“You have kindled the flame, and thus the tutorial has been completed. Our Junior Brother’s journey shall truly start now,” dinned an ethereal voice in Wang Hai’s mind, carrying that unique force behind it. “You are to return to the Sect in haste, Little Brother. You have dallied enough. Don’t anger the Heavens anymore.”
I hope we’re not being too impatient.
Wang Hai felt the insistent tug of Senior Brother Chen’s Divine Will that left no room for argument. He pursed his lips into a thin line. The Heavenly Dao’s tribulation clouds were enough of a deterrent, but nothing could rival that man’s fury in the Three Realms.
So, with a deferent sigh, he rose and gave a look at this Junior Brother of his. His Divine Will coated gently around him. Already, the Maiden’s Flame began its work on the seed resting inside the young man’s sternum. It fed the brownish, little bead with the Daomother’s essence, accelerating its growth.
Little it might be, but the potential it carried under its thick shell was a sight to behold. Wang Hai knew the moment he laid his eyes upon this young man how great the love he bore for cooking was, and thus wasn’t surprised why the Yellow Maiden chose him as her last disciple.
The true gamble starts...
He sighed. Daomother had shared little about her plans before she retreated back into the Crack. For beings who’d crossed the Celestial boundary, it was too dangerous to disclose things even when shaded with grand techniques of old. The eye beyond the Crack always watched, eager, hungry for more, and its gaze had to be kept limited to such.
Even then, its minions—the Endless Hordes—flooded into the big worlds. For now, they were still being deprived of their foul energy, but the Crack was widening, and it was becoming harder and harder to keep a tight leash over that insidious power.
Wang Hai could smell it on his Junior Brother’s body. It was there, a lump of twisted source, hanging dangerously around his chest. Tapping into that energy brought immediate benefits. Benefits that others had managed to balance and use to fuel their strength, but the Maiden’s Sect… hadn’t been fortunate on that front.
He still remembered the last disciple. Daomother had expected grand deeds from him, but Fate had had its own plans. He was gone now, taken by the empty promises of that foul being. The allure, he’d heard, was too much. Too grand for one to turn back.
But this young man… was promising, to say the least. From the karma threads fluttering around him, Wang Hai could tell he had a heart for cooking. The essence of their Dao was, after all, sharing. It was only through sharing the gift of one’s blessing that one could walk the path of the Dao of Cooking and merge it into the System without becoming another puppet of its grand scheme.
I hope the Maiden’s Flame serves you well.
His task fulfilled, Wang Hai sighed yet again and turned his back. The spiritual world wavered around him, the solid ground rippling like the surface of a grand lake. He gave a last look at his Junior Brother and let the wind carry him back to the Sect, to the Celestial Realm where the Crack awaited him.
……
Lei woke up with a jolt. His whole body felt light as a feather, his heart thumping mightily in his chest.. He found himself facing the familiar sight of the main hall’s ceiling, the wooden planks carrying that warm tinge of the morning lights.
Faces nestled close to his chest, little arms wrapped all around his body, lying there motionless. He could feel their breaths puffing out to the sides of his face. A smile parted his lips.
He first lifted Snake’s arms, which clutched at his right leg, untangling his fingers with gentle care, before moving over to Stone’s muscled arms and placing them softly on the ground.
“Huhu,” came a voice from behind him, making him squint backward. Little Mei tapped a finger into his forehead and smiled brightly. “Morning, Big Brother Lei! I’m hungry.”
Little Yao bolted from over her shoulder, crossing the hallway like a blur and vanishing into the kitchen. Something thumped on the ground, followed by a plate’s pained shattering as the door to the kitchen opened wide.
Fatty Lou bounded across the hall like an overfed bull, lips trembling. Lei immediately felt his chest tighten when he saw his brother-in-arms’s teary eyes.
Up on his feet, he barely had time to prepare himself as Fatty Lou caught him in a bear hug. He squeezed him tight and swung him around like a toy dangling in the arms of a joyful child.
“B-Brother Lou, you’re killing me!” Lei wheezed out a breath, tapping a defeated palm on Fatty Lou’s back. “Uhh… Put me down. Please.”
Lei shook his head when Fatty Lou stepped back, staring at him with questions in his eyes—questions that Lei didn’t quite know how to answer.
It all seemed like a fever dream now he thought about it. An ethereal voice that claimed him as her disciple. A burly man who seemed gentle but carried an unmistakable depth in his eyes, telling him all those things about the Three Realms.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He was part of a sect now. Sort of. Then there was the flame and notifications blinking in the corner of his vision.
“What happened?” Zhu Luli asked, craning her head from the kitchen door.
“Uh…” Lei breathed, mind still disoriented and shaken by the experience. “I’ll tell you, but first… How long was I asleep?”
“Around six hours,” Zhu Luli answered before Fatty Lou could open his mouth. She came over and yanked Lei’s arm, checking his pulse. Then she sighed with relief. “Everything looks fine.”
“Thank the Heavens.”
“I was about to crack your head open to see what suddenly caused you to faint. You dropped… just like that,” Zhu Luli muttered. “But your breathing was even, your heart strong. Even your body heat, though a bit high, was too normal. You know people don’t black out for no apparent reason.”
Well, there was that time when I had to hear one of Chef Lorenzo’s tirades. His words surely did the trick for me.
“It’s complicated,” Lei said, scratching the back of his head. Then he waved his hand. “What happened to the remedy? Are we too late—”
“Don’t worry,” Fatty Lou said, a smile tugging at his lips. “We handled it just fine. Sister Luli here thinned the remedy with water and prepared a cauldron. I told her I could carry the damned thing, but she refused to let me do it. She snuck out during the night and gave it to Aunt Lifen.”
“What about the guards?”
Zhu Luli snorted. “They were busy screaming and choking. The sickness doesn’t treat them kindly.”
“I’m glad…” Lei breathed out a long, heavy sigh. He could hardly believe hours had passed during that small talk with that Senior Brother Wang, and the strange thing was his body remained in the restaurant.
Some mind magic, I guess? He looked strong, after all.
Shaking his head, he was about to ask another question when his skin crawled all of a sudden. Zhu Luli and Fatty Lou were glaring daggers into his eyes.
“Would you just tell us already?!” Fatty Lou jabbed a finger around Lei’s shoulder, then pinched the bridge of his own nose. “You know how afraid I was? I thought you were—“
“Can you please relax?” Zhu Luli slapped him on the back. “I told you he was fine.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Zhu Luli waved him off. “I didn’t give my years to the academy for some backwater butcher to think nothing of my skills.”
“Can’t a man get anxious for his brother? I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to this guy.”
“But nothing happened. We should move on,” Zhu Luli said with a weary sigh. “Let the man speak. Brother Lei, you were saying?”
When did these two become so close?
Strange as it might be, Lei couldn’t dally any longer when faced with Zhu Luli’s demanding gaze. The woman had a scary quality about her. He wondered if that’s why the kids hardly spoke during her lessons.
“There was this guy,” Lei started, trying to think of the right words to do justice to the strange experience. “And he told me I was his Junior Brother. From the sect. Maiden’s Sect, was it? Yeah, and then an ethereal voice—”
“Stop,” Fatty Lou said, shaking his head before glaring at Zhu Luli. “See? He’s completely lost it. And you just said he’s fine. Check his head. See if something’s broken.”
When Zhu Luli tried to lean closer and reached a hand toward him, Lei stepped back and gave them a blank look.
“I’m telling the truth,” he said a moment later. “It’s a bit complicated, but I guess it’s about this gift of mine. Looks like it didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s been given to me for a purpose. At least that man told me so.”
He raised a hand. “And no, it wasn’t a dream. I can remember every detail clearly. The man even knew my name and I suppose he granted another gift to me.”
Fatty Lou’s eyebrows danced strangely. “Gift?”
“What gift?” Zhu Luli said.
“Show us,” they said at the same time.
“I will,” Lei muttered, feeling the heat under the left side of his chest. “But first, I have to check it myself. Just to be sure.”
“But—”
“Let him.” Zhu Luli stopped Fatty Lou’s reaching hand and blinked at Lei. “Looks like our Heavenly Chef’s been through a lot.”
With a thankful nod, Lei turned. He tousled Little Mei’s long hair and clapped both Snake and Stone on their backs, letting them know he was all right before exiting through the back door. He left quite the curious company behind him.
The morning air splashed fresh across his face, flapping the tails of his robe. It was cold even though the sun sent a shower of warmth all over Jiangzhen. The stench of rot hung thick and foul in the air.
But Lei hardly shivered against the biting winds. Something stirred defiantly from within his chest, sending a wave of furious warmth around his body. He felt, rather curiously, more alive than ever before, as if something had changed about him.
He decided to check the notifications.
[Tier Upgrade successful!]
[Tutorial has been completed! Initiation will commence now…]
[Error… An outside interference detected!]
[Error…]
[…]
[…]
[Interference eliminated! The initiation will resume…]
[Initiation completed! Welcome to Multiverse System!]
[Resources updated! Skills and stats gained during the Tutorial phase have been transferred!]
[You have become the 99th attendant to come in touch with a Dao Seed!]
[Achievement Unlocked — The 99th]
[You have leveled up! 3 stat points gained!]
[You have leveled up! 3 stat points gained!]
[You have leveled up! 3 stat points gained!]
…..
[Your class has been upgraded!]
[New skill gained — Maiden’s Flame]
[You have gained a Tier!]
[Novice 9 > Adept 1]
[Skill Choice Available!]
He had to clench his teeth as the sudden ‘dings’ roared inside his mind. His vision blurred with dozens of blue screens. He waved them off, heart thumping in his chest. Everything, from his fingers to the tip of his toes, tingled with a strange sensation.
Shaking his head, he sucked in a deep breath and moved onto his status as well.
Name: Liang Lei
Age: 20
Class: Spiritual Chef - Adept 1
Level: 25
Experience: 65%
Stats:
Strength: 25
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 15
Mana(Restricted): 30
Stat Points: 30
Skills:
Eyes of the Yellow Maiden - MAX
Spiritual Sensitivity - Novice 9
Class Skills:
Essence Enhancement - Novice 9
Maiden’s Flame - Adept 1
Cultivation Stage: 7th Step of Body Tempering Stage
Dao: Dao of Cooking(Early)
This… Wasn’t what he expected.
……