Why was I working as a cook? The short answer is, why not? It was fun, and I wanted to do something unrelated to cultivation for a while.
To my surprise, my system actually had a tab for cooking! It hadn't shown up before for some reason, but it appeared now.
[Cooking Level 1] [All your recipes taste better and have a small chance of containing Qi, boosting the cultivation of those who eat them. Cook using Spiritual Beast meat for better effects.] [Passives: +20 Cooking Mastery]
That was great to see! It seemed that the higher the mastery level, the better the results would be when performing a particular task. At least, that was the most obvious assumption. With that in mind, I put on a white apron and got to work!