Chapter 12 - Night Class for Illegal Chefs
Madam Sato's training kitchen existed beneath a laundromat.
Eli did not ask why.
At this point, hidden cultivation spaces under ordinary businesses seemed to be zoning policy.
The class had six students.
A tattoo artist who cultivated broth.
A retired dentist who specialized in medicinal candy.
A seventeen-year-old pastry genius named Tasha Bell who took one look at Eli and said, "You're the dishwasher guy."
"Former dishwasher."
"Congratulations on unemployment."
"Thank you."
Madam Sato slammed a wooden spoon on the counter.
"Hearth cultivation has four foundations: Flame, Knife, Taste, and Intent."
The system opened a stat panel.
[Flame: 12]
[Knife: 9]
[Taste: 7]
[Intent: 14]
[Income: embarrassing]
Eli ignored the last line.
To build a Hearth node, a cook had to produce a meal that generated sincere Gratitude Qi and anchor it to a place through repeated service.
"How many meals?" Eli asked.
"Usually several hundred."
"I need ten thousand nodes."
Tasha laughed so hard she dropped a whisk.
Madam Sato assigned Eli a simpler task: boil water without touching the pot.
He failed for three hours.
Purifying Flame wanted to cleanse, not heat. Every time he pushed harder, it removed mineral residue from the kettle and left the water lukewarm.
"Congratulations," Tasha said. "You've invented spiritually purified room-temperature disappointment."
At midnight Eli finally understood.
He stopped forcing flame into the water.
He listened to what the water needed.
Heat, yes.
But slowly.
Evenly.
His flame changed from gold to pale orange.
Steam rose.
[Skill unlocked: Hearth Flame I]
[Effect: Converts Gratitude Qi into nourishing heat.]
Madam Sato nodded.
"Now make tea."
"That's the reward? More work?"
"Welcome to cultivation."
The tea generated no Gratitude Qi because everyone in the room was well-fed.
That taught Eli another rule.
He could not farm points from friends by serving endless snacks.
[System comment: You are disappointed for suspicious reasons.]
At 2 a.m., Owen arrived with bad news.
Luis's old fire investigation photos had revealed the Ash Pavilion symbol in three other warehouse basements.
All three were near public infrastructure.
A water treatment plant.
A subway ventilation station.
And the central school-food distribution hub.
Madam Sato spread a city map on the table.
The locations formed a triangle around downtown.
Eli Appraised the map.
Black lines appeared connecting them.
[Starvation Formation detected.]
[Purpose: Amplify urban hunger during mass meal event.]
Tasha stopped joking.
"If school meals activate inside that formation..."
Sato finished, "The Maw will receive a surge strong enough to break Jian's seal."
Eli looked at the countdown.
They did not merely need to replace cursed meals.
They had to dismantle a city-sized formation first.
Then Reggie's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and slowly looked at Eli.
"Your food stand is on fire."
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