"This time, we really made a killing. Far beyond what we expected."
Senzaemon Nakiri couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the benefits being sent their way. These people had chosen to concede outright, and the result was that every industry under the Nakiri family surged forward in one leap.
The biggest beneficiary was Nakiri International. The expansion was massive, but there was no risk of overreaching—after all, the road ahead had already been paved for them. They only needed to walk it.
This sudden change left Soei Nakiri and Leonora Nakiri overwhelmed with work. They were exhausted, yet exhilarated.
The exhaustion came from the sheer volume of affairs that demanded their attention, forcing them to work day and night without rest.
The joy came from watching the power they had built with their own hands grow at rocket-like speed.
No matter what, things were moving in the right direction.
Senzaemon himself wasn't any freer. Even though he no longer needed to manage Totsuki Academy's internal affairs, the Nakiri family's business empire was vast. He had more than enough to keep him busy.
He understood perfectly why these people were offering benefits so readily. Their goal was simple: to build a good relationship with the Nakiri family—and through them, with Kael.
Even if things failed, they could still use these benefits to establish goodwill with the Nakiri family. After all, the Nakiris were now Kael's trusted inner circle.
In such a situation, whenever good opportunities arose, the Nakiri family would always get first pick. Even if others couldn't get the meat, getting a sip of the soup was still worthwhile.
As for the profits they were giving up now, those would eventually be recovered—tenfold, through other means.
That was simply how favors worked. When you ask someone to do something, you give the gift first. Whether the matter succeeds or not, the gift can't just be taken back. And giving it only after things are done would be poor form.
Having accepted these benefits, Senzaemon naturally had to act. He went straight to Kael and explained everything in detail.
His thinking was simple. If Kael agreed, then there was no issue. If Kael disliked or rejected this arrangement, Senzaemon would immediately return everything.
Between Kael and those benefits, there was no hesitation—he would always choose Kael.
Kael didn't refuse.
He understood clearly that this was simply the Nakiri family receiving returns on their earlier investments. He wasn't naive enough to miss the bigger picture. Letting the Nakiri family continue to grow would bring only benefits, no drawbacks.
After all, Alice Nakiri and Erina Nakiri would both belong to him in the future. The Nakiri family itself was already in his pocket.
Strengthening them would only make things more convenient for him.
That said, Kael had no intention of meeting everyone personally. Instead, he planned to divide them into three groups.
One meeting for Special Grade Chefs.
One for chefs of other ranks.
And one for influential figures outside the culinary world.
Senzaemon saw no issue with this. In his view, Kael didn't need to waste energy on such matters at all—he only needed to keep improving his cooking.
And Kael was willing to do just that.
Kael had already reached an astonishing peak. Even if he did nothing from now on, almost no one would ever be able to catch up to him.
He could have chosen to enjoy life from this point onward.
Yet he didn't.
He continued to push himself forward, and that alone earned Senzaemon's deep respect.
Of course, Senzaemon didn't know about Kael's system. Without it, Kael really would have been invincible already—why not just enjoy life then?
But with the system offering ever greater inheritances and power, how could Kael possibly stop?
A person needs motivation.
For Kael, the system was that motivation.
After meeting those people once and sharing some experience, Kael made up his mind: unless absolutely necessary, he would avoid such meetings in the future.
The forced smiles, the endless toasting, the suffocating social games—he wanted nothing to do with them.
With the Nakiri family backing him, everything could be handled by them.
Naturally, no one objected. Big figures being aloof was perfectly normal. Senzaemon himself was the same—hard to meet, and even when you did, he rarely showed a pleasant expression.
That was the privilege of status.
Kael didn't even bother pretending to be cold. He simply ignored such trivialities altogether.
At this moment, Kael was already studying in the Fourth Area—the territory of the Five Tiger Stars.
Here, he could learn directly under them.
At first, Kael thought they would only teach cooking skills and secret techniques. But after experiencing it firsthand, he realized he had vastly underestimated the Fourth Area.
Teaching cooking and techniques was merely the Five Tiger Stars' most basic capability.
They taught far more.
Take Juchi, for example. Originally, he had no super-smell—he relied solely on his sense of taste. But in the Dark Cooking Society, a severe fever robbed him of his taste entirely.
For a chef, losing taste meant losing the future.
Worse, Juchi was trapped in the Dark Cooking Society—a place that devoured people whole. If your skills were strong, it was paradise. You could gain anything through cooking.
But once you became weak, or worse, useless, survival itself became uncertain.
The Dark Cooking Society had no use for the incompetent.
So Juchi forced himself to train his sense of smell by any means necessary. Crawling on the ground like a dog, enduring humiliation—he endured it all.
In the end, through this extreme path, he awakened Divine Smell.
With it, he reclaimed everything he had lost—and more.
As for those who had once humiliated him, he never forgot.
In Juchi's room in the Fourth Area, Kael could train the Divine Senses—all five of them.
At present, Kael only lacked one: Divine Taste.
In Mira the Blue-Eyed Tiger's room, he could train something even more special: the Childlike Heart.
It was a state of total self-forgetfulness—a mindset of absolute focus. Entering it could multiply one's concentration several times over, even dozens of times, directly improving the quality of one's cooking.
It was undeniably powerful.
As for Alkan, Kael didn't even need to think about it. That was perfect for refining Explosive Flame.
Although Kael had learned a weakened form of Qigong and already controlled Explosive Flame better than Alkan, Alkan had decades of experience. The techniques he had developed were immensely valuable.
Alkan also possessed a unique ability called Bond.
Perhaps because Riko had always been by his side, their bond was unbreakable.
Because of this, Riko naturally became his assistant, helping immensely with ingredient selection. Alkan only had Divine Touch, so many choices relied on her.
Kael had no need for this. With four Divine Senses already awakened, the ability was meaningless to him.
He didn't need an assistant either. No one could keep up with him. An assistant would only slow him down.
Hu Lho's specialty was Multi-Tasking, developed from Divine Hearing. Kael had explored it before, but he was still inferior to Hu Lho.
And finally—the main event.
Kaiyu, the Cloud-Piercing Dragon.
Beyond the fundamentals, what Kaiyu could truly teach was Qigong.
Kael already possessed Kaiyu's experience with Qigong, but knowledge alone was like reading a book.
Now, Kaiyu was teaching him personally.
Once Kael reached the Dragon Chef level, Kaiyu would guide him step by step into truly entering the world of Qi.
The Fourth Area was outrageous.
Its value to Kael was immeasurable.
Though mastering these abilities was extremely difficult, Kael was never someone who gave up.
What intrigued him even more was the Fifth Area.
The Fourth Area had already produced monsters like Kaiyu—the Dark Cooking Society's true trump cards. Could the Fifth Area contain something even more absurd?
It was entirely possible.
In any case, finishing the Fourth Area came first.
Kael once again entered that special state, honing his cooking, refining those unique abilities, and occasionally interacting with the others.
Time passed in a blink.
Another year went by.
Everyone at Polar Star Dormitory had entered their third year. This generation of third-years was the strongest in history.
Not only was the Jewel Generation still present, but also Kael and the Chinese Cuisine Research Society under his leadership.
Later cohorts joined the society as well, but perhaps because the Jewel Generation was simply too monstrous, the following students' talent paled in comparison.
Even the Autumn Elections of the next two years failed to produce anyone scoring above ninety. The best result was eighty-eight.
That was normal.
Geniuses don't appear every year.
And Kael's generation had far too many monsters.
Like the Golden Age, the Jewel Generation was an era that could never be replicated.
Talent differences meant that even with Kael's guidance, most members of the Chinese Cuisine Research Society improved only slightly.
It wasn't enough to carry them safely to graduation—only enough to delay expulsion.
There was nothing Kael could do about that. He couldn't raise their talent, and even if he could, he wouldn't. They meant nothing to him.
Those who had stood with Kael back then thrived after graduation.
Those who betrayed him did not.
They could only open small, ordinary restaurants to survive.
Eishi Tsukasa was among them. No one dared to hire him.
Once the First Seat, now reduced to running a small shop, unable to choose his customers.
It was the complete opposite of his original belief.
But choices have consequences.
Since he chose betrayal, he had to bear the risk.
No one cared about him anymore.
As for Kael—
After a full year of training, he had mastered all those special abilities.
And at last, he successfully awakened Divine Taste.