Chapter 0154

Tempest lives by a creed. Never insult the cook! You’d never know what they would do to your food, or worse in the case where the food is actually good, whether they are willing to cook for you again. Tempest can cook. Sort of. She wasn’t the best cook, but she can get by if she has to cook. Her foods were edible at best.

Tempest doesn’t want to eat edible food at best anymore. She want to eat delicious food. Good food. Yummy food. Food that tastes so good that even though it might cost two hundred dollars a plate, anyone and everyone would happily fork over the money, eat the food and leave the restaurant satisfied. It was on Tempest’s bucket list to eat at a three-star Michelin restaurant for once in her life.

Ever since she had a taste of what good food truly tastes like, she wants to eat and eat and eat.

Sadly, Tempest broke her creed because of a certain smirking rotten little brat.

“Graden, my man, my teammate, my friend, may I have a portion of the delicious food I know you are cooking? I want that big leg roasting over the fire.”

“It is still being cooked, although I’m sure it isn’t up to your standards. My control over my fire powers isn’t the greatest.” Graden’s words stabbed Tempest where it hurts. The food already smelled great. She can barely resist the temptation. If she didn’t know for a fact the food wasn’t done yet, she’d nab, ah, grab the food and gobble it all down.

“No no, I was wrong. Your control over your fire powers is amazing. I’m sure you can roast the meat of the Stampeding Cockatrice with the beyond mind blowing skills you used to kill it in the first place. No regular old fire mages can compare to you. While they can only burn the impurities away, you, you handsome, beautiful, dedicated fire wood mage knows the right combination of spices to mix when you cook the slab of deliciousness before you. My eyes were too high on top of my head to see how incredible you are. You simply like to be low key and don’t like to show off that I miss your brilliance.” Tempest shamelessly flattered Graden.

Bei Ting Mao and Li Ming sneered at Tempest’s pathetic behavior. They’ve seen people debased themselves before, but never for something so trivial. Tempest’s moral integrity plummeted in their eyes.

Starm viewed everything in a different light. “Good food is the best way to worm oneself into Big Sis Tempest’s heart.”

“Tempest, have you ever heard one should never give or receive anything for free?”

“No.” Tempest shook her head like a rattle drum. If it is free, one should take it. If it is there for the taking, then one should take it. Is there a reason not to take free stuff?

“Everything has karma. The karma you built today can harm you in the future.” Graden advised. The laws of karma make it so everything a cultivator does has a consequence. Something like heaven paved the way for a hero but he must pay back the benefit he received by defeating the greatest villain.

Tempest was not a citizen of the Cardinal Realm. She doesn’t understand Graden was referring to the law of karma. She thought he was talking about money.

“I would gladly pay you when I have the money.”

“Don’t you have money now?” Graden asked. Graden understood Tempest is a greedy miser. Now he finds out she is a glutton as well. He wasn’t surprised. The two G’s goes hand in hand. That wasn’t the part where Graden was confused. Tempest wants to eat food. She is willing to pay for the food. She has money, but she won’t pay for the food right now. Why?

“I told you guys I need a lot of money in a short period of time. After I accomplish my goals, I can earn money to pay back any monetary debts I owe.” Tempest explained.

“What are you going to use the money for?” Graden asked. Everyone was all ears, waiting for Tempest to answer the question. They all sensed the importance of the question.

“My sisters of the heart were sold to a brothel. I’m trying to earn money to pay for their ransom. The sooner they get out of there, the better. A brothel isn’t a good place to be.” Tempest answered with a sad distanced expression. Everyone sensed Tempest’s deep bond with her so-called sisters of the heart.

Tempest hated Cardis for forcing her to choose between momentary pain with a huge payoff or momentary relief with little payout. They could have been with her now instead of in a brothel where their future was uncertain.

Regardless of her feelings, she made a deal with Cardis and she was sticking to it. Cardis wasn’t a man who would reengage on the deal he made, especially to his Successor.

“You want to buy dirty used women living in a brothel? Are you sure they aren’t using you?” Li Ming upbringing was brought to the fore. She is or was a very virtuous woman by the Heavenly Mountains standard. It was also obvious her family is rich. The rich tend to look down on those less fortunate than themselves.

Slap.

Li Ming touches the red handprint on her face before turning to glare at Tempest.

The others grabbed Tempest and held her back from Li Ming. Tempest tried to shake them off of her. When she saw that she couldn’t move the bastards holding her down, she decided to verbally assault Li Ming.

“You shut your dirty used mouth!” Tempest sneered at her naive group mate. “Have you ever considered a brothel might be your fate as well? From those high and mighty clans in the Heavenly Mountains, coming to the Magus Alliance is the equivalent of walking into a brothel. The only difference is the class. Once everyone back home knows you are a mage, you’d be treated no better than the whore you’re disdaining right now.”

“You damn liar.” Li Ming jumped at the restrained Tempest, returning the slap she was dealt.

“Don’t hit Big Sis Tempest.” Starm yelled and went after Li Ming. He was Big Sis Tempest’s little brother. No one can hurt his sister without answering to him. Bei Ting Mao let go of Tempest to grab Starm. Between Tempest and Starm, Bei Ting Mao judged Starm to be the greater threat.

Graden and Fenix can’t restrain Tempest alone. Graden was too gentle and Fenix held Tempest back to promote the image of group cohesiveness in front of the crowd. She didn’t care about Tempest going at it with Li Ming.

Tempest easily broke the half-hearted restraint and went into an all-out brawl with Li Ming.

The two girls were smart enough to limit their quarreling to petty bickering coupled with physical attacks. No mana enhanced attacks or spells were used.

The other groups in the area watched the interaction between the group members with interest. A few smiled as they reminisce about their youth. This fight doesn’t warrant interference in their eyes. Some of them went all out with their teammates before they matured enough to learn how to work together regardless of their differences. A few groups envy their interaction. They can’t say much about Tempest’s group, but they can tell the members were honest with each other.

Very few groups last until the end of the five-year trial period. Some were killed by magical beasts but most were simply killed by their very own teammates. Unless a mage was lucky enough to be born with high affinity with their spirits, mages require a massive amount of rare resources to improve their cultivation rate. Most pills used by cultivators from the Heavenly Mountains won’t help mages with their cultivation.

The competition is very fierce. Taking resources from their teammate is one of the easiest ways to improve.

As such, many of the other groups envy the open camaraderie between Tempest and her group members.

Of course, there are many groups who were enjoying the free show provided by Tempest’s group.

“These fools, openly fighting against one another, don’t they know they need to show a united front or they won’t last long in the guild.”

“Let’s enjoy the free show they are putting on. They are amusing if nothing else.”

“Ah, and there free food as well. I might as well help myself.” A certain black hair nemesis of Tempest grabbed the food roasting over the fire and took a bite.

“My food! You damn slut. Not only did you destroy my charms, but you also claimed my kills, now you dare eat my food! You are looking to die!” Tempest yelled from her supine position under Li Ming. How she got to an ambiguous position beneath another woman, well, Tempest doesn’t care now. All she cares about was the roast meat someone stole right from under her. “Hannah, die!”