Chapter 389 - Heading Straight To The Nest?
"Oh, dear customer, I hope you had a nice sleep!"
Seeing the usual receptionist's face as I got down from my first floor, I nodded with satisfaction.
"Of course, there is a reason that I specifically choose this place to stay in."
I was originally supposed to stay within the lodgings of the Elemental Blade Sect, but although that place had various luxurious sides that the 'Hotel' didn't have, the beds there weren't as good. So in the end, I decided to stay in the same place I used to stay.
Though it was quite expensive as usual since it's the highest tier of lodging within the market district, the coins I currently had wouldn't run out anytime soon and I could easily still sell the other 'pseudo Omni-elemental crystals' that I had once they did.
Having finally cleared away my overthinking about the earlier day along with the water I cleared in my morning shower, I was once again ready for filling at least a fifth of my stomach in another food tour!
'There is no need to go hear today's speech anyway…'
The reason the celebration event would last for another two days was because the major faction heads were supposed to discuss the integration plan between sects and factions to elevate the domain's strength as a whole.
Especially now that a great number of members had been lost in the war, the time to ease the tension between sects was right as every one of them was trying to heal and recoup their losses.
Just like the first day was used to give a hint about what was to happen, today was supposed to be the one when the details are discussed while tomorrow was to be a public meeting of top tier factions as they reach an agreement regarding what is to be said today.
In a sense, these three days were quite similar to what modern world 'summits' did and was something that was completely new and never done before. However, now that the Nature Domain and its powerhouses had a taste of what could one insidious enemy do, they had room for innovation.
Naturally, as one who had attended the actual meeting that caused this event to be set up and even gave a few hints in regards to it, I already knew most of the details. As such, I planned to use the time when most people were busy with the public speech to go visit the stalls before the lines got too long!
"Come on Light, we have another big meal ahead of us!"
"Meow!"
`~~`~~`~~`
'The food is too good, but sadly my stomach can't handle more than that!'
This was a passage that I often heard back in reality when I attended the parties hosted by the institute before my eventual expulsion.
However, back then, as a paralyzed cripple who had great trouble with eating, I naturally couldn't understand the feelings behind these words from the speaker's point of view.
Yet… Now that I could eat as well as normal people, I still couldn't understand that point of view!
'That was especially great, I was right to add tasting various kinds of food into my pleasure list!'
After all, I wasn't exactly normal at the moment either, the magical dragon's stomach that allowed me to eat a month's worth of food before starting to feel full, and even after spending three days eating, I was barely starting to feel half full.
Considering that most stalls sold stuff in small portions most of the time I spent moving from stall to another, this was quite a good result already. Besides, what I took pleasure in was the taste instead of feeling full anyway.
'The noodles are still at the top of the list though…'
Even after trying a great number of foods alongside Light, both he and I agreed that the noodles were still the most impressive taste of them all, which made me happier about the hidden quest than I already was! Just inspecting the two items using 'Eye of Knowledge' already explained a lot.
[ 'Mountain's family noodles & broth recipe' (Special)
Description: The inherited recipe of the Sand family, its creator was said to have received an epiphany about the exact portions which caused the resulting meal to have a unique taste!
* Item Ability - 'Rich and Golden' - +20% richness of taste is added to meals created by following this recipe ]
[ 'Mountain's special broth spice' (Special)
Description: The complementing factor to a great meal, it's taste is great, but it has another secret effect that goes beyond that!
* Item Ability - 'What's better than great taste? Having more of it!' - enhances the taste buds' ability to taste the complementing flavor of the meal seasoned by this special spice. ]
As normal as the two items looked, they had their own supernatural effects that made them worthy of being Special ranked items, which explained why the noodles tasted too good to be true.
Naturally, since that was the case, I took some time from our food tour to inspect the recipe in more detail and bulk buy the materials needed for it. Though I did like eating chicken meat and hardly got sick of it, that was just protein, carbohydrates are also needed and the noodles of Mountain's family would do very good to take care of that part of my diet!
Since the spatial ring froze the things in the same state they are put inside of it in, I could even have a piping hot bowl of noodles with broth anytime I wanted as long as no one is around!
Naturally, that could only be done once I already cooked the meal…
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Yes?"
"Excuse me for the distribution, but the sect master ordered me to remind you that we are leaving within half an hour."
"Alright then, I won't forget to be there on time."
As this was already the fourth morning, the whole event was already announced as done and the forces were about to retreat to their own lands till the first part of the integration plan starts which meant that the time I gave myself to rest has come to an end.
Since I still had something to request from Blade, I obviously planned to return with him to the Elemental Blade Sect for that request to be fulfilled, after which I would finally begin my search plan.
"Let's go Light, there is still one more thing left to do…"
Putting on the 'Convenient Leather Armor' and fixing my hair, I headed out of the room and went to the reception desk to check out.
"Pleased to have you here, do come again if you plan to stay in Battle City again!"
"Mhm…"
The streets were already starting to get empty on my way from the market district to the sect district and out of the city so it didn't take me much time to see the grassy plains surrounding the city.
There were a lot of groups that gathered out since most forces were leaving, but the group of higher-ups from the Elemental Blade Sect weren't hard to spot thanks to their special mean of transport, the huge hybrid Roc!
Blade who had already taken his place on the Roc's small carrier gestured for me to come up, so I took a light jump to get into the carrier, slightly surprised about why no one else from the higher-ups including Wind had got on…
"Are they not going back to the sect…?"
"They are, but they will use another mount, we will go ahead as we are heading straight to the nest!"