Another place

The receptionist then said, "Okay, that'll be fifteen coins.", and then held out her hand.

Gen then took the fifteen coins and looked at them. He then turned to Lina, and she again smiled.

He then thought, 'Damn! There's no problem, Gen, you'll be able to make this money again.', and then he put the money in the receptionist's hand.

She then counted and said, "Come with me. I'll take you to the imperial chambers.", and they all followed her through the building to a point where they came to a part where there was a bridge.

Gen then asked, "Why is there a bridge here? Are we going to change buildings?"

"Yes, the imperial quarters are in another building."

She then crossed the bridge, and everyone followed her. At the end of the bridge, the receptionist stopped because there was a door in front of her. She then put the silver coins in a jar next to the door, and then they disappeared.

The door then opened, and she said, "We have arrived. I can't go any further than here. Please go in."

And Gen said, "Ok."

Everyone then started towards the door, but Raja asked, "Hey, you said you can't go in, right?"

And the receptionist said, "Unfortunately not. The imperial chambers are a special place. Only those who pay the price can enter."

Raja then said, "I see. Gen, don't you think it would be good to take her with us?"

And Gen said, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, she understands a lot about the restaurant, so if we bring her along, I think we'll be able to enjoy it a lot more."

"Hmm, you have a point. None of us have been here before, so we could use the help of someone experienced."

Lina then said, "I agree.", and the rest of the group nodded.

Raja then said, "Well, you heard them. It's okay for you to come in if you're with us, right?"

And the receptionist said, "Well, in that case, it's okay."

"Great, what's your name again?"

"My name is Lan."

"Nice to meet you, Lan, my name is Raja."

Gen then said, "Well, now that that's settled, let's go in."

Gen then started towards the door and walked through it. As he walked through, he stopped and thought, 'What is this feeling? It feels like the air here is cleaner, and not only that, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my back.'

Lina then asked, "What happened, Gen? Why did you stop?"

And Gen said, "This place ... there's something different about it."

"Something different? What do you mean?"

"It's like I've gone to another world. Everything is different, and I feel so light."

"Light?"

"Yes. When you come in, you'll understand."

"Oh yeah? Let's see what's so special about this place."

Lina then went towards the door and went through it, and then immediately, just like Gen, she stopped.

After a few moments like that, she said, "This place really is different."

"Right? I can't really explain it, but this place is special."

Lan then walked in and said, "Yes, the imperial quarters really are special."

Everyone then walked in, but after walking through the door, Cris said, "I do not sense anything different here."

And Gen said, "You're not feeling it? That's impossible."

Lina then said, "That's right, it's too strong a feeling to ignore."

And Cris said, "Unfortunately, I don't feel anything."

Lapis then said, "Me neither."

Gen then asked, "What about you, Marco? Are you also not feeling anything different?"

Marco is one of the friends Gen made in the three years he lived in the desert. He is a little taller than Gen and has short hair, dark skin, and sand-colored eyes, like the vast majority of people in the desert.

Marco then said, "Yes, I'm not feeling anything either."

Gen then said, "And what about you, Stanley, nothing either?", but Stanley didn't answer him, and then Gen said, "Stanley?"

Everyone then looked in his direction, and Lapis said, "Has something happened to Stanley? Why isn't he answering?"

Raja then came into the room and said, "Relax, nothing happened to him."

And Lapis said, "What do you mean nothing? He's standing there, and he's not responding to us."

"That's normal. After all, he's awakening."

"He's awakening?"

"Yes, it seems this place helped Stanley speed up his awakening."

"What do we do then?"

"Nothing. Leave him there, when he finishes the process, he'll find us."

"What do you mean leave him here? Why don't we wait a bit?"

Cris and Marco nodded, agreeing with the idea, but then Gen said, "Raja is right. We better get going."

"But why, Gen?"

Lina then said, "Because there's no way to know how long it will take him to awaken. He could take five minutes or five hours. There's no way to know."

"... I see."

Lan then said, "Don't worry, I'll get someone to take care of him and bring him to us when he's done with the process."

She then took a piece of paper that she carried with her, wrote something down, and then tore it up. After a few seconds, a man came from inside the other building and said, "You can let me take care of him."

Gen then said, "Great, that way we can be worry-free. Can you show us the way, Lan?"

And Lan said, "Sure. Follow me."

Everyone then followed her to the point where they came to a large door. A woman was standing In front of the door, and she asked, "How many people will it be?"

And Lan said, "Eight."

She then said, "A moment, please.", and then opened the door and entered the room. After almost a minute, she came back and said, "You may enter."

Lan then said, "You first, please."

And Gen said, "Okay.", and then entered the room.

As he entered, he looked around and saw that the room was large and very nice. In the center of the room was a table and some chairs, and a man was standing by the table. Everyone came in, and they walked over to the table.

The man then came over and said, "Please sit down.", and so, everyone started to choose their chairs.

Gen was with Raja on one side, Marco on the other, and Lina was with Cris and Lapis on each side. Lan sat between Raja and Cris, and they saved a seat between Lapis and Marco for when Stanley arrived.

The man then said, "Good evening, my name is Liao. Here is the menu.", and handed each of them the house menu.

Gen then said, "Thank you. Where should we start, Lan?"

And Lan said, "Well, let's start with some snacks. There are several kinds here. Which one do you prefer?"

"I'll leave the food to you, Lan. You know this place better than we do."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. No one bothers, right?"

Everyone agreed with Gen, and Lan said, "OK, leave it to me. What do you think about a total experience?"

Lina then asked, "What do you mean?"

"We'll start with the dishes on the first floor and work our way up to the oasis dishes."

"Sure, I like that idea."

"Okay."

Lan then started ordering several dishes, and Liao said, "Okay, one moment, I'll be right back with your orders."

He then went towards a door at the back of the room and went through it.

After a few minutes, people came into the room with different dishes, and Raja said, "Wow, that was fast."

And Lina said, "That's to be expected. There's a team for each person."

The people then put their dishes on the table, and Lan said, "The first round is first-floor dishes, which is typical of the desert.", and everyone then started eating.

Lapis then said, "Wow, these are much better than usual."

And Cris said, "That's right, I eat this dish a couple of times a week, and I've never had one this good."

Marco then said, "It must be the raw materials that are making the difference, right?"

And Lan said, "Yes. The raw materials in our restaurant are all handpicked, and besides, in emperor mode, we choose the freshest we have. Some are freshly picked."

Gen then said, "Everything is perfect."

And Lina said, "Wow. If our restaurant sold food like this, we would definitely have more customers."

Lan then asked, "Do you have a restaurant in town?"

And Lina said, "Yes, it's the Desert Rose."

"Hmm, what a nice name. It must be pretty popular."

Marco then said, "You don't know Rose's restaurant?"

"No, who is Rose?"

"What? How can you live here and not know who Rose is?"

"Well, that's because I just moved here a little while ago."

Cris then said, "Oh yeah? Where are you from?"

"It's a far eastern place. You wouldn't know the name."

Gen then thought, 'Funny, why do I have the impression I've heard that before?'

Lapis then said, "If it's so far away, why did you come here?"

And Lan said, "I was offered a job here, so I decided to move."

"Wow, you moved from so far away just for a job?"

"Hahaha, you haven't seen the salary. Otherwise, I bet a lot of you would have taken it, but well, it looks like you're all done eating. Shall we go to the next round?"

Everyone nodded, and Lan said, "Ok, let's call Liao then."

Lan then rang a bell on the table, and almost instantly, Liao came out of the back door and asked, "What can I do for you?"