Beach (1)

A week later, Maria couldn't even recognize David when he visited the store again.

He had completely cleaned up and looked different dressed in those fancy clothes.

After what had happened last time at Maria's store, he no longer dared to act careless and rude in front of her.

He sincerely thanked her for everything that she did for him, but she just said that it was nothing special.

After all, she didn't think that she did anything special. All she had done was give him some soup and some advice when he had been down on his luck, it really wasn't worth mentioning.

She never would have thought that it was her soup that had awakened his S Ranked powers.

His abilities were S Ranked potential in the first place, but it had to be slowly unlocked. However, with her Cooking ability, she had awakened that potential in one go and he had become a S Ranker.

After his S Ranked powers had been discovered, all of the S Rankers that had been there that day offered him deals to cooperate.

That was right, they only offered him deals to cooperate and not offers to join their guild.

That was because they had seen that he had a rare S Ranked production skill.

They knew that it was impossible for them to keep them to their guild and they didn't want to keep this person for their guild use only.

Perhaps if this was before and they only cared about having the strongest guild, they might have wanted to keep this person for themselves. But after coming to Maria's cafe and forming this group of S Rankers, they knew that for the betterment of the world, it was best if they worked together.

So they knew that it was best if they shared this S Ranked production skill between them.

With the support of all these S Rankers, David was able to set up his own workshop and he had become an overnight success.

His skill was still the same "Knife Sharpening" skill, but now it was a S Ranked Knife Sharpening skill.

It couldn't be placed on the same level as before.

Any knife or any bladed weapon that was sharpened by him would receive many stat buffs that would last for a long period of time. This helped almost all of the S Rankers increase their power again.

The only ones that it didn't help were those that didn't use bladed weapons or those that had support skills to begin with.

But there were more than enough customers for David with just the people that used bladed weapons.

Now that he had also become a S Ranker, he was allowed to understand just how special Maria's shop was and he realized just how lucky he had been that day. Because Maria had taken pity on him and picked him up, it had completely changed his life.

He knew that it was impossible for him to repay her, but he still wanted to…

After all, there was a small part of him that even wondered if this was fate.

Perhaps the two of them had been star crossed to begin with…

So when he came to the cafe this morning, he had even brought chocolates and flowers in the new Spatial Ring that he had bought. When he said that he wanted to thank her, he was actually just working up the courage to bring them out.

But after seeing the smile on her face, he realized that this smile was a smile that belonged to everyone and not just him alone…

Before he could do anything, he was suddenly grabbed on the shoulder by two S Rankers and was pulled away.

Maria had turned around to answer a question from someone and was surprised to see that David was gone when she turned back around.

But then she didn't have time to care since someone else called for her.

She was sure that he was alright…

However, at that moment, he was currently being held by the Maria Fan Club.

This was formed by the S Rankers who were fans of Maria and they could tell what David had been planning on doing, so they hadn't hesitated to capture him.

They covered his eyes and brought him to a dark room before taking off the blindfold that they put on him.

David was terrified when this happened since this had been the first time that he had been kidnapped. Even when it was announced that he was a S Ranker, no one had tried to kidnap him because of all the deals that he had signed with the various other S Rankers.

If they tried to kidnap him, it would be like going against all the S Rankers that he had made a deal with.

That would be insane because that would be equal to going against the entire world.

So no one had tried to kidnap him…until now.

When he was able to see who it was, he was surprised to see their faces.

That was because he recognized them.

These were a few of the S Rankers that he had made deals with.

He wanted to ask something, but his mouth was still gagged, so all he could do was make a muffled sound.

Seeing this, they revealed evil smiles which sent a chill down his heart before one of them suddenly said, "Do you know what you just tried to do?"

David looked up at them with a confused look before slowly shaking his head.

The S Ranker revealed a fierce look and said, "Alright, then we'll put you on trial right now."

David couldn't help trembling before there was a sudden flash of light as the room lit up. He found that the S Rankers in front of him were wearing the same robe and all around him were many other S Rankers who had been standing in the darkness that all had the same robe.

On the wall behind them…there was a large picture of…Maria hanging there.

After the lights came on, that S Ranker looked around and said, "Fellow club members, we have someone here on trial for crimes against the fan club."

He reached out and pulled out David's Spatial Ring. Then with a thought, there was a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates that were pulled out that he presented to the rest of the S Rankers in the room.

After putting it in front of them, "The evidence is clear, so we will now get to the sentencing."

David's eyes popped out when he heard this.

He hadn't even been given a chance to explain or defend himself and he had been exposed in front of everyone like this…

In almost the same instant, there was an eruption of sound, but there was one thing that everyone agreed on.

"Guilty! He is guilty!"

David couldn't believe what he was hearing as he looked at all the S Rankers in front of him.

They looked completely different from how they had looked before, they were now aggressively demanding for his execution.

The S Ranker who had spoken before turned back to David and explained, "We are the Maria Fan Club and you are guilty of trying to get ahead of everyone else to talk to Maria. This is not something that we can allow, so you must be punished and put in your place."

David couldn't help giving a gulp when he heard this, but that was just the beginning.

The S Ranker suddenly revealed a smile that sent a chill down his spine as he said, "Let's begin."

…

Maria didn't know about any of this.

Instead, she was currently talking to Seul Ah.

After setting up many different private dates with Guang Liang and several girl nights, they had finally reconciled from the Wu Qing matter. Seul Ah had returned to her normal happy and lively self and was currently asking Maria about something.

"Maria, do you want to go to the beach with me? I have a job by the beach, but once I'm done, we can stay in my villa by the beach."

Maria was surprised when Seul Ah suddenly brought this up, but then she became excited as well.

She loved going to the beach, but not for the reason that one would think.

She loved going to the beach for the fresh ingredients that she could harvest from the beach. It wasn't because she loved to swim or play in the sand at all. In fact, she was one of those girls that preferred staying inside and watching her dramas all day.

But influenced by her Cooking skill, when it came to food and ingredients, she became unnaturally excited.

So she quickly agreed to go with Seul Ah.

However, she could also see that Seul Ah was hesitating about something, so she asked her what else she wanted.

Seul Ah looked down and after a long time, she finally said, "I want to invite Ah Guang as well, but I don't know how to do it."

When she heard this, Maria couldn't help revealing a smile because she could guess that Seul Ah's original intention was to invite Ah Guang alone, but she was just too shy to do it, which was why she had invited Maria too.

But she didn't mind since this was a free trip to the beach and it had been a long time since she took a vacation.

She wouldn't mind being the third wheel on this date.

But she also knew that it was impossible for the three of them to get through this trip by themselves.

So she said, "Actually, I also have a few people that I want to invite as well."

Seul Ah looked right at her and said, "Huh?"