It took Logan fourteen minutes to finish the hundred sit-ups.
By the end, a dull soreness had settled deep in his abs. A quiet testament to the effort, even with his enhanced stats.
The push-ups followed. Twelve minutes and he was done.
He rose, dusted off his clothes, and draped his shirt over his shoulder as he walked away.
A few women fixed their gazes on him, hovering on the edge of approaching. None of them moved first. Each waiting, not wanting to draw the attention of the others.
Logan didn't notice. Or rather, he didn't care.
There was only one woman on his mind right now. Evelyn.
He quickened his pace at the thought of her and within moments had returned to their room.
He stepped inside and glanced around. No sign of her.
'Is she still sleeping?' He moved quietly through the room.
As he'd guessed, Evelyn was still asleep, her breathing slow and undisturbed.
His gaze lingered on her for a moment, drinking in the sight, before he turned and stepped into the bathroom.
He came out a few minutes later with a towel wrapped at his waist, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and stood there considering what to do next.
'Should I cook her a meal? No one's ever done that for her. She should appreciate the gesture...'
The thought settled easily. For this woman he intended to conquer, he was willing to do quite a lot.
'Alright... let's do this.'
[Master, do you wish to purchase a high-grade food recipe? I promise you won't be disappointed!]
Astra had caught the thought before he'd even finished having it.
'Hmmm...' He deliberated briefly, then agreed. 'How many system points do you need?'
[Ten.]
'Ten? For a single food recipe?' He couldn't help the frown that followed. 'Astra, are you trying to rip me off?'
[No, Master. That is truly the price. I promise it will be worth it!]
He hesitated, then exhaled. 'If it isn't worth it...'
[Trust me, Master!]
He decided to.
Ten system points quietly vanished. Then a wave of information crashed into his mind.
He had always been a decent cook. Competent, reliable. But nothing that would turn heads. What poured into him now was something else entirely — the precise technique for searing meat to that perfect balance of crust and tenderness, the exact method for building a stew that lingered on the tongue long after the last spoonful, countless combinations and ratios and timings stacked on top of each other in layered, immaculate detail.
The sheer volume of it nearly gave him a headache.
But when it settled...
'This...' Logan exhaled slowly, something close to awe moving through him. 'This...'
It wasn't just good knowledge. A fraction of what now lived in his mind would be enough to elevate a person to the level of a master chef. The full depth of it was something else entirely. Something that felt almost priceless.
He could almost picture the smug look on Astra's face. If she had one.
'It's almost as if I'm the one ripping you off,' he chuckled quietly to himself.
Astra said nothing.
Logan nodded to himself, confidence settled, and moved to the kitchen.
The kitchen was well stocked. High-end hotels of this caliber tended to keep their pantries thorough, and this one was no different.
He browsed the ingredients and pulled a cut of meat from the fridge. The unit ran on origin energy, built with a technology that preserved meat in a state close to freshly bought — no change in flavor, no degradation — for up to seven days. The restaurant cycled the stock every six days, so there was no risk of eating anything past its prime.
He set the meat aside and gathered everything else he needed.
Then he picked up the knife.
His movements were sharp and deliberate, slicing through the ingredients with a rhythm that looked almost effortless. In barely two minutes, everything was prepped.
He turned on the gas, adjusted the heat to precisely where it needed to be, poured the oil, and waited. When it was ready, he added the ingredients one after the other with calm, unhurried precision.
Time passed. Logan moved through the kitchen with quiet focus — caramelizing the onions low and slow, searing the meat until the crust formed exactly right. In under an hour, the meal was done.
The fragrance drifted out of the kitchen, warm and layered, and moved through the hotel room.
Evelyn's nose twitched.
Her brows creased. Then her eyes opened.
She stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for a moment before fragments of the previous day surfaced — her husband, the loss, the strange youth who had ended up sharing this room with her. She exhaled slowly, the weight of it settling across her chest.
She turned to check the other side of the room. The mysterious youth was gone.
'Where did he go?' She sat up slightly, scanning the room with a small frown.
Then the scent reached her again, closer now, more distinct. Her stomach answered before she could think about it — a quiet, insistent rumble.
With her origin path sealed and her cultivation locked away, she was no different from an ordinary person. She hadn't eaten since yesterday. The hunger was becoming hard to ignore.
'I need to eat something...' she murmured, and pushed herself off the bed.
A flash of light, and her nightgown dissolved, replaced by a light brown shirt that traced the lines of her figure, hugging her curves and cinching neatly behind her. She ran a hand through her hair, stretched once, and followed the scent.
It grew stronger as she neared the kitchen, pulling at her in a way that was almost involuntary. She pushed the door open.
A slightly startled expression crossed her face.
She almost didn't recognize him.
'What happened? How did he become so handsome overnight?'
Logan had already been handsome before. But a charm stat increase of ten was nearly double what he'd had — and where most people's charm capped at ten, Logan's ceiling sat at twice that. The shift in him was visible in a way that was difficult to look away from, and the reactions he'd been drawing all morning made more sense for it.
A smile touched Logan's lips as the door swung open and Evelyn's figure filled the frame.
"You're finally awake," he said lightly. "I made breakfast. Are you hungry?"
Evelyn recovered herself quickly. The surprise had been real, but it didn't mean anything. He had changed, yes. She still felt nothing.
Her gaze dropped to the plate on the counter. The presentation was clean and precise — elegant, even. She glanced back at Logan, checking again that he was the one who had made it.
Her stomach rumbled.
She managed a small, reluctant smile and finally nodded. "Yeah, I am."