to clearly watch everything happening inside.
They could even chat with the chef while he worked.
“Why did you suddenly decide to help Tony Stark?” The Ancient One took a sip of water and watched Evan busy himself in the kitchen.
She had been paying close attention to the unusual restaurant that had appeared on Earth and somehow connected to numerous dimensions.
Tony Stark abruptly traveling from a desert cave to New York, followed by the Air Force bombing the terrorists’ stronghold…
The moment those two events occurred, her thoughts had gone straight to Evan.
Especially since she had personally seen him standing beside Tony.
The previous customers who had come to eat here hadn’t received any direct assistance from the restaurant’s owner.
Since she happened to be here for lunch today, she might as well ask about it.
Casually, of course.
“No particular reason. I just wanted to make a friend.” Evan answered without looking up.
He genuinely hadn’t thought too deeply about helping Tony at the time.
For one thing, it had been easy enough to lend a hand.
For another, Evan had something he would eventually need Tony’s help with.
Better to get the man out safely now instead of risking some unexpected accident.
“Is that so?” The Ancient One slowly turned the glass between her fingers, her eyes following the ripples across the surface.
“Tony Stark’s future is becoming blurred. Increasingly difficult to predict.”
“The future was never predictable in the first place.” Evan smiled.
His knife flashed repeatedly.
The vegetables lined up on his cutting board were instantly divided into sixteen perfectly even portions.
“Even the futures you observe contain countless branches and variables. Let the person you become in the future worry about the future.”
“You have a point.”
The appearance of the Dimensional Restaurant itself was already the greatest variable of all.
Whatever changes followed could hardly be considered surprising.
And, at least for now, things seemed to be moving in a positive direction.
“He does indeed.” Another voice suddenly joined the conversation.
Odin pushed open the door and walked in just in time to catch the tail end of their discussion.
Naturally, he immediately sided with Evan.
“Better for the future to remain changeable. Otherwise, how would we ever have the opportunity to guide it toward something better?”
Odin spoke with a cheerful smile.
“Exactly.” Evan carried a tray over to the table and began setting down the dishes and drink.
“Mixed vegetable salad, White-Haired Cinderella Steak, and Rainbow Cocktail. Enjoy.”
“It smells even better than before,” the Ancient One remarked first.
Then her eyes moved over the dishes.
“And it looks better as well.”
The vegetable salad was vividly colorful and beautifully arranged.
The steak gave off an irresistible, mouthwatering fragrance.
And the Rainbow Cocktail looked as though someone had somehow liquefied an actual rainbow and poured it into a glass.
“Of course.” Evan smiled.
“Appearance, aroma, and taste. Those are three of the fundamentals of good food.”
The Ancient One picked up her knife and fork, speared a piece of apple, and placed it in her mouth.
Sweetness immediately flooded across her tongue.
Her eyes narrowed pleasantly, and a smile appeared on her usually tranquil face.
She continued eating with composed, elegant movements, a stark contrast to the way Tony and Yinsen had practically inhaled their meals earlier.
A Sorcerer Supreme capable of resisting the temptations of dark forces did not lack self-control.
“This wine smells magnificent!” Odin’s eyes widened.
He circulated divine power through his body to drive away the faint trace of intoxication already creeping over him.
He had only smelled the alcohol drifting from the glass, yet it was already enough to make him slightly tipsy.
If the aroma alone could do that, what would actually drinking it be like?
“Evan! Give me a glass of that first!” At that moment, the Asgardian fondness for alcohol revealed itself in all its glory.
“Sure.” Evan raised an eyebrow.
He turned, walked back into the kitchen, poured another Rainbow Cocktail, and placed it in front of Odin.
“Enjoy.”
But instead of walking away, Evan stayed right where he was.
His eyes remained fixed on Odin.
He wanted to watch this.
“Magnificent.” Odin lifted the glass and carefully inhaled the aroma.
A reddish flush immediately spread across his cheeks.
Then he brought the glass to his lips.
Tilted his head back.
And downed the whole thing in one gulp.
Clink.
THUD!
The glass slipped from Odin’s hand.
Odin collapsed face-first onto the table.
The overwhelming smell of alcohol rolled off him as he lay there completely unconscious.
Across from him, the Ancient One calmly continued cutting into her steak.
This exact scene had repeated itself several times over the past few days.
Evan would bring out some new variety of extraordinary alcohol.
Odin would drink exactly one glass.
Odin would immediately collapse.
The first few times, the Ancient One had at least bothered looking over.
Now she didn’t even raise her eyes.
He was fine.
Lunch was more important.
“Good!” Evan pumped one fist triumphantly.
“Another one-hit knockout!”