The supper gathering was after working hours at Si Fang’s Café instance which all of the Tree Mall’s store owners arrived, carrying their very own boxes of surprises into his café. Jin was neither the exception as he came with a box of food along with Yun, Lynn and Qiu Yue who were free enough to make it for the Boxing Day Supper.
In the meantime, the store was handled by Another Jin in a Panda Santa Suit especially since Jin could split himself into two safely and within the premise of his Tree Mall. The rest of the customers were not too suspicious and only assumed that the Panda Santa Suit was either Jin’s employees or he himself.
“Jin! Glad you manage to make it! I heard from Si Fang that you are too shy to appear right in front of us for making us pay for premium prices on the ingredients you sold to us!” Lai Fu, the owner for Offshore Sea Store Instance, exclaimed loudly and the food court owners were agreeing him wholeheartedly.
“Lai Fu! You know I do not say this kind of things!” Si Fang said in a mild tempered tone which Lai Fu shook it off very quickly. He then reached for his box and took out beers and soft drinks for everyone to drink.
Meanwhile, Si Fang and Qian Qian, owner of Reef Knolls Bakery Instance, were behind the coffee counter preparing desserts for everyone to eat while the Pyramid Food Court store owners brought piping hot leftovers from their store for everyone to enjoy.
Most of them knew that they were having a supper gathering and thus ate only the minimum for dinner. Even Ke Ru, manager for the Panda Burger instance had brought some of her store’s specialities to share the love as well as limited Santa Panda keychains for everyone to keep as a memento.
The Twins for the Weapon and Armoury Store, Bai Xin and Bai Wan had prepared a stack of limited edition of Jin’s Christmas Raid Dungeon shirts for everyone. Lai Fu even joked, asking if they had permission from Jin to spread those around.
“They do not need my permission for every small thing. As long as they produce profit for me, I am fine with what they do with the store.” Jin said, and Ke Ru laughed heartily.
“As pragmatic as ever and yet, behind that façade of capitalism lied a hidden layer of kindness.” She said so profoundly Jin tried to refuse that praise hard. At that moment, Si Fang came in with plates of delicious looking desserts ranging from cookies to pastries.
“I must echo my agreement with Ke Ru. If not for Jin, we would not have gathered together today in happiness and delight.” Si Fang said, and Qian Qian nodded her head as she asked everyone to partake on the desserts.
Lynn took a piece and crunched hard on the cookie. Immediately, she could understand the meaning of the Chinese proverb that there’s always a mountain taller than another mountain.
“How did you manage to get the taste of ‘this’ cheese to appear?” Lynn asked which surpised Qian Qian as she did not expect someone to know about the ‘secret’ ingredient she used to enhance the taste of the cookie.
“For you to sense that cheese must mean that you have some professional chef training.” Qian Qian said, and Lynn nodded her head without reservation. Even though store owners knew about the dungeon chef, they always thought it was an exaggeration. Yet, Qian Qian instantly respected her for finding the taste of the cheese which she hid carefully in the myriad of sweetness within her cookies.
Not only that, by being the Sub System User that specialised in cooking, Lynn’s cultivation had the ability to both enhanced and dull her sense of taste at the same time. It was to allow her to adjust the taste in her food not just for the regular customers but professionals too.
Lynn knew she does not possess the Heavenly Chef Tongue which she could criticise every work out there by merely tasting it, but it was sufficient to point out the glaring mistakes she or her penguins made.
Additionally, the ability to dull her taste proved to be useful too. That was because this was the flaw of any chef who possessed the Heavenly Chef Tongue. Even a near flawless cooked dish would spoil the chef’s appetite mainly because it’s not perfect.
From there on, Qian Qian and Lynn began talking to each other along with some Food Court owners who want to learn a tip or two from the infamous Dungeon Chef.
Meantime, He Rong and Yong De took out photo chips they bought from Lai Fu stores and that alone was enough to satisfy their insensitive palates. With their hands full of chips and nothing else, Jin decided to move towards them to discuss certain issues which he had requested the arcade owners to keep an eye on.
It was mainly about the mini games and if Yong De and He Rong had any personal feedback upon trying the games. Yong De said that the card game was simple enough, but it was not complex to master, and thus he did not think it would attract too many hardcore gamers.
“Its more for casual players since its a bit too gimmicky in nature. It will be hard to attract more people in the long run. If you can make the gameplay something similar to games like Gwennt, Heatstone or maybe the Shadeverse, there might be more players would be interested.” Yong De suggested.
“If we go with that kind of thinking, I believed Boss Jin’s subsequent concern would be that the game might become unoriginal. But Yong De is right. With just one pet, it limited the things one can do. And if it is turn based, it is even more boring for the younger generation. Maybe I don’t know, make it more active?” He Rong suggested.
“Perhaps have two modes? One turn based and the other active action to accomodate the young and old?” Jin asked which the arcade owners nodded their heads to that direction.
“Still, I think only having one pet kinda sucks…if you get what I mean. I have no variety in my options other than the battle cards that I have in my deck. And you had already close my options because I used that cultivation. What if I do not like my cultivation and only use my cultivation because I HAD to.” Yong De ranted.
“Sure, co op play will spice things up, but I’m like ‘I want to try that Tiger Mini Pet too!’ that kind of feeling in my heart. Or maybe, I feel that Tiger playstyle suits me more than my current cultivation. Its a good head start to use their cultivation style as the first pet, but having additional pets will ultimately give you more profit too.” Yong De spoke as he was obviously thinking of the Triad Tigers that had beaten him in the recent card battles.
“I see, I get what you mean. Your suggestions were indeed valuable.” Jin nodded as he took a stylus out and wrote his notes down on his phone. If anything, these suggestions could potentially the expansion of the core game that he needed.
