Kit’s anger poured out of his mouth in a furious flurry. “For your information this token is mine! Of course I know it is attuned to me! Who are you to judge me! I already have my own restaurant! I passed the qualification test all on my own and have created numerous stats dishes already, can you say the same about yourself?”
Kit flipped the interrogation towards the woman. “What qualifications do you have to criticize me? If you are not at a gold standard, should you be doing it?” Kit had a hunch this lady was not at a gold rank, so he used his sharp words to sting.
Kit was puffing out angry breaths with each sentence. The token in his hand had heated up at some stage during his tirade. It was now glowing with a beautiful golden hue.
He happily flaunted his golden token in front of the woman’s eyes. After he had said his piece, he started to calm down. Then his face flushed in embarrassment. He had taken all his frustrations from today out on this lady.
The woman stared at him with wide eyes, Kit started to feel bad. Maybe it was a normal situation for people to try to scam token promotions here.
Kit sucked in some calming breaths, then apologised. Although she had spoken harshly first, it was not like him to retaliate. He didn’t want to be enemies with anyone if he could help it. Plus, he needed her to complete his promotion! What if she now said no!
“Sorry, since this morning things haven’t been going well. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.” Kit bowed in a formal apology to accompany his words.
“I apologise as well, we have had a couple of people claiming to be chefs arrive this week only to find out they had stolen the token in their possession. It makes me angry that they stole from other chefs and tried to take their hard work away from them.” An apologetic smile appeared on the woman’s face.
He now understood her reaction to him, still it stung to be branded a thief. He decided to let the hurtful words go and returned the older woman’s smile. She fixed him with a steady gaze then spoke once again. “Let’s start over, shall we? I am instructor Quinn welcome to the culinary guild in Fairweather town.”
“Hello, I’m Kit owner of Spartan Fire restaurant, nice to meet you.” Kit held out his hand to perform a handshake. Instructor Quinn’s eyes almost popped out of her head at Kit’s words, she quickly grasped his hand and gave it an enthusiastic shake.
Ding!
[CAL]
Secret quest
Instructor Quinn has been frustrated with the thefts from chef recently. Help her to find a real chef to visit the culinary guild in Fairweather town.
Reward: ???
Kit’s eyes went round at the notification that appeared before his eyes. A secret quest! No wonder she had been so fierce when he walked in. His timing had been perfect to receive the quest, Kit smiled at his luck. Then he remembered he had eaten a candy apple before entering!
“Oh my, welcome! I was going to take a trip to your restaurant soon. Instructor Phi sent me a message not that long ago to go and check up on you. I was looking forward to tasting some of your cooking.” Her reaction towards him was a complete turnaround from the initial interaction.
Her enthusiasm relayed into her handshake. She was squeezing his hand in a death grip. Kit felt his bones grinding together, he tried to pull his hand away without success. “Ah instructor Quinn, can I have my hand back now?”
Quinn glanced down at their held hands and laughed. “Sorry, I was a little over excited. Oh, I need to apologise properly to you. Wait right here and I will get you a gift.” Before Kit could tell her it wasn’t necessary, she dashed back through the door.
When she returned instructor Quinn was holding something very familiar to him. It was a magic multiplier plate! Kit felt a wave of giddiness, then a burst of happiness took over. Hot red peppers! Finally, he was going to own another magic multiplier plate!
The thought of refusing the gift didn’t even cross his mind. He eagerly waited for it to be placed in his hands. He didn’t have to wait long, Instructor Quinn came straight over and gave it to him. “That should be a good apology gift, yes?” Kit could only nod his head furiously.
Ding!
[CAL]
Secret quest complete.
A real chef entered Fairweather town culinary guild making instructor Quinn burst with happiness.
Rewards: Apology gift from Instructor Quinn, faulty Magic multiplier plate.
Kit hugged the plate to his chest. “Thank you so much, I really needed one of these. Is there anything I can do for you as a thank you?”
Laughter bubbled from Instructor Quinn. “Call me Kate dear. Don’t get too excited about that plate though, I can only give it to you because it has a small fault. It works perfectly fine most of the time, it’s just every now and then it has a hiccup.”
Kate scratched her chin, then looked at Kit with twinkling eyes. “There is something you can do. Can you cook me some of the meals on your menu. I’m dying to try some.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Of course, I can!” Kit opened his pouch, stuffed the plate in, then looked to see what ingredients he had on hand. He had a good supply of almost everything on his menu board. “Just give me a kitchen and I can start cooking.” Kit was so happy with instructor Quinn right now he wouldn’t refuse any task.
A clearing of a throat stopped Kit’s enthusiasm. “Before you two get lost in kitchen talk, how about we do Kit’s tier promotion first. I don’t want him to leave and then realise he had been too swept away to complete it.” Claire was looking at Kate as she spoke with a knowing glint in her eye.
Kate had the grace to look embarrassed. “Oh yes, of course, thank you Claire.” Claire turned to Kit and held out her hand. Kit passed his token over, then watched as Claire took out a familiar thick tomb. It was identical to the one in Flower field town’s culinary guild.
He watched as the tome shifted from a bronze boarder to golden. Claire then placed the token on top of the book. Excitement started to build causing his heart rate to increase. His eyes were riveted to the token. The golden token started to glow, then a soft vibration emerged from the token.
Claire and Kate sucked in a breath watching the token. “Oh, my I have not seen this happen before, I have only heard about it. This is exciting, right Claire.” Clair nodded her head in agreement her eyes never leaving the token.
Kit frowned, was this not just a tier promotion? How had they not seen one before? He turned back to his token and watched at it started to shake frantically. The glow turned into a bright light, then the token shot straight up into the air. It stopped before it hit the roof, then hovered in the air. A pulse of bright light suddenly exploded out. Then the token dropped back onto the book with a thud.
Light spots interrupted Kit’s sight, he rubbed his eye to get rid of the blotches the dazzling light had created. When they cleared, he saw a platinum token sitting motionlessly on top of the tome. The golden boarder of the book had changed to a platinum colour to match the token.
Ding!
[Platinum chef]
Congratulations player Kit on receiving a rank promotion.
Chef subclass
Rank: Platinum
Tier: Novice chef
Level: 44
Reward: 10,000 culinary points.
Confusion filled Kit’s mind. Why had his token changed? He looked towards Kate for the answer. Kate was staring at him with a gapping mouth. It opened and closed a few times before words emerged. “Congratulations Kit! You are now a platinum ranked chef!”
Shock spread over Kit and he froze on the spot. What! No, no, no! This would make his tier promotions more difficult to achieve. Kit frowned in displeasure, so far he hadn’t seen any benefit to be a golden ranked chef. All it had done was cost more money!
He needed to get rid of this platinum token. Could he start all over again? “Kate is there any way to downgrade the rank or maybe start again?” Hope filled Kit, either options would be a great plan.
“WHAT! Kit, why?” Kate frowned, confusion was clear in her eyes. “Any chef would kill for this opportunity. Why do you not want it?”
Kit scratched his head, then told Kate his reasoning. Round eyes blinked stupidly at Kit in response. “Kit have you ever opened the culinary guild store?” Kit shook his head. Kate gave Kit a knowing smile, “Why don’t you try it now?”
Kit opened his menu to see a new option. The culinary guild shop was written in blue writing, Kit clicked on the new tab. Five tabs opened under the culinary guild shop, bronze, silver, gold and platinum sections dazzled his eyes. The last section was marked as classes.
He clicked on the bronze section to see a list of items available to buy. Each item was related to cooking, to purchase an item culinary points were needed.
Kit became excited at a few of the options on the screen. There was a magical serving plater, magical pot, magical kitchen knives and even a magical blender! Everything with magic at the beginning Kit wanted! Kit speculated that the bronze section was for cooking items.
The drive to earn culinary points increased. Should he accept some culinary guild quests? There was so much he wanted just from the first section! Curiosity soon drove him to the next tab. The silver section had attire and a list of employees he could recruit.
Kit goggled at the options available. He wouldn’t have to advertise positions now he could recruit them straight from the store! How handy was that!
Kit’s hands started to shake from the stimulation he got from all the new products and options available to him. Kit jumped to the gold section, he couldn’t contain his eagerness to unveil new goods. Kit’s eyes widened when he saw the display in front of him, it was upgrades for his restaurant!
It ranged from appliances, new rooms, building add-ons and gardens. This was fucking fantastic! He was very glad right now that he was a platinum level. That meant he had unlocked all sections! He took back everything he said about wanting to reduce his rank.
The shop was well beyond his expectations. His eyes glued to the platinum tab, if the gold section was so good what was going to be in the platinum section. Kit held his breath as he pressed on the platinum button.
Three boxes tied with a bow sat on the screen. Mystery boxes was written in bold across the top of the screen. Popping pastries! Mystery boxes! Who does not love a good mystery box! Kit felt his heart start to gallop with anticipation. His eyes flew to each box.
The first one was a plain yellow with a red ribbon it was priced at 10,000 culinary points. The second box was a deep green with a sparkling blue bow it was priced at 25,000 culinary points. The last box was a glistening white with a silver glowing bow, Kit gulped at the price attached 50,000 culinary points!
Kit salivated at the thought of opening one. Before his finger slipped subconsciously and he did something stupid like purchasing one, he moved on to the next section. Leaving that screen open would be dangerous.
He opened the last section labelled classes. This section at least didn’t make his heart pound. It only had a list for the classes available from Instructor Quinn, they ranged from beginner, intermediate to advanced.
The prices for the classes were quite reasonable, Kit thought it would be a good idea to take a few. Right now, wasn’t the time though, he would make time later to return. Plus, now he knew about the shop he felt he would be a regular visitor to the culinary guild.
Kit shut down the shop, he knew he would purchase something before he left. He wanted to give himself time to think properly about what his restaurant needed the most before he made any purchases. He didn’t want to impulsively purchase, then regret it later.
He decided to move along with his promotion first. “Thank you for encouraging me to open the shop menu. I have completely changed my mind about being a platinum ranked chef. The shop is incredible!” Kate beamed at his answer.
Kit then turned back to Claire “Ok shall we raise my chef tier now?”
Claire’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Then you just need to hand over 250 silver crowns.” Kit blinked his eyes at Claire, he remembered the last time he ranked up it had cost a fortune. Kit turned his thoughts back to the amount he paid last time.
Oh, now that his financial situation had improved a bit the 500 bronze coins he paid for his last promotion didn’t seem like that much. He took out the silver crowns with a pout, 250 silver crowns was nothing to sneeze at.
He was still not that rich that he thought it was a paltry amount. He handed them to Claire then held his breath waiting to see what the new tier requirements would be.