Chef in the Apocalypse

"What is this?"

Jayce pulled out the inconspicuous book which did not have a title on the spine. The leather cover was worn, like it had been smuggled or just not treated well in general. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

He took a deep breath and opened the cover, his eyes widening as he read the first sentence aloud.

"Earth’s final hope, I pray this reaches you in time."

This was it. This was the book he was looking for!

Calming down the beating of his heart, Jayce focused and continued to read on.

"I don’t have much time to explain everything, but if you are currently reading this then it means we have failed to protect the Earth, at least in the most direct way.

However, all is not lost. If this book finds you, it means that we have succeeded in sealing the Earth’s core and forcing the world to regress back into a Mortal Plain.

Perhaps this is a little hard for you to fathom, but please try and comprehend. As an Evolved world, Earth can contain cultivators of the foundation level and above. It’s entire structure has changed and is attuned with the Heavens.

But when we seal the Earth’s Core, it should lose this connection with the Heavens, forcing it to devolve back into a Mortal Plain. So while the Earth would no longer receive the benefits from the heavens, it would also make it impossible for cultivators to remain, eradicating them through tribulation lightning. At least that is the plan...

Considering you are reading this, it looks like we have succeeded. Although I don’t know how many of us will survive the battle, just know that you have fellow humans awaiting the revival of our beautiful world.

While I can not say what kind of hardships you will have to endure, we have pooled some resources that will hopefully make things easier for you. Cultivation manuals, Martial Arts techniques, Battle Formations, Arrays, Pill furnaces and recipes, these will all be at your disposal to do with what you wish.

All we ask is that you do your utmost to protect the world for long enough so that it can evolve. Once that happens, we will appear at the final moment and secure victory, returning back to where we belong.

You will be hailed as the Earth’s Savior should you succeed.

I know this is an unfair burden we have placed upon your shoulders, but I hope that in time you will forgive us. Seeing as you have received this book, it means that at least one of us brothers trust you, which is good enough for me.

I can’t go into details on who has reduced the Earth to this state, but I can give you some advice... Only trust in your own Qi Cultivation and Comprehension of the Laws, all other power is owned by the enemy.

I pray that we will meet in the future.

Signed, General Raze."

Jayce exhaled the breath which he had been holding for what felt like an eternity. He was so engrossed in the letter that the surroundings had faded away. It was almost as if he could hear the man’s voice narrating the letter within his mind.

His eyes stopped on the signature of the General, feeling a wave of awe overcome him. The brush strokes were like sword slashes; filled with a majestic aura that spoke of great confidence and strength.

For some reason, he felt as if the aura matched the golden haired General who had appeared from within the fissure and shouted those domineering words at all on the battlefield.

The contents of the letter mostly filled the blank pieces which he had been missing, making it easier to put together the puzzle of the vision he had encountered.

The losing battle, the sealing of the Earth’s core and the Heavenly Tribulation which attacked those who were cultivators. These were all explicitly stated with cause and effect within the note.

It seemed like the only thing that was missing was the identity of the beings who had invaded the Earth, and the reason why they had done so.

Jayce couldn’t say that he wasn’t a little upset that this information was not included, however he understood in the end. By the sounds of it, the plan of sealing the Earth’s core and regressing it back to a Mortal Plain was in fact a back-up plan.

In fact, the act of sealing the Earth’s Core was probably an unprecedented gamble in itself. Perhaps they did not know if it would work as they had theorized.

After all, If that was an option from the beginning, why not do so in the first place and avoid all of the bloodshed?

There was also the warning of only trusting one’s own Qi and comprehension of the Laws. The first thing that came to his mind was the system, which would definitely not count as his own power.

Which meant that the system was most likely owned by Earth’s enemies, whoever they may be. His mind turned to the three mysterious beings that sat upon the thrones. The one’s who had interfered time and time again.

Suddenly he began to feel a fire burning from within him. Although it was a lot of pressure to bear, he had been bearing it ever since he regressed from his past life.

However, this time it felt different. It was almost as if there were others who were helping him to carry this burden, their faces hidden within the darkness.

"Don’t you worry General... Even if you hadn’t asked me, I’ve got too much to protect in this world to let it be overrun by those assholes."

Jayce let out a dry chuckle as he made this declaration, his eyes narrowing.

Just as he was about to put the book down, he suddenly realized that the note was written only on the first page, yet the book still had some more. He quickly turned the page and looked at the contents.

"This is my family’s Divine Body Arts. Due to the amount of pain you will have to endure throughout its training, please think twice before choosing to continue."

"Holy shit..."