Chapter 3: A Whole New World
Open door.
Sprawling metropolis.
Close door.
Open door.
Dirty NYC alleyway.
Close door.
Open door.
Sprawling metropolis.
Close door.
'Freaky.' Axel marveled at the phenomenon like a caveman discovering fire for a few minutes before opening it back up to the so-called Gourmet World and stepping outside. 'Is that the actual name of their world?'
Outside, he found himself in what looked like Venis, Italy. If the city was crossed with a dozen other cultures and had hills.
Wide cobbled streets with a river wide enough for speedboats to travel through cut directly through the center of the street. Stone bridges connecting his side and the far side were all he could see up and down the street before it curved out of sight, with street light poles set at intervals.
Rows of buildings that would give any designer back on Earth a stroke lined each side of the street in the widest variety of styles Axel had ever seen. From an actual castle to a mushroom-style building fit for a Mario game, to a Chinese pagoda fancy enough to make a young master weep, to even the smallest ramen stand-style restaurants fit for an average late-night worker wanting a quick bite. There was even one shaped like a massive banana for some strange reason.
It was like a culture clash of societies across the ages from back on Earth mixed with a child's imagination of what architecture could do.
'How in the shit is that thing stable?'
Axel shook his head in amusement at the odd sight and turned to the view in the distance. The area he was in seemed quieter and less flashy than what he could see not far away.
It was what he imagined a combination of NYC, Tokyo, Seoul, Amsterdam, and every other technologically advanced city would look like if they were mashed together: bright flashing lights, smooth high-rise buildings made of various materials, including glass, stone, and even what looked like wood from his current distance.
All lined with what looked like carved images of various foods, from meat on a bone, to a shark, to a curry plate, and more on their roofs. Large enough for him to make out the shapes in daylight all the way from where he stood.
The city was absolutely massive, larger than anything he had seen before. Yet where NYC felt like each building was stuck together with barely any space, each building here was spread about enough for someone to breathe comfortably. Large parks separated areas between buildings, and he could even see a lake the river a few feet away seemed to pool into in the distance.
Blimps flew in the air, broadcasting TV programs with images of food he could only scarcely identify; the sound of distant helicopters, car horns, and trains rang softly, if not consistently, and yet, for an NYC native, it was far quieter than he was used to. 'Whatever these people are doing, they're doing it right. The city that never sleeps was a nightmare for people who actually wanted to sleep.'
And speaking of the people, Axel was comforted by the fact that he saw humans walking along the streets rather than eldritch monstrosities. 'Not that I got anything against eldritch monstrosities as long as they don't try to eat me.'
Turning back to the view, he focused on the main attraction of the city that must have stood out no matter where you stood, even without the natural height advantage Axel had. 'Is that a fork and knife?'
Two towering monoliths of architecture stood like titans over a city of ants, piercing clear into the clouds, shaped like a fork and knife, respectively. 'Unless I'm mistaken, those things are way taller than the World Trade Center. They have buildings shaped like cutlery at least double the height of one of Earth's tallest buildings.' He nodded in respect to a culinary icon. 'I guess that's a thing now.'
Throwing that to the back of his mind, he looked back at his shop, seeing a similar setup with the same blue door and overgrown planter to its side that he had back in NYC. 'Oh yeah, I forgot to clean that thing out. I guess I have two of them to deal with now. Maybe I can find a flower shop around here with some lavender.'
Closing the door, he locked it behind him and turned to flag down a passing man in a business suit. "Excuse me, is there a grocery store in the area?" The moment the words left his mouth, Axel was suddenly aware he wasn't speaking English.
The man looked up from his phone with a friendly nod. "Hm? Oh yes, a couple blocks down that way. Look for the building with a head of broccoli."
Axel kept a straight face at the mention of the design and nodded on reflex. "Hn. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Have a good day."
"You too."
Axel turned to follow the directions with a flat expression. 'Broccoli head. Shouldn't be hard to miss.'
His short walk was filled with dozens of scents of food from passing restaurants that all made him want to stop and look inside, yet the reality of his budget wasn't far from his mind. 'Being broke sucks.'
Before leaving, he took a look at his cash register, seeing it upgraded from its archaic model to a more modern model with a touch screen and a card scanner thanks to his Currency Conversion perk. Inside the register, Axel found half a dozen debit cards keyed into the register with access to the total funds he had available. As soon as he realized how it worked, he went to the nearest ATM in NYC, removed his meager savings, deposited it in the register, and called his bank account to cancel his subscription to escape the interest fees.
'Not counting the credit debt and student loans I need to pay off, I've got less than two grand to my name after having to break my apartment lease, move my shit, pay the fees, and clean up the shop. Cutting it close, but I should be able to make even if I can get set up with some customers soon.'
His walk through the area was strangely normal. If one ignored the building designs and topics of discussion he could pick up from passing walkers. The style of clothes and appearances were quite average, yet every other sentence and clothing design he saw had the word 'Gourmet' in it. 'Is that a speech impediment? Am I gonna have to copy that?'
While debating whether it was worth changing his goal to finding an internet café or a library, he passed by a trio of vending machines, thinking nothing about them at first glance. Only to stop mid-step, back up, and look at them again.
'Is that a soda can larger than my head?'
The vending machine had a single star marked at the top with giant human torso-sized cans of soda flavors for the price of… 'Yen? Like Japanese Yen?'
Axel wasn't sure what to think because the price listed was only 30 Yen. 'That's like a quarter in USD. That can't be right. The raw cost of the tin used would have to be higher than that.'
He turned to the other two machines, seeing one with two stars and the next with three. The prices shot up to 30,000 Yen for the two-star machines, and 200,000 Yen for the three-star machines, and both of them had regular can sizes.
'The fuck?'
He was oddly tempted to buy one but didn't have the desire or ability to drink the cheap one. 'And I don't feel like spending what I assume is two hundred bucks on a single drink at the two-star machine. Is this really the Yen I'm comparing it to?'
The currency question floated around in his mind as he forced himself to keep moving, and it seemed he would get an answer soon as he approached the grocery store. 'It's really a head of broccoli…'
The grocery store did not have a broccoli figurehead. It was a broccoli building. 'Is that organic?!' He couldn't help but stop and stare at it, quickly moving up to poke it. 'The fuck? It's actual broccoli.' He couldn't stop poking it to check if it was real, rushing around it with wide eyes to see if he was actually seeing something real.
"Young man, is everything alright?"
Axel turned to find a police officer looking at him weirdly and only noticed then he had been crazily poking a building for a few minutes. His eyes quickly scanned the officer and noticed a lack of a gun. 'A mall cop?'
He shook off the observation and coughed. "Yeah, sorry, seeing an….organic…. building was odd."
The cop's wariness faded as he chuckled. "Ah, new to Gourmet City?"
"Hn. Inherited a small shop down the street from a passing relative." Not technically a lie.
The man nodded understandingly. "I see. Sorry for your loss. The city can be a real culture shock to small-town folk. Just try to keep the enthusiasm contained a bit." He stuck out his hand confidently. "The names Leo, I patrol this district during the day, so if you ever have any questions or concerns, feel free to stop me on my route."
Axel blinked at the odd friendliness and reflexively shook the offered hand. "Axel. I run The Tiger's Bourbon."
"Nice to meet you, Axel, and welcome to the city. I'll have to drop by your place sometime." The man rubbed his chin in thought. "The name seems familiar though. Something Bourbon. Wasn't there another place around here with that name a while ago?" He spoke his thoughts out loud, trying to recall a distant memory.
"The Titan's Bourbon?" Axel offered curiously.
Leo snapped his fingers. "That's the one! Closed years ago, but I recall heading there often when I first got assigned to the area. The food was damn near unforgettable." The cop gave him a good look. "Sorry to ask, but are you sure you were related to the owner?"
Axel's brow twitched. "I'll shave my head before I grow a mustache like my Uncle's."
Leo burst out laughing at the immediate response. "Ha! Shame, that was one manly mustache he was rocking, but I was referring to the body type."
Axel rolled his eyes. "Not everyone's a born titan of muscle and charisma."
"True. True. I always assumed he was a retired Gourmet Hunter with a body and attitude like his. I take it you stuck to the chef route then?"
'Gourmet Hunter?' Axel was highly confused but chose to nod his head and play along. "Hn. I'm looking to stock up my shop right now, actually. Do you think we can take a raincheck on this conversation?"
"Of course. Of course. Didn't mean to hold you up. Only stopped you to check if you were one of those crazies trying to eat the buildings again."
"People do that?"
"Happens more than I'd like to admit."
"Is food that expensive here?"
Leo blinked and stared for a solid second before he slapped Axel's shoulder in amusement. "Ha! Good one, Axel. You got your Uncle's humor alright. Enjoy your day." The man laughed loudly and turned away to continue his route, leaving a confused Axel behind in the dust.
A dry wind blew down the street to exacerbate his feelings. 'I feel like I'm going to be saying this pretty often, but, the fuck?'
His question was answered thirty minutes later from inside the grocery store.
"THAT'S IT?!"
The clerk at the cash register was frozen like a rabbit staring into the jaws of a twenty-foot tiger at the pure fire glowing in Axel's eyes. In fact, his hair was floating like a provoked feline from the heat radiating off his head due to his abilities, only adding to the intimidating sight that terrified the clerk.
"Y-yes, sir. 6,800 Yen i-is your t-total." Axel checked with his card, and it was indeed similar to the Japanese Yen.
People had turned to stare at Axel's outburst, but he couldn't have given a shit at the moment. He stared the clerk in the eyes and swiped his debit card, not even blinking once.
He took the receipt from the man's shaky hands, nodded politely, and left without a word with bags in hand. His walk home following his mini-map was nearly silent. His entrance to his shop was silent. His walk into the kitchen was silent.
Only when he reached his counter did he put the bags down and stare at the overflowing contents. 'I just spent fifty bucks for two hundred dollars' worth of groceries. And not just regular groceries, but the best damn quality meat, vegetables, and fruit I have ever seen outside specialized distributors.' He picked up an apple, washed it, took a bite, and nearly choked on the rich, juicy flavor. 'This is the best damn apple I've ever had.'
Axel had never thought he would ever tear up upon eating an apple without having been on the verge of starving, but he was considering it now.
"System."
A screen appeared before him. [Yes, User?]
He turned to it with almost a trance-like gaze. "What is the Gourmet World?"
[The Gourmet World is a planet in a universe fundamentally changed at its core by an energy source aptly named 'Appetite Energy.' The planet is in the Gourmet Age, where the world's manliest hero's quest for yet undiscovered culinary delights.]
"I see."
[User is advised to explore and find out more for yourself.]
"Very helpful. Thank you."
[Hn.]
"…."
The screen vanished on its own.
'Little shit.' Axel chuckled as his trance ended and looked down at the core of his apple. 'I don't know about the manliest hero bit, but appetite energy sounds interesting. It was certainly a filling apple.'
He tossed aside the rind and his miscellaneous thoughts to focus on something far more important.
What to make for lunch. 'Been a while since I made a simple burger plate.'
Just because he specialized in seafood didn't mean he disliked other types of food. He had worked in enough types of restaurants to get a taste of everything and learned that even a sushi chef should be able to manage a burger with little trouble if they had the ingredients for it.
Checking over his groceries, he was sure he had everything he needed and got to work. He tossed ground beef, salt, pepper, and egg into a bowl and quickly made perfectly shaped burger patties. 'That was oddly quick. Is that the effect of the cooking skill?'
[Passive Skill: Cooking lvl 1
- Be a master of culinary skills and techniques, either innately or through training. +25% (50% in a kitchen) increase in Motor Control, Hand-Eye coordination, and Reflexes when cooking.]
'So it improved it all by half? Cool.' It was almost like he moved on autopilot, eliminating pauses and wasted movements as he moved with precise actions.
Sweet potatoes were washed and cut into thinly sliced, perfectly even fries, and Axel marveled at the sheer speed with which he moved his knife.
[Passive Skill: Kitchen Knife Proficiency lvl 1
- A kitchen knife is to a chef what a paintbrush is to a painter. +25% (50% in a kitchen) increase in strength and dexterity when handling a kitchen knife.]
There was no rush of power when holding a kitchen knife, but there was a sense of control he had never felt before. Like all his years of practice and experience culminated in a Zen of control where he could cut through hard sweet potatoes with the ease of moving his knife through soft butter.
The fries were quickly tossed with a seasoning of salt, pepper, and paprika and lightly oiled before they went into the oven.
The freshest tomatoes, lettuce, and onions he had ever had the joy of cutting were sliced one after the other. The tomato slices fell like sheets of paper, the lettuce crunched with a resounding crisp, and the onions overflowing with juices that most certainly were the sole reason for a few tears.
The patties went into a heated pan, sizzling and popping with juices as they climbed to the perfect browning of a medium well.
Yet, unlike the kitchen knife, the second he touched the frying pan, a rush of energy entered him like a red bull to his nervous system.
[Passive Skill: Frying Pan Proficiency lvl 1
- Be a master of the way of the frying pan. Between heaven and earth, none may escape your pan. +25% (50% in a kitchen) increase in Strength and Endurance when handling a Frying Pan.]
The kitchen knife gave him a feeling of control, but the pan….the pan made him feel like he stepped into Uncle Jeff's shoes for a short moment. But he was a chef, and strength or not, his focus was on the sizzling meat in his pan.
Slices of succulent cheese were melted into gooey glory upon the meat's surface.
Buns were toasted in the remaining juices on the pan to a golden crisp surface.
His burgers were assembled in a rich tower of meat, cheese, and vegetables on sun-kissed golden buns, giving off an overpowering scent that whetted his appetite something fierce. Only the ding of his oven timer held him back as he pulled out a tray of tantalizing crisp, sweet potato fries, nearly glowing with the flavors that were surely trapped within their crunchy shell.
[Image on QQ]
His plate was dished, and his steps took him to the bar top as he sat and took his first bite.
No sound was made. No exclamations or animated scenery.
There was simply a man, a burger, and a blissful trance that lasted until Axel was left staring at empty hands hovering over an equally empty plate.
"….I have seen the face of god."
Like a man lost at sea, he could only sit and stare. And then, all at once, he came back to himself with a shudder. "Wo."
He rested his chin on interlinked hands with a shadowed gaze of utter seriousness. "That was the greatest burger I've ever burgered."
The sound of system chimes had gone off during his experience, but he hadn't paid much attention to them until now.
[Cooking reaches level 2]
[Kitchen Knife Proficiency reaches level 2]
[Frying Pan Proficiency reaches level 2]
'Huh, that was easy.'
He opened his status screen to take a look at any changes.
[User: Axel Marc.
Class: Dimension Chef lvl 0
- Class Perks
[Active Skills: 5/5
Passive Skills: 5/5
[Cooking lvl 2] – +25.5% (51% in a kitchen) increase in Motor Control, Hand-Eye coordination, and Reflexes when cooking.
[Kitchen Knife Proficiency lvl 2] – +25.5% (51% in a kitchen) increase in Strength and Dexterity when handling a kitchen knife.
[Frying Pan Proficiency lvl 2] – +25.5% (51% in a kitchen) increase in Strength and Endurance when handling a Frying Pan.
[Flame and Water Manipulation lvl 1]
[Explorers Map lvl 1]
Mana: 100/100]
'So an increase in skill level increases the skill by .5%. Interesting. I'll have to spend some time playing around with them later.'
Axel hadn't played many RPG-style games in his life, but he had played Pokemon before and had once been consumed by the Dao of the grind. So, he felt it only made sense that levels got harder to increase the higher they got.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder if he was missing something. "System, what does leveling my class do?"
A blue screen appeared before him promptly. [Class levels increase the potential ceiling limit of the User's existence, allowing for the User to reach higher heights through your own efforts. A byproduct of this change results in an increase in the User's energy container.]
"So it doesn't instantly make me stronger with stat gains or something? The only real change I would notice is a larger mana pool?"
[Correct. The User's mana container would grow by a factor of 10 points per level; however, the system only assists and does not directly increase strength. The path to progress is dependent on the User's efforts.]
"Hn." He felt it was reasonable and swiped away the screen before pushing himself up on wobbly feet. 'Oof, food baby.'
The topic of potential was interesting, but he was still more interested in the food aspect than becoming the most muscular bloke reaching for the heavens or such nonsense.
A quick penguin march to the sink to wash the dishes and make some ginger tea to help with digestion followed before he collapsed back at his seat. 'The skills had an effect, but obviously, it was the ingredients available that made the biggest difference in my cooking. I think I need to learn more about this world.'
Thankfully, he grabbed some general magazines at the grocery store to get an idea. 'Wait, do they have Wi-Fi here?'
The thought intrigued him. He grabbed the magazines and his tea and moved upstairs to his uncle's old couch, where his laptop rested on the coffee table he had brought from his own things.
Turning it on, he checked and sadly found no internet connections in range. "System, is there an upgrade for a universal Wi-Fi connection?"
A blue screen appeared silently.
[Shop Upgrade:
Electronics Conversion lvl 1: Choose up to three devices inside the shop to become compatible with the tech levels of all worlds traveled to. ]
"You sure you're not secretly a sketchy salesman AI?"
[Hn.]
Axel smirked at the response. 'Soon, we'll be having deep-seated conversations with single-word sentences.'
Kicking his feet up, he turned to the magazines and began his research. Yet the more he read, the more his casual demeanor faded.
The hours flew by as he found himself immersed in his reading, pausing to open a document on his laptop to take notes when he found things that got his blood pumping.
"Well, this world is far more interesting than I assumed."
He dropped the last of his magazines with a thoughtful look and turned to his notes. 'Magazines aren't the best source of knowledge, but there were plenty of golden nuggets in there.'
Key Notes:
This world's population reached thirty-one billion this year. Does the food increase fertility here?
The currency seems to follow the Japanese Yen perfectly, and there's no mention of any others.
The language seems to be called Gourmet Standard, because of course it does, and it reflects Japanese for some reason.
The calendar months and days match the ones I recognize from Earth; only the year is listed as 499 of the Gourmet Age. Did they have their own Gourmet Jesus or something?
The sheer landmass of what is labeled as 'The Human World' is far more expansive than Earth's. What else is there?
The entire world is filled with what seems like monsters and actual fucking processed food growing out of nature.
The government somehow categorizes monsters and Ingredients, with a 'Capture Level' of 1 at the lowest, depending on how difficult they are to procure. How high does it go, and what does level 1 qualify as?
Traveling outside of designated safe areas is apparently life-threatening to human life.
Gourmet Hunters are apparently elite humans and superhumans who hunt outside safe areas to collect high-quality ingredients to trade on the market at the risk of their lives.
This world has a fetish for naming everything with the word 'Gourmet' in it. Everything.
The government is called the IGO, or International Gourmet Organization, and it seemingly has power over 360 nations that fund it. It enforces 'Gourmet Laws,' spreads protection from wildlife and 'Gourmet Criminals,' and distributes the wealth of resources to member nations that pay a yearly tax. Is it going to be an evil cliché full of young masters?
Chefs are idolized in this world to an extreme level. With something called the 'Cooking Fest' being an Olympic-level event held every 4 years. They even have a ranking of chefs listed from 1 to 1000, with the top 100 being more influential than kings and presidents of nations.
These people talk about almost nothing but food-related topics. Even the drama tabloids featured celebrities arguing about the proper way to dip Sashimi into soy sauce.
I was born in the wrong world.
Axel nodded at the list. 'I need more info on the laws, these so-called Capture Levels, what kinds of ingredients the markets have to offer, and how the hell people achieve superhuman abilities. The last one is kinda important if it means I can show off my skills without concern.' He had no idea how this world would take someone who could shoot fire out of his ass, but on Earth, he would be cut open faster than he could say, 'I come in peace.'
Along with the list of notes came a far more important one, documenting every ingredient he saw and their listed CL.
Stuff I gotta try:
Sweets Coral (Capture Level below 1)
Almond Cabbage (Capture Level below 1)
Golden Carrots (Capture Level 1)
Beer Lobster (Capture Level 1)
Don Acorn (Capture Level below 1)
Cigar Tree (Capture Level 1)
Strawberrice (Capture Level below 1)
Gori Scallion (Capture Level 1)
Striped Salmon (Capture Level 1)
Baron Shark (Capture Level 1)
'I don't even know what these CLs entail, but holy hell, do these pictures and names make my hands itch. Almost every fish in here was something new.'
For the first time in his life, his hobby of freediving mixed with his passion as a chef. 'I can just go catch them myself, and it's encouraged. No permits are needed. No specified hunting seasons. No having to dive into polluted bodies of water full of trash and diseases.'
He was standing before he realized it.
'They even got booze I've never heard of that grows naturally.'
Energy Hennessy (Capture Level 1)
Sakeyashi Fruit (Capture Level 1)
Seven-Taste Wine (Capture Level 1)
The list went on. It said Sakeyashi Fruit literally grew on trees like coconuts shaped like paper lanterns.
'I need.' Axel's eyes were spitting fire by the time he finished tearing through the magazines for information. 'So many years of having to drink sparingly or stick to cheap beer, and now I find a world with liquors made from ingredients I've never tasted for prices I can actually reach.'
Axel had been a lover of fine booze since his first taste, and not even his mother's memory could tarnish that. In fact, he was half sure it was the only thing she actually passed down to him, but he never had the money to splurge and always resisted the sinkhole of a habit going to bars would cause his wallet to fall into.
He felt like crying, but the sheer heat he was emitting evaporated any chance of such a thing happening. 'I still remember that mixology chick I dated for a few months. Being a taste tester for her was the most fun I'd had in years.'
If Axel was rich and wasn't as dedicated to his work ethic as a chef, he was sure he would be an alcoholic by now. Yet now, he could literally go pick high-quality liquor from trees.
The gears in his brain quickly turned.
[Gain knowledge - Get that booze - Go diving for seafood - Level up skills - Sell food to market or experiment to my heart's content without worrying about a budget - Make money - Pay off slave labor student loans - Be a free boy with superpowers - Hunt and taste everything my heart desires - Cook food and run my shop for the rest of my life without distractions.]
'I need a library.' Getting up with a fire in his belly, he went to grab his jacket, only to pause at the light of sunset shining through his windows. 'Oh. New plan.'
The mental gears quickly churned. [Gain knowledge] got crossed off, and [Get that booze] shifted into first place.
His eyes fell onto a marked page his magazine had conveniently been opened to about a nearby low-level hunting area named the Emerald Lagoon, with Sakeyashi Fruit being a marked ingredient to find.
'I need to go pick a fight with food that fights back. For science.' There was no time to think. Only act.
Axel was out the door with barely a pause to toss some things into his Item Box. 'For science.'
Chapter End.
AN: Hey all, quick note. I'm just gonna go ahead and say, 'Axel will not always make the smartest decisions.' He's not an SI but an OC. He's gonna live his life like a normal chaotic human being put into a weird situation. He WILL learn and get better, but that won't stop him from making chaotic choices depending on his desires. He takes rules more as a suggestion and goes with the flow. If he sees a sleeping giant man eating fish that could eat him, he MIGHT just poke it with a stick for fun.
That is all. Thank you.