"Great experience," Emmet said as he patted his lips with a serviette. The plates had all been emptied and Leo had returned with the previous waiters who had brought in their meals.
That was when a notification popped up on his screen.
[You have finally unlocked a customer board]
[Customer boards are accessible to customers only in a place of service while the sellers who offer the services are not able to see the individual customer owned boards]
[With a customer board, you can contribute points to the growth and exposure of a store]
[You can now access your customer board]
The system's screen closed and was soon replaced by a smaller screen which was blue in colour.
At the top of the screen was, "Welcome to your customer board."
[Welcome to your customer board]
[Name: Emmet Quinn]
[Number of stores visited/shopped at: 3]
[Shopping frequency: 10%]
[Customer points available: 12]
[To earn customer points, customer needs to shop from stores more often and in return get to enjoy their buying experiences]
' So this is how it works,' Emmet thought to himself.
"That will be 250 gold coins for the Dining Fiesta," Leo said and placed a glassy device on the table.
Ashley took the device and clicked on a few buttons alongside a few other things that she needed to certify the transaction.
"Done," She handed the device over to him.
Leo placed the device under his arm and held forth a vault-like device that Miles found similar to the one he had seen when he wanted to buy the plot of land on which the Devil's Archive was constructed.
Ashley held open her pouch and coins moved out from it and slid into the opening of the vault device. The digits that were displayed on the small digital screen on the device quickly started counting up from 0 till it reached 250.
Leo held the machine back to himself and Ashley zipped her pouch back up.
[Do you wish to contribute customer points to the Leaven kitchen?]
[Yes] or [No]
Emmet proceeded to select [Yes]
' yes.'
[Select an amount to contribute to the Leaven kitchen]
[1point]
[2 points]
[3 points]
[4 points]
[5 points]
....
[995 points]
[996 points]
[997 points]
[998 points]
[999 points]
[1000 points]
He, however, settled for 5 points without necessarily going through the whole point schemes available.
[You have successfully contributed +5 points to the Leaven kitchen]
"Thank you very much for eating at the underground Leaven kitchen. I hope you come by again," Leo gave a gentlemanly bow.
"Sure. I'll come by when I have a few things settled," Ashley stood up and patted his shoulder.
"You need to settle things with Sabrina too," Leo chuckled as their eyes flew across the room to land on Sabrina.
Ashley could imagine her with a raging aura of flame and she could only laugh.
The shape-shifters returned to their respective vessels once it was time for their owners to head out.
"See you some time, Mikey!" Ashley waved as they walked past the bar and headed out of the place.
"How do you feel?" She suddenly asked Emmet once they were back on the streets.
"A little loose. I've never had the chance to eat out before. Not in my past life nor in this one until today," He simply answered.
"I see. Your mothers tried to hide you?" Ashley raised an eyebrow. She was finding it difficult to remember the story he had previously told her back in the Archive.
"I was normal in my past life, just poor and extremely less privileged so I never got such chances. In this life, my mother hid me away," He explained.
"Ah... you're unlucky," Ashley tsked. "I can bet that in my next life if I am ever given a second chance, I would be reborn as a Queen or some high class city lord."
"Crazy girl," Emmet shook his head. "Now that I think of it, do you have a system?"
"I do," She simply answered. "My theft system. You know, the system actually aligns itself once you, the host has settled down with a lifestyle or like career of your choice. It's more like a life goal assistant."
"And your life goal is stealing?" Emmet raised both eyebrows. Even when he was a thief, he didn't think of it as a goal or career he wanted to take up.
"With it, you can get everything you desire. Just set your target and BOOM!" She lashed out her tongue while hinting at ' BOOM.' "There's so many perks that comes with a theft system."
"A real career system would make a lot more sense," Emmet scoffed.
"Like your boring Library system?" Her eyes reflected immediate boredom.
"No wonder your shape-shifter has a snake form. It knew the right person to bond with," Emmet scoffed again.
Ashley sneered at him.
"There's somewhere I want to go next," He suddenly said.
"Where?"
"A restaurant. A classic restaurant. We tried out a local underground one so let's try a classic too," He suggested.
"I knew you were a secret billionaire!" Ashley went into an overdramatic exclamation and in the next second, her expression fell to reveal boredom.
"You think anyone can just afford to eat in a classic," She shook her head.
"I'll be the only one to eat," He deadpanned.
Since he had requested, they both went to a popular classic restaurant in Emeria. It was called the Culinary Haven.
The entrance were large and tall glass doors that opened on their own accord. The delicious smell of food wafted across the air and Emmet suddenly felt the food he had eaten in the Leaven Kitchen disappear at that moment.
"So this is the difference between cheap and expensive?" He struggled the urge not to salivate.
When they stepped through the glass doors, Emmet felt like he had stepped into another dimension of Culinary expertise.
The waiters and waitresses glided across the polished floors with an effortless professionalism, their crisp white and dark blue uniforms reflecting the standards of the establishment.
The sleek tables and chairs cast a magical touch to the beauty of the place, perfectly complementing the exquisite architectural designs that adorned the space. The walls were adorned with framed artwork that depicted scenes of food and gastronomy, which highlighted the sweet cream colours of the walls
Overhead, stunning chandeliers emitted a warm golden glow, striking perfectly with the walls.
As soon as they were both in, a waitress came up to them.
"Good day and welcome to the Culinary haven. A classic restaurant in the Emeria's restaurant top 70 ranking," She greeted with a smile.
The top 70?! If such an amazing place was still somewhere in the top 70, were the restaurants in the Top 10 then paradises made of pure gold?
"Good day and thank you," Emmet was about to bow his head when Ashley pinched him from behind.
"Good day to you too," Ashley smiled at the lady.
The lady nodded. "Please come with me."
With every soft click of the waitress' polished heels, the two were guided to a table adorned with silverware so refined that it could only be described as otherworldly. The further they moved through the midst of tables, the stronger the subtle scents of exotic spices and delicacies grew, drawing Emmet into a world of nothing but food.
But his excitement was soon shortlived...