Nick wasn't going to hurt the plump Manager, he was just going to ask him a couple of questions, after all, in his previous life the people with the most knowledge were the Managers of bars and restaurants, as they always listened in to people's conversation.
So, after letting the Manager sweat a little, Nick began asking him if he knew any of the materials listed on the Main quest list.
And to Nick's joy, he did!
The Manager was overly emotional right now, brother, if you wanted to know something, there was no need for all the theatrics, I am a big gossip anyway, I would have told you anything if you had just asked. I almost wet myself for God's sake! So, after calming himself down, the Manager began telling Nick all he knew.
"Well, one time I was lucky enough to host a eunuch serving under one of the princes in one of the private rooms of the inn, and after drinking almost half of my wine stock, he said something about the Emperor acquiring a large mine of Dark heavenly gold, and how all the princes were fighting over its ownership!" The Manager said.
"Hmm." Nick frowned, it was a well-known fact that the Emperor of the Nova empire was at the immortal foundation realm, at least that is what he told the public, his actual cultivation could be much higher! Meaning he couldn't just go there and demand the materials, but Nick decided to think about what to do on his way there.
The imperial city was extremely far away, and it would take almost a month if he traveled by carriage, and even if he rented a wind bracing eagle, the journey would still take him half a month.
As for flying there using his Origin energy, that would take him even longer than the carriage, because one had to understand that although a person in the Origin realm gains the ability of basic flight, it still doesn't mean one could travel long distances, because flying required lots of energy, which made doing it for a long time unbearable.
Finally, Nick decided it would be more convenient if he rented a bird, so after repeatedly warning the Inn Manager to keep his mouth shut about what took place here today, Nick sat down and enjoyed his soup, which he had earlier claimed was made using his pet! And he did so with no shame, even as he constantly praised the Manager for hiring such a great cook…
"Sir isn't this your pet, how can you bear to eat it?!" The Manager asked, unwilling to let Nick get away with this after all the stress he caused him.
"Oh, then do you expect me to throw the soup away and render his death meaningless?! Or do you think I should let someone other than me eat him instead and hurt his feelings because he would think I thought he didn't taste good?!" Nick sounded like he was standing on the side of reason when he said this.
"That…makes sense, sir, thank you for educating me!" The Manager spoke through his gritted teeth.
"No problem, anytime," Nick said as he finished the soup to its last drop.
"By the way, you know we won't pay for today's meal, right?" Nick asked as if what he was saying was very obvious.
And the Manager's reply was a wretched smile, with a hint of hate and a dab of agreement. Now very happy with his meal and the inn's service, Nick and Peter headed back home, but not before asking around the city once more in hopes of finding any more helpful news on the other materials.
And even though they didn't find any other clues about the other materials, Nick was satisfied with his day's work and felt it was extremely productive. The only sad point was that the Manager thought he was an asshole and not domineering, otherwise he would have earned a couple of points off him.
As soon as Nick got home, he rushed through the main door and went straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner, because he thought the kids would have been awake and hungry by this point. But he found the two kids were fast asleep on the table again, and in front of them were the two plates that previously held their unfinished breakfast Omelets. The two had woken up, finished their breakfast, and went back to sleep.
Nick smiled slightly and repeated his previous actions, carrying each of them to their respective bedrooms, then after searching around the kitchen, he found some boar meat that he used to make himself an amazing dinner. He was just too addicted to the food of this world!
Now full, Nick retired to his bedroom and decided to use a couple of Origin stones to reach the ninth rank of the Origin realm, cause even though the quest said he couldn't level up to the gathering realm, it didn't forbid him from reaching the peak of the Origin realm.
Ding! Congratulations host for reaching the Origin realm rank 9!
Nick was amazed at the power coursing through his body, he would have never imagined that he would be this powerful in his former life. And even when he daydreamed on Saturdays, which was his day off, and he played pretend using a towel as a cape, running around naked throughout the house, he never would imagine that it would one day come true!
Remembering how he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow, Nick stopped reminiscing as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
The next morning, Nick woke up extremely early and went to the kitchen to make breakfast, cause even though he had hired a cook to work in the mornings, he didn't want to eat anything someone else cooked if he could help it, so her only purpose now would be cooking for the kids and Peter.
After cooking a light breakfast, Nick left the house and headed to the Beast shop to find out the price of renting a fast wind bracing eagle.
And to his surprise, it cost one hundred Origin stones to rent the eagle for a week meaning it would at least cost him two hundred to reach the imperial city, and considering how it would take that bird another two weeks to return here on its own, it would all in all cost four hundred Origin stones in total! And this was the price of the lowest level wind bracing eagle there.
It wasn't that Nick didn't have enough origin stones, after all even after buying a house, cultivating and paying his employees he still had one thousand Origin stones left over. But considering how he was going to Imperial city, and how he didn't know how long he was going to stay there, he couldn't just blow half of his savings on just the journey!
While he was feeling burdened and lost the old geezer that usually kept to himself and didn't particularly enjoy talking to Nick spoke out, "Boy you sure are stupid, you still have that unopened gift bag remember?!"
Nick was enlightened, even though he didn't really forget about the gift bag, he had gotten used to solving his problems by himself so he had made it a natural response to stand around and worry about things even when he had a cute little gift bag that could possibly hold all the answers to his troubles.
Ding! Opening the Origin realm gift bag, the host has obtained-one hundred Origin stones, a Pet collar, and the Deception Fist skill book.
Nick was utterly disappointed to find there were no flying creatures included, but how lucky would it be if he found what he was looking for that easily. But still, he checked their descriptions, especially the pet collar's, because the name insinuated it might be of help to his current predicament.
[Pet collar: A collar designed to control any beast within a two-realm difference from the host, the pet must have this on their necks first for the effects to work, any beast higher than two realms from the host will immediately break past the restrictions and bite the host to death!]
[Deception Fist: A fist technique created by an extreme pervert that targets the genitalia, this fist deceives the opponent into believing it is upright and straightforward but in reality, it is after your privates! One fist to rule them all!!]
Nick just wanted to kiss the system, who knew that he would get such a great gift, the Fist technique was already so great but the collar wasn't bad either...one had to admit that Nick's way of thinking was...unique.
Just the thought of punching an immortal in the balls brought a smile to Nick's face, but for now, he needed to get a pet to use the collar on.
Nick needed to take advantage of the fact that this collar could tame any beast two realms higher than him and acquire a beast at the peak of the transcendence realm.
So, Nick went back to the pet shop to buy some information on the high-level beasts with wings in the proximity to the city.