"Then let's do our best together." Mo Bai wasn't afraid of leading a student astray; with his Culinary Heart and Little Bai's recipes, at the very least, he could forcibly mold someone into a low-star chef.
"Mn." Gokou Ruri nodded her head vigorously.
"I've already given you the key. If I go to the Tōtsuki Detached Palace next month, you can use the ingredients here as you please. Later, I'll go open a bank account; in the future, if you're short on any ingredients, just restock directly without needing to ask me."
The champion's reward for the Akihabara Summit Battle was announced by Chiba Eda after the celebration banquet, but it wasn't the Tōtsuki Academy admission qualification that Harano Katsuya and Yoshino Takashi had imagined.
The title was indeed Tōtsuki's, but with two extra words appended—Detached Palace.
Tōtsuki Detached Palace—in layman's terms, it was the Tōtsuki Resort.
A one-month internship qualification at Tōtsuki Resort!
Before the Five-Star Chef examination, wouldn't it be delightful to spend a month cramming?
"Little Bai, what do you think?" Mo Bai felt he was quite the clever little fellow.
"Little Bai?"
Speaking of Little Bai, that guy didn't seem to have made a peep since the victory.
"Are you trying to welch on my reward?" Mo Bai still remembered the Basic Boxing included in the reward; after all, every Hua nation youth had a martial arts heart that longed to leap onto roofs and vault over walls. "Little Bai, stop playing dead. Hurry up and issue the reward."
"Huh? What is it? Is it morning?" Little Bai's groggy voice sounded like he had just woken up.
"Morning my foot! What the hell are you doing?" Mo Bai felt that things weren't simple.
"Last night I deduced all the recipes from the chefs in the elimination rounds and the finals. Don't bother me if it's nothing important."
Seeing the complete ingredients of all the chefs, Little Bai was practically high on excitement. Compared to integrating recipes from thousands of ingredients and spices, this work of simply deducing ratios based on materials was essentially 'easy mode'.
Little Bai, who had worked through the whole night, didn't want to deal with Mo Bai and threw a 'Basic Boxing' at him.
Mo Bai immediately felt a golden little figure appear in his mind, moving like a swimming dragon, its fists striking with shocking wind. He secretly praised it, feeling an impulse to chant "heng heng ha hei" along with the golden figure regardless of the setting, until his gaze moved upward and he was shocked to see five large characters next to it: [Basic Boxing One].
"..." A basin of ice water descended from the heavens, extinguishing the glowing, heating flame in Mo Bai's heart.
"So LOW. Do you think I'm some college student cultivator?" Mo Bai covered his face with one hand, unable to look directly at this fierce boxing style with its explosive sounds, which actually had such a LOW name.
"You could have at least given me some dime-a-dozen 'Swimming Dragon Fist', 'Startled Phoenix Fist', or 'Golden Dragon Fist'—anything would have more class than this 'Basic Boxing One'! Even 'Invincible Iron Fist' would be acceptable if all else failed!"
Perhaps sensing Mo Bai's thoughts, the five glittering golden characters began to transform—Invincible Iron Fist One.
"You're just being difficult. There, your Invincible Iron Fist."
Mo Bai felt his blood surge up to his chest; his chest was about to explode with rage!
Suppressing the urge to throw Little Bai into the stove to be melted down and recast, Mo Bai felt the soulless boxing technique was dull and tasteless after his anger subsided.
"Let's look at the recipes Little Bai mentioned first."
Clicking into the store, the originally empty store now had dozens of new recipes.
Six-Star Recipe: Tuna Hamburger Patty Fish Steak (Price: 6000 points), Six-Star Recipe: Fragrant Roasted Salmon (Price: 6000 points), Four-Star Recipe: Devil Scorpionfish Seafood Pot (Price: 4000 points), Three-Star Recipe: Grilled White Tilefish (Price: 300 points)...
"Hmm, are recipes graded by stars? Three-star recipes are in the hundreds of points, four-star recipes are in the thousands, so seven-star recipes and above should probably be in the tens of thousands."
Mo Bai looked on with envy, but soon he had some doubts. "The Fragrant Roasted Salmon, rated a full six stars, was the dish Yoshino Takashi wanted to complete in the final shokugeki, so why is that guy only a Three-Star Chef?"
"Are you stupid? How would examinees know the content of the assessment? Besides, in star-rank assessments, the main ingredients are usually provided one per person. The star-rank assessment looks at a chef's foundation, on-the-spot judgment, and improvisation. Five hours of assessment time definitely cannot be considered a lot."
Facing unfamiliar ingredients within five hours to produce a dish that conquers the judges... Even Mo Bai, who was using cheats, felt a hint of pressure.
"The Five-Star Chef examination seems like it won't be easy to pass."
===
Host: Mo Bai
Chef Level: Zero Star
Physique: lv10
Knife Skills: lv6
Heat Control: lv6
Chef Skills: Intuition (Beginner)
Mastered Recipes: Great Sea Soul Repose Noodles (Two-Star), Rainbow Leopard Grouper Sashimi (Five-Star), Shattered Mountains and Rivers! Raging Tempest (Nine-Star)
Culinary Heart: Propriety
Points: -299999950000
===
"The debt points decreased by fifty thousand?"
"Reputation counts as a form of energy too." Little Bai's tone contained a thick resentment. "Old Bai, can you stop asking? I'm about to die from sudden cardiac arrest!"
"Fine, fine, fine, go to sleep." Mo Bai closed the system screen.
"Store Manager, is our shop usually this deserted?" Gokou Ruri, having finished washing the dishes, felt something was amiss. The wall clock had already reached nine o'clock, yet there wasn't a single customer in the shop.
"You have to learn to get used to it." Mo Bai was silent for a long time before speaking earnestly.
"Get used to this?" Gokou Ruri took a half-step back, her bright eyes filled with shock. "At a time like this, shouldn't we be working hard to hand out flyers and promote the shop's dishes to salvage the turnover?"
"You are still too young, too simple." Mo Bai shook his finger shamelessly. "As a chef, there is nothing more important than studying recipes."
"Distributing flyers might salvage the turnover, but such behavior is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse."
"A true chef relies on their dishes to win. There is an old saying in the Hua nation: 'The fragrance of wine fears no deep alley'."
"...Is the Store Manager trying to say that a chef should look to the future rather than being confined by turnover?" Gokou Ruri seemed to have an epiphany.
"No, I'm trying to say, I'm not short on money right now." When Mo Bai said this, a mysterious sense of emotion filled his heart. "I can finally say these words with my back straight!"
"..." Gokou Ruri was almost overwhelmed by the wave of nouveau riche aura rushing at her.
"Besides, what's fun about entertaining guests? Come, I'll teach you how to cook."
A knock on the door interrupted Mo Bai's attempt to continue posturing.
"Who is it?" Mo Bai said unhappily.
"Excuse me, is this Chef Mo Bai's shop?"
"Huh?" Mo Bai opened the shop door, and a crowded mass of people entered his view.
Before he could speak, he heard someone in the crowd shout loudly.
"It's him! It's really him! Just like on TV!"
"The Shining Magician · Mo Bai!"
"When did I get such a shameful nickname?"
Mo Bai, somewhat bewildered, only felt a strong force coming from both sides. By the time he came to his senses, the small shop was already packed full.
________________________________________
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