That night, the new food was a hit, and despite Draden being careful to use fewer Earthly ingredients, so the amount of qi energy contained inside was comparatively little, the restaurant sold out. Everything he had prepared for the night was gobbled up by the voracious patrons.

  It was the weekend, so Draden had prepared less than normal, expecting most people to stay home. Instead, it had been absolutely packed, and they had been forced to turn away countless people. He wasn’t sure why he had been expecting otherwise, but for whatever reason, he had thought the weekend would be slow.

  Silly him.

  He would know to do better the next day. At the moment, Draden was sucking on an almond snack ball, feeling the energy coursing through him. Sucking on it and letting it dissolve in his mouth like this was easier on his body. Not by a lot, but enough that he was no longer coughing up blood,

  The damage to his primary meridian was being constantly hit by strong pulses of qi. Unlike the first time, it didn’t try to brute force its way through the blockage; he wasn’t taking in enough energy for that to happen. Instead, the qi would hit the blockage and then disperse. Then a new wave would come and repeat the action. It was a near-constant reverberating action, similar to how construction workers removed concrete.

  It was making slow but steady progress at reopening the mangled meridian and healing the damage it caused while it went. It hurt like nothing else, but it was working.

  If he could continue to eat the snack balls, and they remained effective, then it wouldn’t be long before he would be able to start cultivating again.

  He was a little afraid of what he would find when that happened. It was taking so much energy just to heal his body; how much would he need to actually cultivate? There was no way he would need the normal amount. Otherwise, with the food he cooked, he could easily shoot through the first tier in a day or two, and the second tier by the end of the week.

  And that was if he was going slow.

  Regardless, it was pointless to make guesses until he could actually cultivate again. At the moment, all he was doing was fixing the damage that had been done to his meridians and body. They were also being strengthened somewhat, but that was a byproduct more than anything else.

  When he rolled out of bed the next morning, it was to find his leg as good as new. The muscles in the leg had been coming back slowly but surely. Each day, it was a little bit stronger, and he could walk a little farther before it would start to ache again. Now though, he could tell that it was finally on the same level as his other leg, or close to it.

  He no longer needed the cane he had been using for the last several years. Though he would still continue to use it if for no other reason than it was another potential weapon he could use if the need arose. Honestly, if he could find the right blacksmith, he would commission a cane sword.

  It wouldn’t stand up to the blade he was currently carrying around, or the blade under his bed. Those required special materials and skills to make, not to mention the costs involved with the process. Then there was their weight. He could no longer even lift, let alone move the blade under his bed. While the one he carried around was as much for training as it was for self-defense.

  He could swing it, but not for long, and not as quickly or smoothly as he had once been able to. It was a great deterrent though.

  Standing up, he stretched, enjoying the feeling of his body no longer aching and hurting. It had been approaching that state for a while now, but with his leg now healed and his muscles being strengthened by the energy he absorbed, it was obvious to him.

  Draden quickly washed his face and, after checking to make sure Leah was still sleeping, began his morning exercises. Grabbing his sword, he headed out to the backyard.

  When he had first started doing this, a couple of days after arriving in this world, just swinging the sword had left him exhausted. Now, he was able to almost complete the first form the original Draden had learned years ago. His body still knew how to wield the sword -despite the years of not doing so- it just lacked the muscle and qi to do so.

  That was beginning to change as he exercised each day like this. The sword wasn’t his focus, at the same time, he wasn’t a fool either. This world wasn’t a peaceful place. He needed to be able to defend himself and Leah, and that meant regaining his former strength and then some, and knowing how to use that strength.

  An hour later, he was soaked in sweat and absolutely eager to take a refreshing cold shower. Just the thought of how good it would feel to cool down so suddenly had him rushing inside the house.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He stood beneath the shower, enjoying the cool water, but found himself wishing there was a way to increase the water pressure. Oh, well, he couldn’t have everything.

  It was already impressive that the water system he had put together had the pressure it did.

  When he finished cleaning himself, he wrapped a large towel around his body and opened the door. Standing just outside the door was Leah, with her hand outstretched, blocking Coradine from entering the bathroom.

  “Uh, is something going on?” He asked curiously.

  “She wouldn’t let me go inside to get clean but wouldn’t explain why.” The older woman said with a shake of her head.

  “Ahh,” He patted his daughter’s head affectionately and thought the problem over. It hadn’t been a problem with just the two of them, but with a third person, it was now something that needed to be considered. “Yeah, sorry, I do workouts in the morning right after I wake up. How about I make a sign later that can be hung on the door so we can all know when the bathroom is occupied?”

  Coradine nodded, and after he moved to the side, entered to take her own shower.

  Draden picked up his daughter and hugged her tightly. “Thanks for stopping her. That would have been awkward.”

  She nodded seriously. “Only mom can see you in the bath.”

  He chuckled and, with a roll of his eyes, kissed her cheek before letting her down so he could get changed. It was too bad that the sound of the shower wasn’t louder, or it wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.

  A little later, they were gathered in the house kitchen, and he was preparing breakfast for them.

  Since there had been no leftovers from the night before, he had to actually make something properly. He needed to get a move on everything, as tonight he would be introducing the other two items the restaurant would be serving throughout the week. Street tacos and chili.

  Thankfully, he had taken the time to prepare everything that needed to marinate the night before. He had never run or even worked in a restaurant before, and was constantly changing and streamlining how he did things.

  For many of the items he made, he could actually let Emilie and Alice put them together and then serve them. That way, he could concentrate on making more. In an ideal world, he would have a third worker, someone dedicated to just the kitchen and helping him, but he was leery of taking on too many workers too quickly.

  Idly flipping the knife in his hand, he stared at the ingredients spread across the counter, thinking. After a moment, he nodded to himself, having made up his mind.

  “Leah, can you retrieve the hotteok bowl from the refrigerator in the restaurant?” The little girl nodded excitedly and hurried off.

  He always kept a bowl of the gloopy batter in the fridge, ready to go. It would have been better to pull it out a while ago to warm, but he hadn’t thought of it.

  Reaching up, he retrieved the nut and sugar mix that would go inside the dough mix and then set it to the side.

  While his daughter was gone, he began chopping up vegetables and pushing them into a bowl. First up were two different kinds of onions, followed by a red bell pepper. After that, he cracked eight eggs and whisked them together, adding some lemon juice to make them nice and airy.

  He poured the eggs over the vegetables he had cut and then began to cook them all a portion at a time.

  The first few sets of omelets were done by the time Leah waddled back in, carrying the heavy bowl of batter. Her face was slightly red from concentration and exertion. Her eyes were focused on the floor in front of her, ensuring each step was placed with the utmost care.

  Coradine chuckled lightly and helpfully took the bowl from the girl, placing it on the counter near Draden.

  Hotteok was a sort of shallow-fried pancake, wherein the sugar was turned into a syrup. They were absolutely delicious and best served hot, though they were good cold as well.

  Omelets were nothing new to the world he had found himself in; hotteok, however, were completely unheard of. Subsequently, when Coradine first bit into one, her over-the-top reaction had the father and daughter duo laughing. It was good, but the syrup could also be molten hot if you bit into it too quickly.

  The mage cooled her upper mouth, with a quick application of magic while glaring distrustfully at the pancake in her hand.

  “You’re supposed to let it cool for a few seconds, silly,” Leah said laughingly to her teacher. As though to prove her point, she took a small bite, chewed, blew on the now revealed syrup, and then took a larger bite. “Hmm, tasty for Leah’s tummy.”

  Draden laughed and continued to make more hotteok. “That’s right, feed the tummy gods, sweetie. Give them their due.”

  His little joke confused the girl as she looked down at her belly. “Leah has gods in her tum-tum? How did they get in there? Are they trapped? Are they alright?” She poked her belly. “Hello? Are you the ones responsible for making all those noises? Did you talk to Eowin yesterday?”

  Draden palmed his face and chuckled. His daughter took some of the strangest things seriously.

  “I was just kidding, Leah. There aren’t really gods in your tummy.”

  The little girl’s face fell. “Oh, that’s too bad. Leah would have had more friends.” She took another bite of her hotteok and sadly stared at her plate.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” Draden told her as he hurried around the counter and wrapped his daughter in a tight hug.

  It was sometimes hard for him to remember just how lonely the little girl truly was. There was no one else around where they lived outside the city, and losing Lorna, her mother, had been incredibly difficult on her. Worse, the one person she should have been able to count on, her father, had been lost in his own sense of grief and had mostly ignored her.

  He truly hated certain parts of who the old him had been.

  Draden kissed the top of her strawberry blonde head and gave her a squeeze before releasing her and moving back around the counter to continue cooking.

  The rest of their breakfast was a little more subdued in atmosphere than before they finished eating.

  A while later, Coradine was beginning to teach Leah, and Draden was sucking on one of his almond snack balls when there was a loud knock at the door of the house. It was the head of Macron’s personal guard demanding that Draden come with him.

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