"My lord, based on my observations over the past two days, Miss Sally should now be working as a waitress at that restaurant, and is still staying at this hotel, working two jobs." a young elf, completely shrouded in a black robe, said softly in the alley outside the Geya Hotel.
"Hmm." Engelwey looked in the direction of the Geya Hotel, nodded slightly, his gaze somewhat profound. After a moment of silence, he asked again, "Have you investigated the backgrounds of the restaurant and the hotel thoroughly?"
"The hotel is run by a woman and has been open for over ten years. Her husband disappeared during a mercenary mission ten years ago and should be dead. The restaurant has only been open for less than a month, and there's very little information available. The owner is human, and there's a half-dragon waitress in the restaurant. However, he has a half-elf daughter who has already been taken as an apprentice by two great mages, and her magical talent seems to be very high." the young elf replied.
"A half-elf with exceptional talent?" Engelwey raised an eyebrow, turning to the young elf and asking, "Which two great mages took her as their apprentice?"
"Crassus, the God of Fire, and Yulian, the Lord of Frost." the young elf quickly replied.
"This...how is this possible!" Engelwey's eyes widened. As a level seven mage, although he was several hundred years older than Crassus and Yulian, but they were still considered two towering figures in the mage world.
The battle between ice and fire has lasted for nearly a hundred years, and the outcome remains undecided. Now, they have even taken on the same disciple!
The last one they were begging to take as a disciple was Princess Irina. She reached the level of a level ten archmage at the age of twenty six, which fully proved Crassus and Yulian's foresight. So what kind of terrifying magical talent must this half-elf little girl, whom they are already scrambling to take as a disciple and are even willing to do anything to take as a disciple, possess?
"Where is the restaurant?" Engelwey asked.
"It's at the far west end of Aden Square, in the corner." the elf replied hastily, seeing this expression on Lord Engelwey's face for the first time.
"Continue to keep an eye on Miss Sally and protect her safety, but don't let her discover your presence. If she does, flee immediately and avoid any further contact with her." Engelwey said, his expression returning to calm, though his tone was somewhat serious.
"Yes!" The elf nodded hastily. Beneath his black robe, a magic wand drew a circle, a green light rose from his body, and he vanished from the spot, completely concealing himself.
"The Third Young Master has already set off, he should arrive in a few days..." Engelwey glanced again in the direction of the hotel, then turned and left.
...
Mai Ge agrees that a man's culinary skills can win a woman's heart through her stomach.
However, to say that a chef can conquer the world with his food is, in Mai Ge's opinion, a bit of a stretch.
"System, did you lower the intelligence level of this world?" Mai Ge asked tentatively.
"This system does not have such authority. Even the God of Heaven cannot do this casually. Lowering intelligence is an irreversible act. Once the intelligence level of the entire world is lowered, those who already have low intelligence may directly become mentally disabled. Moreover, after the overall intelligence of the world is unbalanced, the world order will collapse because it will be unable to continue to maintain its operation..." the system replied solemnly.
"Since you didn't lower it, why did you set such an illogical goal for me?" Mai Ge scoffed. "Perhaps you could change it to conquering the world's stomachs."
"Food is the most important thing for people, host. If you can conquer the stomachs of this world, theoretically speaking, you will be their God of Heaven!" The system's voice remained impassioned.
"System…you must have been reading a pirated idiom dictionary, right? The 'food' here refers to food to fill one's stomach, not delicious food. After a hundred years of peaceful development, there are not many people in Nolan Continent who are starving, and they certainly can't afford restaurant food." Mai Ge couldn't help but laugh.
"Even so, as a candidate for the Chef God, how can you go further on the path to becoming a Chef God without lofty ideals and ambitions! So, young man, conquer the stomachs of this world!" The system's attempt to misinterpret the idiom failed, but it still refused to give up on its deception.
"Having been away for half my life, I've returned as an old man, no longer a child, so stop pretending to be a teenager." Mai Ge pursed his lips, locking the restaurant door. However, after being fooled by the system, his originally calm heart was indeed stirred up a few waves. Conquering the world is difficult, but conquering the world's stomach seems to be a rather interesting thing.
Giant dragons go crazy for food, elves fall in love with skewers, demons line up to gnaw on Rou Jia Mo, and many more interesting guests come to the door, conquered by the food. It's all quite an interesting thing to think about.
"Häagen-Dazs ice cream combo... Did I ever complain about this? I don't think so." Mai Ge went into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, frowned, and thought for a while. He really couldn't remember whether he had complained about it or not, and wondered what kind of requirements the system would give.
"Is anyone home?" Just as Mai Ge was about to go upstairs for a nap, there was a knock on the door.
"The restaurant is closed today." Mai Ge said directly, indicating that he had no intention of opening.
"Boss Mai, right? I'm Haider, the vice dean of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Chaos Academy. I'm not here for a meal, I have something I'd like to ask you." The voice outside the door said hurriedly.
"Dean Haider, is there anything I can help you with?" Mai Ge opened the door with a water glass in one hand and looked at Haider, who was half-bald and had a black briefcase tucked under his arm, with some surprise.
Mai Ge had a good memory and naturally remembered that two days ago when he took Amy to class, the vice dean of the mechanical engineering department, who looked like a research scholar, had been studying his bicycle for a while and even invited him to his office for a chat, but he declined because he had to go back to cook. He never expected that the vice dean would come to him today.
"Well, the other day when I saw your bicycle, your imaginative ideas were truly amazing. We've been researching something that uses steam as a power source for years, but we've hit a bottleneck. Would you mind if we could talk about it?" Haider said to Mai Ge with a smile.
"Steam engine?" Mai Ge raised an eyebrow, glancing at Haider with some surprise. This world was still in the era of manual factories that relied on human and animal power, and industrial development was in its infancy.
However, if the steam engine were invented and applied to daily life and production, the world would soon be swept up in an industrial revolution, officially ushering in the steam age.
"Please come in." Mai Ge said with a smile as he opened the door. He might witness the arrival of a new era, or even give it a push.