I Have An SSS-Rank Service System: Hire Me For Anything!-Chapter 17: How To Cook Without A System [1]
’This is going to be hard,’ Dory grunted, looking at the dried apple slices, tart plums, and the other ingredients Liam had brought a while back. Liam had been sent on another errand, so Dory was alone in the kitchen.
The kitchen was a modest, square room with walls made of rough stone and a floor of packed dirt. A heavy wooden table, scarred by years of knife marks, sat in the center, piled high with Dory’s sorted ingredients. In the corner, a wide stone hearth held a low fire, where several blackened clay pots were placed not too far from it. The air was thick and warm, smelling strongly of sharp lemons and sweet plums, with sunlight streaming through a single small window to show the dust dancing in the heat.
On his first trial of making the apple tart snack, it was both simple and hard at the same time. He had the help of the system and its skills, so it hadn’t been that difficult. The [Lower Chef Package] had come in handy then, but it looked like it wouldn’t work here.
He had made the same snack with the same flavor, look, and aroma before. But now, he wanted to make five different flavors. He had expected to be able to crack it with the help of the system, but even the [Arbitrage Specialist] and [The Professional Edge] traits of his [Freelancer] class didn’t seem to work.
’I guess I’ll have to purchase a new package.’
He had seven thousand Service Points at the moment. It turned out even the system was a fan of his easy bargaining with the armor forger and had decided to gift him two thousand points.
He summoned the system and checked the packages for the [Chef] Job. There were six in total. Of course, he didn’t have [Chef] as a Job yet since he hadn’t purchased all the packages. The same went for the [Janitor] job; that was why it was still at F-Rank and not yet SSS-Rank, including every other package. One had to purchase them all to earn the Job and understand both basic and high-concept methods regarding it.
Some Jobs were earned immediately after purchasing the first package but started as rudimentary, F-Rank positions where the skills increased in level as the user progressed. Other Jobs were earned only after purchasing all packages; the more packages one purchased, the higher the amount and prowess of the skills.
It wasn’t exactly hard to learn these basic mechanics as a PhD holder. For the [Chef] Job, the system displayed:
[Lower Chef Package]: Purchased
[Medium Chef Package]: 2,000 SP
[Normal Chef Package]: 8,000 SP
[Excellent Chef Package]: 10,000 SP
[Premium Chef Package]: 20,000 SP
[God Chef Package]: 50,000 SP (all skills guaranteed)
[Note: Purchasing a larger package than the previous one will automatically transfer the skills to the new package; doing the vice versa will result in negative consequences. The final package is exempted from this theory and its skills will forever be innate, even if one purchases a lower package after its purchase.] 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Dory frowned. ’This is hard.’
He didn’t believe spending Service Points to purchase the [Medium Chef Package] would do any good. Considering the vast difference between it and the [Normal Chef Package], it was sure to be almost useless in helping Dory. The [Normal Chef Package] would have been a great choice itself, but unfortunately, Dory was a thousand points short. Not that he would actually want to spend all eight thousand Service Points just like that.
’For a system that calls itself SSS, this is certainly difficult.’
Dory didn’t spend too much time on the note; he understood what the system meant and knew he must be smart with his purchase of packages in the future. He wouldn’t want to lose higher skills just to get basic ones.
He looked at the glowing prompt again, contemplating a final decision. ’I guess I have no other choice.’
With that, he dismissed the system and looked at the ingredients in front of him. He had two ideas now: the first was trying to implement modern knowledge to make this without the help of the system, and the second was trying to implement fictional methods even without the system’s help.
No, he would still need the [Lower Chef Package] skills, [Basic Domestic Package] skills, and his Class traits; so, in a sense, the system was still helping.
’Damn. I thought they were already my innate skills.’
Hissing, he carefully separated the ingredients using [Aura Of Order] from the [Basic Domestic Package] and sighed. It would be no easy task at all.
Considering the vast difference between this world and the modern world, it was going to be a tough job, but it might not be too hard to use his fictional knowledge. He had read countless novelkisss and webtoons and watched different anime, so maybe he had a chance. Still, most similar transmigration plots in fiction dealt with the main character using modern means to make a name for themselves.
’It is all twisted.’
Modern chefs didn’t use dried apples—at least not the ones he knew. Tart plums didn’t even exist in the modern world.
With his skills, things should be a bit easier.
’I guess so.’
He had [Rapid Prep], which allowed him to do things like chopping and cooking faster; [Texture Mastery] to master the mouthfeel of snacks; [Aroma Lure] to create enticing scents; and [Ingredient Synergizer] to make things taste better. [Palate Calibration] wasn’t needed now, as it only allowed him to identify a person’s taste preferences, and considering the people he was making this for, he only knew the taste preferences of one of them... vaguely.
When Dory first got these skills, they looked god-tier, but now he saw they were merely superhuman abilities. No matter how one looked at it, superhuman abilities are mostly useless when it comes to everyday activities like cooking if one lacks the foundation. All these skills could only be used if he understood what he actually wanted to cook and how to cook it.
And that was where the problem lay.
’Tsk. Stop complaining; they won’t cook themselves, will they?’
