CHAPTER 559: GOURMET’S SECRET GARDEN

"43 System Points," Idan sighed softly, looking at his balance.

Of the remaining 2,883 System Points, 2,000 were spent on acquiring Beast Soul Flower seeds. A total of 400 seeds were purchased, which were divided into four parts.

Idan distributed half of the 200 seeds between Geminia and the rest of the Limbo participants.

75 seeds each were given to Irene for her Queens Guild and Yulaya for the Flower Gardens, and the remaining 50 were given to Felicia in addition to the original 100 she already had.

At first, Idan intended to give all the seeds to the Limbo participants, but then, realizing that others also needed the experience of harvesting Flowers, he decided to share them with the rest.

"600 System Points were spent on bloodline potions for Yulaya and Hazel, which they haven’t used yet, and the remaining 240 were spent on creating Soul Crystals," Idan summed up the latest expenses.

Closing the System window, Idan leaned back in his chair and began to think about the immediate plans they would have to implement.

He understood that System Points were needed to complete all these tasks, and it made him sigh.

After checking that there was very little time left before the appointed time, Idan, using his power, quickly found Irene and teleported to her.

"Sister," he called, making Irene jump in surprise.

"Damn it, Idan!" she protested. "I told you not to show up so suddenly!"

"Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry," — Idan apologized, simultaneously nodding to Arslan, who had just approached them.

"Belle and I have something personal planned, and both of us will be unavailable for a while," Idan said. "I can’t say for sure how long, so you’ll be in charge."

"Oh, okay," Irene agreed without asking any question.

After a short conversation with Irene and Arslan, Idan returned to his seat and saw Arabel leaving the house.

"You look amazing," Idan said admiringly, appreciating her outfit.

Arabel was dressed in an elegant emerald dress that perfectly matched her red hair and accentuated her perfect figure.

Noticing Idan’s gaze on her, Arabel couldn’t help but smile and spun around on her low-heeled shoes to show Idan her outfit.

Idan, in turn, decided to use the Guild’s uniform again, completely transforming it into a black suit with a white shirt without any additional decoration.

Arabel pouted slightly as she watched Idan choose a uniform again instead of taking the time to purchase several sets of clothes. However, despite this, she did not comment on his outfit, as Idan looked very good in this costume.

When it was less than a minute before the appointed time, Arabel took Idan’s hand, and Idan felt her excitement. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand tighter.

They both didn’t know what to expect. Apart from the requirement to be in the open at the appointed time, their system did not provide any information about the upcoming event.

And so, when the time came, the space around them suddenly lost its colors.

Idan and Arabel exchanged glances, and then noticed that the rapid construction that was being carried out by the Doppelgangers had frozen.

"Stopping time?" thought Idan, noticing in what was happening some similarity to how Essora stopped time.

And in the next moment, the space around them seemed to crack like glass and began to crumble, revealing a completely different world to them.

They appeared in the center of a small glowing circle surrounded by many mysterious symbols in a small circular room.

"Dear guests," said a middle-aged man with completely white hair, dressed like a waiter. There were four girls standing behind him, also dressed as attendants.

"Welcome to the Gourmet’s Secret Garden," the man said with a smile.

Idan and Arabel exchanged glances and nodded respectfully to those who greeted them.

"Please follow me," the man said after greeting them, and the girls parted to make way for him.

Idan and Arabel followed the man out of the room and found themselves in a luxurious circular hall, the walls of which were decorated with many paintings of various dishes.

Their eyes darted from one picture to another, and at the sight of all these unprecedented dishes, they had an appetite like novice chefs and gourmets. They followed the man in silence, looking around curiously.

When he reached the end of the room, the man stopped and turned to the couple.

"Sir, follow me, and I ask the lady to go with these lovely ladies," he said.

Hearing this, Idan and Arabel became worried and looked at each other. Arabel didn’t want to let go of Idan’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

Seeing their concern, a kind smile appeared on the man’s face.

"Don’t worry, dear guests, nothing will happen to you in this place," he said and then nodded towards the girls.

The girls, noticing the signal, smiled and, approaching the couple, separated them with surprising ease. Under Idan’s puzzled gaze, they pulled Arabel aside.

Arabel was in complete disarray. No matter how hard she tried to resist, she couldn’t. And before she could panic and call Idan, she found herself in a completely different place, surrounded by four beautiful ladies and those four young girls who were assessing her with a twinkle in their eyes.

"She’s really beautiful," said one of the ladies with long purple hair, dressed in a revealing outfit that accentuated her curvy curves. Her eyes seemed to pulse pink as they studied Arabel.

"Which is to be expected from him," added a second lady with short black hair, glasses, and what looked like a respirator around her neck.

The third lady, with long black hair, had a soft smile on her face, as if she looked at Arabel as her own daughter.

And the fourth lady, with the same red hair as hers, was also smiling, looking at Arabel, and gently stroking a small fox cub, surprisingly similar to Coco, whom she was holding in her arms.

Arabel felt extremely uncomfortable in the presence of these ladies. But what was even worse was that she couldn’t sense her abilities, as if she had become an ordinary person.

***

Idan, noticing how Arabel had suddenly disappeared with the rest of the girls, wanted to rush after her, but suddenly found himself in a completely different place. There he saw four men sitting at a table and playing some kind of strange board game while sipping drinks.

"Oh," the man with brown hair and round glasses exclaimed in surprise when he noticed Idan’s sudden appearance.

"He’s finally here," a short, muscular man said with a smile.

The other two men stared at Idan, as if studying him. One of them was in a business suit with well—groomed black hair, and the other had curly hair, two completely different eyes, a tail, and, to Idan’s surprise, two completely dissimilar wings on his back.

"Join us, boy," the muscular man called. "Let’s play and sit until your lady is ready for the upcoming dinner with you."