Chapter 1: Food Spirit World

[This book now has image illustrations enabled, please upgrade the Starting Point Reading app to the latest version to ensure a good reading experience]

“A peculiar world.”

After enduring a throbbing pain in his temples for three long hours, finally receiving the only gift from his predecessor – memories, Qin Lang let go of his head-holding hand and was muttering quietly.

There was good news, and there was bad news.

The good news was that he had transmigrated into a body as handsome as that of a reader. The original owner had the same name as Qin Lang, he died from cardiac arrest three hours ago due to failing to birth a food spirit after five years of culinary school. He was only fifteen, an orphan.

Well, it seemed there was more than one piece of good news.

As for the bad news…

𝔫oѵ𝑒𝙡.com

Like the “Food Spirit” he just mentioned.

This, was not Earth.

Confirming that his head no longer ached, and that he had received all the memories of his predecessor down to the time when he was in kindergarten, wearing split-crotch pants and stealing kisses from girls beside him with no omission, Qin Lang took a deep breath and sprang up from the bed.

“Whish!”

As the curtains were drawn open, Qin Lang poked his head out of the window, observing this new world.

Outside the window were skyscrapers identical to those on Earth, bustling traffic just like Earth.

The only difference was that when Qin Lang scanned over the crowd below, he occasionally saw something beyond his understanding.

Those were elves, each one different from the other, dancing midway in the air following their masters closely.

“Yuan Feng Cooking Training Class, guaranteed successful education, will help you easily become the next Spirit Chef!”

An expressive advertisement with a hefty voice-acting cost interrupted Qin Lang’s thoughts. He looked up, his gaze tuning into the electronic screen on the wall of the high-rise building opposite.

On the screen, a beautiful female actress was wearing a clean chef uniform, smilingly introducing the cooking institution Yuan Feng.

Oh, he remembered, his predecessor had learned culinary skills there.

Listening somewhat absentmindedly to the actress heap praises on Yuan Feng Cooking Training Class, a touch of melancholy appeared in Qin Lang’s eyes.

“I can’t go back, huh.” He sighed softly, couldn’t resist scratching his messy long hair, then casually picked up a pure black hair band on the side table, tying his hair at the back of his head with practiced movements, a bit unfamiliar.

When one comes to this world, then one must adapt to it.

It’s easy to say, but not easy to do.

Especially since he was a winner in life in his previous life, and now he’s just woken up in a strange new world.

“Well, there’s no other choice, is there?”

Regaining his mood, Qin Lang moved away from the window and walked to a desk in the room.

On the desk, book after book was left open, every book on the bookshelf had yellowed pages and broken book covers. Any book picked and opened, the pages were filled with densely packed annotations and notes.

Birth and Origin of Food Spirits

Fundamentals of Cuisine and Spirit Chefs

Cultivation Methods of Spirit Chefs

…

One glance was enough to tell that his predecessor was a hardworking and serious youngster.

It’s just that his talent was a bit lacking.

“It seems you really wanted to become a Spirit chef…” Qin Lang slowly pulled out a book, “What is a Food Spirit,” and opened the first page, “in this respect, we are similar.”

Even though he had learned everything from the memory of his predecessor, there were some things that he wanted to confirm through books himself.

“If this transmigration is reciprocal… then you, kid would probably die laughing.” As Qin Lang read the words on the book page, he muttered, “After all, you’ve hit the jackpot with the lifelong culinary experience of Yan Huang’s youngest Special Class 1 chef, along with more accumulated wealth than you could ever spend.”

He no longer spoke, his head bowed, flipping through the pages, correlating the content with his memories, thereby understanding this bizarre and chaotic world.

After an unknown amount of time, Qin Lang had flipped through the book containing all the basic knowledge about food spirits from beginning to end. Slowly, he closed it, placing it back where it originally was out of habit.

“Food Spirits, Spirit Chefs…” Qin Lang sat in a chair with his eyes closed, a finger lightly tapping the table as he organized his yet-to-settle scattered thoughts.

This is a new world, known as the Food Spirit World.

It has a level of technological development similar to Earth and in many other aspects shows striking similarities, only the approach to culinary arts is drastically different from Earth’s.

None of the dishes Qin Lang was familiar with could be found here.

But this place has a culinary system that not only rivals Earth’s but also converges in certain ways.

Not only that, but this world also contains extraordinary powers.

There are beings known as food spirits, often simply referred to as spirits.

They are said to naturally manifest in the food when a chef with exceptional culinary skills pours their soul and spirit into their cooking.

Once a food spirit is born, it will not dissipate. It automatically forms a contract with the chef that created it and they will never part.

Once a chef owns a food spirit, they are no longer an ordinary chef.

They will bear the title of Spirit Chef, possessing higher social status henceforth.

This is so because food spirits possess magical powers.

They not only assist Spirit Chefs in cooking more delicious food but also possess remarkable combat capabilities.

Yes, combat!

In this slightly outrageous world, Spirit Chefs and food spirits are the pinnacle of the extraordinary pyramid.

The experience of his previous life was rather tragic.

His parents died, leaving the young him with savings that theoretically could last a lifetime if he were frugal.

But his dream was to become a Spirit Chef. Having no talent or base in cooking, he could only achieve this dream by paying for expensive training courses.

According to his previous body’s memory, he attended five different cooking training institutes and after five years of striving, he still failed to bring a food spirit to life. Instead, he had almost spent all of his parents’ savings.

What was left to Qin Lang was a small, though certified, piece of property and savings less than ten thousand.

“So… I need to become a Spirit Chef first.” After sorting out his thoughts, Qin Lang suddenly opened his eyes.

Since he is here, he might as well accept it.

In his past life, cooking was his only skill, and the same was true for the original occupant of his body too.

So, the path lying in front of him was actually clear and singular.

Luckily, his cooking skills were far better than the original host’s, and on the matter of becoming a Spirit Chef, Qin Lang never thought he could fail.

With his culinary skills, how could he lose?

“According to the memories and the book, to create a food spirit, I need to pour my spirit into the cooking and complete a delicious dish.”

“I need to go grocery shopping first!”

Taking all the remaining money with him, Qin Lang walked out of the door.

Although his previous body’s savings were limited and grocery shopping would add to the already tight financial situation, he had no other option.

Not only did he need to buy, but he also needed to choose high-quality ingredients.

Without good ingredients, how can one cook the most exquisite dishes?

It’s said that the strength of a food spirit has a significant correlation with the taste of the food itself.

In that case, at the very least, he needed to get some boiled cabbage with water!