Chapter 3: Cooking Skill Upgrade!

"Hmm, I missed this…" Next to the LOGS was INVENTORY. He focused on it and a new window opened. "Unsurprisingly, it's empty."

Looking at the twenty empty square boxes, Aki thoughtfully said: "This should be a portable space to store things. How do I store things in here, however?"

Aki looked at the toothpaste and concentrated on it. "Store!"

Nothing happened. Aki was left embarrassed. Thankfully, no one was here.

"Strange. Do I need to come in contact with it?"

Aki went ahead and picked up the toothpaste and tried to concentrate on it again.

Whoosh!

The toothpaste suddenly disappeared in thin air.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed excitedly and looked at the INVENTORY. Within one of the square boxes, he saw the icon of toothpaste. With a thought, he 'clicked' on it. The toothpaste appeared back on top of his palm.

"Hmm, so this means that I need physical contact in order to store something…" Aki mumbled but with how his hands kept trembling, anyone can tell that he was anything but calm.

"Alright, what's next…"

Thud! Thud!

Two more thuds came from the ceiling, interrupting the enthusiastic Aki, and almost making him stumble forward.

He responded aloud: "I'm just brushing my teeth and then going!"

Deciding to explore the rest of the things later, Aki closed the holographic panel, quickly brushed his teeth, and got out of the bathroom. As he stepped outside of his room, a long corridor greeted him. From here, he could see the entirety of the ground floor.

From his estimate, the total building area was definitely more than 5000 square feet. His memories told him that this building occupied only a small part of the total estate area. The pavilion, garden, and swimming pool; especially the garden occupied a major part.

You could feel that the house was based on Japanese culture, but it also has minor western touches. For example, the kitchen was one of those open kitchens where you can cook and talk to someone sitting at the dining table. You rarely see this in Japanese culture.

Standing in front of the stove, Aki stroked his chin and thought about what he should make. Suddenly, a thought popped up inside his mind.

"Wait, this is an excellent opportunity to see how effective the system is."

Speaking his thought aloud, Aki focused on the graphic icon in the corner of his eyes once more. The holographic screen appeared.

"Let's see… Cooking… and increase! And increase!" He tapped on the '+' icon right beside the Cooking skill twice. His newly updated STAT looked something like this.

…

Name: Aki Izumi

Character Level: 1 (0/100)

Points: 8

Skills: Software Programming (Lvl 5), Cooking (Lvl 3 → 5), Piano (Lvl 2), Singing (Lvl 1)

…

Immediately, Aki felt himself undergoing a change. Foreign thoughts, experience, and knowledge about cooking poured inside his mind. For a good minute, he was dazed, and the light inside his eyes was dimmed.

When he came out of the daze, he was stunned because he clearly understood that his cooking skills has upgraded a lot. Now, the food he will cook in the future could contend against some decent chefs' food!

The system was also the real deal, not just a figment of his imagination! The changes he went through were absolutely impractical but it was performed easily by the system.

He also noticed that he didn't gain any experience from this, his Character Level remained the same.

"No need to hurry, let's figure it out slowly." Aki smiled slightly and closed the holographic screen.

"Since I don't have much time, let's make something simple."

Aki was a high-school student and he needed to leave in about an hour in order to reach school in time.

"But school, huh… can't believe I have to go through this again."

While he wasn't particularly discouraged about the thought of going to school, he wasn't very excited either.

After he graduated from college in the past life, he did miss the high-school days when he didn't have to think much and just focus on his studies. Only after he stepped inside society and had to earn for the food he ate did he understand how priceless and easygoing those years in school were.

Thinking of this, some expectations grew within his mind. He nodded: "I'll try my best to make it fun this time around."

For the breakfast, he made miso soup, steamed rice, grilled salmon, and tamago-yaki. During the cooking process, he clearly felt his changes due to his skill upgrade. His knife handling skill, the speed and fluency at which he worked, his thought process, and many other aspects of cooking were a lot more refined now!

He felt close to home, in a sense, as if the kitchen was a battleground and he was the hardened warrior.

Aside from this, he discovered one more thing. Although the system provided him with knowledge and experience upon skill upgrade, in order to get proficient with it, like to form muscle memory, or to have an eye to hand coordination, he still has to practice the skill.

Aki who discovered this thought that it was reasonable. He was already thankful that he has something like a system, a cheat existence that will allow him to usher to the peak. He didn't dare be ungrateful and ask for more.

The food didn't take long to cook, in under half an hour, he finished cooking the various dishes. The aromatic smell wafting out of it lit a smile upon his face.

"This will do!"

He arranged the dishes in a tray and went to Sagiri's room. Her room was on the second floor. And when he reached there, he immediately saw a cute cat sticker stuck on the door with 'Sagiri' written on top.

Knock! Knock!

He knocked softly on the door twice and said: "Sawu, I brought food."

Aki Izumi used to call her Sawu, so he has to play the role of a kind and affectionate older brother. Truthfully though, he wasn't faking it. After all, who wouldn't like a cute loli as his younger sister? In his past life, he always wanted a cute younger sister, so he looked forward to meeting Sagiri a lot!

However, even after he knocked and called her, he only heard faint rustling and nothing else. Sagiri ignored him. While their relationship was starting to warm up, Sagiri still hasn't gotten over the fact that her mother remarried. This also caused her to become a hikikomori.

Typically, Aki used to leave food for her on the ground in front of her door and when he went away, she would pick it up, eat it and leave the tray outside if he was in the house otherwise put it in the kitchen basin.

Aki didn't mind her behavior. He placed the tray of food on the floor and said softly: "Sawu, I left the food on the ground, remember to eat it. Also, I have school today so I'll leave in half an hour."

He may have misheard it, but he faintly heard a soft 'hmm' from the opposite side of the door. He smiled and left.