Ji Hoon looked straight at the mirror, a towel wrapped around his waist. He studied himself or rather, the body he now inhabited. He moved his hands, testing them, checking himself out. Unlike his past body, this one was a bit skinny.
His skin was tanned compared to his previous pale-skinned Korean body. Long silver-white hair fell over most of his face, and his ocean-blue eyes contrasted sharply with the brown eyes he once had.
Everything felt unreal. He had died—actually died. He didn't even want to remember the feeling. Then he met an angel, a real one, and was given a second chance: a new life.
The scars and bruises this body had when he first woke up were now completely healed.
How? In just a day?
Magic.
That was another thing he had learned: magic existed in this world.
At first, he didn't believe it, but when the healer who came to him raised their hand and a bright light erased his bruises one by one—not only the wounds but even the pain—he had no choice but to accept it.
He stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, where a young girl stood waiting. She was the first person he saw upon waking. From what she told him, she was his personal maid.
She had introduced herself as Beatrice and explained that he was the second son of the Ahn family, a once-respected noble house known for their vineyards.
Beatrice laid a set of clothes on his bed, then turned to the door.
"I've set your clothes, young master. Call me when you're done."
"Sure, Beatrice." He moved toward the clothes as she quietly left the room.
Ji Hoon looked at the outfit; its design old-fashioned compared to the modern styles he once knew. The fabric seemed heavy, nothing like the comfortable clothes from his world.
He tried each piece, holding them in front of the mirror, and finally chose the one that looked easiest to wear.
After changing his clothes, he stepped out into the garden of the mansion he was staying in.
"You should really try to rest more, young master," Beatrice said, worry written across her face.
"It's fine. I just feel bored being stuck inside all day," he replied, staring at the air in front of him. Yet his eyes weren't really on the garden—they were fixed on something else, a translucent window floating before him.
When he first saw it, he tried to ask Beatrice what it was, but she didn't seem to see it. When he tried to read the contents on it, he realized.
The angel who had given him a second life had also given him skills—three of them, to be exact. The angel allowed Ji Hoon to choose from countless list.
He had seen many other skills, but they were either useless or absurdly overpowered. It wasn't like he was a hero fighting demons or dragons—he didn't need them. But these three skills caught his eye, so he chose them.
The status window displayed the list of his new abilities.
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Status Window
Name: Lee Ji Hoon (Reborn as Cassian Ahn)
Race: Human
Age: 19
Class: Noble
Attributes [description read more]
Skills [description read more]
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He focused on the skills section and clicked "more" with his mind. A list of skills appeared before him.
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Skills:
Use: Can inspect and check any quality of living or non-living things for the user, such as temperature, stats, HP, MP and any quality that can be described.
Limitations: Cannot alter anything, only observe and describe.
Cooldown: None.
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Ji Hoon smiled at the first skill he chose. No chef valued more than a good ingredient this will really be useful. He continued scrolling.
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Use: An inter-dimensional storage. No time passes within the space. To retrieve items, say the chant [retrieve].
Limitations: Cannot alter contents.
Cooldown: 1 hour before the next storage cycle. If the stored item is under 10 cubic meters, cooldown reduces to 10 minutes.
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'No time passes, huh?' he thought. 'That would be useful. I don't have a refrigerator here, but I can store prepared ingredients without worrying about spoilage. There's no packaged food in this world, so this will save me. The cooldown is nice too.'
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Use: Can alter the properties of a substance with two tiers:
Tier 1: Manipulation → Change the physical or chemical state (boiling, freezing, coagulating, fermenting, crystallizing, etc.).
Cooldown: 20sec.
Tier 2: Transmutation → Combine or separate substances (requires ingredients: wild herbs + alchemy + alcohol = healing potion).
Cooldown:10min.
Limitations: Cannot create ingredients from nothing. Costs mana/stamina for extended use.
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This last skill was the most important, and he realized just how much he could accomplish with it. Lost in thought, he didn't notice the tree ahead.
"Young master!"
Bang! He ran straight into it and fell.
"Young master, are you okay?" Beatrice rushed to help him up.
"I'm fine, just lost in thought," he chuckled, rubbing his head.
"Jeez, you should be more careful, especially since you were just healed."
Ji Hoon tried to shrug it off, but then he noticed that besides Beatrice another girl wearing knight's armor that looked from the old times, following him. He pointed at her and asked.
"Who is she?"
"Oh, she's Lady Adrine, your personal guard starting today," Beatrice explained.
The woman nodded silently. She didn't seem like the talking type. Ji Hoon glanced at Beatrice, curious why he even needed a guard. Understanding, she continued,
"After the abduction, the Lady wanted you protected before departing."
That's another thing Beatrice explained to him, apparently the original Cassian Ahn had been kidnapped, and by the time his mother, the head of the Ahn family, Viscountess Yuhwa, and Beatrice arrived, he was near death.
It was a miracle he survived. Technically, he had died, but no one would know.
After he was stabilized, Lady Yuhwa had to leave for a royal banquet, from the Emperor, which was why he hadn't seen her since waking.
He continued strolling through the garden, bored. This world had nothing.
No movies. No TV. No internet.
There were books, but he couldn't read the language. He had spent all of yesterday just sitting.
Still, he had another life—a second chance. He had reincarnated into the body of a noble, even if a fallen one.
It could have been worse; he could have been homeless.
But even with everything, he still missed home. He had been an orphan in his past life, but he had friends and a passion: food. In his past life, he had been a world-renowned chef specializing in pastries, that's when he realized.
"Baking!" he exclaimed aloud without thinking.
"What's that?" Beatrice asked.
"Oh, n-nothing… actually," he stammered. "Do you guys have a pâtissier around here?"
"A pet sir?" Beatrice asked, confused by the foreign word. The knight seemed lost too.
Ji Hoon realized the term didn't exist in this world, so he clarified,
"Oh, you know, someone who makes cakes… um, sweet breads!"
Beatrice finally understood. "Oh, we have one, but he's on leave visiting his family. Are you craving something sweet, Young Master?"
That was better. He could do it himself, allowing him to get distracted and beat boredom at the same time, a win-win.
He was craving some cold Panna Cotta. But would the ingredients be here?
"Beatrice," he called, startling the maid who was looking at the ground.
"Yes?"
"We're going shopping."
"Yes! Yes…?" she asked, confused.
Ji Hoon couldn't stop smiling. Finally, he could do what he loved most.