Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 239 - 238: The Evolution of Bursting Flame

Chapter 239: Chapter 238: The Evolution of Bursting Flame

The middle-aged man named Smith was a teacher at Orlando Academy, formal and not given to frivolity.

On the contrary, the Chinese Chef Cao greeted Lancelot with a friendly handshake before pointing toward the airport restroom sign and saying, "Sorry, I need to use the restroom; you two chat first."

This was to avoid suspicion.

Smith watched Chef Cao leave, then turned around, fixing his gaze on Lancelot, whose head was lowered, his eyes revealing a hint of sternness.

"I have heard about your defeat in the Food Duel even in the United States, a real disgrace to the Academy!"

Lancelot bowed his head, not daring to argue in his defense.

He indeed had suffered a dismal loss, and to a little-known young chef at that.

However, Lancelot had to admit that he was utterly convinced by his defeat; even if he were to duel again, he would likely lose eight out of ten times.

"Mr. Smith, my opponent was very strong!" Lancelot clenched his fists and said.

"Is that your excuse for being defeated?"

Smith’s face showed no emotion.

"I am here in Neon to observe and inspect the area in advance for the next exchange meeting between Orlando and Far Moon, not specifically to deal with this matter," Smith continued to say, which made Lancelot look up in surprise.

"Then..."

"Rest assured, I am commissioned by Minister Mars to handle that chef for you," Smith said coldly, giving Lancelot a scornful look, "If you weren’t Minister Mars’ disciple, you would have already been expelled from ’The Gastronome Society!’"

Lancelot felt a chill in his heart.

His throat was a little dry when Chef Cao returned at this moment, prompting Lancelot to hastily say, "I have arranged the hotel for our stay; please, come with me."

...

In the evening.

Having seen off a group of friends, Xia Yu returned to the bar inside the shop and sat down.

Not long ago, Liangzi Lina had also left. Tomorrow was Monday, and Xia Yu had to return to school, while Liangzi Lina would surely be returning to the IGO Neon headquarters to report.

Sitting down, Xia Yu finally found some free time to properly tally the gain from this ’lodging practicum.’

The Far Moon "lodging practicum" mission appointed by the system was completed, and with 2 spare Talent Points credited, Xia Yu checked and found out that, together with the 5 Talent Points originally saved and the 10 Talent Points from the "Internship Examination" reward, he had a total of 17 Talent Points.

These Talent Points could not be used carelessly.

To promote the ’Heart of Cooking’ from intermediate to advanced level precisely required 20 Talent Points, and now he was only 3 points short—very close indeed!

"[Evolution Crystal]..."

Xia Yu glanced outside the shop door at the deserted night streets and decided to disregard it for now. He reached into his inventory, took out the purple diamond-shaped crystal, studied it for a few moments, then whispered ’use’ in his mind.

Ding.

With a crisp sound, the crystal shattered quietly in Xia Yu’s palm under his gaze, turning into a stream of light that penetrated his forehead.

After that, the faint sound of an eggshell cracking echoed in his ears.

The information about the [Bursting Flame] cooking skill automatically emerged:

"[Bursting Flame·Evolution] (Purple): The signature move of Ya Kan, one of the former Big Five Stars of the Dark Cuisine World, known as ’Blast Flame Chef.’ When mastered to the purest realm, one can obtain ’Flame Sensory·Evolution’ and have a chance to comprehend the ’Super Touch’ talent."

"Note: Requires 20 Talent Points to progress to max level, and the max-level Bursting Flame cooking skill can consume the crystal to evolve to the final stage (gold). Successful evolution guarantees mastery of the ’Super Touch’ talent."

Compared to the initial learning of Bursting Flame, the textual materials now included an additional row of explanatory notes.

Advancing to a golden cooking skill guarantees the godlike talent ’Super Touch’?

Wow, what a boon for the African chiefs!

Xia Yu’s heart raced as he suddenly formed a plan.

To upgrade the ’Heart of Cooking’ to the advanced level, and then to fill the ’Bursting Flame’ talent points next, leaving ’Spice Inequality’ and ’Seven-star Breaking Army Rapid Cutting’ in the third queue, with other cooking skills lined up behind.

"What will the evolved Blast Flame cooking skill be like?" Xia Yu wondered eagerly, but still contained his excitement and continued to tally up the week’s gains.

Cooking skills and Talent Points aside, it’s all about the recipes.

During his stay and study this week, he successfully created the recipe for "Shuangjiang Magical Mapo Tofu," a perfect luminous recipe with profound significance.

Additionally, "Great Magic Panda Tofu" and the Special Grade Recipe "Valencia Baaiya," taught to him by Dojima Yin, were already queued up for learning. The system instructed him to improve the "Valencia Baaiya" recipe, with a promise to unlock ’jet-black rice’ as a reward, as well as the renowned "Seven Star Blade·Wenqu."

The next phase was undoubtedly to fully grasp these two purple recipes.

"Right, Fame Points!"

Xia Yu smacked his head, summoned the system store, and then his eyes widened.

Wait a minute!

On closer count, the Fame Points he had accumulated were now over twenty thousand!

He remembered that before the training exam, it was just over ten thousand points, and moreover, he had spent Fame Points to purchase a ’Stamina Pill’ during the exam, so in theory, his Fame Points should have been below ten thousand!

Was it last night’s Chiyoda Festival that brought him such a bountiful harvest?

Looking down and pondering for a moment, Xia Yu shook his head.

Impossible, it was dark and windy, and he hadn’t promoted it specifically; how could the tourists possibly know about him and the small store. Didn’t he see even the editor-in-chief of "Taste Weekly" looking confused?

Unable to figure it out, Xia Yu simply checked the system log.

"An ’entity’ has taken note of you and admires you, Fame Points +1000."

What the hell!

Xia Yu was astonished; what exactly did ’entity’ refer to?

And to his question, the system mechanically responded, "Please, host, continue to explore this world."

Strangely, when he thought about how Dojima Yin and Liangzi Lina had evasively answered his question about who the examiners were for the big test, a light flashed in Xia Yu’s mind, and he had a rough guess.

And obviously, such ’entities’ were not plentiful; otherwise, the log wouldn’t be awarding 1000 points per notice.

A complete and unexpected windfall!

Feeling wealthy with over twenty thousand Fame Points pressed upon him, Xia Yu suddenly felt his entire demeanor became broader.

If there was no need to buy cooking skills for knife work, temperature control or seasoning (spices), then what direction should he develop in next?

The field of confections was an option.

Additionally, the ’break-in theft’ at his home had also sounded an alarm for Xia Yu.

While he was physically formidable, akin to a strongman level, he had never learned any self-defense combat skills. Xia Yu’s requirements were simple; he did not need to become some martial arts master but at least feel comfortable enough to tackle or chase away an intruder without having to call the police.

"System, filter some combat skills books for me!"

Ding.

Text data immediately filled Xia Yu’s retinas.

"’Military Boxing Fundamentals’: A boxing technique that integrates actions like punching, kicking, throwing, disarming knives and guns; simple and practical, persistent training can improve overall physical quality."

"’Taekwondo Fundamentals’: A fighting skill with over two thousand years of history, mainly focusing on footwork, which accounts for 70% of the content, featuring twenty-four patterns and more than a dozen basic skills."

"’Karate Fundamentals’: A fighting technique that developed when China’s martial arts were introduced to Neon and combined with local martial arts..."

Too many!

From military boxing to the likes of Drunken Fist, Trigram Palm, Five Elements Fist, and Xingyi Boxing, to the stream of Southern Tai Boxing, Xia Yu was left dazzled.

And Xia Yu noticed, fighting skills books were really damn expensive!

Basic green books started at 1000 Fame Points.

Intermediate blue books began at 5000 Fame Points.

Advanced purple books with a small level of proficiency, ten thousand Fame Points.

This meant that Xia Yu could only choose one fighting skill and learn it to an intermediate stage right away. Dreaming of learning from a hundred schools seemed out of the question—the Fame Points were simply not enough.

"What should I learn?"

Xia Yu found himself afflicted with the debuff ’indecisiveness’.