Chapter 5

About 3 kilometers away from the Phoenix Chick Waterfall, a figure suddenly leaped out of the water. After this leap, it seemed to have used up all its strength, lying motionless on the shallow beach for a long time. After a while, he managed to turn over, reaching out to grab the weeds by the riverbank, and crawled ashore with great effort, step by step. Once on the shore, he collapsed again, gasping for breath greedily, as if he would never be able to breathe again in the next second.

As his breathing gradually calmed down, a laugh could be heard: "Haha, haha, hahahaha..." At first, it was a laugh of relief, then a laugh of survival after a great ordeal. The one who laughed so heartily was none other than Leyuan, who had jumped off the waterfall. Why could he laugh like this? Because he had escaped, evading the pursuit of the three-man team sent by the Dark Cooking World.

Looking at the main quest panel, the words "Completed" were already written behind the character in the main quest one: "The Dark Cooking World's Evil Claws." Excitement welled up in his heart, and laughter continued to escape from his throat, as if he wanted to expel all the gloom that had accumulated since entering this world.

Leyuan's ability to jump off the cliff and survive was not due to any protagonist's halo, but rather a result of careful consideration. To complete the main quest one, fleeing and counter-killing had long been ruled out. His physical fitness and combat experience were far inferior to those of the three men selected from the Dark Cooking World, who had crawled out of piles of corpses. Trapped on the cliff by the Dark Trio, he knew that the game did not have a setting where death was inevitable from the start; otherwise, the game would be over. From the final hint, Leyuan had a flash of inspiration and realized that his path to survival lay here.

The people of the Dark Cooking World would not bother to carry a dead body back. As long as he became a dead body in their eyes, he could escape from them. The best way to avoid their inspection was to make the body disappear from their sight. If they could no longer find the body, they would not care about a dead body without any remains.

Determined to jump off the cliff to survive, Leyuan then had to consider how an ordinary person could survive a ten-zhang (thirty-meter) fall. With nothing special on him, he could not rely on branches at the bottom of the cliff to save his life. He turned his gaze to the item bar. The newly acquired kitchen knife was of no use, so he was left with the only essential item for beginners—Beginner's Potion * 3.

Beginner's Potion

Level: D

Quality: Excellent Priority 19

Effect: Instantly restores 20% of health and 20 stamina in combat, then restores 1% health per second for 10 seconds and removes some negative conditions.

Note: This potion can only be used in the beginner's world.

With no other options, Leyuan could only hope that the Beginner's Potion would not let him down, and that the instant restoration would truly be instantaneous. As the scar-faced man approached, his right hand, already in his chest, had already taken out one Beginner's Potion. The moment he stepped into the void and turned to fall, he took the potion out of his chest and was ready to take it.

His mind shifted from the scar-faced youth to the attribute panel, staring intently at the health bar.

Although ten zhang (thirty meters) was not extremely high, it was enough for Leyuan to adjust his body, feet first, to ensure that his legs would touch the water first.

A line from the movie "Into the Blue" flashed in his mind: "At 50 feet, the water is like concrete." When he hit the water, he had to ensure that his feet landed first, and his body had to remain absolutely tense and straight. The impact was almost like landing on concrete, and any mistake could result in a shattered skull and instant death. Only by touching the water with his feet first did he have a chance to survive.

The few seconds passed in an instant, and Leyuan's feet touched the water. The pain was excruciating, spreading from his feet up his body, as if his body was breaking apart from the bottom up. In that moment, he nearly suffocated, thinking that perhaps death would be a release from this torment.

But a strong will flashed in his mind: He had to live, and he had to live better than anyone else. He had to reach the top of this game and become the best player.

His eyes were already closed due to the pain and the current, but Leyuan's mind was still focused on the health bar, not realizing or having the energy to notice that the character panel could be projected directly into his mind without needing to see it with his eyes.

As his health dropped to 50% when he was fully submerged, it continued to decrease rapidly: 49%, 48%, 47%... 34%, 33%, 32%...

As his health decreased, Leyuan's mind became increasingly fuzzy, but he thought: Hold on, just a little longer, just a little more, and it will be the critical moment.

Just as he gritted his teeth, his health dropped to 23%, 22%, 21%... This was the moment. With the last bit of strength, Leyuan swallowed the Beginner's Potion. Instantly, a warm current surged from his chest to his limbs, and his fuzzy mind cleared. The health bar stopped decreasing and instantly rose to 30%, with a slight upward trend.

After this struggle, Leyuan had left the range of the waterfall, and the current had slowed. The effect of the Beginner's Potion had also worn off. Seeing his health stabilize at 37%, Leyuan had no more strength to move, and he drifted with the river.

When his stamina recovered slightly, he had already drifted to the shallow beach. This was when the scene of his hearty laughter occurred. He had won the bet, surviving in a desperate situation.

After laughing to his heart's content, he was about to find some food to recover his stamina when the second main quest was issued.

Main Quest Two: Apprenticeship

Quest Description: Now that you have a second chance at life, you should consider how to survive in this world. Learn a skill and level it up to level 2. Remember, every trade has its top performers. (PS1: Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and the son of a rat knows how to dig holes. What can you, a stray dog, do?)

(PS2: Completing the second quest will immediately end the new book plot, or you can stay until the maximum game time. Your maximum game time in this world is 4 years, 360 days, 22 hours, 16 minutes, and 26 seconds.)

After carefully reading the second main quest and the PS content, Leyuan had a clearer idea of what to do next. PS2 was straightforward; he had decided to stay until the time was up. Less than five years in this world would translate to about one to three months in the real world at a 50x speed, making it worth exploring the world of "Chinese Chef" for three months.

As for PS1, it further solidified his plan. Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and the son of a rat knows how to dig holes. The term "stray dog" was a sarcastic reference to his identity in this world—the son of the former head chef of Moon White Tower. As a genius, what else could Leyuan do besides being a chef, especially in a world where chefs were the main theme?

After a simple search near the shallow beach, he unexpectedly found a wild kiwi tree laden with fruit. After identifying it, he picked a few of the most ripe kiwis and quickly ate one. Instantly, he felt much better. Checking his character panel, he was pleasantly surprised to see his health increase to 38% and his stamina by 5 points.

Focusing his mind on the kiwi, he received the item information.

Item Name: Nearly Ripe Wild Kiwi

Level: F

Quality: Broken

Effect: Restores a small amount of stamina and slightly increases health and minor injuries in non-combat situations. Due to being unripe, there is a chance of causing abdominal pain.

Priority 2, CD 5 minutes

Note: What, you're not satisfied? This is just a regular kiwi. If you want to eat a peach, you might as well go to bed. (Shelf life 1 day, unusable after 1 day)

Seeing the ready-made supplies, he wasted no time and ate to his heart's content, filling his stomach. Unfortunately, his health only increased to 45% and did not move further, indicating that he needed to rest and recover fully to restore his health to 100%.

While eating the kiwis, Leyuan took the time to carefully review his newly generated attributes.

Name: Leyuan

ID: 6510

Information:

Strength: 8 = 7 + 1 (10)

Agility: 13 = 12 + 1 (10)

Spirit: 17 = 16 + 1 (10)

Stamina: 9 = 8 + 1 (10)

Level: 0

Health: 100%

Stamina: 90

Energy: 160

Talent: Unknown

Partial Awakening—Super Sensory (Note: ID 6510, after experiencing the sensation of bones shattering upon entering the water, gained a clear awareness of the extreme pain in various parts of the body, and combined with his innate talent, developed an extraordinary sensitivity to touch in the face of life and death.)

Skills: None

Equipment: None

Item Bar: Beginner's Potion * 2, Nameless Kitchen Knife * 1

The biggest difference in the new character, besides the +1 to all attributes, was the addition of an unknown talent.

Looking at the talent "Super Sensory," Leyuan muttered, "Isn't this the same name as the talent of 'Leopard Head' Yakan in the Five Tiger Stars? Could it really have the same effect? If so, I've come to the right world."

After reviewing his attributes, Leyuan went to the water's edge to tidy up his appearance before heading to the Chrysanthemum Pavilion to seek apprenticeship. However, when he saw his reflection in the water, he was stunned.

The face in the water was definitely not his own. Although the current body was 10 years old, and he was 16, the face that appeared was definitely not his 10-year-old self. Black hair, black eyes, a typical Asian face, but the appearance was something Leyuan would never admit was his original self. Instead, it strongly resembled a young Minato Namikaze, with a unique aura.

"Damn, can I play as a black-haired version of Minato Namikaze? And this strange aura, if people from the original world saw it, they would be amazed!" Leyuan said, touching his face in disbelief. "Is this the effect of the 95% completeness? It seems the original reward included a 95% to 100% special fusion, and the hidden reward might include part of this."

After much thought, Leyuan could not figure it out and decided not to dwell on it. He tidied himself up and headed in the direction of the town where the Chrysanthemum Pavilion was located.

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