Chapter 3 - Ruins
The streets stretched away, pressed by the ruins of the houses on both sides, a mess of debris and old belongings roasting under the blazing sun. Lei's home was on the third block, past Sidestone Street, a one-story affair that had half its roof missing.
That roof had been the end of his soul-brother.
He sighed as his hold around the sack in his arms tightened. Even a simple step earned him a great deal of protest from his muscles, but there was a wide smile on his lips as he trudged through the streets, and the jingle of the coins inside the pockets made for a good song. He felt a richer man now, both in body and spirit.
It'd been a hell of a morning.
He had half the mind to pick a skill, to be honest. He was never much for patience. But for this once, he held himself back and decided more thinking was warranted in this case.
I have to be careful.
One thing was clear, though. The system wanted him to dab his hands into cultivation. All the skills demanded spirituality in one shape or form.
Trouble was, the previous owner of this body had been kicked from his clan for a good reason: he had only nine spirit roots, meaning he didn't have a chance to sense, or gain control over Qi.
The average cultivator had about forty roots, so the difference wasn't something he could close with simple effort. There were heavenly pills and treasures that could allow him to grow new spirit roots, but those were rare things one could only hope to chance upon.
Not to mention that this city, Jiangzhen, rested in a backwater region far away from those Immortal Cities where heavenly treasures and pills were a dime a dozen.
But even if he couldn't sense Qi, he could still try to climb up the first stage of cultivation, which was the Body Tempering Stage. This was essentially a preparation stage, where a cultivator focused on growing his muscles and cleansing the body from the mortal dust.
In theory, everyone could punch and kick their way through the nine steps of the Body Tempering Stage. But according to his soul-brother's memories, it took at least five to ten years for talentless people to climb a single step without relying on external resources like medicinal pills and elixirs. And those things cost an arm or a leg.
Rounding a corner, Lei was just about to check the skills when a bustle of noises pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Lei! Lei!"
"We're hungry! Please make something for us!"
"Big Brother Lei! Did you bring any eggs?"
A group of children came flocking round him, reaching with hands, pulling him from the arms, staring expectantly at the sack he held in his arms. Their robes had been patched way more than they should, but their eyes glinted with innocent joy.
"Alright, stop pulling!" Lei said, pressing his lips into a straight line as he tried to don the mask of a slightly angry older brother. He failed, like he often did, as a smile creased his lips. "You have to wait and be patient. Being patient earns you your keep!"
The children hopped away from him as they formed a straight line, a bunch of shuffling legs too excited to stand still. They looked like little soldiers hungry after a busy morning.
"Be good, that's right," Lei said, nodding at them with a slight smile
Then he gave each one of them a bread filled with menemen from the morning, patted their head, and pinched their cheeks before letting them eat their sandwiches at the side. Thankfully, he didn't forget to bring the sack with him after all that shit he'd gone through.
"Big Brother Lei, can you give me two more? Zhong Chao is sick, and Little Mei is taking care of him, so I'll give these to them," said a boy with a round face. Unlike the others, he had a different air about him, and different eyes, too, that glinted with a stubborn light.
"Little Sunjie—"
"You've promised you'd call me Snake!" the boy said, pursing his lips.
Lei sighed tiredly, but he knew better than to argue with this little devil. "Alright, sneaky Snake. Tell me, what happened to Little Chao?"
Snake shrugged. "Something about his stomach, I think. We visited Aunt Lifen's house, but they said she'd gone to Eastern Dew Village for her monthly visit. So we'll have to wait for her to check if Zhong Chao's really sick or not."
"Eastern Dew Village?" That place was a day's trot from here. It would at least take Aunt Lifen one or two days to come back.
Snake nodded, then pointed at the sack. "Can I take those?"
Lei gave him three, just in case. "You know where to find me if something's wrong. Now be good, and take care of your team."
Snake saluted him in a practiced fashion and hopped back to the crowd. It was a little trick Lei had taught the kids after dealing with their rather unruly behaviors.
He tried to manage a smile as he watched them devour the sandwiches, but each day it was becoming harder and harder to keep a front against these kids. Most had lost their parents to that attack and were now living around the ruins. The Governor's Office had saved dozens from the wreckage, but not every child had that fortune.
These were dangerous times, is all. Dangerous, and strange, it had to be said. There was only so much a man could do for them. Feed them, sure, but beyond that, Lei was helpless.
"You're early," a rough voice came from the back, followed by a loud thumping noise of a cane that made the children jump back.
"It's Grumpy Ji!"
"Old Monster!"
"Run!"
The children scuttled away like mice before a tiger when the owner of that voice thumped his famed bamboo cane on the ground once again, staring tiredly after them.
Lei shook his head as he turned to Old Ji. "And I'm happy to see you too, Old Ji."
"You're pampering them too much!" Old Ji grumbled.
His face was a map of wrinkles, framed by thin, gray strands of hair that danced lazily in the wind. He always had something between a frown and a scowl on his face, but Lei knew he was more than that tough shell.
"Somebody has to do it, don't you think?" Lei said. There was some talk about a relief package that supposedly would come from the capital, but a month had passed after the assault, and nobody had seen or witnessed anything as such.
"If this continues, they'll never learn how to take care of themselves!" Old Ji, as always, was too realistic in his thinking.
"Is that why you keep patrolling around these streets? Keeping those thugs away from the ruins?" When the man raised an eyebrow at those words, Lei gave him a little smile. "Yes, I know. Some brooding monster stalking people during the night. Aren't you too old for that?"
"Hmph!" Old Ji raised his cane at him, its point inching closer to Lei's face. "I do no such thing!"
Stolen novel; please report.
"Right, my mistake." Lei ran a hand through his long, dark hair as he regarded the old man. His legs were too skinny, and even with the cane, he was rocking back and forth as though a leaf bearing a strong wind. Thus, Lei didn't want to keep him for too long.
Reaching into the sack, he pulled out a bread and gave it to the old man. "Here, I want you to try this."
Old Ji frowned. "I don't need your pity. I can take care of myself."
"I know that." Lei sighed out a breath. "Know that too well, I'm afraid. But I made something different this time, and nobody has near the culinary experience you have around here, Old Ji. Eat this, and tell me what you think."
"Uh," Old Ji snorted again but took the bread. Lei gave him a grateful nod.
After he watched the old man huffing his way back to his house, Lei trudged silently toward his own place. It was never wise to idle round a grumpy, old man. He had a choice to make, but before that, he thought a good rest would do him good.
….
His house was not much for living. It had a straw-filled bed, some pots, and a spare wok he'd snatched from someplace masquerading as a restaurant near the city center, a wooden drawer, and a table. Simple things as you would expect from simple times.
Lei had patched the wounded roof with the planks he'd gathered around the ruins and stretched a mat over on it to keep the rain away. It wasn't the most reliable thing you'd have over your head, but he was more than proud of the work he had done. It'd been one of the many firsts he'd achieved in this world.
After he poured himself over the bed, he called the system interface.
Name: Liang Lei
Age: 20
Class: Chef
Tier: Novice 2
Skills: Eyes of the Yellow Maiden.
Cooking Skills: Skill Choice Available!
That novice part still nagged him, but he was beginning to think that perhaps the system hadn't been too mindful of his qualifications before grading him. It could also be that the Tier part didn't have any correlation with his cooking skills — technical and theoretical, for that matter.
Other than that, it looked simple enough. There were no stats, and no new missions that'd have him face off against monstrous beasts or murderous cultivators to gain some shining gems or spiritual tools. He was a cook for most of his life, and even in this world, he wasn't planning to change that.
He certainly didn't want any of that killing and butchering. Searching for ingredients, hunting for spiritual beasts, now that was something he could get on with.
Might as well become a Spirit Chef.
That seemed near good as being an Immortal. Leave all the fighting and killing to the nutjobs, and open himself a good restaurant by some spiritual river. That sounded like a dream, and a good one, he was thinking.
Let's see about these skills, then.
[Soothing Touch - Novice 1]: Infuse your spiritual dishes with a calming aura that affects both you and the consumers of the food, reducing stress and increasing focus.
[Essence Enhancement - Novice 1]: Increases the potency of spiritual ingredients you use in your dishes.
[Spiritual Sensitivity - Novice 1]: Allows you to discern the details of spiritual ingredients, identify hidden properties, and detect spiritual anomalies.
The system obliged, showing him the list of skills he could choose from. Then again, it didn't serve any other purpose than showing him the things he already knew. Trying to ask questions, or demanding more clear explanations got him nothing in return, so it seemed he had to go about with a trial-and-error approach for most things.
His gut told him that Spiritual Sensitivity could be useful, but he didn't know if the system considered cultivators as spiritual anomalies, or would see them as possible ingredients for some wicked concoction that involved spiritually enhanced cultivator intesties and the mortal dust that'd probably make for good seasoning.
Not that he was planning to cook cultivators in the foreseeable future.
But even if he could somehow sense the malicious intent of a cultivator that had their eyes fixed on him, he wasn't sure if he had the skills to escape from such a disaster. The patched roof was a good testament to that fact.
Jiangzhen also wasn’t famous for its spiritual ingredients. Other than some places that sold spirit rice, Lei hadn’t seen anything spiritual in the weeks he’d spent working around. So even if this skill could allow him to see details of ingredients, it would only be useful if he could get a bunch of spiritual ingredients to choose from.
To be honest, this skill seemed like it’d be good in the long run, but as of now, Lei needed something else to start his spiritual journey.
Pass.
The [Soothing Touch] made him curious and reminded him of the drugs college students took for exams, but he didn't know if being hyper-focused would do him any good in the culinary field.
It could've been a broken cheat for a highly talented genius that'd allow them to meditate or cultivate for days and months. He also wondered if the stress-reducing effect had any sedative side about it. Who knew, perhaps with this skill he could cook some serious drugs that'd make cultivators see even more colors with their spiritual vision.
Can make for a good career. But I'm not sure these people need more drugs. They're already beyond saving as it is.
The third, and last option was the [Essence Enhancement]. Now, this skill could be more than it seemed. Spiritual ingredients, to Lei's thinking, was a rather extensive topic. Minerals, plants, beasts, or anything that had some semblance of spirituality could very well be considered as spiritual ingredients.
Above all that, though, it could boost his talent, or the quality spiritual ingredients he’d get. To what extent he could enhance the ingredients would be crucial for that, but right now, it looked like it would be the best course of action to take that first step into cultivation.
They already sold spirit rice and spirit vegetables in some restaurants in the city center. They weren't cheap, of course, but Lei could at least try to buy some.
But that [Soothing Touch]…
Alright, I've decided.
He picked the [Essence Enhancement] skill, and felt a cold wave of air brushing against his face. The first thing he planned to do was to speak with Fatty Lou about the details. He had only a single friend to depend on, and that friend happened to know the city like the palm of his hand. He would know where they could buy some spiritual ingredients.
Lei closed the door to his house, shutting out the chaotic world outside. He collapsed onto his bed, the straws poking him from all around. Sleep came right away.
..........