Inside a private room in the Crimson Coiling Dragon two men were chatting.
"Cheers to brother Hao successful Magical chef rank up and your new class." One of the men said lifting his cup to the man next to him wearing black chef clothes.
The man had a strong physique, in his clothes there was an embroiled crimson dragon, he had sword like eyebrows above his green eyes. His face was square and gave him a more imposing aura due his strong jawline. He had black short hair combed to his left and up.
"Thank you brother, cheers to you for already reaching level 60, if you need anything for your next class up just say it, also don't forget to invest more in your DEX, even if you were a level 156 before just focusing in your AGI and STR for comfort would lead you to more problems." Hao replied after having a drink.
"Can you let that rest? I learned my lesson I got too impatient seeing how many stats points per level this class gave and felt I could level faster focusing on those stats." The man replied but soon both laughed. "I've to admit I never thought using the mana in the rank up dungeon to get an extra boost to make an opportunity for classing up."
"Un, it was a suggestion of an acquaintance who let me understand many things of mana and classing up. Actually, I've invited him to celebrate with us and using the occasion I want to establish a sworn brother relationship with him like we did in the past." Hao replied taking another drink.
"I see, I wonder how this person is if it helped you so much." The man replied
"HAO! Get your ass right here and give me a proper explanation or I'll cut ties with you and destroy your restaurant this instant!" A furious shout sounded. Hearing the shout Hao face started warping in anger and disgust.
"Who could this person think he is to talk to you like that" The man replied with some anger seeing his friend complexion
"Who offended my guest this much." Hao said coldly as he destroyed the cup he had.
Soon both men stood up and ran toward the voice origin, judging from where they heard they imagined the person was in the lobby or just outside the restaurant, in the way they saw a chef running toward them with a panicked expression, but soon both men passed by and the chef had to chase back the pair.
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A few minutes before, some streets away from the restaurant, there was a man walking leisurely, his long black hair drifting slowly in the air.
'I wonder what's so urgent for Hao to call me, he did say he would cook me some of his personal dishes as good will for coming at this hour.' The man thought as he turned a corner.
'Man is being a long time since I walked this street, glad I took some time to come and appreciate the walk.' The man though as he examined various building.
'Huh, what is happening there.' The man though as he saw a crowd in front of the Crimson Coiling Dragon.
As he walked close, he heard some conversations that someone had made a ruckus inside the restaurant and they were teaching him a lesson. The man ignored the crowd and instead intended to walk to enter the restaurant as he had a politic to not meddle in other affairs.
As the man prepared to enter a chef ran out dodging him, advancing some more steps the man frowned hearing the conversation from the chef.
"ROBERT, you said you would send him away, why are you beating him, he is a kid from the Mana Academy." The chef cried after hearing the story from the staff member who called him and grabbed his partner.
"He caused a ruckus, its only proper I retaliated don't tell me just because he from the Mana Academy we should pass it." Robert roared due his skill being stopped.
The man was bewildered by what he heard and glanced back at the crowd, there were a pair of guard some steps away from the two chefs who were arguing. Going from there he could see some blood in the center of the street and in other side was a kid kneed looking at the floor with tears dropping from his face to the ground.
"Stop it he a kid." One chef said as he pulled the sleeve
"SHUT it. Grab your thing you're fired from now. Get lost this instant." The other chef said as he pulled back his sleeve and casted again other spells.
'That's!' the man though as he recognized the white hair of the kid
Soon before anyone notice the man appeared next to the kid and kneed to help him.
[Xol LVL 10 Apprentice
HP: 450/1,050
MP: 1,900/1,900]
Seeing someone trying to help Xol the staff member sighed in relief as he advanced but soon he grimaced at what he was seeing, Xol information was flickering.
"Xol are you all right?" The man called as he examined the kid and extended his hand to help him stand up.
"Xol can you hear me?!" The man panicked seeing no reaction and got closer to look at his face.
Seeing some reaction from Xol as he did, he calmed down as Xol glanced up.
"Teacher Izuriel?" Xol said without any strength.
Izuriel face grimaced in pain seeing him, his eyes looked lifeless and he could still see some blood in his lip. His face covered in mud and tears.
"Teacher Izuriel?" Xol repeated color returning as more tears began forming.
"Un." Izuriel nodded this time as he tried to help Xol to stand up.
"I-I-I." Xol said trying to control himself and looked around as he tried to recover his bearings, but he couldn't remember what just happened some minutes ago nor how he got so injured, a new blank in his memory.
"MOVE don't interfere." Robert roared seeing someone help Xol.
'Huh?' Xol though seeing the angry Robert but soon he saw something in one of his hands and was bewildered.
"My knife?" Xol said examining the sheath of his knife on his belt and was shocked seeing it wasn't there and glanced at Robert.
"What happened here?" Izuriel said slowly as he tried to control his anger.
The guard that accepted Robert's bribe came forth and explained the situation. Izuriel remained unmoved even after he finished but soon his face warped in anger as he received a telepathic message from the staff member that had been following Xol, explaining the whole situation, he asked for forgiveness for not being able to act and let things escalate to this extreme due his indecisiveness.
"HAO! Get your ass here and give me a proper explanation or I'll cut ties with you and destroy your restaurant this instant!" Izuriel roared and the mana in his surrounding entered a berserk state.
The crowd was bewildered by the turn of events and tried to cover their face from the strong pressure that Izuriel let out.
"Sir I have to ask you to calm down as I explained this was the kid fault for stealing in the first place." The guard said as he covered his face
"Shut up." Izuriel said icily at the guard and glanced at the building.
"Sir I have to ask you both the kid and you to come with me as you'—" The guard stopped motionless as he walked, the guard was deeply scared as he couldn't move a single muscle as Izuriel had used a skill on him.
The crowd found it strange this behavior as the guard simply stopped as he extended his hand with and angry expresion.
Soon three men came running out of the restaurant, two panting slightly and the third almost fainting.
"Izuriel calm down, what is happening here?" Hao said trying to calm Izuriel anger. He could both feel the mana state and saw his angry expression, no, his furious expression.
"Hao is this how you treat me, I helped you and explained many mana theories so you could do both your class change and rank up, but what is the first thing I find when you call me?" Izuriel said icily.
"One of your chefs robbing and beating publicly one of the students of my sister's school. A student that I have begun teaching accessory tinkering. Unless you give me a proper explanation, I wipe you and your restaurant from the city this instant." Izuriel said slowly as he pointed at Robert with a furrowed expression.
"HA, who are you to act arrogantly in front of chef Hao and his restaurant, don't you know even if the emperor came here he had to give us face, as even the dragons has to coil when we say so." Robert said with ridicule tone.
"What is he talking about is he dumb?"
"It may be right that the emperor, and many had to give them face, but does he don't know with who is talking?"
"Yeah talking to teacher Izuriel like that isn't going to end well for him." The crowd soon exchanged comments and slowly Robert face changed to confusion.
"Robert give me a proper explanation right now." Hao said slowly as his fists tightened.
Robert explained his side of the story, but Hao could see Izuriel mood was worsening by every word he said as Robert started explaining how Xol acted shamelessly stealing a knife he lent him after failing a test to work in the restaurant.
"Brother Hao, do you remember what I told you last week when I gave you the knife you asked?" the man with Hao said. Seeing him nod this man advanced toward Xol and gesture him
"Brother Hao, let me tell you who is this kid, he was the kid who recovered the knife I gave you and thank him with a piece of meat of the Yuan Life Mammoth even though he didn't wanted anything. Now do you think he would steal something?" The man said and soon Xol remembered him as the man he helped last week, Smith.
"Head chef what Sir Smith is saying is true, Robert is manipulating the truth." The chef said after recovering his breath. "Robert never lent something to Xol today when he entered the kitchen."
"Robert return everything you took from my benefactor, then get your things this and disappear from my sight." Hao said slowly with his tone increasing as his face warped in anger.
"Chef this-this" Robert said his face warping in many emotions. Soon seeing chef Hao face he walked to Xol and handed the knife.
As he walked to the restaurant and was in front of the door, time slowed down for everyone. Izuriel patted Xol head and then lifted a finger and casted some high-leveled skills on Robert, Time Ghosts and Timed Space. Timed Space would activate once Robert goes to sleep and be transported to a separate space Izuriel stumbled some years back, he couldn't just send anyone to his pace but Robert level was too low to even resist , once in this space Time Ghosts would take place and Robert would suffer triple the time he held bad intentions to Xol being tortured by all the wounds he had suffered in his life.
"Izuriel, Xol, please allow me to mend this and compensate you as best I can." Hao said kowtowing once time returned to its regular flow.
"How about we discuss this inside, first can you prepare some food to heal Xol?" Izuriel said as he patted Xol head.
"Don't worry, I intended to host a banquet for your help in classing up, I'll prepare a dish to heal him and another dish so the banquet's mana don't overwhelm him." Hao saying lifting his head.
As the group walked, Hao helped Xol move with his injuries knowing that due Izuriel body condition he couldn't help him. As this happened Izuriel glanced at a certain direction and send a telepathic message.
"Report to my sister you found Xol's bottom line and make a full report on what you saw, every detail count." Izuriel sent the message.
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A man was walking aimlessly on a desert, he was hungry and thirsty as the food he had in his inventory had run out in the afternoon, he didn't know how he ended here three weeks ago, but no matter what he did, he couldn't find an exit. He was calling for help as he felt all his body in huge pain, feeling cuts from when he learned to cook, how bears had bitten him in a dungeon and the pain he felt when a explosion occurred due no creating a spell correctly. What was worse he didn't lose any HP when feeling this pain and all of it would return each day never ending.
"Ha, what a sad end. I always cooked the best food aside from chef Hao, now I can't satisfy this hunger. I wanted him to taste despair but now I tasted worse." Robert said as he tightens his resolve glancing at the shattered sky above the desert.
"If I'm going to die, it wouldn't be of hunger." Robert said as he detonated all his mana.