Chapter 9: Progression

It was not that difficult for him to be able to find a small restaurant in the neighborhood. So, he went in, ordered a few dishes, before he began eating.

And as he ate, he finally felt relief washing over him. Everything that had happened so far since the night that he got the system was just surreal.

Even though one of his day had been wasted, especially the night as he spent it all in a police cell, still, he felt things were moving in a better direction.

Comparing the current dishes in front of him, to what he was eating just a few days back, it was just unbelievable.

Regardless, Michael understood, with the system, everything was possible. But, it might not continue to be the case if he was lazy.

If he did not study hard in order to gain the SP, without the capability of dealing with the gang, he might lose everything.

If he was not given a chance of studying by the gang, and everything on him was taken, he would end up in a miserable state. It might be even worse than the state that he was in before.

Understanding that he had to study hard, Michael did not hesitate any longer, eating as fast as he could.

After he was done, he paid the bill, before rushing back to his apartment. When he got there, he entered the study and took out the two books that he had brought with him from the library.

The two books all talked about introduction into culinary. They introduced basic cooking techniques, the kitchen tools, safety measures in a kitchen, and foundational recipes.

Taking one of the books, Michael began reading from the first page. And as he did that, he realized something. It seemed, his memory had been somehow enhanced.

Even though he was not having much trouble when it came to memorizing some things that he had been reading back then when he was learning accounting, now, he realized that it was getting more easy for him.

And just as he thought about this, a screen popped up in front of him with a notification on it.

Looking at the contents of the notification, Michael was immediately excited.

[The host only needs to collect the information through studying, watching or listening. The host does not need to understand the information, as the system will enable the host to be able to understand everything after enough information is gathered.]

This was good news. Completely different from the time that he was studying accounting, now, all that he had to do was to read.

Previously, he was studying so seriously that he had to take some notes, trying to understand every concept that he came across.

But now, all that he needed to do was to read. He did not have to understand everything, which made it easier for him.

At the same time as he began studying, there was another window that popped up on the screen. On it, there was progression towards beginner chef skills.

[Beginner level Chef Skills. Progress: 0%.]

Just after he began reading, it was at 0%. Several minutes later, it had already reached 2%. This was quite surprising, as it seemed that the rate at which he could reach the beginner level was quite faster as compared to the time that he was studying accounting.

The availability of the progression bar, and how fast it moved motivated Michael, making him focus so much on reading that he forgot about the passage of time.

And just as he was engrossed in reading, there was suddenly a knock on the door. This brought Michael back to reality, though, he felt slightly disgruntled at being interrupted.

Regardless, he stood up, before heading to the door. All this while, he had not responded to the knock, as he was quite cautious, in case it was some gangsters that came looking for him.

Through the peephole, he looked out, realizing that it was actually a group of people with several boxes.

Michael immediately realized that they were people from the library, who came to deliver the books. So, he opened the door, before he received the books and signed the invoice.

After the group of three left, Michael closed the door, before he headed back to the study room where all the boxes containing the books that had been brought over were placed.

When he looked at the time on his phone, he realized, it had already been over an hour since he began reading. And now, the progress bar had already reached 8%.

According to his estimation based on the progression right now, he felt, it would only be a matter of time before he managed to grasp the beginner level chef skills.

To say the least, this kind of progress was way faster as compared to the time that he was self-studying accounting.

While, due to the limitations of his foundation in terms of education, he could not understand many things from what he was reading, it was not necessary anyway.

Unlike the time that he was studying accounting, where he needed to understand every concept, now, he only had to read.

This way, all the limitations that were brought about by him not understanding some vocabulary and so on could not hinder his progress.

The current book that he was reading contained 376 pages. By estimation, considering his current reading speed, Michael believed that it would take him about 7 to 8 hours in order to be able to completely read everything in this book.

Not caring about the passage of time, Michael continuously flipped the pages of the book, reading everything along the way.

Finally, several hours later, Michael finished reading. His eyes had already turned red from continuously staring at the book, and, he felt his body aching from continuously sitting for several hours.

As he stood up, he stretched his arms, yawning. He took his phone, before looking at the time.

It was then that he realized that it was already late into the night, already being 9:27 p.m.

Grrrrl!

His stomach growled, reminding him of the fact that he had not eaten for several hours now.

Despite the meal that he had had at around 2:00, it seemed that all of it had already been digested, and the energy had already been consumed.

The brain was a part of the body that consumed quite an amount of energy. And, even though Michael was not reflecting on what he was reading, he still needed to use his brain nonetheless.

’I will just grab something from a restaurant down there.’ Michael thought to himself before he got out of the apartment, locked the door behind him, and headed down to the restaurant that he had eaten before.

Thankfully, this district was completely different from the slum area where he lived before. This place was quite lively despite it already being nighttime.

It had been quite a long time since Michael had experienced something like this. Regardless, understanding what he needed to do, Michael did not waste any time, ordered the food, and began eating it as fast as he could.

This immediately earned him stares from some people around, but Michael completely ignored them. What did they know? He needed to go back to continue studying.

Just a few minutes later, Michael was done with his meal, before he quickly paid the bill and left the restaurant.

After getting back to his apartment, he finally paid attention to the screen that was floating in front of him.

All this while, even after he had finished reading the book, Michael realized that there was no notification for him, implying that he had not yet reached the threshold for the beginner level chef skills.

This made him wonder what was going on. And now, looking at the screen, he seemed to understand, though he was just as confused.

[Beginner level chef skills. Progress: 70%]

Michael was not sure about the reason why the progress had only gotten to 70%, despite him reading an entire book.

But then, he thought of a possibility. Could it be that the judgment from the system was completely different from his own?

Could it be that according to the system, the information that was contained within the book that he had just read only contained about 70% of the beginner level chef skills?

“It is a good thing that I bought several books related to the introduction to chef skills. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome.” Michael muttered in a low voice.

After saying those words, Michael took the other book that he had brought with him from the library. He sat behind the desk in the study room, before he began reading once again.

But this time, even after reading for several minutes, there was no progress at all. It seemed, the information that he was reading was repetitive.

Now, this was proving to be quite problematic. Did this imply that he would have to read the entire book, and if the progress did not reach 100%, start another one?

If he really ended up doing something like that, did this not imply that he would take a very long time in order to be able to gain the beginner level chef skills?

Still, thinking about the advantage that he had over everyone else, Michael became determined.

Other people would not be able to gain skills just from reading. They would have to study, reflect on what they had read, and practice. He on the other hand only needed to read, and then gain the necessary skills.

No matter how long it required him to read, he was determined. At least, he thought, he would read as much as possible, to gain the SP.

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