Chapter 15

It looked like another piece of black technology incorporating materials from the Ancient Wilderness.

After a brief moment of curiosity, she channeled energy to strengthen her palm and pushed forward.

Under everyone's burning gazes, the device lit up green and displayed a number: 150.

An amplification strength of 150%!

After a brief silence.

Louisa was the first to recover. Her earlier casualness vanished as she abruptly leaned toward Wen Jing and asked in delighted surprise, "What's your name?"

Meanwhile, the taut string in everyone else's hearts snapped at that very moment.

Was this a joke?!

Was this the kind of progress someone could make on their first attempt at learning energy amplification? Then what did all their repeated attempts at the course amount to? Having too much time on their hands?

At that moment, every student present experienced what the students on School District Planet had once felt.

Chapter 15

How could this happen...

This wasn't like the various combat techniques they had learned before awakening. This involved an awakener's control over energy. Wasn't comprehension supposed to be faster the stronger one's potential was?

Wen Jing was an F-rank, a mere F-rank!

Why had she managed to reach this level?!

With such a terrifying speed of comprehension, she would have been a genius who left everyone in the dust even at Mystic Radiance Academy, which only admitted awakeners of C-rank and above.

The conglomerate scions who had never really understood Wen Jing's reputation as a genius suffered an unprecedented shock to their understanding during this class.

If her potential had been A-rank like Luosi's, they would actually have found it easier to accept.

Instructor Louisa was equally surprised to learn that Wen Jing was F-rank. It felt like finding a precious orchid in a crop of chives.

After asking her name, she firmly committed this student to memory. The way she looked at Wen Jing was now completely different from how she looked at the others.

After a single elective class, an entire class of students had been left with wavering Dao hearts.

In contrast, Wen Jing returned with a bountiful haul.

Not only had she learned an awakener's secret technique, but once she mastered the Energy Amplification Method, she would also receive skill points she could use to evolve her Wilderness Body.

In her experience, among all skills, those that directly increased her strength awarded the most skill points upon being learned.

For example, she had only gained one skill point from "molecular gastronomy," while the basic combat techniques and basic movement techniques she had learned at school were divided into three stages: "mastery, proficiency, and perfection." The higher the level, the more skill points she gained.

Evolving her Gravity Silk Gland last time had used up all her saved points. To prepare for her next entry into the Ancient Wilderness, now was precisely when she needed to earn skill points. The more, the better.

Of course, besides earning skill points, Wen Jing also needed to earn credits. She still had a five-million-credit life loan to repay.

Looking at that month's repayment reminder in her inbox, she couldn't help complaining:

"How realistic. That loan manager hinted before that we could discuss waiving my loan after I awakened, but once they found out my Wilderness Body was F-rank, they just acted like nothing had happened?"

Naturally, conglomerates were also behind the population factories. If her potential after awakening had been high enough, once they received the news, they would probably have used the loan to entice her into signing a contract.

That night, Wen Jing continued studying the Energy Amplification Method, advancing her proficiency by another 1%.

The night passed uneventfully. Early the next morning, she left her dormitory and followed the navigation directions to a restaurant inside the academy.

Restaurants that could operate inside the academy all looked grand and upscale. This one, for instance, looked as though it had been made from a gigantic crystal split down the middle. Its exterior was stone, but once she stepped inside, the walls were covered in exquisite crystal clusters.

As Wen Jing stepped through the entrance, a server immediately came over to greet her.

"Wel~come to the Deep Space Vortex! How many in your party? Do you have a reservation?"

"I'm here to apply for a job. I made an appointment."

Using her smart terminal, Wen Jing had filtered suitable jobs located at the awakener academy on a recruitment website. After looking through them, she had chosen this restaurant.

The server wasn't an awakener. Seeing Wen Jing's school uniform, he immediately looked surprised, clearly not having expected an awakener to come apply for a job.

But he quickly recovered. "This way, please. I'll take you to see our restaurant manager."

The server brought Wen Jing to a reception room. Having received word of her arrival, the restaurant manager greeted her warmly and ushered her inside for a detailed discussion.

Not long after she sat down, a tall, burly man in a chef's uniform also entered.

The restaurant manager introduced him. "This is our head chef, Master Zhang."

"Hello." Master Zhang greeted her somewhat nervously.

The scene was rather comical. Wen Jing looked less like the applicant and more like the interviewer.

Of course, if she hadn't been an awakener, the situation would never have been like this.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the restaurant manager asked the question she was most curious about. "May I ask why you've come to apply for a position as one of our chefs?"

As an upscale restaurant inside the awakener academy, it naturally demanded a very high level of professional competence from its staff. If they hadn't seen that the applicant was an awakener, Wen Jing's résumé of part-time work at a School District Planet cafeteria wouldn't even have passed the initial screening.

But this was an awakener. Although their wages were high by ordinary people's standards, awakeners had plenty of ways to make money. Why would she be interested?

Wen Jing's expression immediately turned serious as she answered, "I have aspirations in the culinary arts."

She aspired to the skill points they brought.

"I read your job advertisement. It mentioned that some of your dishes use nonsynthetic ingredients. I've only made premade food before, and I'd really like to learn this kind of cooking." Wen Jing paused, then added sincerely, "I'm a very fast learner. I can learn while I work."

Her words made both the restaurant manager and Master Zhang shudder and fill with respect:

An awakener with a culinary dream! How rare!

Neither of them doubted her in the slightest. If not for a dream, what awakener would come work as a chef?

At that point, never mind Master Zhang, who was hiring a kitchen assistant-even the restaurant manager couldn't help looking deeply moved.

"Then shall I take you to the kitchen for a trial?"

The restaurant manager had already made up her mind, but hiring a chef without even having them enter the kitchen would be going a little too far.

Wen Jing readily agreed, and the three of them went to the restaurant's kitchen together.

"Let's do a flower carving," Master Zhang said after some thought.

Wen Jing had already said she had no experience preparing nonsynthetic food, so he hadn't chosen a dish that required heat, to avoid wasting ingredients.

Seeing the restaurant manager nod in agreement, Master Zhang walked over to a large freezer beside them, completed a retinal scan, and opened its thick freshness-preserving door.

Finally, he carefully lifted out... a white radish.

The corner of Wen Jing's eye twitched.

This world had moved away from agriculture. The vast majority of food was molecularly synthesized. Ingredients like this, manually sown and grown, could already be classified as "horticulture" and were considered ultra-premium ingredients.

This single white radish cost several thousand credits. Once prepared, a serving would sell for over ten thousand.

"I'll demonstrate once."

Master Zhang measured out a few cuts over the radish, chose an angle, and sliced it in half. Then he picked up one half and concentrated on carving it, only offering Wen Jing a sentence or two of explanation during pauses.

"Shaping is the most important part of flower carving. You need to follow the fibers inside the radish and carve without damaging them..."

He wouldn't have done this for another applicant. Teaching an awakener now gave Master Zhang a great sense of accomplishment.

Wen Jing didn't look down on him for being an ordinary person. She studied just as seriously as she had in her elective class, nodding from time to time.

Before long, a delicate, pure-white radish flower emerged in Master Zhang's hands.

It was highly artistic, exquisite and beautiful.

After carefully examining the finished piece once more, Wen Jing picked up the remaining half of the radish.

The two beside her watched her hands intently.

Wen Jing examined the piece of radish in her hand. Then her knife descended cleanly, without hesitation or uncertainty.

The moment he saw the first cut and the piece of peel it removed, Master Zhang's tightly knitted brows lifted.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Pieces of shaved radish peel fell onto the plate below, and a radish flower similar in style to Master Zhang's but different in shape blossomed in Wen Jing's hands.

She had already been capable of this before awakening. With her improved muscle control after awakening, it was even easier. On her first attempt, she reached the level Master Zhang had spent years practicing to attain.

But having this ability alone was useless. She also needed an environment where she could raise her proficiency.

[Mastered "Cooking → Knife skills." Skill points +1]

Unlike "molecular gastronomy," after gaining a skill point, Wen Jing discovered that knife skills could be improved again, with a further "proficiency" level.

"You're so talented! You're hired!" The restaurant manager's applause rang out in the kitchen.

Master Zhang also raised his hands and slowly clapped, feeling both moved and bitter. So this was an awakener... Physical advantages alone could make up for skills that required talent and hard practice from most ordinary people. Add talent on top of that, and it was simply enough to make someone despair.

With the part-time job officially settled, the restaurant manager thought for a moment, then led Wen Jing to a separate freshness-preserving cabinet.

Together with Master Zhang, she unlocked two layers of locks before pulling the cabinet halfway open, revealing an unidentified, palm-sized piece of meat placed right in its center.

"Having seen your skills, I hope we can entrust you with preparing this special ingredient when the time comes."

"This is..."

Wen Jing's expression changed. She sensed energy fluctuations from the piece of meat, and even from a distance, she instinctively felt a surge of hunger and thirst.

No other food, synthesized or nonsynthesized, had ever given her this feeling.

The restaurant manager nodded. "Yes, this is a piece of Wilderness Beast meat."