4 Chapter 4 - Time skips and a new Job
It had been a week since Nephrite had settled down with Neo in their new apartment. Though Neo played like everything was fine Nephrite knew that she often woke up from those nightmares if she slept alone.
Because of this, Nephrite and Neo started sleeping together and Neo often used him as a body pillow. The whole week basically consisted of Nephrite getting used to his new job and him teaching Neo.
He had no idea if the system was considerate of him or not but Neo had been registered as a very distant relative. It had helped him immensely as he needed to give her some kind of education and identity was absolutely crucial for that.
Though he gave her some 'homework' and introduced her to the very basics like proper reading and basic maths he didn't really remember the details of the more complicated stuff.
And by introduction he meant that she could already read well and maths proved to be no problem for her either.
The only thing she still struggled with was her voice. She could mutter few sentences once in a while but anything beyond that and her throat would start to hurt.
...
"I'm leaving be sure to study a bit and the food is in the fridge!" Said Nephrite aloud as he closed the door and headed to work.
He enjoyed walking to the restaurant as he often headed early so he didn't need to rush. It even scored a few positive points when he always came early.
The work itself was quite monotone and much harder than he thought it would be. He was lucky as his shifts were on the work days and the restaurant wasn't fully packed.
* ding * ding
As the sound of the bell sounded a familiar scent drifted into his nose. Slowly inhaling and then exhaling, Nephrite headed to the kitchen.
Though this place was a bit more expensive than a usual dinner it in fact operated 22/7. The hours that it did not was at 2-4 AM. In the past it had been full 24/7 but there was almost no one between those two hours so the owner just changed it.
The world's cuisine surprised Nephrite a bit. Though they had identical spices from the Asian cuisine almost every dish was fully western. In fact culturally speaking most of the dishes were created by curious huntsmen and huntresses before the modern times.
The only country that had some Asian dishes like ramen came from was Menagerie. At least that's what Nephrite knew so far...
Nowadays there are a few food researchers but they are rarer than senior Huntsmen.
It was 5:48 AM and Nephrite's shift began at 6 so he had some time. He changed into his uniform and headed into the kitchen.
The kitchen itself was spacious and had 3 chefs and one head chef. Maybe because men were more hotblooded and wanted to be famous huntsmen. Apollo wasn't kidding that he was the only male staff before Nephrite started working here.
Nephrite greeted them but he only got some grunts and a hello in response. The chefs were too busy preparing for the morning rush.
It usually lasted from 6 to 7:30 AM. That's when this place turns into a silent battlefield as orders fly in and dishes fly out. Nephrite was confident that with their speed and precision they could easily butcher Grimm if they wielded swords instead of knives.
Readying his mind, Nephrite took on his gloves as he greeted his fellow dishwasher. It was a middle-aged mother that had a single child.
She was a really cheerful and outgoing person that liked to chat as they were cleaning the dishes.
She was a treasure trove of important information and gossip going around these parts of Vale.
"Hey Maggie how's it going?" He asked as he smiled and listened to his fellow co-worker.
As they got fully ready couple of dishes started to flow in and after half an hour the amount doubled.
A few hours flew by and it was time for a lunch break. Nephrite usually ordered something at this diner as it was both delicious and cheaper thanks to an employee discount.
While Nephrite was enjoying his lunch he summoned his system.
[Status]
Name: Nephrite Antaeus
[Current Job: Dishwasher LVL: 2/15]
[EXP: 18/50]
[Body: Slightly Malnourished]
[Physique: 0.4] (1= civilian at age 17)
[Vitality: 1.2]
Aura Strength: [LOCKED]
Aura Pool: [LOCKED]
(A/N: Physique represents the strength of the body. Both in power and durability. Vitality provides Stamina, Stamina regeneration, Very slight Regeneration with Aura and overall endurance of the body.)
Nephrite nodded to himself. He always got the EXP when his shift officially ended. With some experimentation he found out that the EXP gain was for sure affected by the amount of dishes cleaned but also by the speed and how well it has been cleaned.
Once he worked really quickly but always left few spots and at the end he got 1 EXP. Truly a painful day for him. That day he learned that the system likes quality more than useless quantity.
He hoped that the EXP gain stays generally the same for every non combat job so he can optimize the EXP gain.
'Barring that one day with 1 EXP it shouldn't take me more than few months of dishwashing to perfect this job. System, show me Skills.'
[Skills]
[Dish Cleaning: LVL 1/10]
[EXP: 71/100]
[Description: It is said that once a master dishwasher attains level 10 they ascend to Godhood and can clean dishes faster than they can get from any restaurant. Size and amount does not matter anymore, as long as the God Dishwasher has water and soap they are unrivalled. Some even claim that they can clean dishes on a molecular level if they push this skill even further.]
[Basic Home-cook cooking: LVL 1/3]
[EXP: 3/10]
[Description: A basic skill needed to not burn food to absolute ashes. Once mastered the user can even cook something more than scrambled eggs. There is a legend about a huntsman that could burn even mashed potatoes to ashes. His feats are remembered in the culinary world to this day...]
It was a skill after he made a small dinner for Neo and him. Thankfully he wanted something simple like scrambled eggs and some tomato cherries.
The system was so magical that he had to basically 'Grind' his skills. On one hand it nerfs his 'Past life' advantage but on the other hand he isn't controlled by 'talent' as much as he would be otherwise.
Looking at his stats Nephrite was pretty satisfied. Even if Gods won't kneel before him in a decade at least they will succumb to his lifestyle skills.
'I wonder if there are rarities when it comes to skills...' He thought as he remembered when he first levelled up.
[Flashback]
[Ding! Host has levelled up!]
"Ah Nephrite good job today! You are getting better at this." Said Maggie.
"Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow." Said Nephrite as he waved and left the store.
Walking down the street he checked the rewards he received from the reward.
[Host has levelled up!]
[Dishwasher is now LVL 2!]
[Gained: 0.5 Status points]
...
[Present]
'0.5 stats should be a lot for considering that it would be a 50% increase for a normal 17 year old civilian. Then again a 15 year old can fire a bloody high impact sniper rifled without budging.' He thought, it was already getting darker and the lively streets slowly became desolate and silent.
'Do people even have X-mas in this world?' He wondered if not maybe he'll make it Neo's and his birthday day. After all both of them didn't know.
At least he didn't and Neo never mentioned something like a birthday celebration. Though if he mentioned it she would probably agree to whatever he said.
'Need to teach her some independence or she'll suffer in the future...' He noted to himself as he arrived at his apartment.
And just like that another day passed in this world...
{A year or so later...}
A young man with shiny green hair had left a diner he was very much familiar with. As if unaffected by time he didn't age at all. In his hand was a paper a copy of his resignation...
'It was fun.' He thought as he looked at it for the last time.
'I guess it really was time to change my occupation...' Nephrite thought as he realised that he'll need to change his occupation or stay behind the scenes. Thankfully the system was thoughtful and seemingly edited his ID each year.
Though there were still some holes like the year he bought his apartment it should be fine if no one specifically digs everything about him.
The thing that worried him the most was the people around him. Neo already knew but people like Apollo that he became friends with over the year or Maggie will definitely notice.
'Status'
[Status]
Name: Nephrite Antaeus
[Current Job: Dishwasher LVL: 15/15]
[EXP: 2250/2250]
[Body: Healthy]
[Physique:3.9 ]
[Vitality: 4.2]
Aura Strength: [LOCKED]
Aura Pool: [LOCKED]
[Congratulations you have maxed your first job! You have received a Tier 1 Gift Box for this achievement!]
After leaving Nephrite went to a place he goes to sometimes after work. It was usually just a snack and some food that you can't find at his workplace.
Ordering his usual lemonade and some appetizers, Nephrite waited before the waiter left before opening his Gift Box.
'Open the Tier 1 Gift Box.'
[Ding! User has opened Tier 1 Gift Box and has received: 1x Job Slot, 2 stat points, 1x skill point and a blank certificate.]
'Not bad, not bad at all.' He thought.
'System show me details of the blank certificate.'
[Blank Certificate]
[Description: A blank certificate that upon the Host's choosing morphs into a fully legitimate certificate. Host can choose between: Chef, IT and Engineer]
'Nice, this system is very nice to me compared to usual systems I've seen, all I need to do is to properly grind.' Nodded Nephrite with a grin.
'Skills'
[Dish cleaning LVL: 7/10]
[EXP: 5863/11025]
[Description: ...]
(A/N: I'll just throw the description to some auxiliary chapters so it isn't a pointless forever repeating text block. Though sometimes I'll include it if the skill name itself isn't clear enough.)
[Basic Home-cook cooking: LVL 3/3]
The Dish Cleaning skill was almost impossible to level up after level 5. The levels required more EXP but the EXP he gained drastically decreased. Though the only good thing was that after it happened even an increase in EXP showed him some improvements.
After he hit level 7 he could finish 10X the amount of dishes Maggie was doing at her full speed. Skills when grinded properly truly became overpowered quickly.
It seemed as if the skills were magical right from the get go. In fact the decrease in EXP gain also had to do something with his speed.
He was too fast for a normal human and had to slow down otherwise it would draw unneeded attention. After all if someone with this speed isn't some kind of mass murderer or some professional huntsman then nothing could come to mind.
The Basic cooking skills on the other hand was laughably easy to max, it only took him 2 weeks to max.
Now the real questions arose.
'What job should I choose? I am not really interested in Engineering but IT should help me against that moustached paper villain. On the other hand there is a world of infinite food combinations I can bring to life...'
'Food it is.' Confirmed Nephrite in his head. He was quite confident he would be able to stop them easily and he still had 9 years left so what's the harm right?
And so began his culinary life... This time though he worked on the other side of Vale in order to minimize contact with his former colleagues. Though he did occasionally visit the shop to order some food but he always wore a mask and sat in a corner.
Thankfully they just asked before giving him his privacy otherwise he would have to stop coming here all together. He felt peace when he was drinking his coffee in his diner.
What wasn't peaceful though was his culinary life. Using his certificate he managed to open up a small stall. At first there were some ruffians but with his newfound power they were quickly sorted out.
He knew that Ramen exists so he decided to go with something else.
With the help of 3 skills he got from the class [Chef], he managed to recreate some Korean street foods. They weren't overly complicated and had cheap ingredients. A perfect start he thought.
It actually went pretty well. Using the appetizing aroma he convinced his first customers with a free sample.
Choosing to not introduce the more 'exotic' street foods he began with rice cakes called Tteokbokki, some Kimbap, Corn dogs & Hot Dogs and later on when the traction started to rise he introduced the tornado potatoes with myriad of seasonings and some basic BBQ with rice or fries.
He also tried to make Kimchi but he wasn't really sure if he made it correctly and the people gave him mixed reviews. Some loved it and some not so much, but he left it there before naming it Korean Kimchi in honour of this cuisine.
He wanted to name some really popular foods that represent certain cultures. A certain stamp in the history if you will...
After a year he had trained a man he found that wanted a job. At first he tested his endurance and patience and surprisingly that man passed with flying colours.
He even had some affinity with street foods and before long with a help of another worker the stall itself was fully sufficient and Nephrite was ready to move onto a higher target.
