On return to the hamlet, they all went to clean themselves up before heading to Kit’s restaurant to eat lunch. Kit rushed through cleaning himself up, he couldn’t wait to start experimenting in his kitchen. When he arrived at his restaurant Snickers and Leonard were waiting for him.
“Kit, you finally came back.”
Snickers had a look of joy in her big eyes as she spoke. Kit wondered what had happened to make her so happy.
“Hello Snickers, you’re practically beaming. Did you complete your dress?”
Kit could only think of the dress she was making that would make her look so happy.
“No, not yet. Kit it’s even better than that. We got our first paying customer. Quick come look inside.”
Kit was shocked at Snickers words. Even though his restaurant was open he hadn’t expected to get any customers until after his grand opening. He had been open for days and hadn’t seen a single person come to town.
Kit couldn’t contain himself and quickly rushed inside. A large burly man with a scruffy appearance was sitting at one of the tables. Kit stood inside the door with a stunned look on his face. He watched the man eating. A look of pure joy was on the man’s face as he ate the meal in front of him. The food was disappearing at a rapid rate into the man’s mouth.
Kit started to chuckle at the sight. Immense joy filled him at the sight of the man shovelling food into his mouth. This was what he had been waiting for! Kit finally felt like a real restaurant owner. All his hard work since starting the game was finally paying off.
Kit felt like going over and hugging the unknown man for being his first customer. He had to restrain himself from actually giving in to the impulse. He was so happy just watching the man. Kit’s mind went into overdrive the longer he stared at the man. ‘Could he turn into a regular? This could be the first of many regular customers. I wonder how much he spent.’
Although he had served many customers at his market stall previously it wasn’t like them being inside his own establishment. His excitement continued to grow at seeing a real live customer in his restaurant.
Kit noticed the man didn’t have a drink in front of him. Kit decided because this was his first official customer, he would give him a free drink. Kit went and collected a glass cup and went to the man’s table. He placed the glass next to the man and poured him a drink of beer.
“Hello I’m Kit. This is a free drink for being my first customer.”
The man had quietly been watching Kit’s actions. The man looked at the amber liquid with sparkling eyes.
“Hello Kit, I’m Clive, nice to meet you. This is beer, right?”
Kit chuckled at the look of glee on the man’s face and nodded. Clive picked up the glass after receiving confirmation it was beer and downed the whole glass in one go. Kit’s amusement at the man’s actions didn’t fade. He became happy because the man was so excited. Kit’s eyes crinkled. This was such a good feeling. He hoped all his days would be like this.
“Kit, I have never been so happy to find a surprise on my return home as I am today. Please tell me I’m not dreaming and there really is a restaurant in my Spartan Fire.”
The man’s joy was so contagious that Kit couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“No, you are not dreaming. I really did open a restaurant in Spartan Fire.”
“If you don’t mind me asking. What made you settle down here. I don’t mean to offend, I am just really curious how the old man got you to stay.”
Kit looked at Clive and thought of Grandpa. Clive should know all about Grandpa being a sly old fox by the sounds of things. The man was a Spartan Fire resident so he would find out soon enough how the old man got him to stay. Kit sat down and told him the story while Clive finished his meal.
“So, you are friends with Twix?”
Kit was a little surprised at the first question the man asked after Kit told his story. Kit remembered Twix being worried that the other residents might be upset about them being given the positions. He thought the first questions would be about him being a founding member. Kit couldn’t follow the man’s thinking process.
“Yes, he had become a part of my team along with another friend Mars.”
“That’s great Twix has made some friends. I was worried because we live in such an isolated area that he would never make any of his own friends. He has his cousins, but it’s not the same as having his own friends to talk to.”
As Kit was about to ask if the man was related to Twix, the party they were discussing walked through the door.
“DAD! You’re back.”
Twix lunged at Clive and gave him a warm hug. He then turned sparkling eyes to Kit.
“Kit this is my dad, Clive.”
Kit chuckled. “We have already met.”
“Oh right, you were talking when I came in.”
A blush appeared on Twix face. Kit left them to talk and went to get himself and Twix some lunch. Kit was a little disappointed his first customer was related to Twix because he felt he could no longer charge the man for food.
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If he was anything like Grandpa he knew Clive would be helping them raise their level and the town prestige points. Kit sighed. At least Clive paid for his very first meal inside the restaurant. He needed to get customers that were not related to Twix.
He sat down at the table and soon the rest of the party arrived. Everyone sat down to eat. Twix happily carried the conversation at the table today.
“Dad after lunch do you want to help us with improving the town. We should be able to get the remaining prestige points today to finally promote Spartan Fire to a small village.”
Kit lifted his head from his meal at Twix words.
“Of course, I’ll help. You boys already made so much progress in such a short time. Grandpa really did make the right decision to make you three Spartan Fire founding members.”
“Well of course I did Clive. I am a great judge of character after all.”
Kit glanced at the old man puffing out his chest and almost laughed. He hid his smile behind a raising a glass to his lips. Kit looked over at Twix and Mars with a proud look of his own. They had done a fantastic job of getting the prestige points so fast. Kit couldn’t wait to see what would be available once they promoted Spartan Fire to a small town.
Kit could feel his anticipation rise. It was almost enough to make him forget about his new ingredients waiting for him to experiment with. Almost being the key word in that thought. It was still not enough to drag him away from the kitchen. Besides Mars and Twix had things well under their control with raising the points.
With that thought Kit quickly shovelled his food into this mouth, then excused himself from the table. He couldn’t wait any longer to start tinkering with all the new ingredients.
During lunch, Grandpa had told Kit that he and Twix had left the glass tanks out the back of the restaurant. Kit went out the back door to look at his new ingredients, grabbing a large bowl on his way. The new aquatic wildlife were happily swimming in the tanks unaware that they were about to become food.
Kit ran his eyes over the tanks trying to decide where to start. He knew he would have to combine the ingredients to make a stats meal. The first idea to pop into his head was to make a seafood pasta or, well in Kit’s case, a lake food pasta. Kit’s mouth started to water at the thought of tasting all the crustations.
He filled his bowl with water then collected a crab and lobster. He then went and got a new bowl to place shrimp inside. Kit then went over to the magic pantry to order his ingredients to make pasta. Once he had the flour, salt and eggs he started to work the ingredients together.
Once he had a big sticky dough ball in front of him, he started to knead the dough using the heel of his hand. When the large ball was smooth and elastic, he then started to roll large sheets with the dough. When the dough was thin enough he started to slice the dough with his knife into 5mm thick pieces.
While he was working Kit dreamed about getting a pasta machine. That would make this dish a whole lot easier to make. He looked down at the knife in his hand ‘At least I’m getting some practice in.’ Kit consoled himself with that thought.
Kit finally had a large pile of pasta for his efforts. A smile bloomed on his face. He sucked in a breath when his eyes moved over to the bowls filled with water. He felt a tingle cover his whole body at the sight. Kit hummed with pleasure as he walked over to the bowls.
Kit gazed at the bowls and thought about what sauce would be best for the pasta. He decided to go with a popular option of a creamy garlic sauce. He then went over to the magic storage pantry to see if the extra ingredients he would need were available.
The one thing he was worried about was the white wine. He hoped the wine would be accessible for purchase even though he was not at a one star yet. Kit crossed his fingers as he looked at the options available to him.
As his eyes settled on the screen in front of him, he let out a relieved breath. There were three white wine options available to choose from. Kit randomly picked one and selected 10 bottles. He then went on to order butter, garlic, lemons, cream, and parsley.
As he placed his order a moment of disappointment passed over him. If he could have gotten some of these ingredients in the Red velvet lake area the sauce would have had a chance of being a stats sauce. He quickly got over the pang of disappointment and grabbed the items.
Now he was almost ready to start. Kit quickly lit the fire pit then hung a large pot filled with water on the fire roaster. Once the water was boiled, he went over to the large bowl and took out a lobster and crab. As the crab came free of the water, cries filled the kitchen. Kit quickly placed the pair into the boiling water.
The kitchen returned to a quiet state. Kit didn’t have to wait long for the crustations to be cooked. He took them out then placed the shrimp into the boiling water. Once all were cooked, he began to deshell all three of his new ingredients.
Kit looked at the three piles of meat with anticipation. He felt nervous at starting the dish. He had never cooked lobster or crab before in a meal. He hadn’t been able to afford such luxuries in real life. Kit hoped the meal turned out delicious.
Kit placed a frying pan over the fire and placed the ingredients for the sauce inside and brought it to a simmer. He then placed the meat into the sauce. Kit then started to cook the pasta. The smell of the sauce started to permeate through the kitchen. Kit’s mouth started to water. Even though he hadn’t long eaten, he couldn’t wait to taste his new dish.
Kit strained the pasta then placed a large helping on to the magic multiplier plate. He then added the sauce with one hand. In the other hand he was holding the glass jar of blood root ready to sprinkle the powder on top.
Kit watched the plate without blinking. He didn’t want to miss a second of the process if it was going to be a stats dish. One second passed without the appearance of the blue sheen. Kit felt his heart pounding at the wait. It felt like time slowed down, each second that passed felt like hours.
Then slowly a small blue sheen appeared. Kit sucked in a breath at the sight. The blue sheen started to spread at a rapid rate. Kit felt a jolt of happiness. He then quickly sprinkled the blood root. Soon the whole dish was swirling in a blue light.
Kit felt his whole body still as he waited for the familiar ding sound.
Ding!
[Red velvet lake pasta created]
Quality level: Fair
Quality bonus: + 24hr time extension.
Creamy sauce infused with garlic flavour, tossed through with plump lobster, crab and shrimp. For those who like to indulge.
+ 50 defence
For 24 hours.
[Restricted: Level 25 chef to unlock for sale.]
Reward: 7,000 EXP, 1,500 culinary EXP, 25 silver crown, 250 culinary points.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you are now Level 20 Chef]
Kit let out a loud whoop. He had created another meal! Kit felt a pain in his chest from his pounding heart. Then he looked at his chef level. Finally, he reached chef level 20 now he could officially sell the Wallowing blue poison.
Though now he had a new goal to reach level 25 chef before the grand opening or else the new pasta dish couldn’t be sold. Kit sighed at the moving goal post. Why could he not create something that didn’t take work. Kit didn’t wallow on this for long, the smell from his new dish chased away all his thoughts.
He watched the steam rise from the dish with delight. He leant over and took a deep breath. The creamy garlic smell poured into his nose. Kit thought he had never smelled something so tantalising in all his life.
He quickly lifted a plate from the magic multiplier plate. Then took the magic multiplier plate over to the time freeze storage shelf and placed the pasta inside. He then ran back over to the plate on the bench waiting for him to try.
He took out a fork and shovelled the pasta into his mouth. A rich, luxurious creamy taste filled his mouth. Kit thought this was the most elegant meal he had ever tasted. He couldn’t wait to bring the next forkful to his mouth.
As Kit was being a glutton with the pasta, Snickers walked into the kitchen.