One must have principles in life...

The fat man was on the verge of tears, yet this utterly unprincipled guy was actually his good brother, his closest buddy!

"I know you definitely have a way."

William Carter looked at Grace Bennett with eyes full of hope, even raising his wine glass: "Here's to you, boss. I'm counting on you! Really, I need a job like this."

"I... fine..."

Grace Bennett gritted his teeth, speaking with some difficulty: "Let me think, let me think first..."

Chapter 6 【Triggering a Side Profession】

"Gentlemen, here is the fragrant rice wine pork you ordered. Please enjoy..."

Grace Bennett was racking his brains, trying to figure out where to find such an unreliable job for William Carter, when a beautiful waitress came over carrying a dish, placing a plate of meat slices as thin as cicada wings on the table. Instantly, the aroma of wine and meat filled the air, making him sneeze.

"Hmm? This dish looks great, and it seems to smell pretty good too?"

Looking at this fragrant rice wine pork, a specialty of Jingbang cuisine, both William Carter and Grace Bennett were a bit surprised.

Both of them were true foodies. William Carter came from a family of gourmets—his love for food was passed down from his great-grandfather, who was said to have been a famous chef three generations back. Grace Bennett wasn't far behind; he was a veteran of "alcoholic trials" and "proletarian revolutionary meals," eating all kinds of dishes every day. He had a solid understanding of the eight major cuisines and was an expert among experts.

The "Old Place" was actually just a mid-range hotel, a bit better than a regular home-style restaurant. The two brothers met here mainly for nostalgia. To be honest, the chef's skills here were just average. When Grace Bennett ordered, he saw that today's special was the fragrant rice wine pork—a Jingbang dish that requires quality ingredients and real skill—so he ordered it on a whim, not expecting much.

These days, there are plenty of small restaurants that like to put on airs, hiring a few second-rate chefs and daring to hang up a "Manchu Han Imperial Feast" sign. Hoping to eat authentic Jingbang cuisine here was about as likely as finding a virgin in the red-light district.

But as soon as the dish arrived, both brothers were stunned. Was the "Old Place" planning to close down or something? A mid-range hotel actually hired a master chef? This didn't make sense!

Just look at the knife skills—every slice of meat was exactly the same thickness and size. Even the Japanese sashimi masters couldn't do better. And the fragrant rice wine sauce poured over the meat was bright red and glossy, thick but not sticky. This had to be made from top-quality red rice wine lees. The selection, steaming, and brewing process for this wine lees was extremely complex and showed true craftsmanship—definitely not the cheap stuff you get for a few bucks a pound by the roadside.

"This time we really lucked out!"

Grace Bennett moved the fastest, grabbing five or six slices of meat with his chopsticks and stuffing them into his mouth along with the glistening wine sauce. Cheeks bulging, he mumbled, "Delicious, delicious, this is so fragrant it could kill a man..."

"Let me try..."

William Carter couldn't resist either, quickly picking up a slice and putting it in his mouth, squinting his eyes to savor it...

"Ding, advanced food detected. System recognizes level eight quality. Side profession—Culinary Arts—can be triggered!"

William Carter was stunned. Trigger a side profession? Then another system notification sounded: "Ding, side profession triggered. According to system protocol, the host receives a novice gift box, which may contain equipment, system currency, potential points for leveling up, or basic attribute points..."

"Who would've thought, this system is pretty comprehensive—it even gives out novice gift boxes?"

William Carter was overjoyed, forgetting he was in public. As soon as the thought arose, he quickly entered the system interface.

Sure enough, at the bottom of the character attribute screen, a new flashing option had appeared: "Culinary Arts." In the middle of the screen, a rectangular brocade box was floating—this must be the novice gift box.

With a thought, the gift box disappeared in a flash of colored light, and the system prompt sounded again: "You have received 100 basic attribute points, which can be used at any time." Then, in the inventory at the bottom of the character attributes, a pouch marked with the number 100 appeared.

"Basic attributes?"

The system's attributes were divided into two main categories: basic attributes and practical attributes. Practical attributes were things like attack and defense, while basic attributes were the root stats—constitution, comprehension, strength, agility, and intelligence—that could be increased by the basic cultivation method "Spirit Root Immortal Body."

When the Spirit Root Immortal Body was upgraded from level 0 to level 1, each of these five basic attributes only increased by two points, for a total of just 10 points. But the novice gift box actually gave 100 points at once! What did that mean? Excluding the later-stage boosts from the basic cultivation method, it was like instantly leveling up 10 times.

Given the current living environment, even if William Carter could perfectly maintain a relaxed lifestyle, he would only get about 2 potential points for leveling up each day. In other words, to upgrade the Spirit Root Immortal Body from level 1 to level 2 would take more than three months. This one novice gift box had saved him at least one to two years!

"Culinary Arts? This side profession is awesome!"