Chapter 20 - Florida Man Purchased Expired Food from Third World Country to Feed Homeless Families
*DING*
Felix fetched his pocket watch and looked at the green radar screen. At the top right, multiple strings of vein-like red lines entered the radius of 10 miles. As the horse carriage resumed the journey southwest, the veins gradually got closer. Judging from the direction, it was directly west from the vehicle's location. Felix glanced at the new quest menu, checking its content.
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Main Quest #4 - Surveying the Mysterious Oil Deposit
Your PMOS has detected a potential deposit of crude oil. Head to that location and deploy the "Liberty Scanner" to pinpoint the location of the deposits. Liberty Scanner can be purchased from Florida Man Online Store. You will receive a 100% discount for the first unit.
Mission: Deploy Liberty Scanner on any location with a potential crude oil vein.
Reward: Unlock Oil Extractor in Florida Man Online Store, Mysterious Crate (Class F)
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Felix closed the pocket watch and put it back in his inventory. Looking at Jessica, he sought her advice.
'Let me guess. Once I find the oil deposit, I'll have to build an oil derrick and a refinery? Is this really for mana?'
'Becoming an immortal?! Is that even possible?!' Felix was flabbergasted.
'And how much mana is that?!'
<20 million if your constitution is flawless. The inflation rate depends on your talent, intelligence, and foundation. However, as you never trained in sorcery or had a martial arts background, you might require a billion mana to achieve level 100.>
Felix almost fainted. He couldn't imagine accumulating a billion mana, let alone a million.
'Isn't that too much?!' Felix internally screamed.
Jessica faintly smiled and slightly lowered her head, sincerely wishing the best for Felix.
On the other hand, Felix had a headache. He just wanted to live a slow life in peace.
'Ancestor. What have you done to me?' Felix grumbled in his mind.
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It was 5:30 PM. The sun was on the horizon, beaming orange light and signaling the upcoming nighttime. Adam drove the carriage to an empty area surrounded by meadows. Everyone got down and prepared a campfire to rest for the night.
According to Roland, they were approximately 20 miles away from their destination. However, since the carriage moved at a snail's pace, they might need to travel a whole day tomorrow to reach the city before nightfall. Felix inwardly grumbled about their slow vehicle. To him, 20 miles felt like a 20-30 minute trip, but he no longer had a modern car to make that distance.
Because of these thoughts, Felix was in a bad mood and became absentminded, thinking of random things while he unpacked an MRE package.
Roland, Adam, Mary, and Valley were nearby and noticed the unusual plastic bag in Felix's hands. Once again, they were interested in Felix's tools. Unable to contain their curiosity, Roland secretly cast an appraisal spell on Felix but failed to detect any flow of mana.
'I guess his ability is out of my reach.' Roland made a conclusion. He stopped dwelling into Felix's secrets and sat next to him.
As soon as Roland rested on the grass, Felix snapped back to his senses. Noticing his privacy was invaded, he stared at Roland in disapproval.
Meanwhile, Roland faked a laugh and pointed at the MRE's plastic cover.
"What are those, sir?" Roland asked.
Felix snorted, "My ration."
"What are those made of? The texture seems unusually thin, and it makes noises when it moves."
Ignoring the question, Felix unloaded the contents and passed the empty plastic bag to Roland. He mumbled, ending the conversation, "I don't know. You can have it if you want."
The plastic bag was worth 0.001 mana, so Felix didn't bother removing the trash. On the other hand, Roland was fascinated by the plastic bag. He peeked inside and sniffed it, enjoying the rare scent of a modern object.
"It smells… odd, but nice. It reminds me of Terra Alchemy Institution. Those alchemists have unique bodily odors similar to this, but their scent is much stronger."
While Roland commented on the plastic bag's scent, Felix silently cooked a bag of instant curry rice by pouring water into the outer container of the food's package. Within minutes, the food was heated and ready to be consumed. Felix quickly threw the chemical water into his inventory before Roland noticed. Then, he opened the food package, which exuded a pleasant aroma of spices and pork.
The scent made heads turn. Valley, Mary, and Adam looked at Felix, swallowing their saliva. The smell of freshly cooked food stimulated their stomachs and hunger. Even Jane pushed herself up, rubbing her injured chest, drooling.
Roland was also attracted to the smell of food. Although he had brought a portion of bear meat for today's dinner, Roland doubted Adam or Mary could make bear stew as good as the food in Felix's hands. Unable to withstand his curiosity and hunger, Roland swallowed his pride and begged Felix.
"Sir, I'm wondering, could you share some of your food with us?"
Felix smirked, "Not only have you not paid me for my services yet, but now you're begging for my personal food?"
"I'll ask my son to compensate you for this later. For now, please…"
"Meh, fine."
Felix had no issue with food as one supply crate came with 10 packages of MREs. Yesterday and today, he ate some. There were seven packs and 20 extra in the two sealed supply crates remaining. Bringing five MRE packages out of his inventory, Felix silently separated snack bars, biscuits, and other items from the bags and threw them back in his inventory, saving them for late-night snacks. Afterward, he cooked five instant curry rice meals and passed the food bags to everyone, including Jane in the carriage.
The entire family feasted on the food in glee. Valley, who barely touched any food during lunch, was the first to empty the content. She ripped the food bag open and licked every drop of the sauce. Mary ate half of her portion and shared the rest with Valley, who gladly accepted it and consumed everything in less than a minute. Jane gradually swallowed every mouthful of rice as her previous injury still haunted her innards, making her stomach churn.
Adam and Roland silently ate their food. After finishing, they gazed at the empty bags with sad eyes and glanced at Felix. Although they wished to ask for seconds, they weren't shameless enough to beg for more. Felix watched them eat and thought of starving homeless men searching trash bins behind convenience stores, scavenging for expired food.
It finally dawned on him that he was associating with medieval people.