Soon after the battle between The Cursed Warlocks and Death's Door finished, we heard several knocks on our door. Feng Mian, as usual, got off the couch and went to open it.

"Hello...oh, it's you again," Feng Mian began politely, but quickly switched to an informal tone seeing who it was - the same butler from before.

"Apologies for the interruption," the butler said, bowing down graciously.

"Uh...no worries," I said, standing up. "What's up?"

"It is nothing worth mentioning - I just came over to bring your lunch," the butler said with a dazzling smile.

I blinked. "Lunch?"

"Yes, that is correct. It is already noon," he replied.

I glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall. "Ah...time passed by so quickly."

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I'm feeling pretty hungry!" Qing Yue exclaimed, hopping off the couch by doing a backflip.

"What the heck Qing Yue, since when did you know how to do backflips?!" Yu An Yan shouted, shocked at my little sister's impressive display of acrobatics.

Truth to be told, I didn't know she could do that either, but whatever. More importantly...

"So? Where do you guys want go eat?"

"Mm...how about...that Western style restaurant in Starry City?" Yu An Xue suggested.

"Sure! What was it called again...ah, that's right! Grange Grill!" Qing Yue exclaimed in jubilation. "I remember taking Big Brother Xuan Kai there one time..."

"Stop," I immediately cut her off. "That was an embarrassing incident..."

The first time I had went there with Qing Yue, we had run into quite some trouble. My fiancee Lan Gui Ying (as much as I would like to deny it), along with her boyfriend of sorts, Li Mu Shen. The two of them had humiliated me, and in the end I had to be rescued by Yu An Xue, a girl. This was a sensitive subject for me...

"But you're okay now, right? That time I woke up, wasn't Grange Grill the place we went to for dinner?" Yu An Yan said thoughtfully.

"Uh, yeah...I'm fine with the place itself, just the memory of getting humiliated...whatever," I shook my head. "Let's go."

However-

"My apologies, but I am afraid you are misunderstanding something," the butler, who had remained silent as we discussed where to go for lunch, cut in suddenly.

The five of us all turned to look at him curiously.

"Ah, don't get me wrong. If you wish to eat outside, by all means," the butler quickly corrected himself. "However, I have already a meal prepared for you..."

"Wait, what?!" Feng Mian exclaimed in surprise. "Say that sooner!"

"M-My apologies..." the butler bowed deeply. "I just did not wish to interrupt your conversation."

"Heehee, the food better be good!" Qing Yue rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

The butler composed himself, smiled, and snapped his fingers. Several maids then seemed to appear out of nowhere, and entered the room, each holding a platter of food. The last maid seemed to be holding utensils instead of platters though. Nevertheless, the sight was so grandiose that the five of us were shocked speechless.

"Holy shit..." I unconsciously let out.

"Woah..."

"Hey, hey, Big Brother Xuan Kai...this treatment is even better than Grange Grill's..."

"No kidding," I replied, my gaze following the maid in the front as she set down the food on our table. "It's like we're royalty..."

The maids placed the platters of food on the table one after another, and when the last one was finished, the lot of them piled out of the room together without a word. The entire process took less than a minute.

"Woah...it's like they're robots," Yu An Yan mused. Indeed, the maids' movements were so smooth and clean they seemed to be mechanical-

"They are," the butler interrupted with a smile.

"Huh?"

"The maids you saw just now were not human," the butler explained. "Instead, they are golems that resemble humans."

Ahh...that makes sense. Since this world had magic, not much effort was put into developing and evolving technology. There was no way artificial robots would be this detailed and advanced. Magic Golems, however, were a different matter altogether. They were highly complex beings that resembled humans. However, because they do not possess human emotions, they will follow any order given to them by their registered master. This was also the main advantage of golems - essentially, they could be used a suicide bomber, no matter how dangerous the task was.

Although many people around the world are against this idea of sacrificing golems, I don't find any problem with it. Golems might look like humans, but they weren't living human beings. In the end, they were machines, mere tools to help fulfill a purpose. Therefore, sending golems to do the dangerous work wasn't a selfish, heartless act, but instead a wise and tactful strategy. That's what I think, anyway.

"Now then, I shall take my leave," the butler said. And with one last bow, he exited the room, gently shutting the door behind him.

The five of us couldn't contain our excitement anymore, and hurriedly hopped back on the couch. There were a total of eight different dishes, and five smaller bowls that probably contained rice. We each took off the lids off the smaller bowls first, and a sweet aroma filled the air. Indeed, it was rice.

"Whew...this is some high quality rice, I can tell by the smell," Yu An Yan whistled.

"Don't get too impressed by just the rice, the actual dishes are probably even better..." I said, waiting in anticipation. Then, turning to Qing Yue, who had been eyeing the platters with eagerness for the past minute, I spoke. "Go ahead, Qing Yue."

"Okay~"

Saying this, she lifted the lids one by one, and a plethora of different flavors filled the room. Among them were lemon chicken, Szechuan boiled fish, roast lamb skewers, and a beef stew - all traditional dishes.

"W-Wow..." Feng Mian stuttered out amazed by the sight.

"I wasn't even hungry a second ago, but after seeing these..." I trailed off. Everyone knew what I was going to say.

"Well, whatever!!" Qing Yue declared happily. "Let's dig in! Itadakimasu!!"

However, just as she picked up the chopsticks provided by the maids, I stopped her.

"Hold on, we have to examine this food first," I said. This was the first time I've had such an extravagant meal, so I wanted to thoroughly investigate the ingerdients and such.

"What?? But I'm so hungry..." Qing Yue pouted unhappily.

"You can eat after," I replied.

"But what got you so worked up all of a sudden?" Yu An Yan asked.

"Yeah...this isn't like the Xuan Kai I know," Feng Mian added.

I scratched my cheek awkwardly. "Uh, w-well, you see...I've actually always wanted to learn cooking, ever since my parents passed away," I explained.

"Cooking?" Qing Yue perked up. "Woah, Big Brother Xuan Kai, you never told me about this!"

I glanced sideways at her. "You never asked..."

"Oh, true."

I cleared my throat. "Anyway...because my parents are no longer here, I have to get by somehow on my own. I can't rely on the school cafeteria forever, y'know? So I made up my mind to learn how to cook."

"Huh...well, have you ever actually tried since you made up your mind or whatever?" Yu An Yan asked, curious.

"Er...no."

"..."

"..."

"THEN WHY THE HECK ARE YOU TRYING TO DISSECT OUR FOOD?!"

"I-I'm not trying to dissect it! I'm just taking it apart and identifying what's inside!" I attempted to refute, but was cut off mercilessly by Yu An Yan.

"That's LITERALLY the meaning of DISSECTION!"

"Okay, okay, calm down, both of you..." Feng Mian muttered, cupping her ears from Yu An Yan's yelling.

"I AM CALM!" Yu An Yan shouted.

"Not very convincing, when you say it like that..." I murmured quietly. She either didn't hear me, or just chose not to hear me, because she didn't say a word in response.

"Now then...let's begin dissec- ahem, examining the contents of this lemon chicken..." I said to myself, turning around. I nearly said dissect thanks to Yu An Yan, but I quickly corrected myself before anyone could notice...not.

"You just said dissect, didn't you?" a shadow crept up behind me, and I immediately knew who it was. Cold sweat dripped down my back as I stuttered out a reply.

"U-Uh, no? You must've misheard. Also, I think you yelling was better, don't suddenly use a quiet voice..."

Indeed, it was Yu An Yan. Who else could it be? She placed a hand on my shoulder and a shiver ran up my spine. "Xuan Kai...don't you dare touch the food."

"R-Right, okay..." I gave in and backed away slowly.

Yu An Yan gave me a refreshing smile that I would've found cute if she hadn't just threatened me wordlessly earlier. Oh well, even if I didn't get the chance this time, there's always a next. For now, I would just enjoy the lun-

"Apologies for the interruption, but are you all finished eating?" a familiar young male voice called from the direction of the door.

"Huh?" Yu An Yan turned to look at him - the butler from before.

"Ah...I just came to inform you that it is time to head to the Arena. Your next match is about to begin."

"Wha- but it hasn't even been 10 minutes...not." Feng Mian began, but quickly finished her sentence upon gazing at the clock on the wall. 20 minutes had already passed since the first entrance of the butler earlier. The time given was more than enough to finish eating, but we wasted a lot of time discussing where to go outside to eat like a bunch of fools.

"This is all your fault!" Yu An Yan pointed at me angrily.

"W-What?! How is it my-"

"Big Brother Xuan Kai...you're going to have to pay dearly for this~" Qing Yue interrupted with an angelic smile on her face.

"Ah, shit....here we go again," I muttered to myself.

And so, the five of us headed off together to the finals of the Advancement Exams - with completely empty stomachs. Now then, how will things turn out from here?