Austin left hurriedly without saying goodbye. Ina watched the wine glass tilted on the table, with the pale golden liquid slowly flowing on the table.
"Let me think of a way, at first I just wanted to make a little money, but it turns out this world needs me to save it, as does the other one. Well, with so many problems, one more or less doesn't matter, if there's too much debt, you don't worry about it, at worst, we're all done."
Ina questioned the system: "Did you bring me here to really help me open a restaurant, or did you trick me into saving the world?"
The system played the ostrich again.
This time, in the action to clear the fog, Ina obtained a large amount of golden magic crystal stones. Apart from leaving a small portion of good quality for personal use and collection, the rest was all entrusted to the commerce guild for sale.
The golden magic crystal stones can be charged, and their price is several times higher than ordinary magic crystal stones. The commerce guild generously offered Ina a high price of 300,000 gold coins per ton, but it couldn't provide too much cash at once, so it had to pay in installments.
Ina, who had made a lot of money, returned to Silverleaf Forest. The griffon eggs had successfully hatched, and the feathers of the little griffons grew lush in just a few days. The golden fluff was soft and dense. They took the initiative to get close to Ina as soon as they saw her. The little griffons born from the griffon nest had a natural intimacy with Ina.
Savi had been the head of the Silverleaf Kindergarten for several days. With eight little griffons and six moon wolf cubs, although there were no little devils, at most a bit mischievous. After a few days, Savi had two more black spots under his eyes.
After returning, Ina took over the heavy responsibility of the temporary head of the kindergarten. She also brought gifts for the cubs. The moon wolf cubs were teething, and she gave them some bone for teeth grinding. These came from a magical beast called a Spike Armor that looked like a giant porcupine. Its leg bones could emit a strong meaty smell even after being shaved, some mercenaries would even put a leg bone of a Spike Armor in their backpacks, to smell the meaty scent when eating hard-to-swallow black bread. Ina thought there was nothing better for the wolf cubs to grind their teeth on.
When Ina gave them these gifts, the wolf cubs were indeed very happy, their tails wagging as if they were winded up. They excitedly dragged the relatively oversized leg bones for their small bodies, using their whole bodies to try to bring these bones back to the nest.
The little griffons received some fresh meat strips. They are now extremely hungry and need to eat meat that weighs the same as their own body every day. Griffons, due to their large size, lion-like bodies, and sharp claws, need an exceptionally large pair of wings to fly. In the first few months after birth, they can't fly, but this is the time they can learn hunting skills on land, so they don't lose their hunting ability when their wings are injured in the future.
Griffons that can't fly can only run with their four legs, their chest red feathers fluttering in the wind. The moon wolf cubs have grown a bit stronger and have shed their fur once, and they are now a deep gray rather than the original pitch black.
Today, Ina is going to take them to bathe. A mischievous wolf cub knocked over a jar of strawberry jam yesterday, and now the whole wolf smells sweetly of strawberries. Although its siblings voluntarily helped clean it up, the fur on the top of its head and the side of its neck is still matted. Griffons are very clean creatures and spend a lot of time grooming their feathers each day. The little griffons are now very healthy and can totally go take a bath together.
Ina herded this group of "lion dogs" and "wolf pups" out the door like shepherding sheep. They were going to a small river. This place is a tributary of a tributary of the Mel River, more like a slightly wider stream. By the time winter comes, this stream would probably be nonexistent.
As soon as the cubs saw the stream, they rushed in. The stream was shallow, with the deepest part only reaching the chin of the moon wolf cubs. A moon wolf cub rested its head on a protruding rock in the stream, allowing the stream to wash over its long fur, leisurely relaxing its limbs, basking in the warm noon sun, its eyes squinted into a line.
The little griffons began to comb their feathers with their beaks as soon as they entered the stream, and from time to time, light golden feathers would float downstream. Two excited wolf cubs chased after them, competing to fish out the drifting feathers.
Not only that, after they brought back the griffon's fallen feathers in their mouths, they kindly intended to return the feathers to the little griffons. The griffon pups were stunned, then looked at the two wolf cubs in confusion.
Seeing that the griffons refused to accept them, one of the wolf cubs tilted its head in bewilderment, gently holding the feather in its mouth, and stuck it back onto the griffon.
Are you okay? Ina was sure she saw such an emotion in the icy blue pupils of the griffon cubs. Although the wolf cubs were born earlier, their mental development was clearly not as fast as the recently hatched griffons.
While she was laughing at the wolf cubs, a griffon pup stealthily approached Ina from the water, intending to splash her with water.
Ina had anticipated this, and a shield was erected, reflecting all the water droplets onto the little griffon's face. The griffon's prank had backfired, and it got so angry that the feathers on its neck fluffed up. Ina said, "With so many playmates, aren't you satisfied? You came to mess with me", while she pushed the little griffon's butt and sent it back to the river.
For lunch, all animals ate Ina's special cornmeal cakes and fresh raw fish. The cornmeal cakes weren't anything special, they were just a mix of grains including soybean flour, oats, and corn. However, the dough wasn't made with water, but with fish and chicken broth.
The dough was shaped into a small size, and a thumb was used to make a dent in the center of the dough, giving the cornmeal cake a small umbrella shape. The finished cornmeal cakes smelled very aromatic, had a golden color, and were soft to the touch.
The cornmeal cakes were only considered appetizers. Ina fed three cakes to each cub, and the large basin of cakes she brought was quickly finished.
Next came the raw fish, which was the main meal. There was no need to cut them into strips, as the griffons and wolf cubs could tear the fish meat themselves. Watching the group of cubs burying their heads and gobbling their food, Ina sighed, "Grow up quickly."
Hurry up and grow up. Only then, in this already stormy continent, will they have the ability to protect themselves.
------
The wheat fields of Thunder Fort Farm had turned green and then yellow again, the original grain barn on the farm had long been filled to the brim, forcing the construction of several new grain barns.
Austin seemed to have truly gone to Safi, but no further news had come since.
During this period, the final clue in the restaurant upgrade task was still not found. Ina tried to search for it by reviewing various historical records, conversing with scholars who were knowledgeable and well-traveled, and even personally visiting many places, but she could not obtain this last clue.
However, it was not all for nothing, at least Ina had surveyed many places during her travels and opened a few more grocery stores.
Just as Ina was about to forget about this, the clue unexpectedly surfaced. The reason she couldn't find this clue was that it didn't belong to something that had already happened like the other clues. What needed to be found was not a secret from the past, but a quiet waiting for the occurrence of a new disaster.
Elvys received news that four towns under the jurisdiction of the Silver Empire had almost simultaneously suffered from unexplained diseases. These diseases had different symptoms, some struck quickly and were contagious, while others were more like poisoning, fierce, and rapidly claiming many lives.
The Imperial Knights were ordered to these lands due to the epidemic. Ina lent her griffin flock to them. Some lands were far away and transportation was inconvenient, so riding griffins could save a lot of time. The griffin nest was still producing griffin eggs every month, and the griffin flock was already taking shape. Apart from those given to the elves, there were almost thirty griffins, but many of them were not yet mature. The daily food cost for these griffins was a huge expense. If it wasn't for Ina's big profit on the gold-veined magic crystal, she wouldn't be able to afford these gold-eating beasts.
Ina looked at the system prompt with a frown. Just when she thought the restaurant's level would be forever stuck at level five, the last clue suddenly appeared, but she felt it would have been better if it had not.
[You have obtained the clue: Humans - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Task Progress 4/4]
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, represent War, Famine, Death, and Pestilence. Human wars never cease, famine never leaves, death always looms, and the plague, it's just begun.
[Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: Downfall Land! Reward: 10,000 Achievement Points.]
[Congratulations, your restaurant has been upgraded to Level 6! Reward: Soil of Rest.]
[Congratulations, your restaurant has been upgraded to Level 7! Reward: Eye of the Universe.]
[Congratulations, your restaurant has been upgraded to Level 8! Reward: Spiritual Web.]
[Congratulations, your restaurant has been upgraded to Level 9! Reward: Touch of Realm Break.]
A large amount of accumulated experience over this period helped the restaurant suddenly break through to level 9, only about half of the progress bar to level 10 is left.
Ina received a lot of... rather strange rewards. Many of them she could not guess their function just by their names. However, when Ina tried to click on them to view their detailed descriptions, she found that all of these rewards were greyed out and couldn't be clicked on at all.
Why is this? Ina was about to call out to the system to ask, but no matter what, the system remained silent.
This silence was different from the occasional feigning death that the system had in the past. Ina always felt that the subtle connection between her and the system had been completely cut off as if it had truly disappeared.
"You're not really... gone, are you?"
After a long time, just when Ina was worried that the system might really be gone, she suddenly heard a weak voice: "Book..."
She had to listen several times to understand, and immediately understood what the system meant. She took out the Scholar's Book and just as she turned to the first page, a line of text appeared on the book.
"Your system has been temporarily sealed and cannot answer related questions. Other functions can still be used normally. The restaurant level can be upgraded to level 10, and the system can be reactivated."
Without any hesitation, Ina said: "No upgrade."
"The restaurant will be upgraded to level 10, and the system will answer questions related to saving the Moro Continent."
Ina coldly replied: "No rescue."
The words on the paper trembled in anger: "Upgrade the restaurant to level 10, and I'll give you two gold mines!"
"Alright!" Ina responded cheerfully, "I was just joking with you. Saving the world is something I must do! But I hope you were not joking just now. If I don't see two gold mines when the time comes, you're in trouble."
The Scholar's Book closed itself with a 'plop'.
————
Since she wanted to level up as quickly as possible, Ina decided to open the last branch that had been put aside for a long time.
After choosing the option to teleport directly after the draw, Ina immediately found herself in a dark cave.
The system, seeing that she was unable to seek it for redress, actually assigned her a cave as a shop. There wasn't even a stool here, how was she supposed to open a shop?
Ina walked into the deep cave, very little light permeated through, and the cave was full of gray. Ina planned to go out and see where this place was, but the cave was cool and pleasant, even in the depths there was no sense of dampness and darkness. Ina touched the walls of the cave and found the stone to be hard and smooth apparently granite.
However, none of this was important, and Ina quickened her pace. The moment she stepped out of the cave, the world became clear. But the scenery in front of her was a bit off, large blocks of color rushed towards her, the sky was blood-red, and the earth was a lifeless lead grey.
Looking as far as she could, all the land within sight was a barren wasteland without a single plant. Nearby were dark gray and greenish stones, further away the terrain was more flat, but the earth that should have been covered with lush vegetation and bustling with animals was covered with a layer of gray-white hard shell. No creature could survive in such an environment, and Ina could not find a single living creature.
There was no sun in the sky, the clouds were neither light nor pure white but presented a terrifying blood-red color. The entire sky was tinged with an eerie red because of these clouds. Ina stared at the clouds in the sky for a while, feeling that these red clouds seemed to be flowing, not the usual cloud rolls and cloud flutters, but like a heavy, viscous liquid being poured out.
Ina almost felt something was wrong the moment she appeared in this cave. She couldn't sense the magic in the air. The magic consumed in this place couldn't be automatically recovered. For a mage, not being able to absorb free magic from the outside world was like a fish out of water, suffocating.
After seeing the harsher environment outside, Ina realized that the cave given to her was actually a decent shelter in this vicinity. But how could there be customers here? Or rather, could humans survive here?
Almost without hesitation, Ina prepared to return to her other branches, but the teleportation failed.
Without the system's audible reminder, Ina, fortunately, could still check the activity log herself:
[Interdimensional teleportation cooling period is still ongoing, countdown to the end of cooling period: 23:43:29]
Interdimensional?
Ina immediately checked her position. [Current position: ??? (Coordinates: ??, ??)]
The row of garbled text representing her current coordinates made Ina feel a little suffocated. Why didn't they tell her these things before teleporting? Now, if she wanted to go back, she had to wait in this cave for a day.
Ina sighed and found a rock to sit on. She had a hunch about what this place was. Seeing the series of unusual reactions from the system during this period, and the strange hidden task of blocking the restaurant at level five, it wasn't hard to see that the system had been urging her to uncover the secrets of the Old God's relics.
The environment where Ina was now was so harsh, the land was barren, and there were no signs of any living creatures. Even without being reminded of the interdimensional teleportation, Ina was sure she was not in any region of the Moro Continent.
Since she had to stay here for at least a day, should she now go look for the races that had migrated into the relics, or should she redecorate the bare cave behind her and turn it into a real restaurant?
After thinking it over, Ina decided to stay the course and stay in the cave for the time being. She had just arrived, and the Old God's relics were a place full of hidden dangers. She didn't know if the races here had any taboos, so she wouldn't rashly go looking for them.
She turned and entered the cave, planning to buy tables, chairs, pots, and pans from the decoration shop and utensil shop. But then something even more frustrating happened!
[It is detected that you are currently not in the main plane, the shop is temporarily closed.]
Then don't make me open a restaurant here! Ina's anger had nowhere to vent, and she punched the stone wall, but at least she retained some sanity, and the stone wall just burst into a few pieces, without collapsing the cave.
What to do now? Ina looked at the granite wall she had punched a hole in and suddenly had an idea.
Fortunately, in the midst of misfortune, although various shops could not be opened and she could not purchase the required items, Ina's backpack could still be opened normally. Inside were some tavern decorations she had won from draws, and she stared at one of them, a[Restaurant Decoration - Lava Fountain], and figured out how to tidy up the restaurant to a point where it could operate under circumstances where she had nothing.
———
Luciano was a red dragon, flying under clouds as red as his scales, careful not to let a drop of precious water spill from the huge bucket hooked on his claw.
Accompanying him was the black dragon Ahti, who was carrying a heavy box on her back, her spine pressed into a slight curve.
The two giant dragons flew silently over this wasteland, overlooking the unchanging scenery, until Luciano noticed a new change.
There was a wooden sign next to a cave. It was not a settlement for any race. The closest human village to that mountain was on the other side of the mountain, and they never came here.
There seemed to be words on this sign. Luciano couldn't help but fly lower, trying to make out the words. With the dragon's extraordinary eyesight, even if this sign was not as large as his fingernail, he could see what was written on it from thousands of meters away.
When he actually saw it, he couldn't help but wonder if he had read it wrong.
[Dragon Flame Restaurant]
The sign was simply written with these four characters, with no decorative patterns on the side, but Luciano was shocked.
"Do you see that sign?" Luciano asked Ahti.
Ahti nodded, "Is it someone's prank?"
"Who would play such a prank?" Luciano didn't believe it, "I want to go check it out."
Ahti said indifferently, "I won't help you carry the water."
"Let's go take a look together, it won't take too long." Luciano's curiosity had taken over.
Ahti looked at Luciano's eager expression, thinking that if Luciano went to look by himself, she would still have to wait for him. Besides, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that it was just an ordinary cave, and they would just take a look and leave.
"Alright then."