"Can i not sell here?" he asked his unseen ally. In his front was a sorry excuse of a store. It was made of wood and he did not doubt that even a stray gale would topple the structure down to the ground.
"Why can't this place be the same as the towering skyscrapers in the horizon?" Rake muttered sadly.
"Negative, host. This will be your only store in this world. You can expand its size through store upgrades but you can't transfer it to other places or buy new ones.
In the end, there shall only be one store that would hold all the culinary mastery of the Ultimate Cooking System." Rake was about to ask some more questions but he postponed it for later.
He heard the distinctive sounds of footsteps before his eyes was graced with the lovely form of a young woman. She was a perfect goddess in both beauty and charm. A real anime girl in the flesh.
Though Rake had seen that almost every girl here was a beauty of their own but having one so close to him hammered this fact in to his new reality.
"Hi." Rake started and took a step back away from the girl.
He stunk like shit and he did not want their first meeting to be this ugly. But alas, some wishes were just not meant to be.
"Hello. How may i help you?" asked the girl.
"I'm Rake and i was the one who bought the property earlier." Rake replied and gave a piece of paper unto the girl.
"I see. So you are Mister Rake Stevens. Please come in." the girl replied with a serious expression on her face. But even that hasn't diminished her allure one bit.
The girl led Rake inside and left after more than 20 minutes of introduction. He'd learned that her names were Miss Anne and she had sold the property because her mother got sick.
It appeared that medicine was as costly here as his previous world. Rake mused inside.
"So what are shop points and how can i use them?" Rake asked the moment he had the place all by himself.
"Shop points can give you anything that you need, host. Not only can it provide you with cooking skills and equipment, it also offers a wide variety of products. Please see it for yourself, host.
Status Open." Rake heard the system's answer and something was transported into his eyes.
It was letters and he could read them just fine as it was written using the English alphabet. Now that he thought about it, the people in this world all spoke his native language also. Very peculiar.
Did the entire world adjust to my entry into their domain or were my senses tweaked a bit to fully assimilate into this unknown planet? A second flashed with this on Rake's thoughts.
After a moment, he gazed into the figures on the screen and looked at the things that were presented before him. There were many columns and he'd read a few of them out loud.
Techniques
Armors
Weapons
Materials
Miscellaneous Items
Cooking Skills
Cooking Recipes
Cooking Equipment
Etc…
As a pro gamer in the past and a ravenous reader, he was not ignorant to such functions. It was like he was living in an RPG world.
He looked on the prices of the most expensive products and his jaw slacked open in disbelief.
1,000,000 shop points. He blinked his eyes and even rubbed them for a time or two but still, the same figures remained.
Only 1,000,000 shop points!
"Why?" Rake whispered.
And the system as if aware on the real question behind the sole word did not fail to answer.
"The Ultimate Cooking System is here to be your assistant, host. Its only purpose is to help you do whatever you want. My master only wishes one thing.
That is, you give him an enjoyable performance to while his boredom away."
"Who is your master?" Rake continued in a daze.
"You have no need to know that for now, host."
"Okay then. I want…" Thus began Rake's journey in this mystical and fantastic world.
"...to know about the defense system of my restaurant. Is this place impregnable?" Rake started to check off his lists.
Cooking genre always had a badass guard or something that would take care of trouble makers. At least that was the norm on the novels he had read before. His situation can't be drastically different, right?
Rake crossed his fingers and waited for the reply of his sole partner in this alien world.
"You can install defensive measures on your place of business, host. But as of right now, you are totally vulnerable in here." and there goes Rake's valuable points.
"Show me the most op ones!" he clenched his teeth after a snap decision. This was going to be his home from now on.
With a tight security on his beck and call, at least he would be able to sleep comfortably at night and not fear for a dagger in his eyes as his wake up call.
"Affirmative, host.
Here are the most expensive defensive items offered by the Ultimate Cooking System:
1. Cinder - a female immortal who had pledged her life to serve my master. Fire affinity.
Strength, equal to a Peak Paragon Realm.
2. Alodia - a goddess who was captured by my master in the War of the Eternals. Tech Savvy.
Strength, equal to a Peak Paragon Realm.
...
Rake read a few names and was disappointed that all of them were men and women of power. It was all good to have them but what if they were preoccupied with an enemy?
Can a lone vanguard save him against thousands of foes? Definitely not! And so Rake instructed the system,
"I want upgrades on the store first. My requirement would be to make it virtually indestructible against any attack."
"Affirmative, host. Do you wish to use 1,000,000 shop points to do the upgrade?"
