246 I Need To Use Your Forge (1/2)

Only a bit over two weeks have passed since Leon left for the underground expedition, but the Capital's rate of development was staggering and seemed to have increased exponentially.

The construction of the railway and strengthening of commoners via the breathing technique had indeed greatly boost productivity and work efficiency, but the greatest factor was not related to Leon.

The World Tree had only just started introducing spirit energy to the world. It would take some time before the spirit energy spread to the Capital.

Under normal circumstances, the most talented of miners had only reached the 3rd layer of the Body Tempering Realm. This had indeed boosted the acquisition of raw ores greatly, but half the contribution of raw ore acquisition was actually due to earth-users.

The power of Awakeners was practically designed for the development of human civilization. Any area of development that required manual labor could be substituted with the elemental manipulation of Awakeners.

During the time Leon was gone, the Capital had experienced a large increase in low-level Awakeners amongst the lower-class nobles.

Low-class nobles were different from many higher-class nobles and did not discriminate against commoners and were willing to work alongside them.

With earth-users and miners working in tandem, the greatest work efficiency was achieved in the acquisition of raw ores from the rich underground mineral deposit.

Leon could guess where these lower-class nobles got their Awakening pills. Dwight was an alchemist and the True Awakening Pill formula was left in their hands. He no longer needed to refine the pills for them as Dwight could do it himself.

He did not blame Dwight for making the formula known, he was only concerned that the increase in earth-element Awakeners would cause instability in the Capital's foundation and collapse it.

But his worries were for naught. If he could think like that, others could too.

In the underground, a large framework of steel beams was already being used to hold up the Capital.

Even without Awakeners, the excessing mining and hollowing of the underground would eventually lead to the instability of the structural integrity of the foundation and ultimately lead to a great tragedy if no preventative actions were taken.

Thinking back on the True Awakening Pills, Leon was a bit embarrassed about all the talk of demons, but he still felt like something was still amiss.

Few clues have pointed towards their existence, but not a shadow had been spotted nor had he found any more clues since then. Was he just overthinking and paranoid?

Leon shook his head and entered the Capital. He was famished after the long run and decided to settle his stomach first.

…

”Ah, ahem. What would you like to order, esteemed customer?” The waiter, Mary was surprised to see Leon again after so long and slightly stuttered before asking.

She did not want to be unreasonable and bring up the previous matter. She thought the reason this customer had not visited their Steakhouse in so long was due to her attitude at that time. Thus, she was already content that Leon was willing to dine in at the Steakhouse again.

Looking at the familiar menu, Leon was hit with nostalgia as he reminisces on the past. Where was Teacher Lina now? He was told that she had left on a journey, but her parents did not know where to.

Leon did not dwell on it for too long, before he smiled and said, ”I want 200-gram of this, this, and this, medium-rare with the Steakhouse special sauce and no sides, thanks.”

A total of three dishes was ordered. Recalling the traumatic experience brought by overeating, he dared not to order too much again and toned down on the cut and dishes. He was only here for a quick feed.

After 15 minutes, the food was brought out one by one. They were all new dishes he had not tried before. There was quite a variety of beast meat on the menu.

This time, he was trying the meat of the Fierce Hyena, River Bison, and Mountain Stag. Nevertheless, he finished everything in 30 minutes. Pulling out a grey Transcendent Crystal and chewing on some wood-element herbs, began refining some more pseudo-Grandmist energy.

No matter how many times he visits the Steakhouse, he was still left amazed by the richness of energy retained in the cooked meat. The Royal Chef back in the palace was slightly inferior.

Nevertheless, after he was done, he called the waiter to pay the bill.

”That will be 6200 Craws, esteemed customer,” Mary said, but she did not offer any hand to receive the Craw notes in Leon's hand. Instead, she puffed her chest pocket.

”You… want me to put it in there?” Leon asked with doubt.

”Just like the first time.” Mary nodded as a red hue slightly crept on her face. Perhaps, she was being too shameless, but she wanted to experience it again.

”Just the first time?” Leon could not help but rub his forehead as he recalled with a guilty conscience.

”Exactly like the first time,” Mary affirmed as the red hue became more evident.

”Um, alright…”

Leon understood and smiled wryly. Were all waiters this forward and daring? …Probably not.

At the corner of his eyes, he could see another waiter peeking over through the gaps of her hand covering her face with a flushed face. He could subtly hear the waiter gasping, 'Mary, you're so daring~ Fighting~!'

He slipped 7000 Craw notes into Mary's chest pocket and disappeared, but of course, not without copping a feel.

Mary shivered with pleasure and delight from Leon's magical touch before she looked at the 7000 Craw notes in her chest pocket and ran out of the Steakhouse to shout into the distance, ”Thank you for patronage! Please come again!”

The Steakhouse was relatively empty, and business was not doing well since the Capital Crisis, but there were still a few old-time customers in the Steakhouse.

All sorts of hoots and whistles came from them in response to Mary's daringness as they teased her.