[Arcane Cooking (Level 1) –

Recipe 1 – Egg Fried Rice

Increase constitution by 5% for 3 hours. Consumes 0.5 points of spirit per serving.]

"Hey Orb! I feel like you forgot to mention something really important while talking about this skill. Like how it MUST need the help of an attribute that only has zero points in it."

[You never asked about it.]

"You..I...Damn! So, do I have to buy some points for my spirit attribute?"

[If you have a skill that can do that, then you don't. If not, I suggest you buy 1 or 2 points to get accustomed to it before increasing it more. Maybe you can get a good skill, or a good training method and you won't even have to buy more points.]

*Sigh*

"I would like to buy 2 points."

[600 SVP has been deducted.]

After the Orb finished speaking, a colorful ray of light started gently flashing around Oliver's body. At first nothing happened. But as time passed Oliver started feeling a slight warmth travelling through his body. It felt like someone had ignited a very small lighter at his core....of soul?

'This feels so good.'

[Okay, its done. Anything else?]

"Not now. I do have to ask a lot of questions later though."

The Orb replied with his actions. The blue shade started cracking all around him and the usual colors of the world started coming back.

"Mom listen, I think I will cook dinner for you every day from now on."

Lena gave him the look. "It will affect your studies badly."

"No, it won't. You can't change my mind now, so it would be better if you just quietly accept it."

"I-"

"Nope, I'm not listening. Let's go Emily."

......

Oliver put the last shopping bag in the drawing room.

"Oliver I am very thankful for all you have done and I really appreciate your kindness. I will do everything possible to repay your gratitude. Please believe me."

Oliver just walked over to Emily and gave a light pat on her head. "I will be very happy if you just try your best. Just don't go overboard. And I believe that you won't let me down."

"Un." With that Emily gathered all the shopping bags and ran into the room assigned for her.

'Weird. She wasn't so shy the first time around. Did I do something different this time? All I can remember is introducing her to my mother this time around.'

>

'Hmmm, maybe. Whatever, Grace we are going to meet Luca Romano right now.'

>

'Thanks.'

.....

The ride to the Moonlight hotel was uneventful. No random sexy chicks in need of saving, no random bus hijacks, no random robberies, nothing.

As Oliver was getting out of his car a man is western came suit ran up to the car and helped him by keeping the door open.

"Hello Mr. Hanover, I am Jeff. Our boss, Mr. Romano, said that he would like to talk to you for a couple of minutes and then you can enjoy all the services in our hotel for free."

Oliver gave him a bright smile and nodded his head. "Sure, Let's go."

Jeff gave him a polite nod. "Thank you for your understanding."

'This is going better than expected. I didn't even have to resort to violence to meet him. I guess this guy seriously wants to get into my mother's pants.'

Jeff led Oliver inside the hotel. The reception hall was painted in dark shades of purple. Lights were strategically placed around so that it was very difficult to clearly see someone's face. And the way thin strips of gold highlighted everything in the hall, made this place perfect for secret outings of rich people.

'I wonder "why" this place would lead to scandals related to prostitution.'

They got in the nearest elevator and Jeff pressed the button for the 17th floor. It seemed to be the second highest floor in the hotel.

*Ding* The elevator came to a stop.

"Boss is waiting inside Mr. Hanover." Jeff gave a slight bow and waited for liver to walk out before closing the elevator doors.

Instead of a corridor like he had expected, Oliver walked into a spacious hall. It looked like a formal meeting place. There was a grand conference table in the middle of the room. To his left Oliver found a small bar which was unsurprisingly filled with expensive liquors.

Romano was standing there mixing some kind of alcohol and a giant ice cube in an old fashioned glass. Oliver also noticed that 10 people wearing black western suits and sunglasses were standing around the large windows of the room. And the bulge around their waist indicated that all of them had a concealed carry permit.

"Welcome Oliver. Would you like to drink something?" Romano greeted Oliver with a small smile.

"Thanks for the offer Mr. Romano, but I'm good. Never been a great fan of alcohol really." Oliver rejected his offer with a polite smile.

"Haha, it is rare to find young people with good self-discipline these days."

Oliver didn't reply back but instead continued his polite smile.

"You know Oliver, I really didn't appreciate the fact that you knocked out two of my men. Though I forgive you because you are Lena's son. But I'm really interested in knowing how a college student could defeat two armed veteran bodyguards." Although it seemed like a request but anyone in the room could tell that it was intended to be an order.

Oliver's face bloomed into an even bigger smile.

'Its like God wants me to make Romano my subordinate in style. He brought me in an isolated room himself. Now he is even giving me the opportunity to heartily slap his face out of this world. What a good man this guy is.'

The smile on Oliver's face had turned into a predatory smirk by now.

"You see Romano, I came here to talk to you about something related to that. But before we begin, I will show you something really cool so that our talk can proceed without much difficulty."

"Wha-"

Before Romano could even properly analyze the sudden switch in Oliver's behavior, something completely outlandish happened. A 3 meter tall grey armor appeared out of thin air and completely covered every part of Oliver's body.

Then it started speaking, "Since I will need you guys to work for me in the near future, so I won't kill you. Maybe hurt you a lot, but you will definitely survive. Do your best to stop me!"

As Oliver was very new to this occupation of fighting bad guys and being a badass overall, so he decided to stick with a simple and practical monologue.

*bam* *bang* *bam* *bam* *bang*

Apparently, it worked flawlessly because now all the men in the room were shooting him at him with all their might. Unfortunately, their pistols were useless in front of something which was designed to fight in close proximity with Hive creatures in mind.

Oliver simple walked towards each bodyguard, grabbed their faces and "softly" banged them into nearby walls to knock them out. It barely took a minute to finish the fight.

Oliver returned his armor back to the inventory and started walking towards Romano.

Although Romano was scared shitless, he still had the pride of a criminal boss.

'Chance!' Without much though he unloaded all the remaining rounds in his gun.

'I can dodge them with some effort, but I guess that it would have a bigger impact on Romano's psyche if he sees that a normal gun can't hurt me at all.'

So, Oliver took the bullets like a man. Although they weren't lethal, they still stung like his worst wasp bite. But Oliver had already become intimate with pain far worse than this, for instance getting eaten alive by giant ants.

The confident smirk on Oliver's face didn't waver at all.

*click*

"Oh my! It seems like you are out of ammo Romano. Now, how about we sit down and have a nice chat."

'Ah! That look of horror on his face is priceless.'

"Yo..you, What the fuck are you?" Romano muttered in horror.

"We can talk about that in a bit, but first let's get over the important stuff." Oliver said has took a sit on one of the surviving chairs in the room.

Although Romano was very uneasy with a monster like Oliver in the same room as him, he didn't try to escape or fight. He was a person with a healthy dose of common sense. It was warning him with all its might not to fuck up.

"So, as I'm still alive, I'm guessing you need me for something?" He tried to appear calm to save whatever sliver of dignity that was still left.

"Good! I want someone who is rich, powerful, and can be trusted to work for me. It would be even better if he is connected to the dark side of the world. Would you happen to know someone like that?"

Romano gave a sigh of acceptance and called someone using his smartphone. The call was answered on the first ring.

"Don't send any one upstairs. I was just playing with my new gun." He disconnected the call without waiting for other party's reply.

"So, you want me to work for you? I will do it." Romano gave a very simple reply.

'Damn! I was even preparing to take out my machetes for intimidation. What a letdown.'

"Sigh, I am very happy that you made the correct choice. If not, I would have to kill all your subordinates in this hotel, remove the CCTV footage, and a lot more inconvenient stuff."

Oliver lightly wave his hand and an Orb Contract appeared. He passed it to Romano and said, "To make this official we need to have a contract, right? Please smear a little bit of your blood on it."

Romano tried to read the contract, but it was a futile attempt. All he could make out was squiggles of various shapes and sizes scattered on a white sheet of paper.

"My mother taught me to always read a contract thoroughly before signing on it."

"Please feel free to do so. I will give you a couple of minutes as my patience is limited." Oliver had the look on his face that screamed 'praise me for being so generous'.

"But I don't know this language."

"Haha, no worries, me too. Though all it does is make you unable to betray me" Oliver said nonchalantly.

"How does it even do that? Can it read my mind?" Romano asked in a surprised manner.

"I don't know. Ask the guy who created it."

"Last question, are you a wizard with space magic?" The hope was twinkling with all its might in those not so innocent eyes.

Oliver tried acting all serious like a boss should in front of his subordinate and said, "The main question is whether you want to be one."

"Wizard." Romano interrupted promptly.

"Yeah, yeah. Just smear your blood on the damn thing. Sign it and maybe you can be a great space mage."

Romano quickly took out a pen from his front pocket and ruthlessly stabbed it into his index finger. A very small drop of blood formed on the equally small wound. Romano pressed his finger against the Orb Contract.

For a moment nothing happened. No....nothing happened after that.

'Hey Orb!'

[What up.]

'Was the Orb Contract faulty? Nothing happened.'

[It worked just fine. Now the guy can't betray you.]

'But nothing happened. You know like some lights or some painful screams. Nothing!'

[Yeah well, I have more important stuff to do. So, Bye.]

The Orb's voice felt a lot colder even though it was speaking like usual.