The Self-Service Restaurant on the Plane

"Good afternoon, students. The buffet is ready with delicious dishes for you. Please help yourselves. If you need anything, please proceed to Room 3 down the corridor."

"When leaving your seats, please adjust your chairs to their normal positions. You may bring your pets into the restaurant."

"For your convenience and that of others, please queue up for food and dine courteously. Students with pets, please keep your friends under control; pets are strictly prohibited from running around the restaurant. Before getting your food, you may ask the sprites for cutlery; after finishing your meal, please return the cutlery to the sprites. Thank you for your cooperation."

At noon, the gentle voice of a flight attendant announced through the cabin's broadcast. Zheng Qing eagerly put away the small table, rubbing his stomach.

He was indeed hungry.

Although he had appeared calm and relaxed at home, only he knew the tension and unease he felt inside.

For his last meal before departure, he had only eaten three or five dumplings, had half a bowl of millet porridge with pickles, and then put down his chopsticks.

Under Professor Zheng's stern gaze, he had reluctantly eaten one boiled egg.

By now, that meager meal had long been digested.

"Let's go together, let's go eat!" Li Meng exclaimed, waving her small fist. "I've been wanting to try the buffet on the special plane for a long time. My cousin said the buffet on this special plane is delicious!"

"Where's your cousin? Aren't you going to call her along?" Zheng Qing stood up and looked around.

"Her family is in Beta Town." Li Meng's mood seemed a bit down when she mentioned her cousin. "This year, Jiuyou Academy only admitted two scholarship students. My cousin's grades were ranked third, so she didn't get a scholarship. She's been locked in her tower doing experiments all summer."

"So, this year, only the top two freshmen in the college entrance examination are scholarship students?" Zheng Qing's heart began to leap with joy. He never expected to be a legendary top student! He grinned, wanting to share his achievement with his new friends.

"My sister said she'll find the two people ranked ahead of her for a duel when school starts!" Li Meng clenched her small fists, looking at the two people beside her, and said fiercely, "You two will go with me to cheer my sister on! Crush those two brats."

Zheng Qing gave a dry laugh, abandoning the idea of showing off his grades, and held Poseidon tighter.

"Of course, if you're the top student, I can put in a good word with my sister and let you off," Li Meng said to Xiao Xiao after a moment's hesitation, pouting.

"I'm deeply grateful," Xiao Xiao replied perfunctorily, tucking the old turtle in his arms into his pocket.

Zheng Qing gnashed his teeth, hesitating whether to tell Li Meng that he was the second-ranked scholarship student.

In the aisle, several young wizards in neat robes walked past them.

A strong fragrance entered Zheng Qing's nostrils. He couldn't help but sneeze several times, scattering all the polite words he had just prepared to say to Li Meng, making him forget them completely.

"What's that smell? It smells like my neighbor's French poodle," Li Meng wrinkled her nose and sneezed too.

"Calvin Chuxia. It's Nina Company's main men's perfume this summer, quite popular among young noble male wizards. A fresh wild citrus scent. A light dab on the neck brings a refreshing citrus aroma, perfect for a gentle and refined warm man. If sprayed directly on the body, the scent interacts with the clothes, producing a stimulating aroma with a rather trashy effect. It's no different from a poodle that has rolled around in a barrel of perfume, just like what you're smelling," Xiao Xiao answered boredly.

"Is there anything you don't know?" Zheng Qing looked at the watermelon-headed boy with admiration.

Xiao Xiao glanced at him but didn't reply.

Following the aisle past the cabin door, Zheng Qing entered a spacious room.

This was what a wizard's space should look like, he praised silently in his heart.

Compared to the previous narrow and enclosed space, this dining room was much more spacious and bright, almost like a large reception hall. Whether it was the magnificent chandelier, the tall floor-to-ceiling windows, or even the small garden in the center of the hall, none of them could be accommodated in an ordinary aircraft.

Zheng Qing easily determined that some spells must have been cast to expand the space.

On the left side of the dining room was a row of food stations, neatly arranged with various delicious dishes, all appealing in color and aroma. Near the entrance were fruit platters, followed by barbecue, stir-fries, stews, seafood, vegetarian dishes, and finally soups, pastries, and drinks. Young wizards queued up in an orderly fashion, greedily filling their plates with delicacies.

On the right side of the dining room was a U-shaped horseshoe-shaped rosewood bar. Behind the bar was a huge kitchen, with drinks of various colors stored in glass bottles, leaning against wooden stands, glittering with translucent luster under the lights. Some high stools were casually placed outside the bar. Zheng Qing saw a sleepy cobra coiled on one of the stools.

And a beautiful melody, drifting from somewhere, filled the entire restaurant with a joyful and relaxed atmosphere.

Zheng Qing looked up. Hundreds of palm-sized sprites, holding brass trays with silver threads, flickered with a faint green light, like giant fireflies, appearing and disappearing in every corner of the restaurant.

"Are all sprites green?" Zheng Qing took a tray from a sprite, following Xiao Xiao, and picked a slice of watermelon for his plate.

"That way of asking is unprofessional." Xiao Xiao waved the tongs in his hand and picked a few grapes for his plate. "Sprites are a large category with three sub-categories: Plant Sprite, Egg Sprite, and Life Sprite, also known as Seeding Type, Hatching Type, and Regeneration Type. The sprites corresponding to each type are completely different. Sprites from Seeding Type are all green. Sprites from Hatching Type are mostly white, occasionally golden. As for Regeneration Type sprites, they are all blue, which are rarer and are also called Blue Sprites."

After adding a few slices of apple to his plate, Zheng Qing handed the tongs back to a sprite, watching them happily spin around with the tongs, accompanied by the light music in the restaurant, performing a beautiful dance in mid-air.

Li Meng chirped beside the two, constantly stuffing things onto her plate.

"You mentioned seeding just now, does that mean these green little guys are grown from seeds?" Zheng Qing imagined burying dead sprites in the soil, then growing skeletal sprite trees, with little sprites hanging from the branches, sticking out their tongues and emitting a green glow.

He shivered, shook his head, and used a wooden spoon to add some mashed potatoes to his plate.

"I know this!" Li Meng raised her plate and answered very enthusiastically, "Bury the seeds in the soil, water them with potion, and in less than a month, you can harvest a group of sprites!"

"A month!" Zheng Qing was distracted, and a quail egg he was holding on the tongs slipped back into the basin.

"Here, this is it." Li Meng handed her plate to the sprites dancing beside her and took out a small wooden box from her pocket. Opening the lid, on the soft red velvet, lay a small handful of pale green seeds that looked like peas.

Xixi! Xixi!

Huala la, a large group of sprites gathered around, twitching their antennae, cautiously looking at the seeds in the box.

Li Meng shielded the box with one hand and quickly took out a seed from it with the other, handing it to Zheng Qing. "This is a standard model sprite seed, very adaptable to the environment. Generally, potions of three properties or more can make it germinate."

The sprites looked expectantly at Li Meng as she put the box away, only able to xixi in response.

The seed felt smooth like jade and was much heavier than it looked.

Zheng Qing played with it for a moment, marveling, and returned the seed to Li Meng.

"It's yours!" The little girl waved her hand generously, then turned to direct a few sprites to carry her plate to find a table.