"Finally I have some time to check my stats'' After taking a bath in the small lake in Abyssal, Michael and Gaya cleaned the place. Of course, Gaya protested to clean the place but after Michael agreed to let her sample the dishes in the restaurant he's going to build, she did her part without bitching about it.
Since Michael had no need to cultivate like others, when he returned to the sect, he hit the bed and took a long nap. Gaya went to the forest to practice her archery and hunt some wild boars. She planned to hand over her hunt to Raylene and stuff her belly as usual. He was alone in his room and entered the system the moment he woke up.
System version 2.0
Host: Michael
Cultivation Level: Body Refining stage, level 10
Experience Points: 180000/200000
Badass Points: 78000
Skills & Spells:
Wind Blast - LVL 2
Responsive Shield - LVL 3
Environment Scanning - LVL 2
Ignitia - LVL 1
Lightning Dash - LVL 1
Energy Devouver - LVL 1
Death Range - LVL 2
Techniques: Swords of Destiny - 80% Mastery
Occupation: Core Disciple of Sunrise Sect
The Guardian of Sunrise Sect
Lord Lucifer of the Abyssal
Status: Healthy
Goals: Control the world
Rebuild the Order of Death
Utility Function: Banker - LVL 2 (Ratio - 1000 gold coins: 5 badass point(s))
Wealth: 685,000 Gold
Special Trait: 5-Star Alchemist
Subordinates: Gaya (loyalty level 95%)
Base of Operation: Sunrise Sect
The Abyssal
He almost forgot he checked his stats after taking the pain inducer pill. The pain he felt at that time was the reason for his negligence.
"First things first, system how much I owe you?"
[22,000 badass points, Host!]
"Take it and make me debt-free" he didn't feel upset or bad to see 22,000 badass points fade away in a second but on the contrary, he felt relieved. Now that he's debt-free, he could take another loan if ever needed it.
"Let's do some upgrades, Ignitia" he selected his main offensive spell and stared at the upgrade details. The next upgrade would cost him 8,000 Badass points and after upgrading it, he could fire lightning bolts from both of his hands. Plus, the power of the lightning bolts would double as anyone under Body Strengthening stage level 8 would be severely injured or killed in an instant if they didn't cast a powerful defense spell to defend themselves from the lightning bolts.
"System, upgrade the Ignitia to level 2"
[Good choice host] he was now quite familiar with the system's occasional human-like comments, he watched the badass points drop from 56,000 to 48000 and it was totally worth it as far as he was concerned.
Then he gazed at another one of his main spells, Lightning Dash. Ever since the assassins tracked his moves when he was using the Lightning dash, he wanted to upgrade the spell. Because Lightning Dash enabled him to move extremely faster than his enemies, he utilized this speed to attack his enemies before they could even react or cast a defense spell. After upgrading the Lightning dash to level 2, he could use it with the Ignitia, as usual, to become literally untouchable in a battle.
"System, upgrade it to level 2"
In a flash, another 10,000 Badass points disappeared leaving him with 38,000 Badass points. With these two upgraded spells, anyone under Body Strengthening stage level 8 had no chance of surviving a battle with Michael but he wanted to increase his power further to the point that he wanted to kill anyone in the Body Strengthening stage with not much trouble. Of course, while he was on Lucifer's persona, no one in the Body Strengthening stage could match him because of the fear toxin and Death Range skill.
"Do I have to buy a new spell?"
Michael asked himself and began to rummage through the system's store but not a single spell appeared to be a must-have or increased his strength.
Therefore, he decided to find or buy a new spell and learn it through the Mentor function without spending any more Badass points on spells.
"Open the Subordinates window" Right after he exited the system store, he entered the subordinates window with two people in his mind. One was Jack who had the trait of Blacksmith and Raylene who Michael guessed would have the trait of a Chef considering her cooking skills.
Both of them would be good investments to him, especially Raylene as he was about to open up a restaurant to make more gold coins.
"System, assume Raylene has the trait of a one-star chef, how many badass points it would cost me to make her a 3-star or a 4-star?"
[10,000 Badass points to upgrade her ability to 3-star chef and 15,000 Badass points for the latter]
"Alright, what about Jack?"
[30,000 Badass points to turn him into a 3-star Blacksmith and 40,000 to turn him into a 4-star Blacksmith. Remember Host, 3 star Blacksmith cannot forge anything above medium quality Rare. If you want your subordinate to forge you a high-quality Rare weapon, you have to make him a 4-star Blacksmith]
"What about Epic weapons and Legendary Weapons?"
[Epic weapons can only be forged by a 5-star Blacksmith and Legendary Weapons require a 6-star Blacksmith who must be at the Core Strengthening stage]
"Hmm, makes sense. For now, I'll only take Raylene as my subordinate and make her a 4-star Chef"
The reason for the cost difference between turning Raylene into a star chef and Jack into a star blacksmith was the latter had the ability to increase one's power, unlike a chef. Fortunately, the low cost of making Raylene a 4-star chef worked in his way as he was planning to build not just one restaurant but restaurant chains all over this world.
Other than the high cost of making Jack a 3 or 4-star level blacksmith, he first wanted to first enter the Nether realm and search the realm for a better weapon. Since he already bought the Lucky Cat tavern, a chef to cook delicious food took the top place on his priority list.
"Should I make her a 5-star chef?"
[yes you should host! It's only 20,000 Badass points] the system sounded very excited but Michael hesitated because of Raylene's safety. He wouldn't always be around to save her if someone tried to capture her because of her talent.
Therefore Michael wanted to know Gaya's thoughts before deciding because she would know more about the chefs and their demand in this world more than him.
He exited the system and jumped down from his bed to check out his herbal garden. It was time he had new pills and potions to the store other than the Revitalization pill, healing potion, and Arch Energy boosters.
Just as he was about to step out of his house, he saw Gaya dragging a huge wild boar and when she saw him, she waved and smiled at him.
She then picked out the arrow that was sticking out of the boar's head.
"I want this boar roasted, where the heck is Raylene?"
"Walk with me," He said and began to walk in the direction of the herbal garden as Gaya followed him behind reluctantly leaving the boar behind.
"What do you know about star chefs?"
"What star-level chef are you talking about?"
"Tell me about a 4-star?"
"They are hard to find but not impossible. Back in Nagaland, we had two 4-star chefs, now that you reminded them, I'm craving for some lamb chops they used to make me " Even after she was healed, she still continued to eat like usual. This very morning she ate two pies and a whole lot of biscuits before going into the forest to catch something for lunch.
"Don't tell me you're also a 4-star chef" Michael shook his head with a soft smile as she sighed.
"Then what about the 5-star chefs?" she became very curious and wanted to know why he was asking about the chefs.
"Those bastards are very rare, just as rare as a 5-star Alchemist. There's only a couple of 5-star chefs in Elon, I heard there's one in the Royal land and one in the main branch of Ruby Cuisine in Kethen" The Ruby Cuisine was the restaurant he met Peyton and Xanali and offered to join the Guardians as their trainee.
"Let's assume Raylene is a 5-star chef, do you think someone will try to kidnap her?" His words made her halt her steps and frown. She sensed he's up to something and wanted to know what.
"Are you hiding something from me?" She valued honesty in this friendship and didn't want any secrets between them. That was why she decided to reveal everything about her over a slice of juicy boar meat.
Except for the existence of the system, he too wanted to share everything with her because she regarded her as his best friend and partner in crime after she reached 95% loyalty. After seeing Damien and hearing about the prophecy, he had a feeling that there's something more to his transmigration from the earth. His instincts told him that soon he would learn more about his transmigration and at that time, he didn't want it to be a secret between them that might break her trust.
[Also, if you tell Gaya that you and Abras are the same person, the system will deduct badass points. Abras is a textbook beta and the system does not want the host to accept a beta persona] just as he was thinking about what to tell her and whatnot, the system sounded in his mind. It was a tone of warning and he could feel the gravity of the system's warning.
Fortunately, he had a perfect cover story that had a mix of truth and lies that would perfectly make sense to Gaya without exposing his biggest secret, the system.
"It's time I tell you who I am and where did I come from"