Chapter 254: World Erasing Fire
Chapter 254
Later that evening, Alex found himself sitting in a private booth at the same top-notch restaurant where he and Doris had once eaten before. The lights here were warm and low, the tablecloth was white and spotless like those of a true fancy restaurant, and a small candle flickered in the middle of the table. Basically the whole fancy package. The cherry on the top was that even soft piano music could be heard in the room coming from somewhere far away.
But the person sitting across from him tonight was not Doris, no It was Claire instead, you know? the fiery-tempered redhead who had slapped him in front of a whole store a while ago.
She had changed clothes since then. Her long red hair fell loose over her shoulders, and she wore a simple red dress that showed off her curves without her even meaning too.
Tonight she was being surprisingly well-behaved, like you’d never figure out that this was the same woman with such a hot temper. There was no yelling, no glaring, and best of all, no flames! Alex figured this was all part of her apology, that she was taking it very seriously.
It didn’t take long for a waiter in a neat black vest to walk up to their booth with a small notebook for writing down their orders and a small polite smile on his face .
"Good evening, sir, ma’am. Are you ready to order?"
"I think so," Alex said, picking up the menu like he owned the place. "Let’s see. I think I’ll start with the lobster bisque. Then the wagyu steak, medium rare by the way, with the truffle mashed potatoes. And for the side, the grilled asparagus with the garlic butter should do just fine." He flipped a page. "Oh, and a bottle of your finest 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. The one on the second page."
Across the table, Claire’s lips twitched at first but then it kept going, like her mouth couldn’t decide whether to forcefully smile or scream. She had glanced at the menu earlier and already knew what the prices looked like.
Now she was doing the math in her head, and the answer was not looking pretty at all. The wine alone cost more than a week of groceries on her free days. If she probably weren’t collecting something substantial from the Bureau, this dinner would have taken a big bite out of her savings.
"Excellent choice, sir," the waiter said, writing everything down. Then he turned to Claire. "And for you, ma’am?"
Claire cleared her throat and quickly looked at the menu again. Because of this damned man she had suddenly lost her appetite for anything with a big price tag.
"I’ll just have the chicken salad with a glass of water, please."
"Just that?" the waiter asked.
"Just that," she said with a tight smile. "Thank you."
The waiter bowed and walked away, taking the menus with him. And then the booth went quiet.
Alex leaned back and looked around the room like a tourist at a museum. The walls were covered in dark wood that would most definitely cost an arm and leg, and there were paintings of old countrysides hanging here and there that gave this place a sort of old noble feeling.
"The decor around here looks really nice, don’t you think?" he said, just to break the silence.
Claire forced a small smile. "Yes. I suppose it does."
Another silence fell on the table, and this one was even worse than the first. Alex scratched his cheek while Claire just stared at the candle like it held the secrets of the earth. Neither of them knew what to say next, after all, they had gone from being on bad terms to familiar strangers to something in between, and it was hard to know what to talk about since they weren’t that close with each other in the first place.
’This is awkward, Even for me.’
[Say something funny!] the chibi whispered in his head, floating above the table with her legs crossed. [Or at least just say anything. This is just painful to watch and I’m getting bored out of my mind over here.]
’You say something, then.’
[Well I probably would if she could hear me, Einstein.]
Luckily, the waiter came back just then with a bottle of wine and two glasses. He poured a little for Alex to taste. Alex swirled it around like he had seen Nyx do before, then he took a sip before nodding. Hmm.. it was good. Like really good.
The waiter filled both glasses, and Claire, who had only ordered water, ended up with a glass of wine she hadn’t asked for thanks to him of course. But she didn’t say anything, instead she just picked it up and took a small sip to hide her face.
Soon, the food started to arrive. The lobster bisque came first, thick and creamy and smelling like something that definitely belonged in his stomach. Then the wagyu steak, which was cooked to perfection. Meanwhile, Claire’s chicken salad dish looked small and lonely next to it, but she still ate it.
While Alex was cutting into his steak, he thought about something else. He wasn’t here just for the free food... Okay maybe he was in here for that, but he was here for a goal, and it was about time to get started.
’System, show me her panel.’
[Right away, boss!]
Almost immediately, a translucent blue screen flickered in front of his very eyes.
[TARGET STATS]
[Name: Claire Hathaway]
[Age: 38 years old]
[Ability: World Erasing Fire]
[Description: Powerful Crimson Flames hot enough to burn through anything.]
[Limit: It cannot affect other Awakeneds on a higher realm than the user. This ability has not yet even met its true potential. Only at The Transcendent Realm can its user discover the truest nature of this ability.]
[Corruption: 2/10]
[Chastity: Not Intact]
[Loyalty: 21]
[Appearance: 90.1]
[Personality: 79.9]
[Pride: 89]
[Strength: 1002]
[Overall Difficulty: Hard]
Alex chewed slowly while reading through it twice. ’Thirty-eight, huh?’ he thought, then smiled. That meant She was a woman with experience. And as for that ability of hers, it sounded like no joke. Fire that could burn through anything, and it hadn’t even reached its full power yet. If she ever got to the Transcendent Realm, just how powerful would her ability reach?
Her pride number, 89, also made sense. A woman like that wouldn’t be so easy to win over. Hard was more like the right word for it. But if he could win someone like Nyx, then it shouldn’t be so hard to win over someone like her, right?
’Okay. Time to see where we stand.’
He quietly activated Aura of Seduction, causing the panel in front of him to shift, and a new screen replaced the old one.
[DESIRE METER]
• Lust: 1.5%
• Attraction: 8.3%
• Resistance: 45%
The second the he activated Aura Of Seduction, Claire’s body trembled a bit. It was so faint that nobody would have noticed, except for Alex, who was watching for it. The whole sequence basically played out like this; first her fork stopped halfway to her mouth, and then she blinked, looking a little surprised, before deciding that it was probably nothing, and went back to eating her salad.
All this while Alex pretended to look at his wine glass, but his attention stayed on the little meter at the corner of his mind. The numbers were crawling like a depressed snail. Lust went from 1.5 to 1.6. Attraction went from 8.3 to 8.5. while Resistance stayed locked at 45, like a stubborn mule that refused to move.
’This is way too slow,’ he thought with a frown. ’At this rate, I’ll be sitting here until midnight just to get a decent number out of her.’
[Patience, young padawan,]
The chibi said, munching on her imaginary popcorn again.
[She’s a tough nut to crack. You can’t expect her to melt after getting here not too long ago.]
’I don’t exactly have all the night in the world. Remember, I still need to cook dinner for Celine later.’
[Oh, right. The broccoli.]
’Don’t even remind me.’
He kept eating and thinking. The Aura of Seduction worked on a simple rule: the closer he was to the target, the faster it worked. Right now, there was a whole table between them, and that was slowing everything down. He needed to get closer. But he couldn’t just move his chair over to her side and put his arm around her, could he? She would probably punch him to the next block in anger. It had to look natural. had to look something like an accident.
His eyes drifted across the table and landed on the glass jug of water sitting in the middle, right between his plate and hers. It was the perfect spot.
’This could work.’
He waited a few more seconds, pretending to be busy with his steak. When Claire put her fork down and looked like she was about to reach for her glass, he made his move. He stretched out his arm slowly, like he was just thirsty and wanted some water. He timed it carefully, making sure his hand would reach the jug at the exact moment hers did.
Claire had the same idea. She had finished her salad and wanted to refill her water glass, so her hand went forward, too.
Their fingers met right on the handle of the jug just as he planned. though it was only a touch her hand felt really warm and soft, much softer than what he expected from someone who burned things down for a living, it was most likely thanks to her Awakened Physiology. But in that tiny moment, the desire meter in the corner of his mind jumped like a rocket.
[DESIRE METER]
• Lust: 8.9%
• Attraction: 15.7%
• Resistance: 44%
...
A/N: So sorry about the late post, I’m really sorry guys.