Fortune cookies

"Knock Knock Knock"

As the knocks came from the door, Li Wei and Moody Writer looked at each other curiously. The former was wondering about what he should do while the latter found it strange that someone knocked at her door. If someone wanted to meet him, they would usually contact him first through the Alchemist Association; coming directly was definitely unusual.

He let out a quiet, "This is strange..." as he stood up. He quickly deduced that it was an alchemist but that was strange since normally, alchemists would not do such a thing unless there was an emergency. The tiniest distraction could cause an alchemist to fail their concoction and so, it was considered impolite to disturb alchemists when they were training in their private rooms.

Hearing that, Li Wei quickly said: "I mentioned it before but the receptionist I talked to at the entrance also wanted to trade the items. I did not show him anything..."

The two were smart, Moody Writer thought for a moment and quickly answered: "Don't worry about that. I'll deal with it. There's an emergency exit behind that curtain. You can use that to leave discreetly!"

Li Wei quickly stood up and pull the curtain and effectively, there was a small door behind it. He looked at Moody Writer with a grateful smile, "Thanks!"

It was not that he was scared of confronting the receptionist, but it was better to avoid any trouble. After all, that guy belonged to a guild and might have brought his leaders with him. After going through the door, he quickly placed the curtain back into its original position, covering the emergency exit and closed the door.

At the same time, he heard the door opening and a muffled conversation.

In the room, it was effectively the receptionist that came knocking at the door; behind him, a couple that belonged to his guild was expressionlessly waiting. After being rejected by Li Wei, he knew that there was no way for him to obtain the precious item. The receptionist resorted to asking his guild leaders to step forward. Both were Grade 0 Alchemists from a mid-tier guild and were naturally very interested in an item that could possibly level up their profession.

As for the receptionist, while he knew he has lost an opportunity, reporting this incident would at least get him some benefits from his guild for sharing this information.

Moody Writer immediately frowned upon seeing the trio, he instantly recognized the first one as a receptionist from the guild which matched with what Li Wei just said. As for the couple, he also recognized them; they belonged to the guild, Giants who previously rejected him when he applied for it.

"Good afternoon Moody Writer. It looks like you are doing very well," greeted the female alchemist. At the same time, the trio scanned through the room behind Moody Writer and frowned.

"Not as good as you, guild masters. May I ask what the reason for your visit is?" expressionlessly asked Moody Writer.

"According to one of our guild members, there is someone that came to visit you asking for a particular trade... I am simply curious about that person," said the guild master. He came with his wife as soon as he received the message from the receptionist. Not even 30 minutes went by since he received the message but, the person was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah yes, it is such a pity..."

Upon hearing that, the guild masters immediately frowned but Moody Writer continued: "It turned out to be a complete scam! That guy never had anything good. He only came here to ask me to privately refine some potions for him! He thought that he could skip the queue of customers and immediately ask me, but I naturally kicked him out of the room as soon as I heard that!"

"Really? Then may I ask where is that person? We did not see him leave the association yet," asked the guild master with a suspicious look.

"How would I know? Maybe he used the opportunity that he was already in the association to ask others to refine products for him..." answered Moody Writer, displaying an innocent face.

The receptionist stood silently on the side not daring to speak. He was certain that the player he met earlier should still be there, but the room was empty. The couple was also full of doubts, but they could not simply intrude someone's room. They could only let go of the matter. The wife was naturally not very satisfied with the outcome; she discreetly sent some signs to her husband, but the latter completely ignored her.

"Sorry for disturbing you then. We will take our leave. Also, I would just mention that our offer is still pending," said the guild master as he dragged his wife through the corridors. The receptionist also quietly followed.

After walking a few meters away, the female alchemist looked at her husband and said,"Are we really letting go of this matter? This looks extremely fishy! That arrogant brat was lying!"

"I know but there is nothing we can do. We lack evidence and we cannot offend Moody Writer openly! He is highly looked after by the other guilds. It would be best not to push him towards joining one of the big guilds. It is just an item anyway. Although it's a bonus, it's not an absolute necessity. We can easily live without that. We are not far from leveling up anyway! I'll buy you something good when we get back!"

"Sigh, you are right. Let's focus on leveling our profession first! We will definitely succeed before the end of the week," said the female alchemist. Her expression instantly brightened as she heard that her husband would buy her a gift.

...

Hearing the end of the conversation, Li Wei quietly walked towards the exit. He was relieved to see that Moody Writer came up with an appropriate excuse. Although that guild already knew about him, he doubted they would try to make a move against him, especially since he belonged to the Fleeting Clouds Sect which was a more influential sect than theirs.

Having sorted that out, Li Wei went to the training center for his daily training. This time, he started with the [Ghost Blade] technique. It was the only one he did not develop the skill yet. In the short term, it was the best choice since obtaining the skill would give him a power spike.

The Ghost Blade training cycle was not very hard; it only required the user to quickly swing his blade in front of him at several angles. The only issue usually arises after a few minutes when the user's wrist would start to ache. While ignoring the pain, Li Wei continued to swing his sword according to the technique. His pace gradually got slower, but he eventually ended up with an 80% completion rate.

Following that, he trained his Gliding Steps before moving to the Myriad Sword Dance. He already had a high fatigue level and only trained into the latter since it could be stopped at any time. It was also his favorite technique to train. He would feel relaxed whenever he would swing his sword according to the technique.

He was slowly trying to adapt the technique to the dual sword style he used but did not meet any success so far. However, Li Wei did not give up and continued to train. He knew that modifying a technique was not easy. Fortunately, the skill he obtained, [Sword Storm Dance] could be used with the two blades at the same time.

His fatigue level quickly went up and Li Wei finally took a break as he reached a critical level. All he wanted to do now was to go back to the inn and take a good shower.

...

When Li Wei walked back to the inn, the sky was only starting to get dark. He returned to the city earlier than usual today since he already collected enough Goblin Blood.

Li Wei was absent-mindedly walking through the entrance of the Starry Skies inn, the one he stayed at. He was about to walk upstairs when he suddenly heard a familiar voice from the side.

"Hey Seven!"

When he turned his head to look, he saw Bright Sun standing up from a table, walking towards him. At the table was another blonde woman who giggled at the sight before walking away.

"Hello," politely answered Li Wei. The blonde priest looked as beautiful as usual. She was wearing casual clothes which were more comfortable. Wearing a priest robe could be uncomfortable and get in the way of her cooking. What surprised Li Wei was that Bright Sun was actually level 14 just like him. While training into professions still provided some exp, it was normally at a much slower rate than hunting monsters.

"Come with me. I have something to give you," happily said Bright Sun as she pointed towards the private rooms.

"Sure." He quickly followed her to the private room. He already knew that she succeeded in becoming a Grade 1 Cook which explained her cheerful behaviour.

"Although I promised you a meal, I think that you will prefer this!" declared Bright Sun as the two entered a small private room. She quickly took out three small brown bags and placed them on the table. "I baked them myself! I hope you'll like them!"

In truth, Li Wei already forgot about the matter that Bright Sun would give him a meal, but he quickly opened the bag only to find that they contained a bunch of Fortune Cookies.

[Fortune Cookie (Grade 1)]

Effect: exp +200

Note: The effect of the fortune cookies will gradually worsen if consumed in great quantities.

As he grabbed one of the fortune cookies, Li Wei immediately saw the details. "200 exp!" exclaimed Li Wei in his mind.

Seeing his surprised expression, Bright Sun quickly said, "I knew you would like that, not only does it have a nice effect, I can also guarantee the taste!"

"But that is probably very expensive, isn't it? I have never seen any food that gives experience..."

"Hehe, this is my personal recipe. Quick, have a try! The only thing is that I did not put any message inside the cookies," said Bright Sun. The main reason she was able to get rid of her marriage was precisely due to this recipe. It was something she came up with after several attempts at mixing the different spices together and in the end, she came up with fortune cookies that gave exp.

It was a priceless effect! All the higher-ups of the sect went crazy when they learned about that. While some tried to befriend her, some also threatened her to try to obtain her recipe. It was a unique recipe that only she could pass on. Bright Sun naturally chose to keep her recipe a secret and, in the end, the Cai Family and the sect peacefully bought her Fortune Cookies.

Many Grade 0 cooks of the sect tried to imitate her cookies but all failed. As for the other Grade 1 cook of the sect, she turned out to be one of Bright Sun's friend from a lower-tier family. The two talked to each other and decided to not interfere with each other's business. Both aimed at improving their own living conditions in the sect.

Bright Sun's status soared overnight. Her fortune cookies were simply too powerful. 200 exp might sound insignificant, but quickly leveling was essential to the players if they wanted to make a name for themselves in the game. That was especially true since Algate City was behind the rest of the world in this aspect.

The Fortune Cookies were a hot commodity that everyone wanted. In truth, the price of the materials was not very high and so, Bright Sun made quite a bit of profit. She naturally also took advantage of the system and kept a few batches of Fortune Cookies for herself and her family. It was not an uncommon practice for the players who focused on their profession and everyone turned a blind eye to that since they did not want to get to the bad side of the craftsmen.

Li Wei quickly grabbed a Fortune Cookie and broke it into two parts at the center. With a swift movement, he threw one half inside his mouth. He immediately started munching and the room was filled with the munching sound. The cookies were extremely crunchy and flavorful. It was a treat to Li Wei's mouth; the gentle and mild flavor of the Fortune Cookie slowly assaulted his taste buds in waves. The taste was not different from the usual cookies he ate before but this one had a little twist to it making it stand above the others. While he could not point out exactly what it was, Li Wei still found the Fortune Cookie extremely delicious.

Bright Sun was closely observing Li Wei as he was tasting the cookies. She was instantly relieved as she saw that Li Wei was enjoying the cookie. She was very confident in her cooking skills, but she was also always nervous whenever someone would eat her cooking.

"It's really good!" commented Li Wei as he threw the other half of the cookie in his mouth.

Bright Sun smiled, "Then eat the ones in these bags too but don't take them all at once."

"That is way too much! How much is there inside?" While Li Wei naturally wanted to get a lot of free exp, it would be impolite to eat so many fortune cookies by himself.

"This is my gift to you! To thank you for what you did! There are only 100 fortune cookies in there. Maybe that's not enough..." said Bright Sun.

"Ah no no, that is already too much!"

"Just eat! There's something I would like to ask!"