Sacrificial Altar

Ever since installing the dynamic light screen, business at the restaurant had been even better. Now, with the addition of three daily tasks, Ina could earn nearly 200 achievement points per day. Together with the 500 achievement points she had earned from completing the side task[Harvest 10 Fish from the Fish Pond of the Restaurant], she had accumulated enough points for a Ten draws in just a few days.

This time, Ina sincerely prayed: Please give me more plant nutrient solution, I beg you!

The restaurant was consuming a large number of vegetables, and the stock of plant nutrient solution was running dangerously low. Plus, she had a meeting with the Ruzi tribe chieftain tomorrow, and they might need a large supply of food and vegetables. If she didn't get plant nutrient solution from the Ten draws today, she would have to consider using the remaining achievement points to exchange for it.

Actually, with the restaurant's current financial situation, Ina could also go to other cities to buy food in bulk and bring it back. However, doing so would mean that the Dragon Flame Restaurant would have to close for a few days.

[You have obtained: Pumpkin Seeds☆10, Silver Leaf Pattern Tableware★10 sets, 14 Silver Coins, Kitchen Assistant Magic Doll★★1, Cabbage Seeds☆10, Choose-your-own-branch Qualification 1★★★★, Fruit Canned Food★10, 5 Copper Coins, Rice Cake Maker★1, Glutinous Rice Seeds☆10]

[The Seed Shop has unlocked the purchase rights for Pumpkin, Cabbage, and Glutinous Rice Seeds!]

Although she didn't get the plant nutrient solution, one of the rewards seemed particularly eye-catching. The neat row of black stars behind it indicated its preciousness. The branch qualification, which allowed Ina to choose the location, was much more reliable than the random branch awarded by the system when the restaurant was upgraded!

The branch qualification reward came in the form of a scroll. When Ina unrolled it, she found that all the famous cities on the continent were listed, waiting for her to choose.

She decided to carefully select the third branch, so she put the scroll away for now. The most interesting reward left was the kitchen assistant magic doll. Ina just hoped that its function was not for washing dishes, as the kitchen already had a dish puppet.

Along with the kitchen assistant magic doll came its instruction manual, which introduced its functions: washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, cleaning, serving rice, and telling time.

A helper in the kitchen, Ina thought. There were only two humanoid staff members in the restaurant, who were too busy to help Ina when she was cooking. this assistant magic doll would be nice.

The rice cake maker was a small machine that was easy to operate. By putting cooked glutinous rice into it, soft rice cakes could be made without the effort of hand-pounding.

With rice cakes, Ina wanted to try making a rice cake chicken wing hot pot. Just a few days ago, the mushroom cultivation room had produced tea tree mushrooms. She could also catch a few Big River shrimp from the fish pond, and add some onions and potatoes to the mix. It should be delicious.

The next day, not only did Ina enjoy the rice cake chicken wing hot pot, but she also completed the side quest 3-1: Harvest 10 Animals from the Restaurant's Ranch.

She also brought a new batch of chicken feed and chick feed to Frank. Frank accepted the feed with some unease, "The chickens grow too fast after eating this feed, at least twice, no, three times faster than before."

Ina told him not to worry, as this was a magical world where it wasn't strange for chickens to grow faster. The feed was absolutely green, healthy, and hormone-free. Besides, everyone was eating vegetables from the Dragon Flame Restaurant, which were ready within 5 minutes.

Frank: Seemed even more uneasy…

The 500 achievement points she had just received, along with the achievement points earned from the past two days of business, were all exchanged by Ina for plant nutrient solution. 780 achievement points, almost enough for Ten draws, which only got her 78 bottles of plant nutrient solution. But there was no choice, as today the plant nutrient solution was completely consumed, and both the bathtub farm and mushroom cultivation room relied on it.

Ina and her two employees tasted the rice cake chicken wing hot pot while there were not many customers. Dusì caught a glimpse of a small shadow darting past her feet. She got up and chased it for a couple of steps but could only see a hanging black tail due to her limited mobility.

After a while, Ina emerged from behind the bar holding a black cat.

Lusen: "Is it a cat owned by a resident of the town? It might have gone into the kitchen because it was hungry."

Dusì shook her head: "I've never heard of anyone owning a black cat with red eyes."

Black cat Elvys: "So the place with the strongest magical fluctuations is the kitchen?"

Ina carried the black cat towards the door, thinking: It's not that animals are not allowed in the restaurant, as The Goldfinch and

Lizard has dined here before. But animals with fur definitely can't enter the kitchen. It's not only unsanitary, but also chaotic with the bathtub farm, refrigerator cabinets, the "Uproot" robot responsible for harvesting vegetables, and the newly named "Chopping Melons and Cutting Vegetables" kitchen assistant magic doll all squeezed into the back kitchen. She couldn't let a cat in to cause trouble.

She held the black cat by the back of its neck and threw it out of the door while supporting its bottom. She felt sorry for it, as it had come at an inconvenient time. If it had been a quiet night, she could have made a separate meal for it.

Duke Elvys didn't mind being touched on the bottom. He found a nearby bush to squat in and decided to continue observing the strange restaurant owner.

Bored, he stared at the wooden door of the restaurant, recalling the aroma he had smelled when he had just sneaked into the restaurant. What were they eating? It seemed to taste quite good.

Suddenly, Duke Elvys stood up and solemnly shook his ears. The woman with powerful magic had disappeared!

Was there a teleportation circle in such a small restaurant?

————

AfterAnty and her family finished eating the beef soup and boiled fish, they were told that they could take the other food gifted by the Saintess home. Each person could not only get a steaming roasted sweet potato, but the children also received a handful of strawberries.

Little Anty held up a bright red strawberry in front of her eyes: "It's even bigger than the potatoes at home!" She carefully bit the tip of the strawberry, letting out a happy whimper: "How can it be so delicious!"

She counted the seven strawberries in her hand, one for herself, one for her mother, one for her father, one for her grandmother, and one for herself...

Something didn't seem quite right. How should she divide the missing one? Little Anty looked at her father, who, after hearing her dilemma, smiled and said, "This is a gift from the Saintess for the children. You don't have to share it with me."

Anty immediately disagreed: "There are seven in total. Since it's my gift, I should be the one to allocate it. I'll eat one, and the rest can be divided equally."

In the end, Little Anty still enjoyed four strawberries and a whole roasted sweet potato. Before closing her eyes at night, she happily thought that this was the happiest day of her life since she turned ten years old.

The chieftain said that the Saintess had agreed to meet with him again in three days. If, just if, Anty fantasized while condemning her greed after the Saintess came, could the Rize people be as happy as they were today?

"I don't need offerings and sacrifices. As long as you work for me, I will provide you with food and rewards," Ina said to the chieftain and priest of the Rize tribe.

How could a deity not need sacrifices? While the chieftain was still puzzled, the priest readily agreed, "Rest assured, Saintess, we will definitely work hard. But we don't know exactly what to do?"

Ina nodded with satisfaction, "Here's the plan. I want to build several structures nearby. They will have transparent domes and sturdy foundations, providing not only shelter but also sunlight. The buildings will maintain a spring-like atmosphere all year round, and the ground inside won't be the hard frozen soil but soft fertile soil."

The chieftain became solemn with respect, as it was a miraculous building that could maintain warmth on the cold Toria Plain. Only the Saintess could accomplish this.

He felt like he understood, "Saintess, then this building must be the new altar."

Ina looked at him strangely, "Ah, no, it's for growing vegetables."

Then, Ina proposed the idea of building enclosures to raise Snow Rabbits, which made the priest's eyes sparkle. He nodded repeatedly, and the chieftain glanced at the priest, puzzled but quickly followed along with the nodding.

Ina turned to the priest, "You must have understood, right?" After receiving an affirmative reply, she continued, "For the tribespeople who work for me, I will provide free breakfast and lunch every day. The young and strong can get 8 points daily, while the elderly and children can get 6 points. You should have seen Anty use these points; two points can be exchanged for a box of bean-paste buns. Of course, the food in the machine will change frequently and may not always be the same as it is now. This is just for your reference."

The two nodded again, still not quite understanding.

Ina sighed, figuring that they would understand once they started using the vending machines regularly.

Ina took out a piece of paper, "This is an employment contract. For those who want to work for me..." She realized that most people might be illiterate, so she turned to the priest, "You can write their names on it. Make sure to explain my requirements and rewards and get their consent before signing."

After Ina left, the chieftain finally had a chance to ask, "What does the Saintess mean?"

The priest had an expression of "the Saintess is genuinely compassionate", "I think it's the same as the previous offerings, just with a different approach. The Saintess must have noticed that we don't have enough game for sacrifices, so she proposed offering 'work' in exchange for blessings."

The chieftain suddenly understood, "I see. I'll go and ask who is willing to serve the Saintess."

The construction of greenhouses and rabbit enclosures for the Rize tribe seemed to be on track, but there were still several problems to be resolved.

First was food. Even if not everyone was willing to work for Ina, the Rize tribe was now struggling to have enough food, so many people would sign up for the free breakfast and lunch. This would require a large amount of food every day. If they were to purchase all of it in Misty Town, not to mention whether Hana's grocery store could supply so much food, the high price alone would be daunting.

However, Ina still had an ace up her sleeve: the chance to choose the location of a branch store. As long as she opened a branch in a bustling city, buying food would be much more convenient. However, the specific city location still needed careful consideration.

Secondly, food for hundreds of people needed to be prepared. Ina was already busy working non-stop preparing dishes for the Dragon Flame restaurant. Suddenly having so many more people to feed, even if Ina didn't need to sleep, she would be as busy as a spinning top every day.

At this moment, the system suddenly reminded her, "I think this problem will be resolved once your chef's sub-profession level increases."

Ina immediately checked the experience bar of her sub-profession.

[Chef (Sub-Profession)

Level: 3 (4865/5000)

Skills:

Chef's Intuition (You have a subtle understanding of cooking)

Chef's Tongue (Your tongue is highly sensitive, but this also means that the pain of eating your poorly-made dishes is multiplied)

Chef's Eyes (Your eyes are sharp, able to discern the quality of ingredients with just a glance)]

She was not far from leveling up to level 4. The system was cryptic, and she wanted to see what her new skill would be.

Ina headed straight for the kitchen, and over an hour later:

[Your chef sub-profession has leveled up to level 4, and you have gained a new professional skill: Chef's Hands (As a magic-rich chef, you can instantly create finished dishes from food recipes you have made more than 100 times and achieved an average completion rate of over 80, only consuming magic and ingredients)!]

This skill was extremely useful! It could completely eliminate the tedious production process and instantly produce finished dishes. Ina breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she wouldn't have to spend all her time in the kitchen anymore.

The system also provided a list of foods that met the requirements for mass production:

[Unlocked Foods:

Hot Chocolate Milk, Boiled Fish, Rice Noodle Beef Soup, Porcini Mushroom Meat Sauce Pasta, Roasted Sweet Potato, Tomato Soup, Cheese Baked Mashed Potato...

Foods to be Unlocked: (Number of times made/Average completion rate)

Fried Shrimp Balls (68/85), Seafood Soup (53/75), Honey Glazed Apple Pork Ribs (64/90), Braised Rabbit Meat (24/85)...]

The second problem was satisfactorily resolved. All that remained was the planning of the greenhouse and rabbit enclosure. Ina had previously only roughly conceived the idea, but she had not yet determined whether to use magic formations, barriers, or magic crystals to maintain the appropriate temperature in the greenhouse. As for the construction of the rabbit enclosure and specific breeding methods, she planned to consult more experienced individuals.

It seemed that the establishment of a vegetable base and a Snow Rabbit breeding center in the Frozen Wasteland was just around the corner.

Ina was in a great mood. As long as the supply of ingredients was maintained, the expansion of the Restaurant would be unstoppable!

Elvys took a short stroll around the Misty Town and when he returned to watch the Restaurant, he found a soft cushion under the bush where he had been squatting.

he immediately ran over, lying on the cushion and rolling around. It was indeed very comfortable.

Wait a minute, had his spying been discovered?

It must be the black cat form affecting his intelligence, otherwise, how could he have become so slow-witted and picked up bad cat habits? Elvys stared solemnly at the cushion beneath him, bit it, and ran to another bush.

From this angle, he could also see the interior of the Restaurant through the glass window. The number of customers gradually increased, the brown-haired waiter ran back and forth, and the gray-eyed lame girl collected money and gave change. The restaurant owner was nowhere to be seen. She must be in the kitchen, where the magical power was the most intense. However, that could be just a cover-up kitchen, and it might actually be a laboratory.

He looked at the few tea trees in the backyard and the luminescent daisies glowing softly between them. Perhaps these weren't real tea trees, but experimental materials used by the evil woman. Why else would she use the expensive luminescent daisies to release sunlight to help the tea trees grow?

Elvys believed his analysis was logical and justified. He lay on the cushion, looking at the mist-filled sky of Misty Town, feeling a bit hungry.

Some deep purple fruits exuded a sweet fragrance on the bush beside him. Elvys took a bite, and the taste was not bad. He decided to eat another one.

When he woke up again, he had successfully made his way into the Restaurant, lying on the familiar cushion next to the fireplace.

Ina insisted that she was innocent. A drunken cat had swaggered into the restaurant, and she didn't want to take it in, but it was being so affectionate towards her!

Recalling what he had done, Elvys stiffened: Although it wasn't exactly what he had imagined, it didn't matter. The restaurant owner clearly had no guard against him, and staying here would make it easier to gather information.