57: Chapter 57: The First Guest of the Late Night Show 57: Chapter 57: The First Guest of the Late Night Show Knife skills and culinary techniques couldn’t be purchased imdiately, so Xia Yu had to pin his hopes on the two-star assessnt.
By passing the IGO two-star chef assessnt, he could still obtain the Skill Book “Fierce Bull Green Dragon Slash”.
Besides, there would be 10 Talent Points for advancing to a two-star restaurant.
However, what Xia Yu actually hoped for more was to get “Seven Stars Breaking Army Rapid Cutting”, a culinary technique that would allow him to rapidly process all ingredients, not just being limited to seafood, ats, or vegetables.
Although the effect of Seven Stars Breaking Army Rapid Cutting wasn’t as dazzling as other culinary techniques, it was more practical, making a perfect match with the “Jade Fragnt Knife”.
“I can’t get the knife technique for now, so how about advanced heat control techniques?” Xia Yu still hadn’t given up and asked the system.
“Filter through the available blue-graded advanced heat control techniques!”
Beep.
A text box popped up, and Xia Yu saw only one book.
“Bursting Fla: The signature move of ‘Blast Fla Chef’ Ya Kan, one of the Five Tiger Stars of the past Dark Cuisine World, starting at a low level but can develop to top-tier divine-level culinary skills, and gives the host a chance to comprehend ‘Ultra Sensitive Touch’.”
“Blue-grade quality, priced at 1,500 Fa Points.”
Bursting Fla!
Xia Yu couldn’t help but recall the chef from the Dark World in the animation, who could even jump into a sea of flas to cook, filled with fantastical elents.
His heart was practically pounding with excitent, as if thousands of horses were galloping through it.
Alas, he was short by 500 Fa Points.
Xia Yu looked over the skill book from every angle without a blind spot, then reluctantly closed the shop panel.
Where to get the missing Fa Points from?
Relying on promotion within the ACG community was basically unrealistic.
He needed to carve out another path, a fast track to acquire Fa.
Sitting in the night-ti quietness of the small store, Xia Yu pondered for a long ti.
After much thought, it seed like ‘Food Duels’ were indeed the shortcut to quickly seizing Fa.
In other words, he needed to challenge more culinary establishnts to let the food world know of his existence.
At the sa ti, Food Duels could rapidly improve his cooking skills—it was the best of both worlds.
The danger lay in the fact that if he failed, his cooking skill level would be reset by the system and he’d have to start all over again.
It was acceptable for the cooking skill level to be reset when it was low, as long as the Talent Points were preserved; his cooking skill level could always be trained back up one day.
Xia Yu thought of a potential exploit in the system’s rules and couldn’t help asking, “System, if my level is reset now, and I train from lv1 back to lv12, can I still get Talent Points?”
“The Talent Points freely given by this system cannot be obtained again,” the system said.
He let out a sigh of relief.
This also indirectly confird that Talent Points already acquired and invested in a certain culinary skill wouldn’t be wiped clean after a failure in a Food Duel.
At worst, a Food Duel loss would only reset the level, delaying his progress.
At this mont, footsteps ca from upstairs; it was probably Hozoi Midori finishing her bath and coming out of the bathroom.
Xia Yu stood up, planning to close the restaurant and go upstairs for a bath before bed.
According to the small shop’s usual rules, the business hours were from six in the evening until four o’clock the next morning.
However, recently, Xia Yu would close up shop at the latest by 1 a.m.
Moreover, having taken over the restaurant for a while now, in another week, junior and senior high schools were about to start, yet he hadn’t served a single custor in the midnight shift!
He thought about the old man’s ti, when he too would just process the ingredients early each night and go upstairs for a bath and bed, conserving his energy to be ready to work early the next day and go to school.
Hence, to this day, Xia Yu still shrouded the old man’s late-night shift in a layer of mystery.
Did that old relic ever serve late-night custors?
Xia Yu maintained a skeptical attitude.
“Bang!”
Pulling closed the shop door and preparing to lock it, the sudden knocking from outside startled Xia Yu.
“Who’s there?” He didn’t imdiately open the door but asked with a tinge of caution.
“How co the shop is closed?”
A middle-aged man’s voice.
Huh.
Xia Yu recognized the voice and opened the door.
Sure enough, there stood the manager of the IGO Neon Departnt, Shinohara Shigetaro, still donning his grayish-black overcoat and black top hat, hands tucked in his pockets, with a cigar clamped in his mouth, its wispy smoke curling upwards.
“Mr.
Shinohara…” Xia Yu began, only for Shinohara Shigetaro to extinguish the cigar and casually threw the leftover butt into the trash bin at the entrance before he leisurely entered the shop.
His deanor made it clear to Xia Yu what this was about, so Xia Yu said with a smile, “Mr.
Shinohara, are you planning to have a late-night snack at our little restaurant?”
Shinohara Shigetaro took his usual place and looked around the immaculately clean restaurant before finally turning his head to address Xia Yu.
“Now that Boss Xia is gone, can you satisfy my appetite?” He began peeling off his brown leather gloves as he spoke, “If it’s going to be the sa beef ran as last ti…
I might have to change my assessnt of your cooking skills to ‘not qualified!'”
“Huff, it hasn’t been half a month since Boss Xia left, and my stomach’s in an uproar,” he lanted.
“Trouble is, I’ve searched all over Neon, and it seems that only the Food Demon King, that guy, has culinary skills to match Boss Xia…
But a Far Moon Commander like him, neither short of money nor reputation, standing so high in the Neon Food World that he’s even above an IGO manager like , how could he possibly cook for personally to satisfy my late-night craving.”
Shinohara Shigetaro fell into his rambling mode.
“System: A new quest has been obtained!”
Xia Yu was startled and opened the quest panel.
“[Late-Night Opening Success].”
“Hint: This is the first late-night custor you’re welcoming since taking over the restaurant.
Despite his not-so-simple identity, as long as he’s sitting inside the restaurant, he is a guest, a true connoisseur.
Satisfy his palate!”
“Reward: 1000 Fa Points.”
Ignoring the bulk of descriptive text, Xia Yu’s eyes were glued to the rewards section, turning red with excitent.
Holy shit!
I must take this chance!
This ti the reward isn’t a blue recipe or a kitchen utensil.
With those thousand Fa Points, he could turn around and purchase the advanced culinary skill book “Bursting Fla!”
“I want to have a dish that you make.”
Shinohara Shigetaro spoke with a smile, “That bowl of beef ran from last ti, it was full of attempts to imitate, that was your grandfather’s cooking, not yours.
I want to eat a dish that’s stamped with your personal touch, in other words, you need to have your own recipes.”
Hearing this, Xia Yu smiled.
“Mr.
Shinohara, just to let you know up front, the dishes made from my own recipes won’t co cheap.”
“Good food is difficult to asure in terms of money.”
“Do you know of the ‘Badge of Disgusting Taste’ that’s passed down in the Dark Cuisine World?”
Shinohara Shigetaro pointed at himself, his smile giving off a dangerous vibe, “I might not stamp you with the ‘Badge of Disgusting Taste,’ but I can provide the most truthful tasting evaluation.
Good is good, bad is bad; that’s the principle of a gourt.”
With that, he crossed his palms and propped his elbows on the table.
“I am the manager of the IGO Neon Departnt, and also the highest-ranking examiner of the IGO Neon Auditing Institution.
If your food fails to satisfy , you’ll need to seriously contemplate your culinary skill assessnts and restaurant evaluations!”
An invisible threat and pressure bore down on him.
Xia Yu’s mouth twitched.
Although Shinohara Shigetaro was being vague, Xia Yu got the ssage—he had the sa kind of inner character as Tiqie Helinai: arrogant and dominant.
Any chef stamped with the ‘tastes bad, incompetent’ label by Tiqie Helinai’s ‘Divine Tongue’ would be ruined for life.
Similarly.
If stamped with the labels of ‘tastes bad’ and ‘incompetent’ by Shinohara Shigetaro, it would spell trouble for his culinary path.
It wouldn’t necessarily end his career, but living without shine was inevitable.
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