Chapter 119: The Pale Orchard

Niri knew where to go once Jaxir asked about the better eating competitions, and Nick confirmed her answer.

The taverns had smaller challenges for copper or free meals, but the expensive restaurants used better rewards to draw people in, especially the ones owned by merchant groups with other businesses around Marr Town.

"The Pale Orchard," Nick said as they turned onto another street. "Velorian Merchant Group owns it, and they also own one of the 3 biggest auction houses here."

Niri lifted her chin. "That’s what I was going to say."

"Sure."

The Pale Orchard took up most of the block ahead of them, with 2 floors of white stone and large purple windows looking over the street. Jaxir didn’t spend much time examining it before walking inside, where a waiter met them near the entrance and listened while Niri explained that he wanted to attempt the Fullfruit Challenge.

"The minimum completion time is 10 minutes," the waiter explained. "Failure requires payment of 1,000,000 silver."

Jaxir paused. "Silver?"

"Correct."

Nick started laughing, and Jaxir understood why immediately. He didn’t even have 1,000,000 copper anymore, so unless there was some very generous exchange rate he’d never heard about, he couldn’t afford to lose.

"Never mind."

The waiter lifted a thin crystal slate before Jaxir could leave, and pale light swept across his equipment. He studied the result for a moment before looking back up.

"Your collateral is sufficient."

Jaxir frowned just as a notification appeared. Did he not even get to choose? What the hell?

―

[Collateral Registered]

Reflection Staff

Grade: Ultra

[Failure to satisfy the minimum challenge threshold will result in forfeiture of the registered collateral.]

―

Jaxir looked down at the staff in his hand, then back at the waiter as a chuckle escaped him. "I might’ve been a little rash this time."

Nick stopped laughing. "A little?"

"Why didn’t you tell me just asking would mean I had to participate?"

"I’ve never done it before, how would I know?"

Jaxir ignored him and followed the waiter deeper into the restaurant.

The challenge room had a long table on a raised platform with several dozen people gathered around it. Another contestant was already seated at the other end, a heavy man with short brown hair and thick arms who looked Jaxir over when he sat down.

"First attempt?"

"Yeah."

The man smiled. "I could tell."

"Why?"

"You still look happy."

Jaxir smiled back. "You must be pretty good, then."

"I don’t lose my collateral."

"Impressive."

Several waiters began laying fruit across both ends of the table while Nick and Niri moved into the crowd. The fruits were almost identical to fuzzy peaches, except their skin was white with a light purple tint that deepened near the stem.

Once the last plate was placed, a screen appeared above them.

―

[Pale Orchard Fullfruit Challenge]

Complete within 10:00

Reward: Free meals at the Pale Orchard for 1 month

Complete within 09:00

Additional Reward: 1,000 silver

Complete within 08:00

Additional Reward: 10,000 silver

Complete within 07:00

Additional Reward: 100,000 silver

Complete within 06:00

Additional Reward: 1,000,000 silver

Complete within 05:00

Additional Reward: Free meals for 1 year

Additional Reward: 1 Blind Treasure Selection

Complete within 04:00

Additional Reward: 1 Blind Treasure Selection

Complete within 03:00

Additional Reward: Free meals for life

Additional Reward: 1 Blind Treasure Selection

[Rewards are cumulative.]

―

Jaxir’s eyes immediately went to the treasure selections. "What’s blind about them?"

"The Velorian Merchant Group supplies sealed treasures from its auction holdings," the waiter explained. "Those who qualify choose without inspection or appraisal."

"So I could pick garbage."

"Yes."

Jaxir grinned. "That’s fun."

The man across from him snorted. "Finish first."

Jaxir picked up one of the Fullfruit and turned it over in his hand. "What exactly are these?"

The waiter gestured toward the fruit. "Pale Fullfruit. Most people eat one per day to maintain their character’s condition."

Jaxir looked at the pile in front of him, then back at the waiter. "One of these covers the whole day?"

"Yes. It provides all the nourishment your character needs. If you go too long without eating, your condition begins to decline, and if you continue ignoring it, you’ll eventually lose a Level."

Jaxir frowned. "I haven’t eaten anything since I started playing."

Nick looked over at him and rolled his eyes. "Of course you haven’t."

The waiter glanced toward Jaxir. "Level advancement restores the body’s condition and delays starvation. If you’ve been advancing frequently, you may not have encountered the penalty yet, but it isn’t recommended as a replacement for normal nourishment."

Jaxir nodded as the explanation settled in. He had been leveling constantly since entering Divinity, so apparently he’d been resetting the problem without knowing it existed.

"The saturation effect also accumulates," the waiter continued. "Experienced challengers usually complete the first half quickly, but each Fullfruit makes the next one more difficult to process. Most of the time spent on a successful attempt comes from the second half."

The other contestant rolled his shoulders. "Now you’ll understand why 10 minutes isn’t generous."

The bell rang, and he immediately started eating.

Jaxir picked up his first Fullfruit and took a bite, finding it sweeter than a normal peach but otherwise easy to eat. He finished the rest quickly, reached toward the next one and stopped when his body reacted.

He was full.

Completely full.

Jaxir frowned while the other contestant finished his second fruit and moved straight into the third. His own stomach didn’t hurt, but every part of his body was telling him that eating again was a terrible idea.

Nick leaned forward from the crowd. "Great start."

Niri crossed her arms. "He’ll be fine."

"He ate one."

"He’s a Natural."

Nick looked at her. "Your Natural didn’t know he had to eat."

Niri stuck her tongue out at him, and Nick immediately did the same back. She blinked, turned away from him with a huff and went back to watching Jaxir, but after another few seconds even she started looking confused.

The other contestant tore through the first quarter of his pile and continued almost as quickly until he reached halfway. His pace started falling after that, exactly as the waiter had warned, with longer gaps between fruits and more time spent forcing each bite down.

Jaxir barely watched him.

The fullness felt strange.

Once he stopped focusing on his stomach and paid attention to the rest of his body, he could feel something from the Fullfruit slowly spreading through him. The process was close to the way Mana moved through the pathways created by his reforging, only this was much slower.

Jaxir’s eyes narrowed as he followed it.

His body wasn’t having trouble processing the fruit. The fruit was slowing the process itself.

Its Mana was restricting how quickly the nourishment could enter him, leaving his body saturated while it slowly fed everything through. The sensation was so close to what Jaxir had been practicing with his own Mana that once he understood what was happening, the answer was simple.

He opened the pathways himself.

The nourishment rushed through his body, and the fullness vanished with it.

Jaxir blinked once before looking across the table, where the other contestant had already passed halfway but was slowing with every fruit.

"Oh."

A smile spread across Jaxir’s face.

He picked up the second Fullfruit and finished it, then opened the pathways the moment the same restriction started forming. The pressure disappeared immediately, so he grabbed the third and repeated the process before moving straight into the fourth.

Jaxir’s pace kept increasing as he learned exactly when the Fullfruit began slowing the flow. By the time he reached a quarter of his pile, the crowd had started reacting, and when he crossed halfway without slowing at all, the other contestant finally looked over.

His smile disappeared.

Jaxir chuckled and kept eating.

The second half wasn’t any harder for him than the first anymore. Every Fullfruit tried to restrict the nourishment in the same way, and Jaxir simply opened the pathway and cleared it before moving on to the next.

Nick slowly stood from his seat. "That’s bullshit."

Niri grinned. "I told you."

"You had no idea he could do that."

"I knew he’d win."

Jaxir passed the other contestant while the man was still fighting through the last portion of his pile. He tried to speed up once he noticed, but the accumulated saturation had already slowed him too much, while Jaxir had removed the problem entirely.

The last few Fullfruit disappeared one after another, and Jaxir picked up the final one before finishing it in several bites. The bell rang the moment he swallowed, and the timer hanging over the table stopped.

―

02:41

―

The room fell quiet while Jaxir looked at the number.

Then another notification appeared.

―

[Fullfruit Challenge Complete]

[Completion Time: 02:41]

[All Reward Thresholds Cleared]

[Free meals at the Pale Orchard for life.]

[Currency Rewards Earned: 1,111,000 silver]

[Blind Treasure Selections Earned: 3]

―

Jaxir read the final line twice, and his grin widened.