Chapter 9: Mess hall

"I really can not believe you got your ass kicked by a child, you should not be see on public" bryan ribbed Klaus as they left the dojo to get some food.

Klaus was shocked beyond belief, he kept analysing the fight in his head to find out where he had gone wrong, but he simply could not come up with something tangible, he could remember giving Pan a solid kick and felt that should have at least broken a bone or two in his forearms "the people here must be juiced up on something, they are obviously not normal" he thought

By the time they got to the mess hall to get some food, it was already filled up with monks, these monks different in age and race. "I can not believe that they are this much people here, seems like every country has a representative here" prince whispered to the group

"Well they have everything here except women, it's really weird to be that we are not allowed to eat meat here" Romeo replied grudgingly

Whole they were walking towards the table reserved for them, they could see people whispering and pointing at them, some were even bold enough to laugh while they pointed. "Seems like the news has gone around, such a shame that Klaus had to get himself beaten up by a ten year old" Chen grumbled.

"You could have volunteered to spar with the kid, I am sure you would have lost after taking the first hit" Klaus retorted angrily.

"There is really no need to get angry about such things, we should focus more on the materials at hand and find out what this system really wants from us, rather than bickering about things that should be left in the past" Victor said trying to diffuse the whole situation.

Chen started to take notice of his surroundings, he could see that there wasn't much of a difference between he mess hall and the dojo or the sleeping quarters, the major difference was the size of the mess hall, and the presence of tables, the same polished wood was still used for flooring, and mats were also used here, while he was taking in his surroundings pan brought the food and served the group.

Prince tapped Chen to bring his attention to the food in front of him, Chen saw that it was bread and some sort of soup he couldn't recognize, he cut a bit of the bread and put it in his mouth, Chen couldn't help but frown at the taste, "why does this bread taste so bland? I don't think this is something that should be served to humans" Chen mumbled

"Wait till you have a taste of the soup, you would be glad you were given a load of bread along with it" Bryan said

Chen looked at the soup, it didn't look edible enough to him, but he still decided to have a go at it since he felt that he had a stressful day ahead of him, he took a spoon of it and the up was so salty and disgusting he almost spat it out, he had to restrain himself so as not to anger the monks in the mess hall.

"I have reason to believe the universe is punishing me without reason, I have never taken something this horrible, not even when we were in the military and had to eat lizards during missions" Chen soliloquized

Chen and the rest of the group finished up their meal and stood up to leave the mess hall, but were blocked off by pan, "why are you in our path" Klaus asked, still angry that he lost disgracefully to a child.

Pan pointed to a weird looking basin and replied "everyone washes their bowls after eating here, I suggest you head over there to wash yours"

"Wow! That child just spoke to us like we are his subordinates, this is what you get when you get beaten by a child" Romeo said while they moved towards the basin, the basin was rectangular in shape and looked like it was cut from a stone.

"Everything here just seems so crude, take a look at this soap, I wonder why it is black" Victor complained

"Quit grumbling, let's get this done with so we can start whatever task it is the grandmaster has in mind for us" Klaus said

They were done cleaning their bowls and headed towards the dojo to meet the grandmaster, while going Klaus was tripped by one of the young monks, he was about to retaliate by punching the offending monk when he was held back by Chen.

"Relax man, it's just a teenager, let's just move to our destination and get things done so we can leave here" Chen said.

The group kept moving, while dragging along Klaus who as till fuming over the incident.

"You could have just let me teach him a lesson, you know" Klaus said to chen

"You would most likely have gotten your ass handed to you again, seems like you have forgotten how easily you lost to pan, honestly you should be thanking me for saving you from another round of disgrace, imagine getting beaten by kids twice in half a day" Chen retorted

"We are here guys" prince said while sliding open the doors to the dojo, the group nowed to the grandmaster who was already sitted and waiting for their return, Feng was also sitting across the grandmaster, and was in a position of meditation, he didn't acknowledge the presence of Chen and the others.

"Now that you are here I suggest we commence immediately, the five of you will go along with feng, I suggest you do whatever he asks you to do, if you want to survive, since you might not be coming back here in the next few days" the grandmaster announced

"Where would we be going to" Bryan asked the grandmaster

"Don't bother asking you would find out on your way there, I am aware you came here without nothing except your clothes, so I suggest we start moving now" Feng said

"Are you saying we won't be taking any food supplies" Chen asked

"Any problem concerning feeding will be sorted out on the way, enough with the talking it is time for us to move" Feng said while dismissing any further questions.