Dining Hall

While heading to the Dining Hall, an unexpected translucent box appeared right in front of Ling.

The box contained notifications.

[Notification from the Novel's Copy: Progress for an ideal ending +0.5%]

[Ideal Ending: 0.5%]

[Worse Ending: 99.5%]

What?

Ling was momentarily stunned when he read it. 

Uh, right. On his birthday, he didn't only receive the goddess' blessing but also a gift. He received the Novel's Copy as a gift. His first thought about it was that it was just a real copy of the original novel, but it turned out it had a unique function— to keep track of the novel's progress towards a better ending.

Looking at the number, he briefly pondered and concluded right away.

'Is this the result of my intervention this morning? In that case, if I keep on interfering with the incidents like this morning, it will derail from the novel's bad ending for good.'

From there, Ling found his goal clear, to keep intervening in future incidents in which the main characters are involved.

Growl~~

His stomach suddenly let out an embarrassing noise and he quickly resumed his initial plan, to the Dining Hall.

Despite most of the students being present in the hall, the place doesn't look crowded. Not only did everything look clean and shiny but it was very spacious as well.

The freshmen's dining hall was separate from the second and third year, so all of the students present there were just first-year students.

Looking around, he couldn't get rid of the thought that he seemed like he was attending a noble's banquet. The chairs and tables were arranged in that manner. And to think that they even played a melodious song, this hits differently. It maxed out everyone's appetite to the extreme.

Despite it being self-serving, however, you could not cheat about payment as the food machine would not spit out the food you wish to buy without paying first.

He went to the counter and searched for the food that fit his appetite currently. 

There were a variety of foods there, from snacks to proper meals. There were even different kinds of drinks, from soda to chocolate and fruit juice.

The meal prices range from 5 Academy Points to 10 Academy Points, and the drinks prices range from 1 to 5 Academy Points.

Every student received 100 Academy Points as allowances at the start of the month.

No matter how he calculated it, that 100 points can't be enough for a whole month's budget. Even if he lived a frugal lifestyle the whole month, this was still impossible to fit for a month.

It didn't take him long to find the food that fit his appetite. He took his cash device from his pocket. The item resembled a flash drive and its function was similar to an ATM card.

He inserted it into the machine. After a 'beep' sound, the number 100 on its digital panel turned to 93. Right after the number changed, the food machine spat a tray with food and drink on it.

He took his cash device and inserted it back into his trousers pocket. After that, he carried the tray.

Looking for a table, he scanned his surroundings.

At that moment, his eyes caught a familiar face, sitting alone at a table like an outcast. When he noticed something, his face turned dumbfounded. On her table, there was a variety of foods right in front of her.

Noticing his gaze, she said, "What… what are you looking at? I won't share even if you beg!" 

She used her delicate hands to block his sight as if trying to hide the food from him.

Without minding her action, Ling carried his tray and sat in front of her. His tray only contains a bowl of noodles with beef and seasoning and a sweet ube cream juice. On the contrary, there were 7 different kinds of meals in front of her.

"Don't worry. My food bank is not as impressive as yours, Rachel Hansworth," Ling said calmly but his words carried a hint of teasing. Then out of curiosity, he asked her. "But are you sure you can eat all these?"

Rachel's face turned slightly red when she heard it from him. 

"Huh? Wait, don't you get me wrong. I mean i-it's not like I have a big appetite, ahaha," she stammered and forced a laugh.

"Really? But how can you explain this feast in front of you?" He leaned closer and whispered, "Is today your birthday and you're secretly celebrating?" If that was the case, then he'd understand. Sometimes you have to celebrate your birthday alone. It also happened to him before.

"….."

Rachel found herself choked by his question.

"It's not my birthday. It's just they all look delicious…"

Ling almost spat the ube cream juice upon hearing her reply.

"In short you can't choose which and ended up buying all?"

"Yes," she nodded slightly while fidgeting.

He was stunned.

He looked at her and asked, "How much did it all cost?"

She hesitatingly raised 6 fingers.

"60 points?"

She nodded.

Ling slightly shook his head. He could not help but worry about her future on her behalf.

"So later is your last supper, I supposed."

"Eh?"

An inaudible muffled voice came out from Rachel's mouth. Her soul evaporated in that instant.

Without minding her reaction, he started eating. The noodles are delicious. The taste lingered on his tongue for quite a while and the tenderness of the beef and the seasoning created an amazing harmony that enhanced the noodle's taste. All for this wonderful meal for the cost of 7 points only. Not a bad trade, he thinks.

But soon he was interrupted.

"Can you buy half of the food from me?" Rachel suddenly posed an offer.

Ling paused bringing the noodles into his mouth and stared in front in disbelief.

"Ha? No way. If I do that I'd be in trouble too."

"Please! In exchange, I will wash all your laundry and even clean your room for you."

"Huh?"

Ling was dumbfounded. But wait… His mental alarm was ringing in full volume inside his head as if sending warning signals. Ling regretted his decision to sit there with her. He quickly looked around and as expected, everyone was staring in his direction as if he was a suspect of a crime.

"Is he bullying her?"

"I hate commoners, but I hate bullies the most."

"How despicable."

"Heartless."

"He is forcing her to do the chores for him!"

"I'm sure he also forced her to buy those foods for him."

"What a jerk!"

He was right; they misunderstood!

Their cold remarks were like needles stabbing his chest. 

Oblivious to her surroundings, a blushing Rachel continued saying, "I… I can even wash your under—"

"Sto—"

Tap!

Before Rachel could finish her words and before Ling could stop her, someone approached them and forcefully tapped their table.

Startled, the two simultaneously looked at the newcomer and both showed a puzzled expression on their faces.

Unexpectedly, the person who appeared was no other than Abilene! The true protagonist!

But why did Abilene suddenly show up? His thoughts.

Unaware of his thoughts, Abilene cast a fierce glare at him as if he were humanity's greatest villain in her eyes.

Cold sweats dripped on his back. The pressure coming from the protagonist's glare was immense and insurmountable.