After he finished reading the manual, Arthur put it on the table and finally stood up with a small groan.
“Well, what should I do now?” He asked himself. “I can just spend the entire day playing the game. But, to be honest, I want to buy some stuff from the city beforehand. I won’t find that many opportunities to explore the city in the next few days.”
Arthur’s plan for the rest of the week was to train and simply play DO the rest of the time non-stop. He didn’t want to fall behind everyone else especially this early on in the game where each level mattered and each point in any stat could decide who wins and who loses.
He knew that in order for him to keep his number 1 status, he had to actually put in the work required. There was also something extremely important that will happen in a few days. ‘I’m going to leave the village soon and that journey might take me a very long time. I need to be very prepared for it.’
So far, Arthur has seen many people starting their journey through the vast lands of the Divine Realm. Naturally, nobody had successfully crossed the first step forest region yet. He intended to find a group of other players and then leave since staying in that area was starting to be boring to him.
“That settles it then.” With a smile on his face, Arthur finally picked up his BlueLink and left his apartment. ‘It’s nice that I can travel this light without the need to carry anything other than my device. I like this a lot.’
He didn’t need a wallet, keys or anything else as his device replaced them all. It was his key to his apartment, his wallet, and his map.
Closing the door behind him, Arthur made sure that it was properly locked before he turned around and headed out of the building. On the way, the receptionist greeted him with a smile before he requested that Arthur put his device near the glass panel to register that he had exited the building at that time.
He then told him that he needed to do this every time he came in or went out. It was a safety mechanism they put there to make sure all the students were there and nobody got in trouble.
‘It’s like checking in and out of work. Very organized.’ Arthur mused as he stepped outside. Since it was morning, the weather was warm and sunny with the birds chirping happily on the trees.
Looking around him, Arthur saw many students like him everywhere. Their numbers were surprisingly big.
‘2000 students, huh? This is certainly looking like it.’ With pursed lips, Arthur started walking through the male dormitory area, heading to the exit.
There, he was able to easily pass through the gate. Many other students were walking out too so the guards didn’t stop any of them and simply watched from the side.
Stopping a few meters away from the gate, Arthur took in a deep breath of the fresh air before he smiled and started walking again. “Where should I go firs-”
*Grumble*
“… I guess I don’t even need to ask anymore.”
Arthur hadn’t eaten breakfast yet so he naturally felt hungry. Although, the past few days, he didn’t feel hungry as often as usual. He didn’t know if that was because he was too focused on the game and everything else happening around him or if that was some kind of effect from the Serum.
Either way, Arthur wasn’t really consuming as much food as he used to which sounded quite weird when he thought about it.
‘I hope I’m not turning into some kind of monster that doesn’t need to eat. I like food. Wouldn’t want to replace it with anything else.’ He frowned.
Good food had always been something Arthur appreciated deeply. It was a form of entertainment just like anything else so he naturally liked it a lot.
“This seems like a good place to have breakfast.” Looking through his map, he quickly pinpointed a random restaurant nearby.
So, without hesitation, he headed there quickly. A few minutes later, he found himself standing in front of the location. Just like everywhere else in this city, this restaurant looked very luxurious and beautiful.
With an exterior wall made out of glass and a massive sign above, it didn’t seem like something Arthur would ever think about visiting in his life. After all, one meal here would’ve probably cost him a day of work or even more. Yet, here he was.
‘It doesn’t seem to be too active. Let’s go inside.’ After much contemplation, he stepped inside the place.
There was some activity inside and some students had already taken spots to eat their breakfast like him. From what Arthur could see, not many actually knew each other on this island. After all, they were all brought from different parts of the world. There were of course those who knew one another and they stuck together but the majority were trying to establish connections with new faces.
‘Most of them are rich people so they are good at this kind of thing. I personally have zero interest and zero ability to be that sociable so I don’t care.’ He shrugged and walked to a random table and sat down before picking up the menu.
“Hmm, there are a lot of options here. Many exotic foods too.” Arthur muttered as he rubbed his chin. “It seems they have put in mind what each student might prefer.”
With how diverse the group of students here was, they had to account for their preferred food and what they were accustomed to.
*Gulp*
“They all look delicious and they aren’t that expensive either… The most expensive one is 50 credits.”
The prices surprisingly were very affordable with how much money Arthur was given. It was indeed logical for them to have the prices very low compared to the amount of credits each student gets since most of them were accustomed to a luxurious lifestyle where money was never a problem.
Robbing them of that privilege would end up backfiring on the Academy.
“Hello sir, how can I help you today?” A few minutes later, a waitress approached him with an inviting smile.
“Can I have a cup of coffee with two sugar cubes, two chocolate crepes, and an orange juice?” Arthur asked.
“Of course. Is that everything?”
“For now,” Arthur replied.
“Understood, please wait a moment.”
With that, the lady walked away to deliver his order. Meanwhile, Arthur sat there, looking outside the window and enjoying the cozy atmosphere of the restaurant.
A few minutes later, the waitress came back again with a plate in her hand. She put Arthur’s order in front of him and the amazing smell of this meal hit his nose hard.
‘Oh boy this is about to be the best meal I’ve ever had.’
“Enjoy your meal!” She said.
“Thank you, I’m going to!”
With that, the waitress walked away to let Arthur eat his food. The latter licked his lips before he picked up the fork and knife. What transpired after that was just the best time of Arthur’s life. He started wolfing down the food with excitement. As he expected, the food was simply amazing.
‘This is by far the best breakfast I have ever eaten in my life. Hahaha! Num, num, so good!’ With his mouth full of food, he wanted to cry tears of happiness. ‘This is the life I deserve. Hahahaha! Nothing can ruin my mood now!’
As he was laughing to himself like that, Arthur didn’t notice that something had just happened in the restaurant.
Almost all the students had gone completely silent as someone walked into the restaurant. It was as if some kind of angel had descended upon the place, illuminating the entire place.
“Oh my god…”
Those who were eating stopped eating, and those who were talking went completely silent as they stared in shock. After all, when the most beautiful person they had ever seen walked in, they couldn’t simply pretend as if they didn’t see them.
The appearance of this person was so stunning that it easily caught their attention without even trying. Nothing about this person felt real… That was how gorgeous they were.
“Who is that?”
“Like hell do I know… That girl is so beautiful… Am I looking at an angel?”
“… I’m going to talk to her.” Original content from M-VL-em|p,yr
“Are you insane?! Don’t you know who that is?!” One student heard the other talk and so he whispered to them.
“Who is she?”
“That’s Isla Goldsmith… Her family owns the International Goldsmith Bank! They’re one of the richest families in the world!”
“What?! That’s her?!” Hearing that, they almost choked on their own saliva. “I have never seen her before… I didn’t know their daughter was this… stunning.”
The small piece of information quickly spread out across the entire place as people started whispering to one another. The admiration they had for the girl rose to new heights. What was before simply a mindless appreciation of her extreme beauty turned into shock and admiration because of her status too.
Nobody hasn’t heard of the Goldsmith family as they were one of the most popular families in the world. Their name spread far and wide for their ownership of the Goldsmith International Bank which controlled an astronomical amount of money. They were the cream of the crop in terms of rich nobility.
Isla passed through the ruckus as if she wasn’t bothered at all. Her expression was calm and collected, hiding all thoughts.
“Are there any empty tables?” She approached one of the stunned waiters and asked coldly. freewebnoveℓ.com
The latter was still seemingly in a daze, only to snap out of it when he realized that she was standing in front of him. He blushed furiously and quickly pointed at an empty table. “Of course, Miss.”
Looking around her, she nodded and then walked away. Passing beside other students, they were all completely captivated by her as if she had cast some kind of spell on them.
But, she didn’t care at all. After all, nobody here was worth her attention. Or that was what she assumed at first. Passing by one of the random seats, she noticed that one student didn’t seem to be looking at her and was rather shoving food into his mouth non-stop.
She didn’t know why, but he stood out instantly to her for one reason or another. However, when he lifted his head up as he noticed her passing by, their eyes made contact for a moment, and they both froze in their place.
Their eyes widened at the same time as they went completely silent. Arthur’s mouth was still filled with food and his mouth.
Arthur: “…”
Isla: “…”
A few seconds passed like that before Arthur finally snapped out of it and started chewing his food again before swallowing it. Then, he slowly looked down and pretended to start eating again.
That was the signal that brought Isla back to reality.
“You!”
A//N: Don’t forget to support the book before moving on!