Lela came back after a short while, holding a large bowl of soup, a plate of dark bread, and a container of water. She set it down on the table in front of Lane with a grin and gestured towards the meal. "Here you are. Baked mushroom soup with braised pork and carrot bread. Enjoy your meal!" She said as she plopped down in the chair opposite of him, propping up her head with her hands.

Lane scanned over the food in front of him. It didn't look bad. It was better than the dry food he'd for breakfast this morning, that's for sure. He grabbed the wooden spoon that she had brought with the food and tasted the soup. It tasted good. Really good. It was even better than the meal he'd eaten after the first test.

"Thanks," He said as he dipped some of the bread in the soup. "But you do know that we got free food in the dormitory? I might be an exception now, but people won't have much reason to spend points on food."

Lela shook her head. "That's not true. In the future, you guys will only get one free meal a day." She held up a finger and her smile grew wider. "Which means that you'll have to buy from us. Or you could eat only one meal a day, but mom said only an idiot would do that during this test."

He froze with the spoon only a few inches from his face. So if you wanted to enough to eat three meals every day you'd have to spend half of your daily points.

I might have to make do with two meals a day, then.

He didn't know what else you could use the points for yet, but considering their low supply, they weren't something you could throw around right and left. Not when they were a requirement for passing the test.

"What do you gain from all this?" He asked.

"Huh?"

He swallowed the spoonful of soup and put the cutlery down, looking at Lela. "You're a native, which means that you can't use the interface. But the points are awarded through the interface, so how do you gain anything from this?"

"It doesn't matter if I can't use the interface. My mom registered the cafeteria so she gets all the points that we earn. Then when the Colosseum closes again, she can use those points and trade them in for rewards from the gods. It's the same for all of the other stores."

He glanced at the other stores inside the huge lobby which were still filled with Summoned. "Your mother owns all these stores?"

"No, stupid," She snickered. "Most of those are owned by the larger guilds. Mom only bought the rights to this cafeteria, and that was only because I nagged her about it for so long. I just meant that those stores work the same with the points and all that."

"I see." Lane nodded his head. "Is everything expensive in those stores too?"

Lela tilted her head slightly as she observed the Summoned running around the different stores. "I think so. I haven't really checked. But if there is one thing I've learned while being around my mom, it's that most of you Summoned will do almost anything for money."

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Raising his eyebrows, he looked at her. "This coming from the person who just sold me an overpriced meal."

"I didn't set the prices. My mom did. And it's only expensive at the start. You won't think about it much later." She shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, I never said she wasn't like that. She said that, as long as we're running a store, we might as well earn as much as we can from it."

Lane looked around and pointed to another store that had a few tables inside and seemed to be selling food too. "Aren't you afraid people will go to another store with better prices?"

"Mom already made a deal with all of the other stores not to lower the prices."

He gawked at Lela. Didn't her mother have any shame?

She frowned slightly. "Is this all you wanted to ask? Because those questions were pretty boring."

He put whatever thoughts he had about her mother away and shook his head. "No, I have other questions as well."

"Ok, hurry up. I might get other customers!"

Lane continued eating his meal at a slow pace, asking Lela more questions about how the Colosseum worked at the same time. Despite her statement, there weren't any signs of other people wanting to buy anything currently.

He learned that Summoned grew faster while in the testing area of the gods, which was one reason that it was important to not starve yourself so you don't hinder your growth. Most of the people who administrated the test and worked in the Colosseum were Summoned who wanted to take advantage of this bonus to growth, and the rewards they could trade for with the points they earned from the newly Summoned.

The weapons, armor, potions, and other items that were sold in the stores were created mostly by the larger guilds. Some of the equipment was even enchanted.

The one in charge of the test this time was Nikolas Lichter—also known simply as 'The Blood and Teeth General', which was a title even Lane had heard of—and he'd even gone to the extra effort of procuring people to train the new arrivals this time. Lela's mom was a mage and one of these people. The General had apparently even called in a favor to convince her to join.

Lela herself was originally from the border region of the principality of Vis which neighbored the blasted lands. Although she didn't say how she came to be adopted by a Summoned.

They had been talking for over half an hour before Lane finished his meal and noticed that the stores weren't as packed anymore. Lela looked at him as he rose from his seat. "You don't have any more questions?" She asked with a bright voice.

He shook his head. "No, I'm going to look around some now. Thanks for answering my questions, and the meal." He paused as he prepared to leave, and then turned back to Lela. "Actually...How do I pay for the food?"

She laughed at his hesitant expression. "The points are taken from you after you've eaten the food."

Pulling up his status window, he confirmed that his total points had changed to 9.5.

"That's slightly...disturbing?" There was more than one way to abuse a system like that.

"I don't know exactly what, but mom told me there is some kind of limit preventing it from being misused, so I don't think you have to worry."

"I sure hope there is." Maybe it was naive to believe the gods would leave such a glaring flaw in their system.

...Although it might also be naive to think that they wouldn't. They did design a test where people fight each other at the risk of death, after all. "Well then, I'll see you some other time." He said and turned around to leave.

Lela rose from her seat and waved at him. "Make sure to come back and buy more of our food!" She shouted as he left.

He glanced back and gave her a short wave. "Yes, sure." She grinned at him, then gathered the bowl, plates, and everything else on the table and disappeared into the cafeteria's kitchen.