Chapter 594 A treasure’s allure (part 2)
A moment after the instructions of the dynamic of this restaurant was delivered through the arrays on each table, the doors to the kitchen opened and a group of elders brought a large table with lots of different dishes each contained in a transparent jade case.
It was for a good reason though, spirit herbs, minerals, metal ores and the like, lose their properties after being harvested, that's why spatial rings were created, another option was using special containers to prevent the decay of precious resources.
The difference is that inside of a spatial ring, the aura of those treasures doesn't leak out, but those jade cases allowed said natural treasures to exhibit their aura, but in this case that wasn't a positive thing.
"Out of the way!".
"That's mine!".
The moment the elders returned to their positions, a bunch of guys immediately rushed to the table and grabbed the plates that radiated the strongest and purest aura, and took them to their respective tables.
While some disciples clicked their tongues after seeing the "best" dishes being snatched away by the fastest people, among which the vast majority were male deacons.
Some even gazed at specific people with contempt, among which a lot of those stares fell on Aster who naturally ignored them and instead took out a bottle from his spatial ring, one could only eat the food served here, but everyone was free to take the drinks they wanted.
Camila saw that Aster casually poured two cups of the content of that bottle and she giggled knowing she was mocking those guys; the room was suddenly flooded by a fragrant scent.
And of course, there were immediate reactions, some people even stood up from their tables as they were attracted by fragrant scent that came from the two cups.
"What is that?".
"Damn, it smells better than the best elixirs I have drank in my life!".
Aster handled the cup to Camila, whose eyes sparkled before she took a sip and a cute smile of delight flourished on her pretty face, what Aster gave her was an elixir made with refined spirit fruits and liquified spirit energy which he condensed, both using Rigel's flames.
It's something he made as homework to impress his alchemy teacher, needless to say but Mylene was speechless at both the taste of this elixir Aster created, and at the fact that he used such a treasure as liquified spirit energy for such a mundane thing, still she asked for a bottle to Aster, who promised to prepare one for her using her favorite fruits, getting his teacher's favor.
Aster could feel the greedy gazes of a few people mostly from the Red Sword faction, but they all vanished as a person came from the same door from which the elders entered the room with the food for the banquet, but this time it was none other than the core elder Mikaela, whose eyes were set on the bottle of that elixir Aster prepared.
"…", seeing that the elder from the White Sword faction wasn't saying anything but she wasn't leaving either, Aster poured a cup and offered it to her, Mikaela accepted the cup and drank the contents in a single go, a light of surprise flashed in her eyes and then she nodded at Aster, before leaving from where she came without uttering a word.
The guys who snatched the best dishes snorted at the sight of Aster getting the attention of the supervisor of most of the dynamics in the Treasure Planet, but they didn't say anything thinking that the best revenge was showing Mikaela they had better eyes than Aster.
So, they removed the lids of the jade cases that contained their dishes, there was some variety, steaks, salads, bread, soup, you name it, their fragrance wasn't far from the elixir Aster and Camila were drinking.
Seeing the interested spectators, those guys proudly took a bite of their foods, and immediately enjoyed the beneficial effects of them, naturally everything that was presented in this banquet was prepared by a spirit chef, so the taste was quite good.
Some of them even made exaggerated sounds of joy feeling their bodies being reinforced by the food, but their joy didn't last long.
"Ahh no, what is this!", one of the guys who was showing a smile of contempt a second earlier, suddenly grabbed his stomach, he fell from his chair and retorted on the ground as purple points appeared all over his face.
"Heh, idiots, every time there is batch of those who believe themselves to be intelligent than everyone, throw them out before they make a mess", ordered the elder that seemed to be Mikaela's second in command, Aster recognized her, since he had seen her back at the auction.
The elders that were acting as guards snapped their fingers and used their spirit energy to remove the ones that were suffering due to what they ate, out of the restaurant without mercy.
Of course, the food wasn't lethal, but a hellish stomach ache, fever, temporary blindness and other funny effects were to be expected, and that is why the drinks were on each person, they could drink antidotes, quite slowly as they were suffering.
'That alchemist godmother of mine sure is… wild', thought Aster, not all the first batch of people was unfortunate enough to have a messed-up dish, but the ones who didn't discovered that they didn't receive any benefit from the food, except for one guy who got lucky and actually felt his mind be at ease.
While the others gloated in those poor bastard's misfortune, Aster stood up and then turned to see Camila with a smile, which she recognized.
"I chose the drink, you choose the food", he playfully said, Camila bitterly smiled knowing what he was planning, but she still stood up and followed Aster to the table, spirit sense wasn't allowed but people could feel the aura radiated by the dishes, the problem is that the spirit chef who prepared them, did it in a way that it could be just superficial appearance… or not.
Other means were allowed though, for example alchemists, herbalists, poison masters, spirit blacksmiths and other cultivators who worked with precious materials, often developed the ability to discern whether something is fake or not, without the need to use spirit sense, as it is usually not allowed to use it in auctions, it's an instinct developed through lots of experience of course.
But Aster didn't need to resort to that, since he has a lucky charm at his side, like every date, Aster's goal is to both help the girls in what they might need and also have fun with them, teasing them is a bonus.
"If you keep staring at the food we'll starve, fun fact, dragons eat a lot", he said with an exaggerated voice, making Camila who was trying really hard to discern what was safe to eat, pouted she then pointed some specific plates which they both grabbed, of course some guys tried to sneak and pull a fast one but a single glare from Aster was enough to make them freeze where they were standing.
Aster accompanied Camila to their table and even pulled the chair for her, before he took seat, a lot of gazes fell on them, when Aster removed the cases, at this point no one trusted either appearance nor the smell of the food, it's worth mentioning that the dishes choose by Camila all had decent appearances and good smell.
Before Camila could say anything, Aster grabbed the fork, took a portion of the pasta Camila selected for him and ate it, then under the surprised eyes of the spectators who were waiting, some wanting Aster to suffer, others interested in grabbing the same dish as Aster if he didn't end up poisoned, saw his body exploding in flames.
Camila immediately worried thinking she had made a mistake, but just when she was about to use an elixir to help Aster, the flames were absorbed by his body.
"Were you trying to kill your date…'s appetite, that was quite bland for spicy pasta, on the other hand this increase in resistance against fire will be quite handy later on", jokingly said Aster as he gazed at the tables where the disciples from the Red Sword faction were inwardly cursing him, for making a fool of them, as they were just toasting at his disgrace, but those flames turned out to be a beneficial thing.
Camila's who went from hell to heaven was speechless, but as she was about to tell Aster not to do that, he poked her forehead to then say.
"Have more confidence in your abilities, I wholeheartedly trust that the Camila of my family would never be deceived by tricks of this level".
Camila's pretty face blushed, and it got worse when she saw Aster casually using the same fork from which he ate to pick something from the plate she grabbed for herself, the elders though were enjoying the show Aster put on earlier, still moved to warn him that he couldn't eat from the plate that other selected, but they froze on their places when they saw Aster offering that little piece of grilled meat to Camila.
With a reddened face, Camila inwardly cursed Aster but she still happily accepted the offer, and was rewarded not only with her little heart fluttering due to the intimate action of being fed by Aster, but also by a green comforting light covering her, as she received a benefit that boosted her vitality.
Aster smiled enjoying two things, first Camila's cute blushed face as she clearly wanted him to keep feeding her but was too shy to ask for it, secondly, the group from the Red Sword faction grabbed plates with dishes similar to his, increasing their fire resistance will allow them to show a greater battle prowess.
As a bonus there were also people from the Purple Lotus faction, who took most of the steaks like the one Camila was eating, vitality will help them use stronger poisons without being affected by them after all.
The two groups who prevented others from taking the same dishes Aster and Camila were eating, immediately took a bite of their food, and then there were similar effects to what happened to Aster and Camila, flames and a warm green light, however there were also screams.
"Ahhh my mouth!".
"I can't feel my body, damn it!".
"Idiots", casually said Aster as he cut another piece of meat for Camila, of course not all the dishes with the same appearance would have the same effect, on the other hand the spirit chef who made these plates was also quite something, approximately nine out of ten of the same dishes he and Camila took, were messed with.
Needless to say, but those guys were thrown out of the restaurant, and that made the other participants hesitate, some took a plate and were lucky, others weren't, but none of that mattered to Aster, he just happily fed Camila to the content of her heart, until she actually used her fork to offer Aster food too.
"Oh, a bold move", said Aster as he accepted her offer, which made Camila answer in a rush.
"I-I was just returning the favor", Aster simply couldn't help but want to tease her, so he smirked and then sent a message only she could hear, to then see Camila's face explode in red.
"Lascivious dragons", she mumbled as she flashed to the table to look for a dessert, with Aster following her not too long later, this time he was the one to select though, and to no one's surprise, the dessert was perfectly fine.
In fact, Camila was quite happy with the benefit she got from it, as it was a boost in metal-oriented spirit energy, which earned Aster a pretty smiling expression from her, the elders were surprised to see someone having a full course meal with all top tier positive effects, and some were even slightly jealous of Camila being in a date with Aster.
At some point, Mikaela appeared in the room once again, she snapped her fingers and the elders took the table away.
"The banquet has finished, those of you who desire to participate in the next event, you have one hour to prepare, the ones who participated in the banquet will receive a reward that will help them in the next event, based on their performance here, also if you aren't going to participate, get lost", she said with her usual serious voice.
Naturally, some were angered by being chased away, mostly those who didn't dare to eat during the banquet, but they couldn't do anything but obey, unless they wanted to be beaten up by the elders of course.
Aster and Camila also got up their table, but as they were about to leave the restaurant, Mikaela approached them, well more accurately she approached Aster, which earned her a piercing gaze from Camila.
"If possible, I would like to buy a bottle of that drink from earlier", she said to which Aster shook his head in response.
"It's something that wasn't made with the intention of selling; however, a few bottles will find their way to my family's store, they will be an exclusive item for our commercial allies of course, I hope elder Mikaela pay us a visit later", he said as he left accompanied by Camila.
Mikaela waited until Aster left, a strange light glowing in her eyes, she is a body and soul cultivator on par with Valentina as she is a core elder, and while her soul cultivation hasn't entered the Transcending realms, she is still quite perceptive.
"Lisa, was there a mistake on the batch of fiery heart pasta that Law Enforcer Amelia made, that I wasn't aware off?", she asked to her second in command, who was coming out of the "kitchen" right now, just to see her shaking her head.
"No young miss, I inspected every plate, the ten plates were supposed to burn the one who ate them, whether they had a fire attribute or not, it wasn't a negative effect but a member of the youngest generation shouldn't be able to endure it… that kid is just a monster as the young miss stated", she said as she kneeled in front of Mikaela.
Camila didn't choose wrong, the effect of that specific dish was actually the strongest in all the dishes offered during this banquet, as a way to trick others, it was a beneficial thing, except that its intensity was hidden by the one who made it, and even medicines are detrimental with the wrong dose.
However, her senses took into account how monstrous Aster's dragon physique is, so she chose that dish, as her instincts told her it would be beneficial for him.
"Mm, it seems like today's event is going to be interesting for a change", said Mikaela as she disappeared from the room, followed by her assistant.
…
Outside of the restaurant Aster took Camila to the resting area for those who were going to participate on the next event, around half of the participants of the banquet were there, surprisingly a large part of the group was conformed by those who ended up suffering from choosing wrong during the banquet.
Naturally quite a few glared at Aster and Camila, but were ignored by them, Camila turned to see Aster, she then leaned her head against his shoulder to then mumble.
"That was a fun… thanks for the breakfast~".
Aster nodded, it was good to see her having fun, and it was even better to see she was a bit more comfortable around him, of course these innocent signs of affection weren't something only lovers would exclusively do, but for a girl who was inexperienced with love, they were big steps.
As a proof of it, many of the female disciples blushed at the sight of Camila being close with Aster, while the vast majority of male disciples cursed him for flirting with such a beauty in front of them, when they weren't even considered potential love interest for most of the girls of the sect.
"That was just the opening for our date, the next event will be the main course".
"Mm~", Camila limited to rest for the next hour, she was so comfortable that she actually felt it was a waste that it came to an end, still, she felt a group of elders approaching the resting area and she unwillingly returned to her previous sitting position.
Being seen by those young girls was one thing, they were quite sheltered and so they mostly showed curiosity towards them, but the elders were more informed about the matters between men and
women, Aster didn't care but it was a bit too much for Camila, for now at least.
"Not bad, this time we have around twice the number of participants for the treasure hunt", said Mikaela's assistant.
The words "treasure hunt" made the eyes of quite a bit of participants shine with desire, the events in the Treasure Planet often involved getting free resources, as long as one was willing to suffer a bit, like earlier, those dishes would have been quite pricey even for core disciples, but they got to eat them for free.
Sure, a lot ended up suffering negative effects, but besides some humiliation, there was no permanent side effects, nor life threatening situations, most didn't notice it, but it was a way to temper the disciples of the sect.
Of course, the vast majority only wanted the treasures and didn't realize that the objective of the event, was to teach them that greed can be their doom, the lesson was there, those who learnt it had a higher chance of survival and the weak minded will be purged, such was the nature of the cultivation world.
"Seeing your dumb expressions, it seems you all are misunderstanding something, you won't be hunting the treasures, the treasures will be hunting you, anyway, good luck".
With that short explanation, an array appeared below the resting area and whether the participants were willing or not, they were transported to where the second event will take place.
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