Chapter 8 (1/2)

Smith Jr. had no idea what the hell was happening. One day, he was laboring for his sect, the next day, he was in someone else’s body. A strange steel beast had killed him, and somehow, his soul was shifted into a dying man’s. Along with the body, Smith Jr. also inherited the memories of the unfortunate person whose body he had possessed. This world wasn’t much different from the one Smith Jr. had come from; in fact, he suspected he had traveled to a different part of the continent. The previous owner of the body, no, forget that. Smith Jr. shook his head. The previous owner was dead. The only thing left was Smith Jr.

Smith Jr. exhaled and stared at his new reflection in the mirror. Right now, he owned a small restaurant in the capital city of the Flame Dragon Empire. He had no family; his parents had died and left him with the deed to the store. Wrecked by loneliness, he had committed suicide—but he failed and awoke a whole new person. Literally. Smith Jr. furrowed his brows, and the strange figure in the mirror copied his actions. A frown appeared on his face. There was nothing wrong with his new appearance; in fact, anyone who knew what he looked like before would’ve called his current face an improvement. The thing that made Smith Jr. frown couldn’t be seen in the mirror. It could only be seen floating in his vision.

[Vremya’s Cooking System Alpha v0.1.0]

[Current Host: Smith Jr.]

[Cooking Talent: C+]

[Cooking Techniques: None]

[Cooking Tools: None]

[Cooking Evaluation: Novice]

Smith Jr. frowned and rubbed his eyes, but the text didn’t seem to go away. Not long after, more text appeared.

[New Mission: Egg Fried Rice]

[Young chef, the path to becoming an immortal cook has been laid before you. Learn to cook the first meal of your restaurant, egg fried rice.]

[Reward: Stinky-Dog’s Cooking Technique]

Smith Jr. read the text that had appeared. Then, he read it again. After reading it for a third time, he only had one question: Why the hell would he want the reward?

[Who are you calling a stinky dog!?]

A line of text flashed by Smith Jr.’s vision so fast that he swore he hallucinated it. He frowned and stood up before going to the closet, putting on an unfamiliar set of clothes. He exited his room and went down a flight of stairs that led to a hallway. To his right, there was the entrance to the kitchen. Ahead of him, there was the dining area. The dining area and the kitchen were separated by a wall. It was impossible for anyone to see what was going on in the kitchen from the dining area. However, to Smith Jr.’s surprise, from within the kitchen, he could see everything. It was as if the inner wall of the kitchen was made of glass.

Inside of the kitchen, there was a magic tool—a refrigerator, according to the foreign memories in his head. Tacked onto the refrigerator’s surface by a magnet, there was a piece of paper. On the paper, there was a recipe for egg fried rice. Smith Jr. frowned and placed the paper down onto a table. Rather than mindlessly listening to the so-called cooking system, he was going to scout around by himself. Only a crazy person would listen to random words appearing in his head, and Smith Jr. was no crazy person.

***