Rags to Riches: The Rise of a Dual-Talent Prodigy-Chapter 564 - 556: Xu Jinghong’s Awakened Skill

"No, no, definitely not." Qian Qi quickly corrected, "Actually, I’m a face person; as long as the face is here, the charm remains. Even if you’re broke, I’ll still like you."

"Then do you still like other rich handsome guys?" The silver-haired youth’s eyes grew even redder.

"Who’s as handsome as you?" Qian Qi couldn’t help but mutter, "Besides, I’m not really interested in romance. If it weren’t for you..."

"Hmm?" Su Ang slightly curled his lips, leaning close to the girl, "Go on."

"..." Not saying anything.

Qian Qi swallowed the words that followed and caught sight of Liang Yuting and Zhang Feng approaching. She immediately waved her hand, "Hey~ come over and join us for a meal!"

Liang Yuting and Zhang Feng didn’t stand on ceremony and sat down with the others to tackle the extra dishes. Upon hearing Qian Qi and Su Ang mimic Xu Jinghong’s cooking steps with not-so-great taste, they tried a bite with chopsticks.

Liang Yuting carefully tasted, "The flavor’s really ordinary, but it’s not due to the cooking method. This dish clearly needs more star anise, peppercorns, sugar, and soy sauce. Otherwise, it’s tasteless, just a hint of braised flavor. And this dish, shouldn’t have peppercorns, right? Strange, Xu’s version definitely didn’t have any peppercorn taste."

Qian Qi was dumbfounded, "Can you actually taste all that?"

"My taste is pretty sensitive." Liang Yuting adjusted her glasses frame, smiling shyly.

"That can’t be right, I added peppercorns to the seasoning." Xu Jinghong scratched his head, puzzled, "Are you sure you didn’t taste it wrong?"

"I’m definitely not mistaken; there’s no peppercorn taste in yours at all." Liang Yuting confirmed.

Qian Qi tapped her chin, contemplating.

Xu Jinghong’s dishes made from Demon Beast Meat are not only rich in energy, greatly favored by Magic Beasts, but also delicious. His stir-fried Magic Plants are the same, despite their bitterness and dryness, he’s managed to make them incredibly tasty.

Isn’t it possible that the reason his cooking is so delicious isn’t due to culinary skills, but because... he’s awakened some kind of special skill?

Eyes flashing slightly, Qian Qi immediately thought of a way to test it. She said to Xu Jinghong, "This time, don’t add any seasoning, just stir-fry directly."

"What?" Xu Jinghong found it a bit far-fetched, "How could it possibly taste good!"

"Hurry up and try." Qian Qi was a bit impatient.

Seeing her so eager, Xu Jinghong had no choice but to pick up the pan again, tossing some greens into it.

Ugh, these are all food, how can they be wasted like this?

Originally, it should be blanched first, then oil added, then... That’s how soy sauce greens would taste particularly good... Hmm?

While thinking to himself, Xu Jinghong suddenly was shocked to find that the greens he should’ve been stir-frying dry had become incredibly moist, and even the soy sauce aroma was emanating from the pan.

How is this possible?! He clearly hadn’t added any seasoning!

"So it is." Qian Qi nodded deeply, "It’s your awakened skill; you’re a dual-attribute Awakener."

Xu Jinghong looked down at his hands in amazement, "No wonder my cooking has been getting tastier lately. I thought it was just because I was cooking more and became more skilled!"

"There’s actually such a special awakened skill in this world." Liang Yuting found it very curious, "Xu, you’re quite lucky!"

"Hehe." Xu Jinghong chuckled foolishly, "Not bad, not bad."

Although his parents passed away early, leaving no relatives, only a bunch of siblings needing care, luckily he awakened a skill, met kind-hearted investors, and got to know many good companions, so his luck isn’t too bad.

He looked down at his hands. His family was too poor before, constantly worrying about where to find food for his siblings, even hoping one day not to have to worry about food anymore and be able to cook delicious meals for them every day.

Perhaps because of this, he awakened such a skill.

"You could rely on this craft to make money in the future," was Qian Qi’s first thought about capitalizing on this ability, "Whether for Beast Masters or Contracted Beasts, I’m sure it’ll be popular."

"Perfect, let’s seize this opportunity to research a few signature dishes with Magic Beast Meat and Magic Plants; maybe there’ll be incredible effects!"

Qian Qi decisively made a plan.

The others nodded in agreement, "We’ll help you brainstorm!"

With a decision made, Liang Yuting and Zhang Feng took responsibility for analyzing the edibility and usability of Magic Plants, Su Ang for scouting Advanced Magic Beasts, and Qian Qi and Sheng Qing for cooperation in combat, dealing with Magic Plants and Magic Beasts.

As for Xu Jinghong, he would combine these Magic Plants and Magic Beasts to create dishes, feeding them to innocent beasts caught as test subjects.

After three days, the group indeed managed to research two dishes.

"This one can compress the fire element within the body, absorb more fire elements, and increase elemental capacity. Even though the level is the same as other Awakener of the same level, more skills can be released." Xu Jinghong felt the changes within his body, "So far, there’s no sign of the compression ability disappearing; it seems to be permanent."

Qian Qi nodded, "Good thing it’s used with A+ Level Magic Beast’s Beast Core. If it’s not permanent, then the Beast Core is really useless."

"This is a sort of upgrade in disguise." Chen Feng observed, "As we all know, the level of an Elemental Awakener can’t be upgraded, and this dish clearly provides a way to compensate."

Qian Qi agreed, "It’ll definitely fetch a good price."

The group smiled helplessly at her.

"This dish will cause the skin to produce armor." Xu Jinghong pointed to the low-level beast that had been experimented on, "Even though the energy of this dish is high, it won’t cause low-level Magic Beasts to explode, and it might even make them grow A-level armor; still, the genetic difference between Magic Beasts and humans is significant, so I didn’t dare eat it."

"Let’s exclude this one." Qian Qi shook her head, "We can sell it to Beast Masters for their Contracted Beasts."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Next, let’s continue researching other elemental cuisines, let the Su Family Army lead the students to eliminate all the ingredients for this fire dish and enhance the skills of students with awakened fire elements."

Qian Qi instructed, setting the plan for the next 15 days.

The students had no objections, and in the following days, the plan progressed smoothly. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this rare training experience, gaining extensive combat experience.

Being trained by the experienced Su Family Army is like having personal tutors, it’s simply wonderful!

The students were immersed in training, little did they know, the outside world was undergoing drastic changes.

...

"We regret to inform everyone that the northern region, western region, eastern region, and southern region have all experienced S-class or even super S-Class Magic Beast attack incidents..."