Chapter 1: Starting My Life In This Cultivation World
Am I… dead?
Qi Han cautiously reached out his hand, trying to touch his surroundings, and found that the hands were still his own, but with an added hint of unreal hues.
Where am I?
Is this what the afterlife looks like?
The surroundings were filled with distorted colors, and Qi Han couldn’t even sense how big the place he was in actually was.
The boundaries of this world seemed close at hand, yet far away in the distance.
【Yes, you are dead】 a voice suddenly appeared.
“Who?” Qi Han was startled by the sudden voice and quickly turned his head to look around.
【I am what your people would call a system, to be more specific, I’m the Extraordinary World Cuisine System. Congratulations to you, for becoming the first host of this system. This system will help you promote the delicacies of Earth in the extraordinary world】
The amount of information was overwhelming, but out of a sudden, a warmth engulfed Qi Han’s whole body and he quickly calmed down.
“Are you my system?”
【Yes】
“But I’m already dead, what use do you have?” Qi Han felt a bit pessimistic. “You said you are an Extraordinary World Cuisine System? Can you send me to another world after I die?”
【Yes, in fact, this step has already been completed by this system】
Huh?
It has already been completed?
Qi Han widened his eyes suddenly. “So I’m not dead?”
【Please mind your choice of words. You are indeed dead, but with the help of this system, you have crossed over to another world】
Hmm…
Alright.
Qi Han felt a bit relieved.
Beggars can’t be choosers, as long as he wasn’t dead, it was fine. He was still young and hadn’t lived enough yet.
Moreover…
Several images flashed through Qi Han’s mind, causing a trace of sorrow to appear on his face.
His death was really pathetic, to think that he would die due to tripping over his own leg and hitting his head on a lamp post while he was crossing the road.
But it doesn’t matter now, since I’ve transmigrated!
Thinking of this, Qi Han’s worries disappeared instantly. He turned his head excitedly to look around. The originally distorted colors became much more pleasing to his eyes.
“System, is this the world I’ve transmigrated to? It looks quite strange. Where are the other humans in this world?”
【No, The host is currently in a pocket dimension made by the system, and the host in the real world has not awakened yet】
‘I see.‘ Qi Han nodded understandingly and quickly accepted this setting that he had only seen in manga and anime before.
From the look of it, he got a system that is related to cuisine. It seems interesting, since this means the system that he got is related to what he has done in his previous world.
In Earth, he was a well-known food critic and a big foodie himself, but his cooking skills were poor, and he could only eat and give a so-so review but not cook.
Now, with this cuisine system, does it mean that he can cook delicious food by himself?
The thought of it made him quite excited.
And furthermore, not only did he come back to life with a system, the world that he would come back to life would be in another world, that too, made him excited.
‘I wonder what kind of world it is…’
As long as it’s not a dead world like Warhammer 40K or other Japanese series with multiversal bullshit gods that like to kill and destroy the world for shit and giggle, he can live with it.
“System, when can I wake up?”
“It’s up to you, host.”
“Then let it be now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Han felt the constantly rotating distorted colors around him start to break apart, gradually recomposing into a transparent and bright world.
Qi Han woke up.
Exhaling heavily, he finally felt alive again in this extraordinary world.
After a while, Qi Han finally regained his senses and started to pay attention to the things around him.
At this moment, he was lying on a crude wooden bed, covered with a tattered black cloth that served as a blanket, which was also covered in a layer of dust.
This made Qi Han, who had a slight cleanliness obsession, extremely uncomfortable. He shook off the black cloth as if he were being electrocuted and jumped off the wooden bed.
A ray of sunlight seeped through the cracks of the rudimentary wooden house, shining on Qi Han’s face, causing him to squint his eyes.
‘Let’s go outside and take a look.’ Thought the man.
Qi Han quickly found the door of the wooden house and pushed it open, raising a cloud of dust.
The bright light illuminated Qi Han’s face, allowing him to see a corner of this extraordinary world.
Surrounding him was a simple village, surrounded by mountains, giving it a somewhat secluded feel.
There were figures of people in the village, and when they saw Qi Han appear, they weren’t too surprised. Only a few people glanced at him and then averted their gaze.
Faint conversations of the villagers could be heard, in a language that Qi Han found unfamiliar, yet surprisingly, he could understand them easily.
Good, that’s reasonable.
“System?”
Qi Han silently called out in his mind.
【What can I do for you, host?】
“Do I have something like a beginner’s gift?”
Seemingly not expecting their first host to be so on point, the system fell silent for a moment.
After a while, the mechanical voice belonging to the system faintly sounded.
【You do have it, Congratulations on arriving in the extraordinary world. Here is your beginner’s gift: Your own restaurant.】
‘Hooo~~ Starting my new life with my own restaurant, this is not bad!’
Qi Han felt delighted. He thought he would have to prepare his own store according to the plot of some food system story that he once read, but unexpectedly, a whole restaurant was given to him as a beginner’s gift.
But then again, considering his current state of being penniless in this world, it’s not like he could have prepared a store on his own…
Qi Han looked around and asked, “System, where is my store located?”
【Ding!】
【A quest has been triggered!】
A page appeared out of thin air in front of Qi Han.
【Main Quest 1: Open a Restaurant
Please reach the storefront and complete the takeover within three days.
Quest Description: The path to becoming a Food God lies at your feet. Please strive to conquer the creatures of the extraordinary world with your culinary skills!
Quest Rewards: Customizable store decoration style, Random Recipe Drop x1
Quest Item: Extraordinary World Map has been issued, store location has been marked.】
This quest… seems interesting.
Qi Han carefully read the quest and then asked, “System, what can the random drop recipe contain?”
【The recipe can range from 1 Star to 5 Star, with a higher chance of dropping lower-tier recipes.】
“Is a 5 Star recipe the highest level?” Asked Qi Han, not long after, his system responded with a single answer.
【Yes】
‘It seems like another moment to test my luck.’
Looking at the bottom of the quest page at the world map, Qi Han had a thought and chose to accept it.
A scroll of ancient-looking paper appeared in his hand out of nowhere. Qi Han eagerly opened it to see what this extraordinary world actually looked like.
However, his smile quickly faded.
A golden pentagon on the map was marked particularly conspicuously, indicating the location of the storefront within the beginner’s gift package.
And the city where the storefront was located… was called Shrek City…
Looking at the largest green area on the map called the Star Dou Great Forest…
The two largest countries on the map are the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire…
“System?”
【What can I do for you, host?】
“Why do I, a person who transmigrated to the Douluo Continent, have a System related to Cooking??? Shouldn’t I have been given a Combat Oriented system instead?!”
Like a system that is related to crafting a weapon? Or a system that is able to help him learn from a teacher faster? Hell! The Default Gamer system also seems to be better than his cooking system!
【The selection of the world that the Host ends up in is a random process and is unrelated to the nature of the system. Please be aware of this matter, Host】
“Fine.” Qi Han gave up struggling and glanced at the distance between his current location and Shrek City.
It was a bit far, and if he wanted to arrive within three days, he had to set off now.