Born without a surname or a roof over him, he lived a rough life on the streets.
After growing up while learning to cook for others from a young age to survive and earn a living, he set out into a vaster world at seventeen.
His companion was his skill to cook food that kept him alive and fed, and his determination to live his life as he crossed all hurdles that society threw at him.
He was a wanderer with no home, no country, nor any relatives to his name, but his passion to cook gradually made him famous throughout the world.
Ainen Chef.
The world's most famous chef, having been said to have travelled most of the world and learning their cuisines.
Ainen's Diner.
The world's most famous restaurant, always on wheels and wings.
After he got famous for these dishes and acquired both fame and money, he formed an idea to give back to people in need using his means.
His strategy to cook, live his life leisurely, and earn a lot of money was simple.
USA, Los Angeles.
"Ainen's Diner is landing in LA after two days! Let's fucking go!"
"I wonder what his new menu is this time?"
"How many seats and hours is he doing this time?! I have to book a ticket!"
In just five days, Ainen's Diner website sold over ten million tickets.
From beggars to senators, all bought a ticket.
Price of the ticket, 1$.
On this one-week tour of Ainen's Diner, Ainen would randomly pick twenty people every day from the people who bought the ticket and feed them his special dishes made from his mastery of the world's cuisines.
As such, anybody could get a chance to eat otherworldly delicious food made by Ainen.
Ten million tickets meant ten million dollars, which was too much for him.
He would keep just enough money for him to travel and normal expenses, while directly donating the rest of the money to those in need.
He had even built a whole community called Star Reaching Society, where people could live and study. So far, he had built three Star Reaching Societies across the world in three different countries, and he planned to make more.
His only requirement for entering the community was having no religious ties to any religion. No political stances. All he required from people was belief in themselves and hard work for the betterment of themselves and their families.
…
As Ainen finished his event in Los Angeles with the last day concluding, he sat at a bench in the garden, looking at the night sky alone, in peace.
Suddenly, he saw a shooting star and was surprised.
Closing his eyes, a smile curved on his lips as he made a wish. 'I hope to make many more people happy…and see the world at its true peace.'
And in the next moment, everything went dark.
When Ainen opened his eyes, he found himself in a cavern with ugly green creatures standing on two legs and holding clubs, gathering several meters away.
His mouth was covered, and his limbs were tied.
'W-what's going on?!'
[ System Activated: Limitless Chef ]
[ Compatibility: 10000000069% ]
'Huh?' Ainen saw that 69 at the end, and the absurdity of it made him calm down somehow.
[ Loading…10%…20%…]
Ainen looked around. There were other people beside him, gagged and tied.
The thing that startled him was that this was clearly not his body.
His legs and arms were thinner and smaller.
And his current long crimson hair bangs were all too different from his black hair.
'This pain…and the clarity of this situation…Yeah, I am not dreaming. Did I arrive in someone's body?'
He looked at the goblins speaking in gibberish that he couldn't understand.
'Goblins…so I arrived in another world, in someone else's body.'
[ System bound with the soul. Congratulations, Ainen. May you cook limitlessly. ]
'And someone sent me here. After all, something like this can't be a natural occurance.' Ainen internally frowned. 'I was making a wish to a star and suddenly arrived here…'
'Absurd.'
Suddenly, another screen appeared in his mind. A bit bigger this time.
[ Main Quest: Starting the Career ]
- Objective:
—> Feed 100 people with your cooked food.
- Reward:
—> 10,000 Cook Points.
—> Awakening: Mystic Chef.
—> Interdimensional Restaurant.
[ Side Quest: Survive (1) ]
- Objective:
—> Survive for one day.
- Reward:
—> 1000 Cook Points.
—> Random Skill Box.
'This…'
Ainen was startled. 'Am I in a game?'
'No…but this is like a game except that there's a chance I die for real because that quest is clearly pushing me to survive for one day.'
'Does that mean there's a chance I could die today?'
But surviving was something he had been doing since he was born.
He could see something more on the screen in the corner. It was his own name in a tab there [ Ainen Chef ]
Suddenly, the name moved to the center and expanded.
[Ainen Chef]
-Level: 1
-Innate Talent:
—> I Cook Limitlessly.
-Stats:
—> Vitality: 7
—> Strength: 9
—> Stamina: 8
—> Agility: 11
—> Cognition: 11
—> Arcane: 9
—> Mana: 10
-Skills:
—> Fire Manipulation (S)
'So I have an innate talent and a skill already, but that talent…' Ainen wryly smiled. 'I Cook Limitlessly?'
'Putting that aside, if I can use fire manipulation…'
Ainen closed his eyes. 'How do I use it?'
'Hmm? This…' Ainen could feel and see something after he closed his eyes.
But it only appeared briefly.
He focused, and indeed, it appeared.
Instead of darkness when closing his eyes, he could see a strange, vein-like pattern on a humanoid figure. The vein-like patterns flowed with dreamy blue energy.
'Could this be magic? Mana?'
He saw Arcane in his status, and Arcane usually meant magic.
Ainen's Cognition was above average, which also helped him grasp the existence of magic in his body.
He also saw a fiery thing with eccentric patterns on top of this humanoid figure.
Suddenly, his entire body lit up with flames.
'What?! No, no!'
He didn't feel any pain, but this mistake attracted goblins.
He calmed down the flames, but when he opened his eyes, the bunch of goblins were already standing in front of him.
"$&#&&…"
"$#&&$?"
"#&&$%, #&$&$ #&!!"
They were speaking gibberish, and he couldn't understand.
'Damn it. What's going to happen to me now? Should I risk it all and burst out with flames and escape?'
However, he couldn't even see the exit. He didn't know how many goblins were there. He was deep within a cavern, and trying to escape right now would likely result in his death.
'What the hell are they talking about?'
Suddenly, one of the bigger goblins grabbed his right leg.
'Wha-'
And started dragging him.