LITTLE KITTY!

A small tremble of excitement started flowing over his body. Kit's breathing speed up as he waited for Twix to speak. Twix' answer might give him a time line for when he would be able to promote his restaurant into a one star!

Time seemed to slow down as he watched Twix' mouth slowly start to open. "We are just waiting for my cousins to return from the mountains. They went to collect the spiritual beast bones needed to complete the cemetery. The cemetery is the last task to complete for the Spartan Fire Promotion."

A shaky breath left Kit's mouth. This was amazing news! Small tremors of anticipation started to thrum through his body. His restaurant promotion was really going to happen!

Something smashed into the side of his body before he could release his excitement into words. "LITTLE KITTY!" Kit looked down at Snickers who was hugging his arm in a death grip.

Pure joy was displayed on her small face. "This is amazing! We can finally get some more seating in the restaurant. This should take care of most of the complaints about the restaurant! I'm sick of hearing about the wait time to get a table!"

Kit also knew this was a gripe for the customers. The limited seating caused the large line he usually had outside the restaurant. Most people that visited his restaurant wanted to experience eating inside his establishment. It would be weird when he no longer had the line up outside his restaurant each day.

Then again with more seating that meant he could make more money! He wondered if the upgrade to his restaurant would allow him to make an additional door so that he could have two entrances. He could have one for the takeaway section and one for dining!

He realised he had been getting carried away with his thoughts. A tug to his already painful arm pulled him back to the present. "Kit stop fantasising, now is not the time! You need to get cracking making more items for the menu! You are officially banned from working in the restaurant until the restaurant is promoted!"

Kit nodded his head in agreement with Snickers words. If Spartan Fire wasn't far off from promotion, he really did need to get a move on creating new dishes. A frown pulled his brows together, he didn't have much time before he had to log out.

He decided to spend the rest of the day itemising the ingredients gathered from the Twisted tunnels of Spatlicaan wilderness instead of trying to create something new. "Snickers I will have to go on my holiday tomorrow, so let's head back to the restaurant. I will sort through all the ingredients so I can at least know what they are all called. I'll get everyone to have a look at them and see if anyone can recognise what they might be used for."

Snickers blinked her big eyes at him then punched him in the arm. "Have you even looked at that book I gave you?" Kit frowned, what book was she talking about? "Oh Kit, what should I do with you? Remember the Welcoming party gift I gave you?"

Kit nodded his head when he had looked inside the book, it had been blank. What was so great about a blank book? Snickers was smirking as if she knew what he was thinking. She made a motion with her hand for him to give her the book. Kit complied and took out the book of plant information from his pouch then placed it in her small hands.

She flipped open the book then looked at Kit. "Give me one of the new plants you got recently please." Kit took out the blue carrot he had in his pouch. "Place it on the book." He gently placed the carrot on top of the book then was forced to close his eyes.

As soon as the carrot settled on the book a blinding light flashed. Kit opened his eyes and noticed the carrot had disappeared. His eyes were drawn to writing now displayed on the previously blank page.

At the top of the page was a heading,

[Sturdy glowing blue carrot of ice.]

Only found in the presence of the Spiritual Frost Piabbits. The carrots can only grow with the frost from the Piabbit's spiritual power.

When eaten raw will give 500 ice resistance for 24hours.

Warning: when eaten raw 50% chance to completely freeze the consumer.

Can be used in potions and cooking.

Possibility to combine with other ingredients for better results.

"S-Snickers t-this is i-incredible!" Kit could not help stuttering his words. This gift was absolutely amazing!

The book was better than using his identify skill! He could see what ability the plant had. If he could place every plant he could find in the book, then he could get a better understanding of what could possibly be combined.

He was completely flawed at the gift Snickers had given him. He was almost brought to tears twice in one day! He hugged the delicate girl then flooded her ears with thanks. Snickers reacted to Kit's praise by pushing him away. "Ah, stop that!" A blush was rapidly spreading across her cheeks, Kit could not help but think she looked super cute!

"Well at least I know you now fully appreciate my gift." She smoothed out her clothes then tilted her chin upwards trying to look intimidating. Unfortunately for Snickers it was ruined by the blush and pleased expression that covered her face, he could tell that she was happy with his reaction to her gift.

Today really was hitting home how lucky he was to have friends that cared so much about him. When he returned from the real world, he would buckle down just like Snickers wanted and try to create new items for the menu. He just hoped that the end result of the creations would be within his chef level so the items could be sold on his menu.

His thoughts swung back to Spartan Fire being promoted, pressure to succeed pressed heavily on his shoulders.

With heavy steps he made his way back to his restaurant, time was now tight and he had so much to do. His mood soon picked up again when he started entering the new plants into the book. Unfortunately, he couldn't place animal products into the book, he could only get the basic information from the identify skill.

The others had kept themselves busy sorting the new additions into the storage facility. A problem arose when Kit realised that the storage facility didn't stack items like his pouch. That meant he couldn't store all the trampling thickhead meat in the new room.

He was now regretting cutting up so much of the meat, at least his pouch was enormous and allowed for stacking of each item. He still had plenty of room inside his pouch it was just not ideal to keep ingredients inside. He consoled himself with the thought of being able to upgrade the storage facility soon.

The ingredients were soon sorted and Kit headed back to the boarding house. Before he left, he reminded Snickers that he would be away for six days.

The next morning Kit bid goodbye to Snowball then logged out. He returned to his empty room, he glanced around the tiny room and thought it no longer felt like home. He was so used to his room in the boarding house that it took him a moment to become orientated.

A feeling of sadness swept over him, the reality of real life sunk in as he walked into his cramped living area. A small sigh slipped from his lips, he glanced over to Kat's closed bedroom door and unconsciously clenched his fist.

Kat had made entering CAL a possibility for him, he wanted to be able to return the joy he received from the game back to her.

Scorching determination filled his heart. He would just have to become successful so that he could improve their living conditions on earth and get Kat her own gaming capsule! He quietly went online to start researching ideas for recipes, the more he could squeeze into his head the better chances he would have of creating a stats meal!

With the huge gap in the conversion rate from game money to real life money he would need to increase his restaurant's revenue by a large amount. When he first started, he knew that earning money in game wouldn't be easy. If it was, then people would stop working in the real world and just earn wages in the game.

This didn't deter Kit, he had a dream and wasn't going to give it up with out a strong fight! He spent his time out of game catching up with his sister and researching online. He didn't forget to stock the refrigerator for Kat before he logged back into the game.

Snowball was waiting in his bedroom when he returned, the little guy's tail started to wag frantically at the sight of Kit's return. "Hey buddy, did you have fun while I was gone?"

Snowball let out a happy yip. Before Kit could pick him up Snowball trotted over to the door then stopped and looked at Kit indicating that he should follow. Kit was used to Snowball's actions in directing him somewhere, he happily followed the dog out of his room.

The little fluff ball didn't stop inside the boarding house, he led Kit all the way to his restaurant. As Kit got closer to where his restaurant was supposed to be he became confused.

The land of his restaurant's property had completely transformed. In place of the empty field surrounding his establishment now stood a tropical paradise. Lush green flora with splashes of colour decorated the ground, tall trees provided ample shade. Chattering noise from various animals filtered to Kit's ears. One sound stood out amongst the noise, familiar squawks penetrated Kit's ears.

Kit froze as he heard the squawks. Then with fear he scanned the area once again, chills spread across his skin causing goosebumps to appear. There was only one place he had heard that distinct noise before! His eyes flicked frantically over the lush tropical grounds.

Everything in front of him reminded him of the last cavern in the Twisted tunnels of Spatlicaan wilderness!

A flash of pastel blue caused Kit to start to hyperventilate. Kit staggered backwards on unsteady feet. What they hell was going on! How had this happened? If he wasn't mistaken this was exactly the same environment as the final cavern Twisted tunnels of Spatlicaan wilderness.

Pain began to penetrate his heart as this realisation dawned on him. Had he lost his restaurant to the pastel blue nightmares? As Kit was starting to lose his mind Snowball let a happy yip. A familiar white cat sauntered out of the greenery and headed straight towards Kit.

"Hello, friend Kit." Bai yue flicked his tail then sat down and blinked his bright sapphire eyes waiting for Kit to respond.

The unexpected sight of Bai yue caused Kit to start to calm down. If the sphinx had made it out of the tropical area without being frozen maybe it was all in Kit's head about the area being the same as the cavern.

He wondered if Snickers had grown the garden while he was away. "Hello, Bai yue. Have you been good?"

"No." Bai yue didn't elaborate.

Kit waited a moment to see if the cat would continue when the silence became strained Kit decided to open his mouth. "What has upset you?"

Bai yue tilted his head to the side and his eyes thinned as if he was annoyed. "Why did you let those creatures settle on your land. They even started to try to roam into my realm, you need to control them if you want them to stay."

Bai yue's tail started to flick in annoyance and a huff left his lips. All Kit's previous fear started to come back in full swing. He could feel his hands start to tremble. "When you say creatures, they don't happen to be pastel blue do they?"

"Mmm, what other colour would they be?" All Kit's hope that this might not be real was dashed in an instant. How was he supposed to run his restaurant with dangerous spiritual beasts making themselves at home on his land?

Kit looked at Bai yue and an idea formed in his head. "Bai yue are you able to talk to them?" Kit could only hope to negotiate with the creatures to get them to leave.

"Of course, I can talk to them, but why would I?" The swishing of his tail increased.

A bottle of glowing blue liquid appeared in Kit's hand. He wasn't below bribing the sphinx to help him out. He shook it in front of the white cat. "Just one bottle? Do you know how annoying those creatures are?" Bai yue eyes never left the bottle of liquid as he spoke.

A second bottle was produced and a loud purr emerged from Bai yue's mouth. "Deal, friend Kit." Kit pushed the bottles towards the white cat and watched them disappear. He then asked Bai yue to bring one of the creatures over to him.

Hopefully he could negotiate with the small creatures without getting himself killed. Now that he thought about how powerful the blue pigs where he started to worry about his missing staff. He hadn't seen a single one since he had woken up!