"I'm sorry ladies. I guess I have to take my leave now. I hope to see you girls soon. Goodnight," Zach waved at them before heading towards Jade who was now picking up broken pieces of plates from the floor.

"Did he just reject us?" One of the two girls asked with a surprised look on her face.

"It would seem so," The other girl replied. They both stood still and watched Zach hurry back to Jade with a smile on his face.

"Phoebe!!" A masculine voice called out to one of the girls, causing both of them to turn towards the boyfriend of one of them who was walking towards them while panting tiredly.

"Why are the both of you here? We've been looking for you everywhere and neither one of you picked up your calls either," The boyfriend said with a concerned look on his face. He and his friend had been searching for the girls everywhere but hadn't found them.

Although Phoebe and her friend didn't like watching the brutal fights in the arena, they decided to accompany their boyfriends to the coliseum.

However, they both got bored after staying for a few minutes and decided to leave the coliseum to get something to eat.

"Oh, sorry Jake. We got carried away while trying to have some fun," Phoebe wrapped her hands around her boyfriend's arm, resting her head on his shoulder as they returned to the coliseum. "Is the fight over?"

"Yeah, it is. The fight was epic. You guys wouldn't believe what happened. Two guys...." The boyfriend began explaining the battle in detail.

Meanwhile, Zach helped Jade clean up, and when they were done, Jade muttered loudly enough for Zach to hear.

"I can't believe the plates slipped from my hands."

"Well, you shouldn't have lost focus on what you were doing."

"And whose fault do you think that was?" Jade turned around with an annoyed look on her face, but to her surprise, Zach was already behind her.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. "So, you admit to eavesdropping on our conversation,"

"I wasn't eavesdropping," She blushed deeply after realizing her mistake.

"It certainly looked like you were or else the plate wouldn't have slipped from your fingers," Zach leaned closer, his lips now inches away from hers.

"I wasn't...." Jade began to protest but slowly closed her eyes when Zach's lips were mere inches away from hers.

Unlike before, Jade wasn't against having Zach this close to her. A part of her was glad that Zach turned down those girls.

She thought to herself that it might not be bad to indulge in a little kiss. Although, unbeknownst to her, she was slowly having feelings for Zach.

However, the moment his lips were about to touch hers, the sound of a man clearing his throat suddenly surfaced and startled them.

Jade turned around to find her agent walking towards them. Her eyes widened in embarrassment and she couldn't help but wonder why he was here now.

She wasn't sure how long he had been around, though, she had expected him to come. However, she'd thought that he would arrive sooner, which he didn't.

Jade's agent had blonde hair and a slim body and was dressed in a black snazzy suit. Zach watched as Jade and her agent talked for a few minutes before noticing the tablet he brought with him vibrating in his backpack.

He hurriedly brought out his tablet and discovered that he had gotten a text from not only the top three experienced artists but also from the art guild as well.

A smile appeared on his lips when he saw the text from Amelia, informing him to meet her first thing tomorrow morning. An address was included in the message as well, so he knew exactly where he would be going.

He replied by reassuring Amelia that he would surely be there.

Right after he sent it, a smile appeared on his face once again because he knew exactly why Amelia wanted to meet him very early in the morning.

While filling out the form, he had filled in his age and date of birth as well. This told her about his age and the fact that he would be eighteen by tomorrow so she would want to know if he truly hadn't awakened his mana core yet.

With that out of the way, Zach raised his head and saw Jade walking towards him.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he wants to speak with you."

Zach wasn't really surprised because he'd had a hunch that her agent would want to meet him since he was helping Jade despite being an unlicensed chef.

However, Zach wasn't really worried about this because he found a way to avoid endangering himself and Jade.

He walked towards the agent and the agent offered him a handshake. "Good evening Mister Darkmoor. I'm Benjamin Carson, but I'm sure you already knew that."

A smile appeared on Zach's face and he replied. "Indeed, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," but Zach's smile turned upside down when he noticed that he didn't obtain any insignificant increase in his attributes.

He didn't even receive any skill, just how weak was this agent?

"I'll go straight to the point. It is surprising to see that you're registered as an apprentice with the culinary guild but not as a full-time chef and I heard you have no intention of becoming one either, might I ask why?" The agent asked with unconcealed interest.

"Preferences," Zach responded simply.

"I understand you might have other jobs you prefer but your skills are clearly good enough for a chef and if you were to register as a full-time chef, I can guarantee that you will not regret registering with the culinary guild. So, what do you say?"

Zach understood why the agent was determined to have him become a full-time chef. The agent had some pretty talented chefs before Zach who had opted to become a knight or an adventurer rather than a chef because of the pay. However, most of them met their demise very early in the dungeon without being able to unlock their true potential as a chef.