Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

”Anyway, what does that have to do with arcanists’ cool shit?” Moon returned to the first question once again.

He didn’t want to occupy his mind with some useless things that he wouldn’t see or find anytime soon. On the other hand, he was an Arcanist now, at least the system recognized him as one.

Dorbish pinched his glabella and shut his eyes tight for a second. ”Not sure if you know, but arcanists are not all specialized in combat, some are specialized in technology and production?”

”Hm?” Moon exclaimed, the explanation passing over his head for obvious reasons.

Dorbish proceeded to slowly explain everything to him in a way he could understand, considering his background.

Then, ”In the end, Arcanists keep experimenting with self-sufficient circles for the convenience and quality of life in our human domain... They keep visiting ancient ruins in search of ancient runes, circles, or anything they could use to produce new effects.”

”Hooo, so they’re filthy rich?” Moon exclaimed, for a different reason this time.

After his conversation with Uon about the Argents, the betting, and now the talk he heard from Dorbish, he started to understand the significance of money in the Tower, unlike how it was on the first floor.

Money was the key to an easy life, not just a tool to provide some food; it was the driving factor of almost everything in the Tower.

Moon rubbed his hands together, his eyes squinted. ’Maybe I also can make some money.’

”They are; the entire association is very rich. They are the funding core of the Merit Order,” Dorbish agreed with a nod.

’Jackpot!’

Their walk brought them to a place that looked like the eatery, but it was far bigger.

”Holy...” Moon exclaimed. There were hundreds of tables, thousands of seats... Only a small number of students were present at that time.

He looked back at the stairs they walked down, climbed them again, and looked at the seemingly normal round building before he went in again. ”Damn... who built this?” Moon blinked.

Dorbish watched his excitement before nodding. ”See, this is the students’ eatery.”

Moon looked around, searching, scanning. ”Who’s cooking?” he asked, not seeing anyone around, no kitchen, no counter.

All he could see were metal boxes similar to the coffee ones; some were indeed coffee ones but not all. He could also see a few arcane circles in places that looked like a walkway.

”There isn’t any,” Dorbish stated flatly.

”What, do you pray and find food falling from the sky?” Moon asked sarcastically.

Dorbish rolled his droopy eyes, but they didn’t roll far for obvious reasons. ”Follow me,” he said instead.

Moon’s eyes were open wide, curiously.

Dorbish smacked a circle at the beginning of the walkway; there, an empty food tray fell.

”OOOH!”

He wasn’t done; he started walking. ”Not sure if there’s any food left, but let’s see.” He started walking and hitting the circles one by one.

”The first one gives grain; it changes sometimes, but mostly rice,” he explained before walking to the second.

He suddenly paused. ”Wanna eat?” he asked. They just had a meal together and he wasn’t sure if Moon would eat the food, so he asked before hitting the first circle.

Moon tilted his head and patted his stomach a couple of times. He tilted his head to the other side and squinted.

Dorbish waited, looking troubled.

”Yeah, yeah, there’s enough room for some more food!” Moon gave him a thumbs up excitedly.

Dorbish didn’t linger: grain, meat, vegetables. Before hitting the last of them, he asked, ”Want cheese?”

Moon’s face contorted. ”Ugh...” He took a step back.

”Well, that one tastes good anyway, so try it.” He hit the last of the circles, and a small, sealed-in-paper cube of cheese fell.

”This is cheese?” Moon leaned forward. ”This isn’t like the cheese I remember.”

”What kind of cheese do you remember?” Dorbish asked.

”Brown, salty, rough, and full of dead bugs mixed in it,” he said without holding back.

Dorbish held his chest for a moment and looked elsewhere; for a couple of seconds, he didn’t say anything.

”Pretty gruesome, right?” Moon affirmed.

Dorbish nodded. ”It is. That one is different, though.”

Moon squinted, but he remembered the coffee and decided to trust him on that one too.

They moved on to the metal boxes. ”Here, these drop snacks, potato chips, stuff like that... the one next to it drops desserts.”

Moon blinked, not sure what these were, but he didn’t ask for now... he would discover them later.

They found a table to sit down and eat... Moon started eating, his expressions changing back and forth with every bite of the food.

”This isn’t bad at all,” he exclaimed.

”It isn’t, though the chef’s cooking is better,” Dorbish nodded.

”Yep, the chef’s cooking is the best,” Moon agreed.

Enjoying the food, Moon thought, ’Muscles, eat more, get muscles.’

He suddenly remembered something. ”Is it Assistant Uon who keeps these running too?” he asked Dorbish.

Who in return nodded. ”Yeah, all arcane in the facility is operated by him. I even heard from one of my elder siblings that when they first ascended like fifteen years ago, there wasn’t a single functional arcane circle in the facility for days and they had to cook for themselves... someone from Normalization Facility HQ would visit once every few days to get things functional for a while before disappearing again.”

”Teacher Samuel didn’t bother himself with that thing, I guess,” Moon guessed.

Dorbish nodded. ”Yeah, they didn’t even see him once.”

”Still, a good coincidence the two of you came to the same branch.”

”Like hell. I have too many siblings; they came to every branch a few times.”

”That does make sense.”

Soon, Moon was done with his food, and only the cheese cube was left. He held it and started fiddling with it back and forth.

”No matter how I look at it, this is paper... how do you eat this?” Moon asked.

Dorbish pulled a small, transparent, and reddish piece extending alone, and suddenly, a small white, creamy cube of cheese showed itself inside.

”Ho, this is awesome. I was about to bite into the paper, haha,” Moon joked.

Dorbish extended his hand with the now open cheese cube. ”Here.”

”Thanks,” Moon said. Holding it by the paper, he slowly brought it closer to his nose for a sniff.

”This doesn’t look like the cheese I know, and doesn’t smell like it either.” He confirmed Dorbish’s claims to himself.

He contemplated for a moment before steeling his heart and opening his mouth wide, letting the small cube slide out of the paper and fall into his mouth.

”Hm.” He shut his eyes tightly as he moved it in his mouth back and forth... His eyes shut even tighter, and his neck clenched.

Time ticked, and soon...

Swallow~

”Gah...” Moon opened his eyes wide; he blinked a couple of times.

Dorbish kept watching the whole time, and now, ”How was it?” he asked with evident curiosity on his face as he leaned forward.

”It... it’s soft... very soft and salty...” Moon said after thinking for a moment.

Dorbish looked disappointed. ”So after all, you really don’t li—”

Slam~

Moon hit the table, cutting Dorbish off... ”It’s awesome! This is nothing like scorpion cow cheese.”

Dorbish instantly leaned back in his chair, his eyes questioning. ”Scorpion cow cheese?”