Chef in the Apocalypse

After Leah had finished her story, Jayce decided to leave the two sisters alone for a while, he had seen and heard enough crying for one day. Tony also excused himself, offering to take Jayce around the town for a tour.

Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he agreed. His opinion of Tony had changed after finding out that he had been trying to protects Leah, even after she had been possessed. It was clear that he was loyal and truly cared about her.

Humanity needed these kinds of people in the new world, someone that would be willing to put their lives on the line to protect the one’s they loved.

It was often said that the only thing that could bring Humanity together was a common enemy.

Jayce had found out firsthand that this was not entirely the case. While the weaker people banded together, it was the strong that had risen in power and replaced the old dictators, ruling with an iron fist rather than money and political power.

By the time Humanity had figured out they needed to combine their strength, it was far too late. They had been pushed to the brink, because of the stubbornness and pursuit of power by those on top.

However, Jayce would not let this happen in this life. He had already begun to make his moves, heading up the Human Alliance which aimed to band together and destroy the monsters which now plagued their world.

The only reason he had come so far was thanks to his previous knowledge, but more importantly it was his strength. Would Agni and Tai have been willing to join the Alliance if he was a weakling? The answer was obviously no.

Therefore his most important priority should be to increase him and his parties strength.

Jayce was not weak by any stretch of the imagination, especially at this stage of the new world. However, there was a voice in the back of his head that kept telling him it wasn’t enough. So he began to think of ways that he could improve his strength.

As he walked along deep in thought, Tony found himself in a difficult position. He could tell that the mysterious chef was thinking about some important matters, so he didn’t want to interrupt him unnecessarily.

They ended up walking around the town in silence. By the end of it, Tony was so uncomfortable that he had to resist the urge to fidget.

"Ah!" Suddenly, Jayce’s face lit up and he muttered to himself. "Maybe that could work."

Tony jumped in surprise at the exclamation. "U-Uh, Mr. Jayce, what could work?"

Jayce looked over at him with a serious look of confusion on his face, "What are you doing here?"

"Ah... I was showing you to your quarters I guess?" Tony stood dumbly for a moment, not wanting to tell his guest that they had just walked around the city in silence for no reason because of him.

"Very good. Is the place sturdy?" He asked distractedly.

"Sturdy? Um, I guess so. Why?"

"Nevermind. Please lead the way."

The bearded man did not have good feeling about the question, yet he still did as he was told. He lead Jayce into a medium sized wooden shack which was under the shade of a sturdy tree.

"Please let me know if you need anything else Mr. Jayce" Tony said, bowing slightly.

Before Jayce could answer, Tony quickly scuttered away leaving him alone. "What the hell is with that guy?" he muttered in confusion. However he did not know that Tony was also thinking the same thing as he fled.

In the next moment he shrugged, heading into the modest looking shack. The inside was well maintained, yet looked quaint, featuring old and homely furniture inside. The lounge area was large enough for what he wanted to do, but he still decided to move the cane couches just in case.

With that, he sat down with his legs crossed in the middle of the room and breathed in deeply. He tried to inspect the inside of his body, using his mana as a conduit for his senses.

He had used this technique while using the dispel skill on Leah, so he knew that it was possible. It took a few tries, but eventually he could make out the pathways which his mana traveled, winding alongside his veins and nervous system.

Yet instead of using the already established pathways that his body already had, it was as if he had a new set. ’Hmm... are these meridians?’ Jayce thought inwardly.

He did not see anything like this within Leah’s body, which posed the question, why did his body have these meridians while hers did not?

’Class upgrade...’

His thoughts suddenly went to the class upgrade, or specifically the painful feeling that he had after skipping 3 tiers and rising straight to the 4th tier Executive Chef class. Even while he was experiencing the class upgrade, he thought that his body was being upgraded to a higher life form.

’Could increasing his class tier bring on the formation of his meridian pathways? Does that mean everyone is capable of creating meridians?’

This also begged the question, what use were the meridians? Especially when it was already possible to move mana and cast spells even without it?

Jayce felt his brain begin to fizzle, while he had answered one question, another few took its place making him feel like he was back where he started.

’Maybe I should try circulating the mana like in those cultivation novels? But I don’t have a Dantian...’

Choosing not to think too deeply, he quickly began to circulate his mana throughout his newly discovered pathways. They traveled along his body alongside his nervous system, getting into every nook and cranny.

After about 3 minutes he finally managed to complete a circulation, yet he felt no different.

"Well that was anticlimactic..."

Yet as soon as those words left his mouth, he heard a notification pop up.

[Congratulations, you have acquired Mana Circulation (lvl.1)]