As the Growth Bait was consumed, a ball of light was soon pulled from the water. At the same time, information about it flowed into Yuuki's mind.
The item fished out by the Growth Bait was an "Evolving Touch" for one of the five senses. Once integrated, Yuuki's sense of touch would continuously develop along with his own improvement, similar to the Fishing Space itself.
"It's actually a growth-type ability!"
Yuuki was astonished. This ability didn't specify an upper limit to its growth, meaning his sense of touch could potentially develop to the level of a Demon King from the world of Toriko—or even stronger.
Thinking of this, Yuuki eagerly integrated the Evolving Touch.
After integration, Yuuki noticed some changes in his body, though they weren't immediately distinct. He tried touching the table.
The next second, detailed data about the table fed back to him—weight, size, various parameters, all accounted for. Yuuki could even sense the table's internal structure and degree of decay.
Of course, there was one thing Yuuki didn't know: the material of the table. The feedback from his enhanced touch was comprehensive, but he also needed the relevant knowledge base.
It was like Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue. While the God's Tongue could detect various flaws in a dish and even easily dissect its preparation method—
—it also required its possessor to have sufficient knowledge. Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue could discern the difference between salts from different regions only because she had tasted them beforehand.
She had tasted these salts in advance and memorized their characteristics. Similarly, various ingredients and seasonings needed to be memorized for her to analyze a dish upon tasting it.
Otherwise, even an ability like the God's Tongue would be useless. It was the same for Yuuki now. The information he obtained through touch was limited to his existing range of knowledge. For anything beyond that, he needed to supplement his knowledge.
For example, he would need to touch various types of wood and memorize their characteristics to identify them by touch alone.
He immediately found a small, nearby restaurant. He planned to test if his sense of touch could achieve effects similar to the God's Tongue.
Soon, the dishes he ordered arrived. Yuuki took a bite directly. Although the sense he had enhanced was touch, not taste, it didn't mean he would physically touch the prepared food with his hands.
Honestly, it was normal to handle ingredients with your hands, but touching a completed dish with your hands would seem very strange.
However, this didn't mean Yuuki's tactile ability couldn't be used. He hadn't forgotten that lips are also part of the sense of touch.
Through his lips, Yuuki could also analyze a dish.
As his lips came into contact with the food, just as Yuuki had expected, information about the dish was rapidly fed back to his mind through his sense of touch.
In that instant, not only were the ingredients and various seasonings used in the dish clearly analyzed, but even the flaws present in the dish and how to improve them were immediately relayed to his mind.
Several methods for improvement appeared. Similarly, these methods were based on Yuuki's knowledge base. Having lived two lives, and with how hard he had worked in this one, his culinary knowledge reserve, if nothing else, was quite substantial.
"Looks like my sense of touch now is no weaker than the so-called God Tongue. No—it should be even stronger than the God Tongue."
Yuuki gained a certain understanding of his tactile ability's level.
In terms of functionality, his touch was in no way inferior to the supposed God Tongue—in fact, it was likely superior. After all, the God Tongue had side effects and was destined to go out of control eventually. But Yuuki's sense of touch wouldn't have such problems.
At the same time, Yuuki understood the importance of talent even more clearly. Having talent versus not having it were two completely different concepts—like the difference between a regular gamer and one using cheats.
However, Yuuki had now joined the ranks of the cheaters, and his cheat was comparable to a top-tier cheat program.
After finishing his meal, Yuuki paid the bill and left directly. Since the system was active, his future plans needed to change.
Originally, Yuuki had thought that if he didn't have a System, he would just diligently get by in school. Graduating would be best, but even if he couldn't, worst-case scenario, he could always go work as a chef at Megumi's family's inn.
After all, he had already won over Megumi Tadokoro. And while he couldn't compare to those with overpowered abilities before, he was at least a pretty skilled chef.
Coupled with Megumi's future achievements, living a good life wouldn't be a problem at all.
But now that the system was active, as a "cheat player," he naturally couldn't stick to his previous plan.
Honestly, Yuuki considered himself a relatively hardworking type. While it wasn't like he lived and breathed cooking every single second, he did spend most of his time on it.
He was quite interested in cooking, so he was willing to invest time in it; otherwise, he wouldn't have become an Intermediate Chef.
Now that he had a chance to reach the top, he certainly wouldn't let it go. So, Yuuki immediately took out his phone and called an acquaintance.
"Yuuki, it's been a while! You haven't contacted me in some time. Spending all day with your little girlfriend, are we?"
Soon, a robust voice came from the phone, though its tone was somewhat teasing.
"Uncle Dojima, I've been busy with serious matters lately, working hard to improve my cooking skills! By the way, there's something I'd like to ask of you,"
The person Yuuki contacted was Gin Dojima. Due to his parents' past relationship with him, Dojima's connection with Yuuki was very good.
"What is it that made you take the initiative to ask for something?"
Gin Dojima on the other end sounded a bit surprised by Yuuki's words. He had watched Yuuki grow up and knew him very well.
Yuuki wasn't one to trouble others; he was very mature for his age and liked to rely on himself for many things.
Even though Dojima held a high position at Totsuki, Yuuki had never leveraged his influence. Yuuki was someone who understood boundaries very well, which was why Dojima thought highly of him, and their relationship had become so strong.
In Dojima's eyes, his relationship with Yuuki was less like that of a senior guiding a junior, and more like that of an older brother looking out for his younger sibling.
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~# Keep the chapters coming — Support with Power Stones!
~# Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter