Me and Jasmine were finally able to enter Nova's spice. I am in fact quite surprised by the owner's aesthetics. The interior of Nova's spice was what you would expect if a medieval tavern is combined with a strip club. There were countless bright neon lights of different colors that are placed everywhere. The floor was made with shiny dark marble tiles. The walls are padded with red colored cushions making it look more luxurious. There were small circular tables for groups of two to six people, corner tables coupled with elegant sofa for more classier people and long rectangular tables for just about anyone to use.

The restaurant was currently almost filled. It just opened last week and the hype still hasn't died down. People from different sorts of life seemed to have heard of this place.

Black shirts. Flashy golden jewelries. Dragon tattoos. Similar hairstyles. Definitely the local gang of this area. They might even have connections with this restaurant's owner. Gotta avoid these peeps!

Colorful Tuxedos. Bodyguards. Full Course Meals. And is that a freaking high end cybernetic arms? That shit is hella expensive! What are those guys even doing here? No doubt, sons of bigtime personalities.

Lastly, the casual folks like us. Laid-back. Relaxed. Just enjoying their weekend. Though, I wonder how they got here without those thugs outside harassing them.

"Welcome young ladies!" A large brown man greeted us. He was too muscular and wears a tactical vest for a simple restaurant personnel. Was he a part time soldier? Anyway, he was not really the best person to be placed to greet people. Even with his smile, he was too intimidating. On the other hand, he seems to be overqualified to be a guard.

"Table for two please!" Jasmine replied to the man.

We were guided to settle ourselves in a circular table near the corner table where the tuxedo wearing men are located. I don't really like the way how their bodyguards looked at us but we have no plans to cause trouble with them. After all, they are not the same as the thugs outside. They look well trained and they might even be experienced killers. Luckily, their bosses seem to not care about anyone else so there really shouldn't be a problem.

We were then given house water and were lent tablets containing the menu.

#############

380C Pad-Novus

350C Egg Fried Rice (Purple Chicken Egg)

.....

.....

400C Tutel Beef Pho

380C Adobo Squid (Terra Squid)

#############

I ordered Pad-Novus while Jasmine chose Adobo Squid. Our eyes were watering as we smelled the food in front of us. My initial review? It was Perfect. 5 stars if you ask me. The one I ordered was a type of stir-fried rice noodle mixed with a type of shrimps called luminous shrimp. Well, they don't glow as much when they are dead but they still tasted great. The one Jasmine ordered was a type of squid that was able to walk near seashores. It was then cooked in some kind of vinegar, soy sauce and garlic mixture. We even shared our food with each other because we are jealous of what each other was eating. We wanted to try it all but that would empty our wallets.

"That was so good!" Jasmine crossed her two hands together as if she was praying. She was really joyful as she finished her meal. "We should come back here!"

"Definitely!" I replied. I understand full well what she was feeling. I was even starting to look at other tables to check what they ordered. I probably should try their set meals next time.

The two of us took our time chatting and resting after our meal. Talking about school stuff and girl stuff. Annoyingly though, the table near us was starting to get noisy.

Hey man! I heard from the news that Transcendence is already playable! When are we getting our beta keys?

Yeah yeah! I actually tried to sign up for it but I am not getting any replies.

Don't worry guys! I'll make sure that you will be the first people who get to play it! My father is one of the main developers after all!

Can they not hear their own voices? They are being pretty loud. They must be drunk already or they just don't care. Anyway, they seem to be talking about that new game. Well, boys would be boys. I doubt though that it would be any different from previous games. I give it a month or two after release and it would probably drop in players by 90 percent. Still, we are talking about Quantech. Top of the tech industry. The one that most students dream of after graduating. They should be cooking something new if they just suddenly entered this industry.

Don't you have any information that you could share with us?

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Alright. I'm only telling it to you guys but my father said that it would be like your alternative life. All npcs would really be lifelike. The world would be as big or bigger than this world.

Huh? How is that possible? How are they storing the data?

I don't know man! You are the one majoring in magitech. I just know that they found a way on how to combine magyon with quantum hyper computers.

Lifelike npcs? You mean instead of 10 dialogues, they have 100 dialogues instead? Hah! Maybe with AI, they could have more complex major characters. But every npcs? That seems to be just some marketing strategy. I wonder though how they are using magyon? Cooling systems? Processor Stabilizers? or did they use magyon to transfer and store data from non-organic to organic matter? That does seem plausible but on a large scale, that would be a big problem.

"Hey Lizette! Are you there?" Jasmine asked, waving her hand in front of my eyes.

I was jolted awake from my deep thoughts. "Uh sorry. I was just thinking of something!"

Jasmine momentarily turned her head around, looking at the table near us. "Oh! Don't tell me that one of them was your type?"

"Come on! Stop that! Why would I like those spoon fed guys!" I replied, frowning. Just by looking at those guys, I could already see that they have taken their status for granted. I am confident that me and Jasmine would beat them to a pulp if we fought.

"Is that really the reason or is it because someone else already occupies your heart!" Jasmine giggled, her eyes sparkling as if imagining something fantastical. "How are the two of you doing these days?"

"Jas! Stop being disgusting! I don't know what you are talking about." I was flustered due to what Jasmine said. It was not because what she was saying is true but because I knew the guy that she was talking about. "Anyway, I just find their topic interesting."

"You mean that transcendence game that they are talking about? Do you plan to play it? I didn't know that you are actually a gamer." Jasmine said, her eyes opening wide. "Wait! Don't tell me that you are actually a popular streamer? Maybe you have some popular persona that I didn't know!"

"I don't. I'm just curious of it." I sighed, feeling helpless of Jasmine's excessive imagination. "You should really control your imagination. If I didn't know you, I would conclude that you are high with euphor-d."

"Hey! What do you think of me! I don't take drugs!" Jasmine crossed her arms, feeling slighted. But just a moment after, she smiled, moving her head closer to me. "But if you ever feel to try it! Don't forget to tell me!"

I am not really sure what she was talking about. Did she mean streaming or the drugs? Doesn't really matter. Right now, I really don't have a plan to do any of those two and I also don't plan on indulging Jasmine. I wouldn't know what sort of trouble we would be again if I did.

I'm really getting more excited for the release with the things that you just said.

I already asked my dad if he could tour me in their testing area! Maybe I could bring you guys with me.

Really? Promise that will you!

Of course! But before that, did you bring the drug you mentioned before?

Shhh! Come on! Be quiet and call it a supplement!

Drugs really? Is this a coincidence? They also started talking about it. Not really unexpected with this type of people though. They probably already tried quite a number of it.

Jasmine suddenly became quiet and was looking at me, smiling. She seemed to have finally taken interest on their topic. I returned both the look and the smile at her. We seemed to be in sync as we continued to listen to the discussion of these young men. They seemed to be talking about a drug that could improve your potential as an evolved. It seems that only a limited number of this thing are being created and only a few are being given out. Either its really expensive to produce or it's still in its testing phase.

I am not sure what sort of drug this actually is but improving your potential would be big news. If that thing comes out then it would take the market by storm. The question though is how potent it is and if there are any side effects when using it. Since it doesn't seem to be a temporary boost, either its effects are negligible or there are some risks when taking it.

As me and Jasmine were pondering about the information that we just heard, one of the bodyguards of these young masters approached us. We didn't immediately notice him but looking at him this close, it was quite certain that he is being antagonistic. He just stood there looking down on us with his full face black helmet, ignoring the attention he got from the surrounding people.

"Is there any problem?" Jasmine asked, looking up at the guy.

"If you are done eating. I suggest that you two leave." The bodyguard said with a deep voice.

Just like I said before, I don't really want to have anything to do with them. Thinking about it though, he probably seemed to notice that we are listening on his bosses discussions. Still, it was not our fault if they are talking loudly. The correct response for us is to just leave but that would leave a bad taste on my mouth. Worse comes to worst, we could just run.

"Is there a reason for that?" I asked, fiercely looking at him.

"10.. 9.. 8.." Contrary to what I wanted, he didn't answer my question but instead a countdown started in the face shield of his helmet. It doesn't take a genius to understand what he might do so it was quite obvious that he was threatening us.

Many of the people have already left the moment that the bodyguard stood near us. They just multiplied when the count down started, scared that they would be caught in a cross fire. In fact, I am starting to get conflicted as well if we should just walk out now. Our life or our pride. Just a simple choice.

But before I could come to a conclusion, one of the young men stood up and approached us. "What seems to be the problem with these ladies?" He asked the bodyguard, smiling like a drunk.

"They are trying to eavesdrop on your conversation sir." The bodyguard answered respectfully.

"A possible spy huh?" He looked at us with his perversive eyes, scrutinizing our face and bodies. "Well, how should we handle this?"