The restaurant opened for only 4 hours daily but, to Martin, these 4 hours felt like neverending torturous days.

The first hour

'Take a deep breath in and then a deep breath out,' Martin told himself in order to avoid the alluring temptation of the dishes he was carrying to the customers.

!!!

'Isn't this just making matters worse?! Can food even smell this good?'

The second hour

'My goodness, I am about to drown in my own saliva. Can cultivators even be affected by food this much? or is it a psychological reaction because the food can increase cultivation?'

The third hour

Martin tried to sneakily pick off some food items from plates to at least get a taste, but Jeffery's fierce glare stopped him every time.

'Fine, you win! I'll just take this training by tempering will power,'

'Mind over matter!'

Minutes before the fourth hour

"Amitabha. Here is your meal dear patron," Martin said as he put a dish in front of a customer.

Jefferey and Jane watched Martin with amusement the whole day. They watched as his face changed colours, along with his weird actions.

...

The suffering Martin went through this day further solidified his desire to learn the magical technique of making these seductive dishes. How could one go adventuring and look for treasure on an empty stomach? And if you are to eat, why not et the best food?

He could almost see himself slaughtering a dragon with a single sword move, slicing it into uniform strips with another, and then start cooking it. Such grand posturing would make stealing women's hearts and making friends become easy.

Most importantly, although he wants to become an expert, he also knows cultivation is hard. If he doesn't have enough talent and luck to proceed further into his cultivation journey, he could retire from his adventuring and open a shop of his own.

"What are you thinking about to have such a perverted smile on your face?" Jane broke him away from his daydream with an abrupt question.

kgmm

Martin cleared his throat with some embarrassment. He had not even noticed when she had come close to him, but after taking note of her, it only took a split second to see the plate of 'minced meat macaroni' in her hands.

"I was just thinking that I want to learn how to cook spiritual food," Martin stated solemnly looking into Jane's eyes. He was checking for any signs that might indicate he would be intruding into others' secrets with such a request.

Digging into other people's secrets was a major taboo that warranted death in the world of cultivators. The stories that Marco had told him about held many examples. Should he see any signs he would quit while he was ahead.

"Ok, I don't really mind giving you some advice. What do you currently know about spiritual cooking? Here is your supper." Jane said as she handed over the plate of food.

Martin secretly let out a sigh of relief before saying with a solemn expression, "I know spiritual food is delicious and smells good."

These words solicited an eye roll from the girl, "You should go to the bookshelf on the second floor and check out the two books: The Compendium Of Tasty Spiritual Plants, and Walking Ingredients."

" The Compendium Of Herbs and Spices, as the name suggests, the book helps you identify most, if not all, the spiritual herbs/plants that can be used for cooking. Grandpa was actually the one who wrote it."

"Walking Ingredients is about eatable monster beasts, the parts that are edible, and ways of handling."

"Cooking starts with the preparation of ingredients. After reading those books, you should read the books on handling ingredients. When you are done I will have you help me in the kitchen to teach you hands-on."

With the look of pleasant surprise plastered on his face, Martin nodded and said, "Yes ma'am, I really thank you for this."

"It is no big deal..." just as Jane was speaking, she received a mental transmission message from her grandfather, then she said, "A thousand spirit stones. It is no big deal. It just costs a thousand low-grade spirit stones."

Martin was dumbfounded.

'Big sis, weren't we talking nicely just now? How can it change this quick? I might as well sell myself to these two as a slave,' Martin thought to himself while holding back the urge to shed tears.

"No hurry though, just do as you do for the other dept," Jane said with a smile that made Martin want to punch people. He still nodded obediently despite his misgivings.

...

After his meal, Martin made his way towards the third floor. Then he was given is on the first floor, so this would be his first time going up.

When he got to the third floor. he was surprised to find out that it wasn't just a bookshelf with books, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he walked into a library.

'I think they have more books here than in the village I came from,' Martin couldn't help but click his tongue in shock.

He walked around in awe, checking out the books. Martin wanted to try his luck, maybe he could find amazing cultivation techniques here. But soon he realized he was too naive. They were a lot of books that he couldn't read no matter how much he tried.

'This is so trippy! I can clearly recognize the individual characters, why am I not able to read the text though?' he wondered.

"It wouldn't be one of those legendary formations that uncle Marco talked about would it?" Martin's eyes widened in shock, and he thought to himself, 'Be it a formation or some other methods, the world of cultivation is as interesting as I thought it would be.'

Unaffected by his inability to read some of the books, Martin hummed a merry tune as he went to look for those he could read.