On the other side of the golden curtain, Sunders was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed while Flora was leisurely floating beside him, still bare-feet.
"Tsk. They again? They don't learn when to quit," said Flora. She covered her mouth as if surprised, but changed into her usual smile quickly, "I didn't think a common mortal would possess the golden card. Maybe he was still inside The Redbud when we came to the restaurant, so we didn't sense it."
Next, she acted angry again. "How could the shameless fools freeload on an ordinary boy? And aiyayayah! That's a golden card I say! Greya's got to cook him a custom meal. A custom meal for a mortal? Such a waste!
"Wait a second. He's just a mortal. I can go in there and threaten him to count me in, so I get a free meal too. Yes, good idea! I'm so clever!"
Flora talked to herself while Sunders did not give her any comment. When she finished, Sunders finally spoke, "Barbie's Restaurant set their strongest protective spell arrays right here, with multiple magic traps. You sure you want to barge in?"
Flora blinked at Sunders with a pleading look. "Teacher, won't you help me?"
Sunders gave her a side glance. "I could if you want me to annihilate Barbie's Restaurant for good."
That means that… even the teacher could not get in by normal means?
Flora considered.
The golden banquet room was so well protected!
Inside the room…
Greya cast a glimpse towards the curtain. Of course, she knew the pair was eavesdropping outside. She would have asked Neo to drive them away if it was not Sunders. As the man said, he could not get into the banquet room by ordinary means quickly, but he could absolutely blast the restaurant to pieces. Greya would not offend someone so powerful without a good reason.
"Angor, according to the restaurant's practice for golden guests, I will make a customized serving, following your requirements," said Greya in a serious tone, as if going over a ceremony. Then she became coquettish again. She even held up Angor's chin using her hand fan, "Boi, dear, do feel free to make any requirement about what you want to get from the meal, oohohoho!
"You're still a common one, so I suggest you choose something like raising your talent or your spiritual power limit. It'll greatly help with your breakthrough towards a wizard!"
With that, Greya returned to being silent.
The meal could raise one's spiritual power limit? Talent?
All apprentices around the table all stared with wide eyes. Either choice was something they had been dreaming of!
While wizards did not really care since when someone became a formal wizard, one's spiritual power of talent would not be as important. For wizards, accumulating knowledge and gaining insight about themselves was more essential.
However, apprentices could only get bigger chance to become formal wizards as they improved their talent. If they failed, they would rot with age. Knowledge and truth were something too distant for these apprentices who did not even know how long they could live.
Seeing how the apprentices were getting restless, Greya looked away from Angor and addressed everyone.
"Ooohohoho, dear me, I almost forgot. In my restaurant, a bronze card guest can only choose a custom meal between level one and two, and cannot share the meal. Silver guest can choose level three and can share the meal. But I only make one serving, so it's your own decision who should eat it. As for golden quests…"
Everyone pricked up their ears.
When she got everyone's attention, Greya explained, "A golden card guest still chooses a level three meal, but I'll make a number of servings according to how many people are here.
"You have eight people, so I'll make eight dishes. You all should know that you earned your free opportunity thanks to Little Angor."
Greya's words made everyone even more agitated. The apprentices were so excited their eyes were almost giving out light. They would all have a share!
No matter what Angor chose—talent increase or spiritual power improvement—it would raise their aptitude further, which meant they would be one more step closer to becoming wizards.
Mara nearly jumped from his seat in excitement. Destiny! Finally! He searched and dreamed about this for a long time!
He completely did not expect that Angor would bring him destiny a second time after leaving Padt Manor. He thought that being a Level-3 Apprentice Wizard was all he could achieve in his life, and yet, he met another destiny! Angor helped him again!
He suddenly felt a bit of regret. If he had known that Angor was such a fortune bringer, he would teach him the Triangle Channeling already, so Angor could respect him more. But no matter! When this was over, he had plenty of time to mend their relationship.
On the other side of the table, as the weakest of the group, and the biggest "appendage", Easley, was feeling excited as well. He had been living on the top floor of The Redbud while Lady Merlin taught him knowledge as best as she could, so Easley had learned a lot about wizards. Naturally, he understood that raising one's talent or spiritual power limit was extremely critical for becoming a wizard.
Easley already had a high spiritual power indicator, 23. If he could improve his talent too, becoming a formal wizard was dead certain!
Easley saw Angor hesitating and wished he could simply yell "CHOOSE TALENT NOW!" into his ears. However, he was the last person that should speak right now. All he could do was praying while wearing a worried look.
All apprentices felt like hugging each other to celebrate. They were certain that Angor would decide between the two choices, and either was a great help to them.
Angor was thinking about it too. Greya, as the chef, had no reason to fool him. However, he was not sure about the extent of his talent and spiritual power.
As Angor thought about what to do, Jellal, who had been keeping a straight face, suddenly asked, "Do you have Section Ephemera here?"
Like Twisting Protozoa, Section Ephemera was also a non-existent creature. Unlike Twisting Protozoa that only a few people could use, the Section Ephemera would easily attract every wizard out there who learned about its appearance. It had a very unique effect: to open a new two-way tunnel in a stable plane. The tunnel was only single-use, but it was still extremely valuable to wizards because it helped them steal their way into another plane without relying on the plane passages controlled by major wizard organizations. By doing so, they would have a chance to run into their destiny. For this reason, Section Ephemera was a priceless item which most wizards could not afford.
Still, Section Ephemera was valuable mainly because it was so rare. No one knew how it ended up in the wizarding world or where to look for it. There was only a rumor, that every appearance of the item had some kind of connection with the Fairytown.
Barbie's Restaurant belonged to Candy House under the administration of Fairytown, so this was why Jellal asked such a question.