Chef in the Apocalypse

While Jayce laid down, wallowing in his self-loathing, his body began to feel a warmth envelop it, startling him greatly. He sat up quickly, trying to calm his heart, he didn’t want to gain false hope.

The point which he had breached felt like it was burning, sending waves of pain to his brain. Jayce grit his teeth, sending his senses inside of his meridians in order to find out what was going on.

His eyes fell upon the breach that was flashing with an orange color. Every time it flashed he felt an intense heat and sharp pain prick his body. He could do nothing but just watch as whatever was happening to his body sorted itself out.

After a few minutes of constant pain, his meridians began to tremble. Jayce looked around with confusion and a sense of dread.

"What the hell is happening now?" he muttered, focusing his eyes back on the flashing light.

Suddenly, the breach began to spew out yellow substance. Like a tidal wave, the yellow substance flooded his meridians, crashing upon them and taking the least path of resistance.

He watched in shock as he saw the meridians expand and contract upon contact, trying to house the new substance that had entered it. Jayce reached out with his will, trying to understand what this thing was that had entered his body.

The moment his will came into contact with it, it stopped in place as if awaiting an order from its master.

"What the hell is this?"

As if to answer his question, a few notifications popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations, your Mana Circulation has increased to level 2.]

[Error... Please wait.]

[User does not have mana.]

[You have received the status Mana Poisoning. You can no longer regenerate mana]

[Error...Sending feedback]

[Please disregard.]

Jayce read the notifications with a stupefied expression. Once again the system had begun to go haywire, even attempting to send feedback once again before giving up.

He quickly opened up his status window to check some things.

Name:

Jayce

Title:

N/A

Class:

Executive Chef

Subclass:

N/A

Level:

67

EXP:

5200/5200

Health

5920/5920

Mana:

0/2640

Strength:

182 (+106)

Dexterity:

232 (+98)

Intelligence:

182 (+85)

Vitality:

232 (+117)

Luck:

206

Stat Points:

104

"No mana... So what is this thing inside my meridians then?" Jayce questioned, his emotions in turmoil.

He closed the status window, returning his senses back into his meridians. The yellow substance was now circulating just as his mana did, only faster.

His attention moved to the breach which was the cause of these changes. It had now turned into something of a pump, with the substance going in from one side of the hole and coming out of the other.

"Just what is that thing?" Jayce decided to investigate. This thing could either be a great boon for his strength, or a ticking time bomb, but he would never find out if he just left it be.

He cautiously moved through the hole, and was shocked by what he saw. Inside was a spinning vortex of the yellow substance which was now pumping through his meridians.

It was almost as if it was the heart of his meridians.

Jayce thought for a moment before getting an idea. He wanted to see if this was something that he could freely control, or if it was its own entity. He willed it to spin faster, paying close attention to the vortex.

In a matter of moments the swirling vortex began to speed up significantly, causing his body to begin to heat up at a rapid pace. He felt as if someone had dumped a whole lot of adrenaline into his system.

Yet his body seemed to be brimming with power, almost as much as when he activated his skill Dinner Rush. He quickly willed it to go back to normal before taking back his senses to the outside world.

Jayce sat on his bed in silence for a while, wracking his brain to find out what could possibly have happened to him. He knew that if he continued pioneering this kind of strength that there would be things he wouldn’t understand, but something felt a little familiar.

He felt like it was at the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn’t reach out to grab it. Such a feeling was maddening, causing him to almost tear his hair out in annoyance.

"Calm down, maybe it’ll come to me if I meditate." Calming his breath, Jayce crossed his legs and entered the lotus pose.

"Ah!" Before he had even begun his meditation, a flash of inspiration had touched him.

"Dantian! Hahaha, no way!" Jayce quickly jumped off the bed, his face full of wonder.

Like a lot of Chinese kids, he used to read cultivation novels. They provided a great source of entertainment and in Jayce’s case a welcome distraction from what his life had become.

He was so invested in them at one point, that he began to research martial arts like Kung Fu and Tai Chi which was said to use Inner Qi. All in hopes of escaping reality.

The history of these martial arts were long, yet Jayce had found no evidence of anyone who practiced them to be able to utilize this Qi. Thus, he quickly lost interest in trying to practice these himself.

However, what if the yellow substance within his meridians was actually Inner Qi, or spiritual Qi? Was that why his Dantian drained all his mana, only waiting until he had mana poisoning in order to refill it?

All of the theories in the world would not change his current situation, therefore he decided to put it to the test. Seeing if it was possible to use his new "Qi" to perform skills and abilities.

Jayce held his right hand out and attempted to activate his Exploding Fireball skill, yet nothing happened.

[Not enough Mana]

[Not enough Mana]

"Hmm... Just like I thought."

There was only one other thing that he could try, otherwise he might have just made the biggest mistake of his life.