Save Where You Can, Spend Where You Must

In this era where everyone practices martial arts, if there is one best thing to say about it, it would probably be the life of a wage earner. As for why? Well, naturally, there is no fear of the boss withholding wages.

Everyone possesses some level of strength; if someone dares to withhold wages, you could beat them up in a heartbeat. Generally speaking, most people wouldn't try to cheat others over such a small amount of money.

After Li Yu finished purchasing ingredients at the vegetable market, he returned to the apartment with Asuna. Asuna first went back to her own place to put her things away before coming back down.

He took this opportunity to contact his previous landlord to inform him that he had already moved out, telling him to go and inspect the place himself, as he had already left.

The landlord on the other end didn't say much, indicating he would go over to inspect it later before hanging up. Having handled that, Li Yu began to cook.

Asuna came down shortly after. Seeing Li Yu already busy in the kitchen, she hurriedly stepped forward to help. The two of them began preparing dinner in Li Yu's home just like that.

In reality, it was mostly Asuna asking Li Yu for advice on cooking techniques. In a short amount of time, Asuna had learned quite a lot.

Before long, Li Yu's dinner was ready. Li Yu called Asuna over to start eating. Looking at the potato-stewed brisket Li Yu had made, Asuna's eyes lit up.

"It smells so good! It looks delicious!" When the pot was opened, Asuna was hit by the wafting aroma.

Sure enough, Li Yu's culinary skills were excellent. Possessing such talent, learning how to cook was simply too easy for him, wasn't it?

"Of course it's delicious, eat plenty later." Li Yu chuckled. He handed a bowl of rice to Asuna and sat down in his own seat.

Asuna didn't stand on ceremony; she picked up her chopsticks and started eating. She picked up a piece of brisket and put it in her mouth. The meat was stewed to perfection, falling apart with a gentle chew.

A rich fragrance spread through her mouth, making Asuna's eyes shine even brighter. The way she looked at Li Yu now was filled with even more envy.

"Honestly, I'm so envious of your talent. Whatever you want to learn, you get it the moment you try." Asuna chatted with Li Yu while eating.

Facing Asuna's envy, Li Yu said with a straight face, "Since I possess this talent, perhaps I have some grand mission? Right!"

Asuna laughed at this. Perhaps? Who could say for sure? The two chatted while eating the delicious food; actually, things like this were quite nice.

You treat me to a meal, I treat you to a meal—Asuna felt it was quite pleasant. Although she had only known Li Yu for two or three days, she felt great getting along with him.

This time, Asuna ate more than usual, mainly because the food Li Yu made was too delicious. After the meal, Asuna took the initiative to help clean up.

"I'll come over to mooch a meal again next time, don't you dare refuse~!" After helping Li Yu clear the table, Asuna couldn't help but crack a joke.

Hearing this, Li Yu nodded and said with a smile, "No problem. If you want to eat, you can come down anytime. We live close by now, anyway!"

That was no issue at all. As long as Asuna was willing, Li Yu naturally wouldn't mind. Who wouldn't be happy to have a pretty girl eating with them?

"Mm, I'll prepare the ingredients then, and you do the cooking!" Seeing that Li Yu actually agreed, Asuna began to seriously consider the feasibility of this arrangement.

Of course, she couldn't just eat and drink for free at Li Yu's place. She would buy the ingredients from now on; that way, she wouldn't have any psychological burden.

Li Yu provides the skill, she provides the ingredients—simply perfect. Thinking about being able to eat Li Yu's cooking every now and then, Asuna felt wonderful.

After chatting with Li Yu for a while, Asuna checked the time and bid him farewell. It was time for her to go back, wash up, and start meditating.

"I'm heading upstairs then. You go ahead and do your thing." Asuna waved at Li Yu, then opened the door and walked out.

"See you later, then." Li Yu stood up to see Asuna out. After saying goodbye, he locked the door and went to wash up.

By the time he came out of the bathroom, there was a new message on Li Yu's phone. The landlord had already returned the deposit, so that matter was completely resolved.

After accepting the transfer, Li Yu began searching for the information he needed on his phone, downloading knowledge related to potions.

Li Yu downloaded numerous books on how to concoct potions and how to extract essence, along with some encyclopedias on medicine.

He downloaded every book he could use. Li Yu checked the word count; altogether, it was nearly a million characters.

If he listened at 2x speed, it would take about 55 hours to finish reading everything? Li Yu calculated briefly, then silently replaced some of the advanced medical books for the time being.

He would just listen to the low-level medicine books tonight. The combinations for advanced drugs could wait; besides, even if he learned them, he probably couldn't produce them yet.

After weeding out the books he didn't need for now, Li Yu checked the word count again. If he started listening now, he would likely finish learning everything by tomorrow.

Confirming there were no issues, Li Yu activated the magic circle in his room, lay on the bed, and started the phone's text-to-speech function.

Soon, Li Yu entered a state of meditation. The magic power within his body increased bit by bit, while the content of the books read by the phone continuously poured into Li Yu's mind.

Meditating while learning new content—if word of this got out, it would probably make quite a few people die of envy. It was simply too convenient.

The night passed without incident. When Li Yu woke up the next day, he wasn't in a hurry to do anything, instead playing on his phone and browsing some news online.

The reading mode had been on the whole time, and it hadn't finished yet. However, it would be faster if he read it himself later; he was confident he could devour all that knowledge before noon.

After scrolling through the news, Li Yu began using reading mode. At the speed Li Yu read novels, he quickly browsed through the knowledge on his phone.

Because of Kenkeiko, Li Yu now possessed a photographic memory. With a single glance, he could memorize the text, and his brain would store it all away.

Li Yu couldn't be bothered to eat breakfast, just staying curled up in bed playing on his phone. By the time he finished reading all the information, it was nearly noon.

"Phew, finally finished!" Li Yu organized the vast knowledge in his mind and let out a long breath. After stretching, he finally got up to wash up.

After tidying himself up, Li Yu couldn't be bothered to cook. Grabbing his keys, he took the elevator downstairs, ready to buy some things to concoct potions himself!