Chef

< Your Magic Power has improved: [G+] ⟶ [E+] >

Alan looked at the system notification in disbelief. It took him a few seconds to realize why this had happened. Since he bought Xirst's Eyes as body parts instead of a skill, his mana control went up since they were now a part of his body.

Alan had learned back home that the magic power stat was a combination of two variables that followed a basic formula.

Magic Power = Mana Control x Mana Pool

Since he now had the eyes, Alan could control way more mana since he could see all the particles in the air and use them more efficiently. Even though his potential for mana increased to a very high level, his mana control only increased a little. Nevertheless, it still increased his magic power by two grades which was a huge gain.

Right now, he only had a beginner-level understanding of mana. Alan realized that he still needed to practice using mana, even if he could see the world's mana particles. Once he mastered the use of mana, his magic control stat would reach a level that not many humans could achieve.

Alan had a smile on his face as he was thinking of the future. However, he had another issue to think about right now. Even though his mana control would reach a very high level, he still had to increase his mana pool. It was then that he remembered something.

"Oh... I almost forgot. I still have those cages from when I released the villagers."

[{E} Steel Cage]

[This cage has magic on it that weakens any living being inside of it. The only way to open the cage is with a key that has the same or a stronger amount of magic applied to it.]

Alan looked at the description of the steel cages that came up once he thought about them. He had 12 of them in his storage and didn't need tokens at the moment. They were also only E-Class items, so there was a chance he would get little out of them anyway.

"Izmos... do you mind if I use these for myself instead of trading them in," he asked.

"That's fine. If there is something I want, like the God's Enclosure, I won't give you any other option but to trade it for tokens," Izmos replied. "If the system gives you more than one option for an item, that means I don't really care what you do with it."

Alan listened to Izmos' words and shook his head. In his head, he thanked the god for giving him the system. One's mana pool could not be increased so easily. In fact, most people's mana pools stopped growing once their bodies had fully developed. The only way to increase your mana pool after that was to use elixirs, which most people couldn't afford.

The fact that Alan could grow his mana pool without consuming elixirs was one of the benefits the system gave him.

"I'm assuming you were the one to create this system, Izmos," he asked. "I understand the features related to memories and knowledge, but how come there are other features in this system?"

"Did you forget? I'm also the god of thieves, meaning I have two divinities. Over time, new gods are made, and as such, the heavens granted me the authority over thieves. Hence, you also have abilities related to stealing in your system."

Alan nodded his head at Izmos' explanation. After satisfying his curiosity, he asked his system to steal mana from the 12 steel cages inside his inventory. The cages disappeared from his inventory, and notifications popped up before Alan.

< You have stolen mana from: Steel Cage x12 >

< Your MP has increased by 600 >

< Your Magic Power has improved: [E+] ⟶ [D-] >

Alan felt satisfied with how much he had improved in a single night. However, he didn't let it get to his head since most of his tokens were gone now. He had to be smart with the remaining amount to get the most out of the library.

"System, can you bring up my status page."

===[Status Page]===

Name: Alan Fross

Rank: F+

Exchange Tokens: 57,234

HP: 100/100

MP: 700/700

▷ Variable Stats

Strength: G-

Stamina: G-

Agility: G-

Perception: G-

Vitality: G-

Magic Power: D-

▷ Invariable Stats

Intelligence: SSS-

Luck: E

Charm: B-

======

Alan frowned as he looked at his stats. His rank had gone up from F- to F+, but the only reason it was so high in the first place was that his invariable stats were boosting it. If he were to use one of the trackers on Earth, his rank would realistically be a G+.

Now that he was done with the main course of action, he knew what he had to do next.

"System, bring me something that can help grow any of my variable stats."

What Alan wanted to do right now was find a way to grow over time without doing any hard work. After all, why should he work harder when he could work smarter? He didn't know if his wish was possible but decided to put his trust in the system since Izmos told him that the library could grant anything he wanted.

Responding to his request, the library rearranged itself, moving thousands of books. Eventually, a pile of over a thousand books stood before Alan.

"All right. Let's get to work."

Alan proceeded to read the description of all the books. Most of the books were related to alchemy and had a lot of prerequisites, so Alan put them away and continued. In the end, only a single book remained, and it was the only book he could learn without prior knowledge of anything.

[{B} Durante's Cook Book]

[Durante was a cook from the planet Ohyama which harbored a race of humanoid-like beasts with a very strong sense of smell. This book contains the technique he developed on how to use one's nose, in combination with mana, to find the perfect recipe for food items. When this technique is used on the meat of monsters, a tiny percentage of the monster's stats will be absorbed. The percentage is based on how close the dish is to perfection.]

[Prerequisites: None]

[Understanding: 1.2%]

[Purchase: 50,000 exchange tokens]

Alan looked at the book and was very skeptical, so he asked Izmos about his opinion.

"Izmos, do you think this would be a good purchase for me."

"Hmm... mathematically, you should definitely buy this book. Since you have Xirst's eyes, you will pretty much be able to create a perfect meal every time, which would give you about 0.01% of the monster's stats. Therefore, if you were to have 4 meals a day for 7 years, you would be able to get 100% of a monster's stats."

Alan immediately purchased the cookbook in front of him after hearing Izmos' words. Since his eyes could amplify all mana-related abilities, the same could be said for Durante's cooking technique. Alan felt very pleased with his purchase of Xirst's Eyes.

"How long would it take me to reach 100% without my eyes?" he asked Izmos once he was done buying the book.

"At least three times longer, I'd say. To be honest, with the combination of Xirst's Eyes, Durante's cooking is actually a top-tier A-Class skill. Also, Xirst's eyes are more like an SS-Class skill since they can be combined with so many different techniques. Be thankful that I don't adjust the prices in the library as you get stronger."

Alan felt thankful for the god at that moment.

"I was curious about that, actually. Why is Xirst's eyes only an S-Class skill?"

"It was S-Class in its skill form. However, you don't have it in its skill form," Izmos said. "You have the actual eye itself. The only reason it was S-Class was that it had a crazy mana-consumption rate. However, with that downside gone, you can use it without consuming any mana."

Alan nodded his head at Izmos' explanation. He knew that Izmos was a bastard since he stole from all the gods, but he didn't really care. At the moment, Alan was the one benefitting from Izmos' actions, so he decided to overlook the god's past.

Now that he was done buying the cookbook, Alan decided to spend the remaining week in his dream learning the cooking technique. He only had a little over 7,000 tokens left, so he decided to save them until he found another gem inside the library.

Alan headed off into the study room and began reading Durante's cookbook.