It was normal for someone to treat the new recruit to a meal during the initial introduction, as they propagated the idea of a bright future over the food. Sadly, Fang Ning's lazy personality made sure that he would never remember to do that. When Zheng Dao joined his ranks, he never got to have his initiating meal; well, he never cared anyway, what with his entire being engrossed in his great dream of saving the world.
This time, when Zheng Dao came to welcome two new partners, he was not surprised to find that they took the form of a dog. What his observant attention got was how these new partners of his looked sunken at their bellies, as if they hadn't been eating for the past few days.
After some small talk, he finally brought the matter up, "My two new partners, why don't you let me treat you to a meal?"
He never felt that sharing a meal with dogs would negatively affect his image. The experience he had with the Nightmare Demon had taught him a number of peculiar things. If the boss accepted them, they must have some points worth noting. The fact that they could speak the human language was enough to prove that they were special.
Brett, the Black Dog, rejoiced when he heard what Zheng Dao said. He had not even a shred of dignity as he proclaimed, "Yes, yes, we must go to Fang's Delicious Restaurant! They had the decency to stop us from entering the premise when we went last time, and they even offered us leftovers. They're discriminating towards the dogs!"
Xue Ba, the Yellow Dog, immediately remembered the tantalizing smell from the restaurant and started salivating, its saliva almost 3 foot long. However, it was different from the idiotic Black Dog. It just stared at the Venerable White Dragon.
With much effort, Fang Ning finally finished dealing with the errands. There's only one thing on his mind, which was to get on his new game, the Battle of the Beasts. The last thing on his mind was to go and get food.
However, Fang Ning was not the System, something which couldn't comprehend human culture and habits. He wanted to show off his skills to two of his new subordinates too. He immediately said, "There's no need for the trouble. We once saved the boss of that restaurant, so you could use VIgilante A's name to invite him over for him to prepare you a meal."
"The dishes served in his restaurant are prepared by the ordinary cooks using the seasoning he prepared. They cannot compare to the food he personally cooks. I no longer feel the urge to pursue the human wants for delicacy and gluttony, so I shall leave you to your devices. Zheng Dao, go with your new co-workers in my place and have a good meal together."
Zheng Dao agreed without much question. Although he did not care about the desires of taste and the stomach, he had heard of stories about the high culinary skills of the owner of the restaurant.
Still, when he referred to the data he collected, he found that the owner hated going out, and the favorite pastime of his after the comet incident was to sit at home and play all day. He only returned to his usual work time recently, but Zheng Dao never heard about anyone who managed to get the person out to personally cook for their meal.
However, when he followed the Venerable's instructions and called the owner, the latter immediately agreed and asked for someone to drive him over, after he heard that the request was from Vigilante A. He even said that he would prepare the ingredients himself, so they wouldn't even need to do anything. They just had to pay the net cost afterwards.
Zheng Dao was elated when he heard the news. He only hung up after he detailed their current location to the other party. After that, he sighed at his new co-workers, "Mr. Fang's culinary skills are almost divine, and even though I never managed to have the honor to try his dishes, every respondent in my data was singing praises about them. We're extremely lucky that he is willing to personally cook for us today."
Initially, he thought that his two new co-workers might not know the context and thus not believe him as they just reported in. He never expected the two to nod continuously after his explanation.
Brett, the Black Dog, said, "Of course. I could huff the smell of the food of the restaurant once I arrived. The most evident puff of scent indicates that the dishes were good, while the lighter-smelling scent was actually the better ones. Those must be from the dishes personally prepared by the owner."
Xue Ba the Yellow Dog commented, "You're young and inexperienced that your nose was still unrefined. I could even identify that these dishes were prepared using ordinary ingredients! Imagine how great they would be if they were made by Vitality-rich ingredients."
Zheng Dao's mouth gaped as he heard the two dogs ramble on. He was only reminded of their identity as dogs then, and that his new co-workers never needed him to explain what a good cook was like in the first place…
Zheng Dao was left with no choice but to talk about something else in an attempt to boost his confidence, "Besides, Mr Fang has a specialty. He was the biggest shut-in of all time, and the average person wouldn't even have the chance to get him to cook a meal. Besides being a grateful person that knows the importance of repaying a favor, the more important factor that made Mr. Fang so accessible to us was how amazing our two Venerable Dragons are. He might need to seek protection from us in the future, which is why he was so generous when asking us to eat over at his place often."
Almost immediately, the loyalty of the two new recruits skyrocketed. To the two dogs, they would not mind working hard if it meant that they could enjoy some good food. They sprinted to the door after they heard what Zheng Dao said.
At that time, Vigilante A, Zheng Dao, and the two dogs were located at a farm villa in the outskirts to the south of Qi City. It was another gift from President Zhao, after the elder had returned safely to Qi City. It was very spacious and had a breathtaking view, but it was not worth as much as a house in the 3rd Ring Road of Ji City 1 . However, it had a class and elegance that was more impressive than a ten-million-dollar bank card.
Sir System the Pompous had no reservations about issues like this. It did not even bring the matter up to Fang Ning, nor did it care that it rarely stayed home as it would always be out and about farming monsters. It disregarded the fact that it never needed this farm villa, and instead accepted it happily. Now, it became the perfect place to temporarily allow the two newcomers to settle down.
The two dogs ran to the entrance of the farm and squatted there, blinking owlishly at the road, as if time passed extremely slowly to them. Zheng Dao stared at their backs and smiled as he flipped open his notebook to log into the special network of the Truth Department, in search of greater enemies to fight with his clearance as an associate.
On the other hand, Fang Ning continued to game away in the System Space. Sir System would not eat with its three subordinates either, as it would much rather cultivate and digest the 20,000 EXP it just obtained.
They should be thankful that Sir System had no time to eat with them, or else they wouldn't be able to have their meal - some people in the Truth Department have very strong influence here.
After an unknown amount of time Fang Ning spent rolling in his games, the two dogs started to fight amongst themselves for the food, entirely mesmerized by the dishes.
Brett the Black Dog snickered, "You over achieving dog that spends all day reading books instead of cultivating, what use do you have eating so much? You'll only gain more weight, and become more of a female repellant that you already are now. Let me help you handle this big bone, alright?"
Xue Ba the Yellow Dog retorted, "Nonsense! Look at how skinny I am; I am in need of a good boost here! You should look at yourself instead. Look at the coils of fat around you! You've already been eating too much. Stop and go cultivate now! The sooner you could recover your strength, the sooner you could be on the frontline for our owner."
Brett squinted, "If I'm at the frontline, then where would you be?"
Xue Ba replied, "I've read numerous books, so of course I'll be his advisor! With one small decision I make, I can help him win a battle without brute force."
Brett had no idea how to respond to that. Suddenly, its eyes brightened, "If that's the case, then you'll still need to give me the big bone. Go eat that dish made from almonds! Those can help your brain development."
With that, it snatched the big slab of meat away with unbelievable speed.
Xue Ba moaned, "I cannot believe that I've actually lost a battle of wits with a brainless fella…"
Of course, Fang Ning had absolutely no idea about the happenings around him. He focused entirely on the game, solo farming a Boss in the Beginner Village when the in-game chat box popped up.
"Congratulations, Dragon Ascending The Heavens 2 ! You've completed a special trial and obtained a rare treasure!"
Fang Ning opened it without much thought and found an old scripture surrounded in a hue of green on his monitor. He shrugged and clicked on it, totally expecting a new skill or a quest.
That was not the case. Instead, a voice boomed from the speakers.
"The road to the cultivation of the spiritual sense can only be opened the instant millions of thoughts become one. There are four phases to spiritual sense cultivation; to mold dust, to light stars, to form the moon, to become the sun."
Then, an animation of a person meditating appeared on screen.
Initially, Fang Ning didn't think much about it and wanted to skip the scene by stabbing the ESC button, but the game didn't allow the action. He had no choice but to patiently listen to the rest of the track.
Fang Ning is different from the average Joe in the sense that he had cultivated the Dragonization Ability. Even though he hadn't started on the True Bodhi Tactics, he had read it a few times. So, Fang Ning was able to identify the oddness of the situation after he listened to another part of this.
To become a dragon using the Dragonization Ability, one must go through three phases, namely the Cultivation of the Heart, Spirit, and Body. Fang Ning was already in the form of a spirit, and he had always been cultivating his spiritual sense when he achieved the Elementary Dragon Form.
When he listened to the playback again, he felt the oddness all over again. Immediately, he called for the System, "Hey, did you manage to catch that mantra from the game just now?"
The System affirmed, "Yeah, that is a book on the basics of spiritual sense cultivation. It couldn't even compare to our Dragonization Ability and True Bodhi Tactics. Why are you so concerned about it?"
Fang Ning was speechless. The System was clueless about how great the mantra was. Thus, he had no choice but to explain, "Remember how Instructor Xu from the Aristocratic Cultivation Club repeatedly warned us about how cultivating the spiritual sense is extremely difficult, that it usually comes with a high risk of failure? Why would this game open cultivation to the public, then? Who gave the developers such titanium balls? I told you before about how I knew that this game isn't as simple as it looks. You never believed me at first, and even threatened to sell all my gear if I was wrong."
The System said, "Oh, alright then, I'll believe you now, and I won't sell your equipment in the future. I still don't know what you're trying to say, though."
Fang Ning deadpanned, "Okay, I'll ask someone else."
Thus, the self-proclaimed advisor Xue Ba unfortunately got called away mid-meal by the Venerable White Dragon. Only Brett the Black Dog was left alone with the rest of the feast, and it vibrated in excitement as it stared at the spread before him.
Zheng Dao was full after a few bites. He initially planned to chat with his new partners for some team-building, but he soon found out that their values were too far apart for any conversation to happen. How should he teach the two bachelor dogs the ways to get themselves a girl? Zheng Dao was always the one pursued by his female counterparts… To avoid harming the self esteem of his workmates, Zheng Dao had to find an excuse to leave the meal earlier and continue to work.
Fang Ning repeated the mantra in the game word-for-word to Xue Ba the Yellow Dog. Then, he asked, "Will it be dangerous for someone to cultivate using this mantra?"
Trying very hard to resist the temptations of the delicacies, Xue Ba the Yellow Dog looked confused after listening to Fang Ning. "Well, there's no danger whatsoever, but… something seems to be missing."
Fang Ning was surprised. "And what is that?"
The 3rd Ring Road is a 48-kilometer city ring road that encircles the centre of the city of Beijing. The same idea was referenced here in Ji City. MC's Game ID