Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang did not realize when, but he emptied the big mug before his snack came, "This is good." He licked his lips as the lingered scorching sensation was still in his mouth, "Give me one more please."

The barkeeper smiled and nodded, refilling the big mug. At the same time, his snack arrived, "This is also a specialty from my world, Sir. It's Dried Flying Squid."

Tang Shaoyang looked at the plate, furrowing his brow. The barkeeper said it was a flying squid, but it looked exactly the same as the squid from Earth. In fact, this one was smaller than the squid from Earth.

"What's wrong, Sir? You don't like flying squid?" The barkeeper asked.

"No. This reminded me of the squid from my world. They are exactly similar, but my squid doesn't fly. They live in the sea, and they are bigger."

"That makes me want to visit your world, Sir. I don't know what the squid's taste is from your world, but I am confident with my flying squid, Sir."

Tang Shaoyang took a gulp of the beer and threw the thumb-sized squid. The squid tasted sour and bitter, then it was followed by a saltiness afterward. That was a weird taste in his mouth, but for some reason, he understood why the barkeeper served him this dried flying squid. That was a good match with the Scorched Beer.

Even though it was in the afternoon, he drank a lot. There was nothing to do anyway. He had a lot of free time. It was two days and eight hours until the trial started.

"What should I do for the remaining two days?" Tang Shaoyang complained in a low voice after finishing his fourth mug of Scorched Beer, "Another Scorching Beer please, and another serving of dried flying squid."

"We have Arena, Sir. You can have a warm-up with your party there, or maybe win some money with the bets," The barkeeper recommended as he gave a bigger mug for Tang Shaoyang as well as another plate of dried flying squid.

Tang Shaoyang shook his head, "That arena concept is just stupid, and I don't need money. What's the point of money when you can't use it?"

The barkeeper understood the latter part of why Tang Shaoyang said he could not use the money. The rare items and scrolls in the shop could not be bought with money, but materials. That was the reason why those people opened their shop in this trial city.

"What about food, Sir. Are you interested in gourmet food from other worlds? I can recommend a place where you can eat food that might not exist in your world."

"That might be more interesting than fighting in the arena. Give me your recommendation."

The barkeeper recommended a restaurant. Not just the restaurant, but also the menu he should order. Tang Shaoyang stayed in the tavern for another hour, finishing more than twenty mugs of Scorched Beer and around nine plates of dried flying squid.

Tang Shaoyang left the tavern and went back to his lodging. He saved the restaurant for later. The first floor was less packed, only half of the tables were occupied. He thought of going to his room and getting some sleep to pass the time. But then he changed his mind with many empty tables. Going to the counter, he ordered the food.

He thought he would find many weird menus, but it was actually normal except for the ingredients. The restaurant in his lodging served a dragon steak, and his eyes could never leave this menu. He actually never ate dragon meat before. His order was Dragon Steak, Dragon Tail Soup, and a bowl of rice.

After placing his order, he chose the table for three at the corner. He noticed that the people were staring at him. The first time he entered this building was when he left earlier, and just now when he returned. He did not mean to attract attention, but for some reason, these people kept observing him.

His name was famous on Earth, but this was not on Earth. These people should not know him. And yet, it seemed like there was something in him that attracted these people to him. He furrowed his brows and a woman's face appeared in his head. It was Ira's face, the admin helper. She escorted him to his room, and that might be unusual for an admin helper to do that. Maybe that was why the people in his building observed him. That was just a guess because he could not think of anything that might catch these people's attention.

Tang Shaoyang threw the thoughts as the steak aroma came closer. Sure enough, his food is coming. A waitress smiled at him, serving his food on the table. The sizzling noise kept ringing from the steak plate. The soup aroma that made him hungrier. He finally realized why the table was full. Even just by the aroma, he could tell the food was good.

The first thing he did was to cut his dragon steak into bite size. People would curse him with how he ate the steak, but he did not care. After cutting the steak into bite-size pieces, he put one on top of his rice. He scooped the first bite of steak and the rice.

He was nowhere near a gourmet, but he enjoyed good food. He could not describe the taste, but he liked it. That was enough for him. Then he tasted the soup. He immediately raised his hand, "Can I have another bowl of rice, please?"

Even though he had not finished the rice, he had an idea of how to eat the soup. It was to pour the soup into the rice, making it a rice dragon tail soup. He took the second bite of the steak and the rice. Just when he was about to have his third bite, someone interrupted him.

"Is this empty? May I sit here?" A cheerful voice interrupted him.

Tang Shaoyang looked up. A man with a white fancy robe smiling at him. Then he scanned the other tables. There were six empty tables, and yet this man came for his table. Before he could refuse, the man took a seat across from him.

"My name is Castor. I am sorry to interrupt your meal, but I am here to invite you to join my party."