A day had passed since Wa Lui Qi stopped the burglar from robbing Mr Chang's store. Right now he was squatting down in the alley, listening to the music while nodding his head, becoming a slave to the rhythm. He didn't miss a single beat. In his hand smoke twisted in its artistic way, forming curls in the gloom, illuminated only by the age-speckled lights.

"Haaaah..." Lui Qi sighed while blowing the smoke away from his mouth, grimace was shown on his face. "Damn that Mr Chang, even though I helped him stopped the robbery he didn't even give a single cent to me... Then again, I had stolen many things from his place since so I guess that makes us even."

Wa Lui Qi had just finished his work as a dishwasher in a certain bistro with a minimum wage of $7.25, a working day last for 10 hours, there was no rest break. A day's wage was $72.5, he got $435 for working six days a week. Four weeks pay was $1740. This was all the money he could make in a month and this wasn't much at all.

$250 a month for food, one-room apartment in the outskirt of the city without heating or cooling plus its utility was somewhere around $800, $60 for a mobile bill, $70 for public transport. That was all added up to $1180. The remaining balance was then $560. This didn't include any laundry and toiletry cost, and even if he already didn't meet any friend, cutting his cigarette cost, not going outside for the whole month and did any luxury. The best he could do was saving $400 per month. After working for 10-month his total saving was $3,707

"Maybe I should've just dropped the college plan and become a full-fledged robber." Lui Qi muttered as he opened his status screen; the second weirdest thing that ever happened to him aside for the mini-map on the top right corner of his vision. In front of him, there was a bluish transparent screen. It was like the screen one had been seeing in the sci-fi movie. No matter where he turned his head, the whole status screen stayed in focus.

Once again, His face showed more grimace as he stared at the numerical value of his status. "Urgh... I know I am not the smartest person or the most athletic or the sociable one, but c'mon... how utter bullshit is this thing. My knowledge is only 3? Even though I had watched every trivia video on youtube and read Wikipedia as my hobby." Said Lui Qi, repeating the same kind of line with the same kind of protest for the seventh times since last night.

He slid the screen to the right and it switched to show his list of skill. For now, there was only one skill, which was Mini-Map. He didn't believe it though. He might be not the greatest cook or the fastest person alive, but Lui Qi was confident enough with his skill in cooking and running. So he made the conclusion that the list of skill that was being shown on the screen was only for the supernatural skill.

If he slid it to the left, it would go back to his status screen. And if he hovered his finger on the top of the twelve status, a tooltip would appear, telling him the vague explanation of what each status attributes would do. If he slid it up, it switched to a mostly blank screen with nothing more than empty panes and the title of Companions.

With a sigh, he slid it down, and it showed him the list of class he could take. It had three categories: Physical, Magic and Production class.

Physical class had three options: Runner, Shooter, and Thief. After spending his time thinking for the whole night, his best assumption was that his 'real skill' was somehow related to the class selection. For Runner, he might be not fast, but running had become his hobby since it was free. For Shooter, he just assumed it came from the fact that he played a lot of FPS games, and he was confident enough with his shooting skill when playing games in the local arcade. As for Thief, since he came to Manhattan indeed he had been shoplifting on here and there, so it kinda made sense.

In Magic category, Lui Qi only had one choice: Audiomancer. This selection kinda made him raised his eyebrows though. From the name alone, it might be something related to sound, or maybe music. But he couldn't play any instrument nor he was a good singer, heck he even didn't understand a single thing about soundwave and frequency when he was in high school. He only listened to the music to exorcist his boredom.

In Production category, there were three options: Chef, Trainer and Gambler. Leaving Chef aside, Lui Qi could only tilt his head no matter how much he looked at the other options. Trainer... of what? As far as he knew, he never trained anyone. For Gambler, he might have been betting some video game item, but he personally thought he never gambled that much to make him deserved to get Gambler as his class.

Scratching his head, one thing that Lui Qi knew of was that he didn't have any intention of taking Audiomancer as he didn't see any money-making potential in that skill.

As for Physical class, if he took Runner and Shooter, he might be able to become an athlete of some sort, but he didn't know how big a bonus they would give, not to mention he didn't have any achievements or connection in sports industries. For Thief, this might be the best candidate if he couldn't come up with a better choice.

For Production category. Trainer was too ambiguous. Unlike status, there was no tooltip that would give him an insight or any type of information about the class, so he instantly scratched it away. Leaving him only with Chef and Gambler.

"If I looking them by the risk, both of Thief and Gambler had the same amount of risk, while the one with the lowest risk was Chef." Lui Qi muttered, inhaling another sip of smoke and slowly exhaling it again. "So high-risk high-return huh... Then again, indeed I want more money, but I am not in a dire need of money either."

After spending the whole night thinking about which Class he should take. With that conclusion in his mind, Lui Qi moved his finger and picked Chef as his class.

Congratulations! You have received the class of Chef Lvl 1. You have gained the Skill Cook Lvl 1. You have received the skill Bag of Colding Lvl 1. You have received the skill Side Snack Lvl 1. You may learn 7 additional skills from this class. Skills may be forgotten to learn new skills. +8 Mana, +8 Stamina, + 1 to Dexterity, Knowledge, Focus, Charisma.

Lui Qi blinked, then nodding his head in amazement when the screen switched back to the status screen. He might not have a single clue about how those number worked but knowing them increased somehow made him happy.

Swiping to the right, there was a new 'Chef' category in Skills menu. Aside from those three skills, there were 15 more skills from Chef category, 13 of them were greyed out and Lui Qi couldn't see the greyed skill information.

Leaving them aside, Lui Qi couldn't help but grinned when he read what his new 3 skills could do.

Skills:

Mini-Map Lvl 1 - Shows a live mental image of 20 + (DEX + WIS)/2 meter radius of your surrounding area (Concentrate to enter Field of Vision mode. Can't show places that are blocked by 30cm thick obstacles.)

Chef Skills:

Cook Lvl 1 - While cooking food, infuses it with mana to give it an additional effect. Only one effect can active at the same time. Cost: 10 Mana.

- Heal: Restore 5 Health and 20 Stamina.

- Physical Up: The food increases the creature's physical status (Chef choice) by 2. The effect will active 1 hour after the food is digested, last for 1 hour.

- Magic Up: Increase magic power and resistance by 1. The effect will active 1 hour after the food is digested, last for 1 hour.

- Charisma Up: The food increases the creature's charisma by 3. The effect will active 1 hour after the food is digested, last for 1 hour.

Bag of Colding Lvl 1 - Enhance a backpack (or any container) so that it is cool in the inside, and can store food in a frozen temperature. Last for 10 days per skill level. Cost: 20 Mana.

Side Snack Lvl 1 - Summon a lunch bag that contains:

- Two sandwiches of the chef's choice (Each sandwich can be different. The sandwiches can include lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mayo, mustard, gravy, salad dressing)

- 50g Trail mix (made of nuts, seeds, and berries)

- 80g Potato chips or french fries.

- 250ml waterskin (filled with fruit juice, tea, or water.)

The foods last for 24 hours before it disappears. 10 minutes casting time. Cost: 10 Mana for each lunch bag.

"This... this is greater than what I expected." Lui Qi started shaking as he couldn't contain his excitement. If he played his card right, he could completely cut all of his food expenses, saving $250 from his monthly cost. Not to mention if the sandwiches tasted good, he could sell it to his co-worker or in Sunday morning bazaar.

"But... the next problem is convincing them to eat it before 24 hours pass away huh. No... I also need to calculate the production rate, so mana management is also important." Said Lui Qi, murmuring all by himself as he started doing the calculation with his phone. "So I need to spend them on Knowledge, Focus, and Charisma?"

Without further ado, Lui Qi opened his status screen and entered his three available status points.

Wa Lui Qi

Level: 1

Class: Chef Lvl 1.

Health(/R per day): 100 (1.2)

Mana(/R per hour): 33 (20)

Stam(/R per minute): 41 (1.2)

Strength: 2

Vitality: 3

Dexterity: 3

Agility: 3

Intelligence: 2

Knowledge: 5

Wisdom: 3

Focus: 5

Charisma: 4

Intimidation: 1

Deception: 3

Willpower: 2