Michael saw the ingredients on the counter overlaid with grid lines, like early vector graphics from a video game. Then, each of them were labelled on the counter, and he could see a list of them on the left side of his field of vision. Below them was a list of the various components of the meal he had planned - the chicken and the sides were all listed separately. Finally, on the right side of his field of vision, above where the System prompt normally appeared, he saw a section labeled 'Steps'. It had below it:
1. Complete the 'Mise en Place'.
1a. Review all recipes.
There was a blinking cursor image next to 1a, so Michael pulled out the recipes he had readied and went over them once again. He had decided not to be too ambitious for his first attempt, so the only components were the roasted chicken with vegetables and the green salad. Considering the preferences of his family, he also decided to add some rice to his plan, and pulled the box of instant rice out of the cupboard. It handily had the instructions right on the side, so he reviewed that, too. While he wasn't planning on having any of the rice in order to avoid any complaints from the System, he felt that he should still make enough for 4, so he checked the measurements for that amount. Once he had completed this, he saw a checkmark appear beside 1a, and several steps appear below it
1b. Retrieve necessary equipment.
1c. Ready all ingredients.
1d. Pre-heat oven.
1e. Wash, Peel, and Chop all vegetables.
1f. Measure dry ingredients.
1g. Measure wet ingredients.
He noticed that item 1c already had a checkmark next to it, which made sense since he'd retrieved everything before the Cooking Assistant mode had even been enabled. He proceeded to get everything else he would need - the roasting pan, pot for the rice, measuring cups, cutting board, knife, bowl and salad spinner - and saw the system check 1b off as well. Enjoying the small satisfaction of seeing these items completed, he raced over to the oven and turned that on. Then, he made his way back to the counter and grabbed all of the vegetables before he turned to the sink and starting running the water.
At some point between the clanging of pots and opening and closing of cupboards, Anne had heard the commotion from upstairs and made her way down to the kitchen. "What are you doing, Bro?" she asked curiously.
"Making dinner," Michael replied as he ran the vegetables under the tap.
"I thought we were having pizza?"
"We were, but I offered to cook instead, and save them the trouble."
"...I admire the initiative, but did it have to be on pizza night?"
"..."
---
Anne returned to her book upstairs, and Michael brought the vegetables over to the cutting board to begin the chopping process. The recipe called for an assortment of root vegetables, and the seasoning for the chicken also needed a number of elements. He also had all of the elements he wanted to prepare for the salad - all in all, there were a lot of things to chop!
As he laid the first of them onto the board, the system reacted again, drawing a series of lines onto the object on the board. Michael quickly determined these to be 'guide-lines' for the dimensions called for in the recipe! "How handy!" he exclaimed, his excitement building even further. This cooking module was really showing its value! He took the knife in hand, holding it the way he'd been taught by his parents, and made his first cut.
<
...His first cut didn't exactly match the guideline provide, being angled and a little bit thicker than he'd originally planned. Refusing to get discouraged, he quickly moved on to the next cut.
<
He continued, making small improvements. By the time he'd completed the rest of the vegetables, he had a number of small piles in front of him. At one point, he'd had to retrieve a couple of plates to hold the finished products, and he'd tossed all of the peels and discarded portions into a large bowl to take out to the compost afterwards. He noticed that the oven had been at the correct temperature for a while, but he still wasn't ready to put the chicken in. "Man, keeping everything on track is harder than I thought," he grumbled.
Still, when the checkmark next to 1e appeared, he regained a bit of his determination and proceeded to measure out the various dry ingredients he would need. Quickly checking the recipe one more time, he confirmed that all of the spices that used the same measuring size would be used at the same time, so he just poured them all into a single small bowl and continued to use the same measuring spoon. Soon, he had all of his dried ingredients out, either sitting in their measuring cups or a bowl. He proceeded to get the water and pour out the oil and vinegar he would need for the rest.
Finally, he could move on to the next step, and just as expected, Step 2 appeared, with the instructions on preparing the chicken and vegetables that would go in with it. He set the roasting rack into the pan, the put the chicken on it, pulling out the packet of giblets from the inside. He then stuffed the cavity with the garlic and onions that he'd previously chopped and peeled, then rubbed the outside with the spice mix he'd measured out. Then, he laid out the rest of the vegetables that would be roasted into the pan and placed it in the oven. Looking at the time, the chicken would be ready around 7, and he'd have just enough time to pull it out and let it rest before his parents got home. With that done, he tidied up the counter from the elements he'd no longer need, and took the bowl of compost material out to the back yard.
While doing that, he noticed that under the Steps section there was now a new section:
Timers
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Chicken 1:25
Michael had a thought when he saw this. "System, can you set other timers if I ask you to?"
<
Excited at the prospect of the new toys to play with, and considering all of the possibilities, Michael quickly asked the system to set a timer for five minutes before the Chicken would be ready, so that he could prepare the rice. A new timer was quickly added to the list, with a time five minutes shorter as requested.
Timers
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Chicken 1:24
Prepare Rice 1:19
"This is great! I don't have to worry about losing track of time, anymore!" Michael exulted. He quickly went back inside, washed the bowl he'd used for the compost, grabbed his bag by the door and made his way down to the basement to take advantage of the focus bonus for an hour or so's worth of reading.
---
After 75 minutes, Michael had already made a sizable dent in the Fundamentals of Reading. As he set it down to go back upstairs and finish preparing dinner, he marveled at the new understanding he was beginning to develop of a skill he thought he'd already mastered. "I had no idea there was so much more to reading then just looking at the words on the page!"
The Fundamentals of Reading expounded the philosophy of a group of scholars from the seceded colonies that lay to the south of the province where Michael and his family resided. They believed that there several levels of reading, with the type that Michael was familiar with only being the first. The other levels included some skills that were conventionally frowned upon, but when used correctly would allow the user to be able to drastically improve their level of comprehension of not only a book's immediate goal and content, but also the underlying topics and how they related to a broader set of works. Michael found the prospect incredibly exciting and quickly understood why the System had recommended he finish this book before tackling other books on the foundational reading list - including the subject of his English assignment!
Michael continued to digest his new discoveries - both the functions of the System that he'd unlocked, and the new skills in Reading that he hoped to bring to bear - while he finished the preparations for dinner. As he was taking the roasting pan out of the oven, he got another notification from the system.
<<'Reading' skill unlocked. Previous experience has been added to latest progress.>>
A pleased look entered Michael's eyes. He was beginning to figure out what the requirements were for unlocking various skills: it didn't seem to require someone to perfectly accomplish a task, but instead to understand or appreciate the complexity of the skill itself - at least to a certain degree. He'd unlocked organization when he had truly applied himself to the organizing of his room, and understood the positive effects that proper organization could have on a space. He hadn't finished reading the 'Fundamentals' yet, but he had become aware of how little he actually knew about the topic at this point. He also had a rough rubric on what he would need to learn in order to improve it. The prospect of unlocking additional skills, and also unraveling some of the mysteries of the System he had been 'gifted' with, excited him even further - he couldn't wait until dinner was finished and he could spend some more time trying to improve his reading skill or trying to unlock more skills.
"Come to think of it, I still haven't checked my Status since yesterday morning. I even have a mission attached to it that I haven't yet completed! I can't forget to do that tonight," he resolved as he finished shaking up the ingredients for the salad. Once that was done, he mixed all of the greens and other raw vegetables for the salad together and tossed them with his new dressing, as well as plating the roasted vegetables and transferring the rice to a serving bowl. His sisters had already set the table at some point while he was downstairs, so all that was left was to get the chicken ready. He decided to leave that to his parents when they got home, as it wasn't a task he felt ready to tackle. Right on queue, the door to the garage opened up.