Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling, Martin stared at it blankly for about ten seconds before panicking and trying to get up.
The moment he tried to get up, a burst of pain that overwhelmed him came from his injuries. But as he grit his teeth, ready to forcefully raise himself, a slightly anxious female voice entered his ears.
"Don't get up or the wounds I painstakingly bound are going to open up. How troublesome."
Martin shifted his vision towards the source of the voice. His gaze fell on a slightly unkempt brown-haired young lady that gave off a lazy vibe. She was dragging her feet in his direction, her half-open eyes glaring at him.
Seeing that he was not in immediate danger, Martin composed himself. Wondering where he was, he thought back to his last memories. Remembering how he was chased by a beetle nearly to his death, Martin had an urge to swear. He felt really frustrated by his lack of ability.
"Are geniuses like me not supposed to be able to fight people three cultivation levels above me? Could it be that I am not a genius? No, I am definitely a genius! I was probably just hungry."
In the end, he made a narcissistic joke to raise his spirits, let out his bad mood in a foul breath of air. He was still alive, and that is what mattered the most.
The sweet floral smell of chamomile entered his nose woke him up from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw the suppressed laughter on the lazy looking girl's face.
"Genius? I heard from grandpa that you got chased around and injured by a beetle around the same level as you. Puhaha…" she said but soon couldn't hold it in anymore and let out her silver bell-like laughter. Clearly she had heard his mumbling.
"It was very fierce! Besides, I had come from a battle before it ambushed me!" he lied with a straight face. The sneer on her face suggested that she didn't believe him though.
Not wanting to linger on this embarrassing topic any longer, he took the initiative to change it.
"So it was your grandfather who saved me by the river?"
"Tsk, yes it was." she clicked her tongue at his shamelessness too lazy to address it, but anyone could see the amusement in her eyes.
'Krrr' his stomach growled.
"My name is Martin, Martin Anderson. May I know yours?" he said politely stretching out his hand for a handshake as if nothing happened.
"Hahahaha… our restaurant's walls are thin and fragile compared to the thickness of your skin." she couldn't help but laugh.
"Jane you should let this little fellow have some rest, after all, he has not recovered yet" An old voice was suddenly heard from the other side of the bed, scaring the two youths.
Looking to his left, Martin saw a friendly-looking old man holding a bowl of food. It seemed as if he had been there all along. But the steam coming from the bowl and the aromatic smell that started diffusing in the room suggested that he had just arrived.
'If this man had ill intentions…' Martin didn't dare think about it further.
"Grandpa does that. You'll have to get used to it." Jane said in an exasperated tone.
"Senior must be the one that saved me from the river. I'd like to bow to you to express my heartfelt gratitude but… " Martin said as he swallowed his saliva repeatedly, not sure whether it was from fear or the alluring fragrance wafting from the plate of food in the old man's hands.
"I just happened to be around the area, we must have been brought together by fate so I just saved you in passing." the old man said in a sage-like tone as he stroked his 3-inch long goatee. Oddly this elicited an eye roll from his granddaughter.
With a hint of worship in his eyes, Martin thought to himself that this must be one of those experts he had heard about, powerful and mysterious.
"Even if it is a simple matter for senior, this junior will never forget it and will try his best to repay this grace."
The old man solemnly nodded, but inside he was thinking 'tsk…who cares about a man's gratitude? I just saved you to show off my kindness and suaveness to the beauty I was with.'
"Kgmm… anyway have a meal, this is freshly prepared 'Prawn and crocodile laksa', made from first-order iron-back crocodile and prawns. Jane, help him sit up so he can eat.", he cleared his throat and said. Inwardly he narrowed his eyes into slits while thinking,
'That will be two low-rank spirit stones. After eating a few more meals you will be neck-deep in debt, then I'll force you to work here since most people are quitting. There is no way you have the money to pay hehehe'
By the time Martin looked up, the man had disappeared, leaving the bowl of Prawn and crocodile laksa on the table. He clearly had no idea what plans the man had for him, otherwise he might not be as happy as he was while thinking about the great expert he had just met.
On the other hand, Jane seemed to have guessed something as she thought, 'Grandpa was acting friendly with the stranger. Grandpa never acts friendly with men. He must be plotting something.'
Although she felt something was afoot she was too lazy to care. She looked at martin with pity, said her goodbyes and dragged her feet out the same way she came.
…
In the room, the starry-eyed Martin was examining the plate of food. He thought of how every time he tried to cook spiritual beasts it would come out an inedible mess. But now in front of him was a plate of food made of first-order monster beasts' meat.
'Just how did they pull it off' he wondered. But soon his hunger pangs intensified, so he threw the thoughts at the back of his mind and started gorging himself.
The taste made him moan involuntarily in pleasure. He quickly abandoned his chopsticks as they were a hindrance and started using his hands. Loud slurping sounds soon vibrated throughout the small room.
A few hundred feet away from where he was, a 50-year-old looking man with a goatee was sitting at the restaurant counter with a sleazy look in his eyes. He ogled at the figures of the few women eating there. He thought to himself,
'So this brat knows how to appreciate good food? Maybe I'll only keep him here for 10 years hehehe'. as he internally let out an evil chuckle.
If Martin knew that his every move was visible to this man without him even trying he would probably be very shocked. This is because from what he heard from his uncle, excluding the use of some powerful techniques, the only way one can see through walls and listen to things from far is if someone had divine sense.
The only people who have divine sense are people at and above the Nascent Soul realm. The nascent soul is a legendary realm at which people can even teleport, a cultivation realm light years from where he was.