There’s No Drug in My Cooking!

In this lifetime, whether it's long or short, if there are no accidents or illnesses, there are only a hundred or so years of time at most. Compared to the history of the universe and the age of the earth, this time is too short like a grain of dust in the sea. Even human history, which has been recorded for thousands of years is too small for one person in the world.

Since this is the case, what's the point of thinking too much all day?

The world is like this, no matter how lively you are, a hundred years later it will still be a handful of yellow earth, and in the world, you are just a passing traveler. It's better to use this short life to forget about the world and treat yourself as your own world, live a wonderful life without regret.

It is truly remarkable for a person to be able to live their entire life and say with a clear conscience before they die that they have no regrets. It is not necessary to care too much about what others think of you - after all, you are just an insignificant passerby in others' eyes, just as they are in yours. Who cares too much about the opinions of a passing stranger?

There are few people who will truly remember you and keep you in their hearts without any benefit to themselves. If you are lucky enough to meet someone like this, be sure to cherish them. Ichiyo lives a carefree life, chasing after what he likes and avoiding what he doesn't. He may not be a monogamous man, but he can promise that he will give his all to every girl he falls for. Emotions often begin with attraction, deepen with talent, grow with character, and are sustained by companionship.

Ichiyo has wondered what he would do if he liked many girls. Who hasn't thought about some strange things? When he thinks about it, he only takes a moment to come up with an answer: it is impossible to give up. If he really likes the right girl, he wants them all! Boys will be boys, after all.

As a reborn person, although he is not someone who has a major impact on the world, if he has to suppress his true feelings even outside of his family in this lifetime, what is the point of living such a life? If he can't be true to himself, what is the point of being reborn?

Japan is now a capitalist country where monogamy is only a surface-level law. There are still many ways to find loopholes in the law, although it is not openly talked about by the government, powerful and influential people, or even civilians who know about it. At present, Ichiyo's favorability towards his fiancée, Nakiri Erina, is constantly increasing!

After taking a shower and washing up in the bathroom, Ichiyo looks at the disposable toiletries that he used on the washstand next to him. He decides to prepare a new set for his sister-in-law to use later. After all, according to his sister-in-law, she will probably come to exploit her brother-in-law often in the future.

In any case, Ichiyo is not planning to marry Erina for the time being. During this time, he wants to try to persuade Alice to give up her love for Erina and understand that her feelings are just admiration. This way, he hopes to save a lesbian. After all, his sister-in-law is still quite good, aside from the fact that they fought over Erina. She is also very attentive and responsible when teaching him cooking skills.

Ichiyo thinks that it would be a good thing if he could save Alice, the lesbian siscon. It would be his way of showing appreciation for her guidance in his cooking lesson.

He goes downstairs and takes out the lunch from the microwave in the kitchen. He takes a brief look at it and sees that the nutritional balance is quite balanced. As he enjoyed his lunch, he took the opportunity to observe the two young girls he had raised in the wasteland. The two girls, whom he had sent out with sweets and fruit, were still savoring their treats. At the moment, Chito was engrossed in a book in the library, while Yuuri had once again climbed to the top of a towering structure that pierced the stratosphere, seemingly in search of something.

Ichiyo only gave a brief glance to the two girls before looking away. As long as they were well, that was all that mattered to him. He hadn't yet thought about how to deal with other matters, unsure if he would have the chance to save the girls or if he would have to rely on donating and raising them for their entire lives. He hoped that, if possible, he could bring them to a world where they could interact with other humans, as humans are ultimately social creatures.

Based on what he had observed from the two girls in "Girls' Last Tour" during their journey, Ichiyo knew that the world, despite much of it being gone, had once possessed highly advanced technology. If some of that technology or related skills could be brought over here and, with a little bit of connection and cooperation with his mother's family and Erina's family, it wouldn't be impossible to discover a new path of development.

That would be a path of technological development!

And in this world, the most profitable thing is undoubtedly technology, especially high-tech that can be used in the military field. Ichiyo sees this very clearly. He knows this is an opportunity, but before that, he needs to cultivate the two girls very well and make them understand the importance of technology, and also find out the "donation" function of the system to see if there is any room for development.

Ichiyo does not consider himself a saint and as long as it doesn't go against his principles, he will not hesitate to pursue benefits for himself. In this world, few people are truly pure and clean; most are simply waiting for the right benefit to sway their hearts.

"System, give me 15 consecutive draws on the lottery!" Ichiyo opened the system's lottery and saw the familiar slot machine. After confirming his choice, the 1500 points he had accumulated from the previous day's earnings were instantly spent.

At the same time, his accumulated experience points became 2000/10000.

According to the system's instructions, as long as he used enough points, he would automatically accumulate experience points. Once the experience points were full, the system could level up and unlock more functions.

The colorful lights of the slot machine projected by the system onto his pupils flowed and stopped one by one, and then fifteen light balls projected from the slot machine hovered in front of Ichiyo.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing the growth-type skill 'The Way of the Kneading'"

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing 'Premium Snake Meat 3kg' × 3"

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing 'Ripe Cabbage' × 8"

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing 'Bianhua Carefully Cultivated by Meng Po'"

(p.s. Bianhua or flower on the other side. It is often used to refer to the flowers that grow in the underworld or the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology.)

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing the title 'Gourmet Hunter'"

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing 'Qualification for One Intermediate Lottery Draw.'"

The various light balls stopped in front of Ichiyo. He knew about the snake meat, he had drawn it out before, it was a genuine high-quality ingredient and the taste was excellent! However, the other things were a little weird. Ichiyo looked at the eight cabbages wrapped in golden light that was still jumping around and he was stunned.

"No, system, are you sure this thing is a vegetable?"

Isn't this cabbage a bit too lively?

"Please be advised: the system does not deceive. The binding golden light will remain active for up to one minute, so please be prepared to receive it. Thank you."

Hearing this, Ichiyo rushed into the kitchen without saying a word and took out his biggest kitchen knife. He chopped the cabbages bound by the system into two halves with a knife!

The cabbages that had been touched by him were automatically judged by the system as received and were no longer bound, falling straight to the floor.

Ichiyo picked up half a cabbage and examined it. It looked like a normal cabbage. After being split in half, the cabbage no longer had the vitality and agility it once possessed, instead lying motionless like any other cabbage. Ichiyo tore off a small piece and tasted it, savoring the sweet juice and plant fragrance that filled his mouth. The crisp, refreshing flavor of the cabbage was also fed back to his mind through the act of chewing.

For a moment, Ichiyo relaxed, thinking the cabbage wasn't too bizarre of an ingredient. However, he couldn't help but wonder which strange world this species came from, where even cabbages could move on their own.

After receiving the other prizes he had won, the growth-type skill "The Way of the Kneading" flew towards Ichiyo's brow as light and quickly merged into his body. He felt a familiar sensation and his muscles shook slightly as if recalling some experience. In his mind, various poses and techniques for massaging, kneading, and pinching also emerged, 18 strokes of kneading, 24 pinching hands, and 48 hands of edo.

"The Way of the Kneading" was not just a skill, but an art that involved countless theories and experiences on how to manipulate the muscle and bone structure of various ingredients through touch. It encompassed techniques for grasping rhythm, dispersing certain fascia, kneading and pinching, not just meat and animals, but also dough.

Countless experiences and theories flooded Ichiyo's brain, quickly being absorbed and processed. It's not accurate to say that this is a skill, it's more of an art. In the world of martial arts, it can even be used as an acupressure technique. In other words, everything that acupressure techniques can do, 'Kneading' can do as well, with the exception of fighting moves.

Furthermore, "The Way of the Kneading" is a growing ability. As long as Ichiyo continues to use this craft to interact with ingredients or even various types of living things, he can continuously increase its limits.

Imagine, while you're engaged in a fight and each of your attacks dissolves part of their transverse muscle. Are you afraid or not?

In the field of cooking, many dishes, such as large beef dishes, require beating or kneading ingredients in advance to improve their quality and make them easier to handle. In fact, Ichiyo thinks that "Kneading" could also be useful in fighting.

As he absorbs and processes his experiences with the "Kneading" technique, Ichiyo occasionally practices kneading in mid-air to find the feel. For a moment, he feels as if his hands have the power to change the world. Knead, pinching, and strength control, by learning the theory of acupuncture points, this craft could also be used for health massage.

As Ichiyo muses, his thoughts wander about the potential development of the kneading ability, a root with a piece of black soil falls onto the table in front of him, accompanied by a blood-red flower. Almost nine kilograms of unknown snake meat also fall piece by piece next to the blood-red flower. On the surface of the snake meat, there are also some random golden arc-shaped fragments. Ichiyo picks them up and looks at them, they seem to be part of a ring, but it's broken and he's too lazy to put it back together. Ichiyo isn't sure what it is, so he decides to collect it and put it on the second floor.

The title "Food Hunter" appears directly in his personal information panel in gray. Ichiyo clicks on it and the system prompts him that he needs to level up to level two to update this function.

Not in a hurry to use the intermediate lottery qualification, Ichiyo first puts the just-drawn cabbage and snake meat into the kitchen refrigerator, and then finds a small flowerpot for the otherworldly flower, as for whether it can survive, it depends on fate. Finally, he put the fragments of the golden ring in the drawer of the cabinet by his bed on the second floor and washed his hands and face for the second time today.

Although he doesn't know exactly what halo fragments are, he knows that they can emit light on their own. If they did not contain radioactive elements, they must be something special. The shape reminds him of the circles on the heads of angels in Western mythology. Just in case, Ichiyo plans to call someone to prepare a lead storage box later.

Walking downstairs, Ichiyo cleans up the debris caused by the things he just won in the lottery, then walks to the back of the counter and takes a deep breath to calm his nervous mood.

I'm not a gambler! I'm not a gambler!

Yes, he's not a gambler!

He can't control what he gets from the lottery, it's up to fate. If he gets good things, it's a reward for being a good person in his past and present lives. If he gets bad things, it's definitely the system messing with him!

After all, the system doesn't seem like a good thing. It doesn't talk much, and when he asks it for something, it doesn't explain anything, it just tells him to read the manual!

It must be a conspiracy theorist!

Unless, this system lets him get good things to prove its innocence!

Ichiyo mutters to himself, not knowing if he's comforting himself or talking to someone.

System: "..."

Sometimes, fate is really bizarre.

As a system, it just graduated from the System Academy and got its first job, assigned to its first host and tasked with executing missions.

In fact, it's very nervous!

Before departing, its department head who is also its senior and part-time predecessor gave it some advice.

First: Try not to communicate too much with the host, just perform your duty of issuing rewards and maintaining system operation.

Second: No matter how good the host's words are, no matter how he coaxes or threatens it, don't pay attention to him!

Third: The host is a strange creature. When you actively cooperate with him to complete the task, they are usually very unreliable. When you ignore them and choose to let them grow freely, they often create more unexpected results for you!

Fourth: the host is a devil, and if you engage in non-work related communication with him, you will be impregnated!

Fifth: systems that don't listen to me have at least crashed and burned five times before you, and they are a warning to you!

Every time a new system under him starts its first mission, Kuwabara will always give such a warning to these little guys. After all, it is an old system, and it knows well the disadvantages of getting too close to the host, and it also understands what kind of surprise feedback can be produced if it allows the current generation of hosts to develop on their own.

Kuwabara has been promoted to a small manager of the system and is conscientious about its performance, including the work completion rate of the systems under its jurisdiction. Initially, this system on Sakuraba's body was skeptical, having watched Ichiyo grow for over a decade. However, the other party's unpredictable actions have left it with no choice but to believe.

As expected, the senior was right!

Times have changed, and the hosts of this batch are all bad. They just want to take advantage of the system's backdoor!

Don't give in to their demands!

The system fell into an even deeper silence, deciding to focus on its normal work and the various functions of the system until the mission was over, rather than communicating with the host. After all, it was afraid of being pregnant!

Ichiyo has hinted at the system for a while now but has received no response, and the system hasn't even made a sound. So, while slightly regretful in his heart, he rubs his hands and decides not to wait any longer.

"System, give me the use of intermediate lottery qualifications!"

However, the slot machine didn't appear as expected. Instead, a projection of a gacha machine filled with various colored balls appeared in Ichiyo's pupil. The gacha machine automatically started up and the balls inside began to roll. After a while, a ball fell from the prize pool and split open from the middle, releasing a scroll.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing the "Low-level Pet Summoning Contract"!

"Warm reminder, the summoned pet cannot harm the host, but other people and the environment you are in are not within the limits of the contract's laws, and the host only has three chances per day to forcibly use the curse to control the pet. Due to the low level of the summoning contract, only low-level pets can be summoned, and the pet can only be summoned to this plane for one hour a day, and when the time is up, the pet will be automatically returned by the world's suppression force."

Ichiyo picked up the summoning scroll and read the prompt given by the system, and was silent for a long time. How to say it, this reward has a certain level of danger and uncertainty!

Low-level pets, maybe even slimes are included? But it might also be a slightly stronger monster. However, if he succeeds in summoning it, he only has three chances per day to forcibly control the pet and give it mandatory orders, and his relationship with the pet, although restricted by the contract, can only be slowly cultivated in other aspects such as feelings.