[New Skill Book Detected: Gluttonous Heaven's Qi Preservation Art (Low Celestial Grade)]
[Analyzing Skill... Analysis Complete.]
[Would you like to learn this skill?]
[Option 1: Self-Study (Estimated Time to Small Mastery: 1,947 years)]
[Option 2: System-Assisted Learning (Perfect Mastery). Cost: 10,000 Street Cred.]
'Oh?! The System actually has such a function?' Gray was excited, this meant that no matter what technique there was, he could learn it through the system without having to spend thousands of years comprehending.
Gray's eye twitched as he saw the first option.
'Nearly two thousand years? I'd probably be six feet under by then. I've got a tournament in two.'
His gaze drifted to his Street Cred balance: just over 90,000.
The cost was significant, a hefty chunk of his hard-earned bribe money.
But the alternative was to spend centuries trying to figure it out himself. The choice was obvious.
'Why work hard when you can pay to win?' he thought, a grin spreading across his face.
He selected Option 2 without a shred of hesitation.
[10,000 Street Cred has been deducted. Commencing System-Assisted Learning.]
The world around him instantly dissolved into a vast, dark space. In front of him stood a figure clad in golden robes, surrounded by gentle motes of light.
The figure held a long, ethereal kitchen knife in one hand and a shimmering ladle in the other.
The figure performed the entire technique once.
It was a flawless, divine dance of slicing, stirring, and seasoning.
The golden-robed man's performance wasn't any less impressive than Matriarch Zareena's.
But Gray wasn't simply watching a performance.
As the figure moved, Gray felt every motion, every nuance, every scrap of profound intent being carved directly into his soul.
It was as if, for those few seconds, he was the golden-robed master.
He didn't just learn the technique; the technique became a part of his very being.
The demonstration ended and a System Notification appeared.
[Skill Acquired: Gluttonous Heaven's Qi Preservation Art (Upgradeable)]
[Rarity: Low Celestial Grade]
[Description: You have grasped a fundamental principle of the Dao: Cooking is not mere craft, but the art of preservation. You can now use your hands to perfectly seal the Spiritual Energy and essence of life within any ingredient. Through this art, you defy decay, immortalize vitality within taste, and can turn a simple grain of rice into a treasure that surpasses common pills.]
[Text: "A sword can end a life. A perfectly cooked meal can heal a soul. A wise sage knows which is the sharper weapon." ]
Gray blinked. He was back in the flying carriage. He looked at the book in his lap, then at the two women watching him. Less than ten minutes had passed.
Ziye was looking at him with a mocking expression. "What's wrong? Did the first sentence give you a headache already? Ready to give up?"
Gray didn't answer. He simply closed the book, placed it neatly aside, and stood up, his expression calm and confident.
"Matriarch," he said, his tone steady. "I'm ready."
Ziye blinked, then barked out a laugh. "Ready? Ready for what? To admit you can't understand a single word?"
"Do you have any low-level Fierce Beast meat?" Gray asked, completely ignoring her.
Matriarch Zareena narrowed her eyes. She couldn't figure out what he was playing at. There was no way he could have grasped anything in just a minute.
Deep down, she felt a flicker of disappointment.
'He's rushing… a classic sign of an impetuous youth. What a shame.'
Nevertheless, she waved her hand, and the corpse of a Level 3 Qi Condensation boar appeared on the carriage floor.
"Thank you, Matriarch."
Gray immediately knelt beside the beast and picked up a nearby utility knife.
The moment Gray's hand touched the knife, something changed.
There was no clumsiness nor hesitation.
From his very first cut, his movements were perfect.
His hand moved in a fluid, impossibly graceful arc, the knife gliding through the boar's hide as if it were soft butter.
Every slice, every press, every fold of the meat was executed with a profound intent that seemed to belong to a grandmaster who had practiced for ten thousand years.
Ziye's mocking words choked in her throat.
Her smirk froze, then melted away, replaced by a look of stunned disbelief.
Slice. Fold. Press. Stir.
The meat faintly shimmered under his touch as invisible strands of vitality and Spiritual Energy were perfectly sealed within its fibers with every movement.
He wasn't just butchering a beast; he was performing a sacred ritual, his hands moving with an invisible rhythm that was both beautiful and deeply profound.
Matriarch Zareena's pupils contracted to pinpricks. The playful amusement was gone from her face, replaced by a look of sheer, unadulterated shock.
This was a true genius, an absolutely peak genius!
In less than an hour, the complex process was complete. A finished dish sat before them, the meat perfectly prepared and arranged.
It gave off a rich, fragrant aroma and a gentle glow of spiritual energy so dense it was almost like a high-grade medicinal pill made into food.
Matriarch Zareena and Ziye could only stare, their minds completely blank. In under an hour, a boy who had never cooked in his life had displayed Perfect Mastery in a Celestial-Grade technique.
"T-this… can't be real…" Ziye stammered, her cold, aristocratic composure completely shattered.
Even Matriarch Zareena, with all her eons of experience, couldn't hide the shock in her eyes.
Gray simply wiped his hands and looked up at the dumbfounded Ziye with a cool, confident smirk.
"About that wish..."
"Hmph, fine, what do you want? I'm warning you don't go too far!" Ziye immediately retorted, recovering from the shock.
"Heh, I'll save that wish for later." Gray smirked.
It was better to use a favor from an immortal when his life was in grave danger later on.
"You are talented, even back in our realm, you'd be considered as a genius." Ziye commented seriously, she herself was a genius amongst geniuses, yet even she didn't have such an absurd level of comprehension.