Is that a Wisp?

After setting everything up, Krune contacted his employees back. He had said he would stay out for three days only, but this last excursion took over three months. He was feeling particularly worried about Nina. After all, he wanted to help her with her cultivation after destroying her foundation. However, considering her above average talent that Krune noticed, he believes that as long as she cultivated diligently, she probably improved quite a lot during this time he was out.

Sure enough, everyone was taken aback when Krune's message came in. He had been in Zule's Dimensional Realm before, so he didn't have the signal to contact them. Nina, especially, looked for him everywhere she could. But there was no news about him.

After two months, the employees couldn't wait anymore. So most of them had to find other jobs. The only exception was Nina. She had her cultivation destroyed so that it could be rebuilt again. But with her low cultivation, it was just too hard to find something.

In Krune's message, he said that anyone who was still interested could come back three days later. He would explain why he disappeared for the last three months as well. If they already have something else and don't want to leave, there is no need for them to force themselves back. Lastly, he finished the message with an apology.

Krune then took his small black tower from his foundation and activated it. As expected, Feifei and Fie immediately replied. Krune didn't contact them back for three months straight, so mother and daughter were really worried about him. Krune had to hear their complaints during 30 minutes straight until the duo finally calmed down. Only then did he had the chance to explain everything that happened.

Krune talked with Feifei and Fie for a long time until the small black tower ran out of energy once more.

Since it wasn't night yet, Krune went around his kitchen, cleaning everything. Three months had gathered quite some dust. Also, several of the ingredients that needed to be used in a few days were wasted. Krune couldn't help but sigh after throwing all of that out. Finally, he went out to buy more food the next day.

While Krune was out, he began to hear some news.

"Did you know? A lot of people suddenly appeared around the Fingan Mountain Area. It seemed like they were all locked inside a Dimensional Realm for thousands of years and only now came out."

"Your information is outdated. It seems like they were part of the extinct Emukran Sect. If you access the network and check the records, you will find out that they were part of a Sect Entrance Trial."

"That's not all. There are lots of powers flocking in that place now. From the looks of it, they are looking for a Treasure that has been lost inside that same Dimensional Realm over 50 thousand years ago. Some even say it might be a Heavenly Fragment Treasure!"

"Heavenly Fragment Treasure? This is crazy! I can already see the Nascent Gods coming from all over. The Godly Path Realm definitely has a lot of Nascent God Realm cultivators and demon beasts. Still, not even 0.1% of them have this kind of heaven-defying treasure. Perhaps we are going to see a war breaking out."

"That's understandable. After all, which Nascent God would let the chance of acquiring a Heavenly Fragment Treasure slip by? Even if there are high risks, there are plenty of them who will dive right into it. The allure of such a piece of equipment is too high for most of them to ignore."

Krune couldn't help but sigh as he walked. It seemed like the events in the Underground City already spread outside. Well, he was already expecting it anyway. Zule was also hearing everything inside Krune's Spatial Ring, but it seemed like he couldn't care less. His attention was totally on his communicator. The wonders of the internet were really hard to ignore.

Some of the vendors recognized Krune from the weeks that he worked. After asking where he went, Krune just said that he went out for his breakthrough. They quickly noticed that Krune was now in the Divine View Realm, so they congratulated him. Krune smiled and talked to everyone as he bought more food for his restaurant.

On the way back, Iem passed a few more devices to Krune, who stuffed it all into his Spatial Ring. Zule, of course, was ecstatic to see all of that.

Soon, three days went by. Surprisingly though, all Krune's five employees appeared in front of his restaurant that morning, no exception. Krune, of course, was happy to see that they were back. He quickly invited everyone inside. Once he closed the door again, Nina couldn't hold back and hugged him while crying. Bai, Lunika, Wanva, and Rarlo looked at each with knowing smiles.

Nina was also taken aback by her own reaction. Her face went red when she noticed the situation she was in and quickly jumped back. After looking at the other employee's smiles, she got even redder!

Krune was surprised by what happened too. But in the end, he nodded, satisfied. He then patted her head while saying.

"I didn't expect that you missed our cooking lessons this much. Still, I'm delighted that it is so. Don't worry, I'll make sure to teach you well. Hahahaha!"

Bai and the others almost vomited blood!

'Bro! You can't really be this ignorant, can you? Sure, it is evident that she loves to cook. But the love in that hug was far from being the same love for cooking, you know?'

Of course, none of them said that loud.

Krune noticed the weird look on everyone's faces too.

"Did something happen?"

Nina immediately shook her head.

"Nothing! Everything is fine! So, why did you disappear, master?"

Krune felt like he was missing something, but decided to let it go in the end.

"Well, I had a few complications. The reason I left was that I could make a breakthrough into the Divine View Realm. However, due to a chain of events, I got stuck into another issue until now. Sorry for not contacting you back, I just didn't have enough time for it."

Everyone was surprised to hear that. Immediately, Bai made a question.

"But, were you successful in your breakthrough, Chef Krune?"

Krune smiled and nodded.

"Yes, everything ended fine, and I entered the Divine View Realm. We might add new dishes to our menus very soon. But regardless of what happened, the fact is that I left without warning you. That being said, I will not revoke my role as the restaurant owner."

Krune then asked everyone to show their spatial rings. He touched each one of them and sent three months of payment inside for everyone. For Krune at the moment, it wasn't that big of a price. Not to mention that he could recover it very fast with his restaurant income. But for Bai and the others, this was a huge amount! One must remember that Krune is already paying 4 to 5 times more than other restaurants to start with. Receiving three months of payment at once was obviously incredible.

"Chef Krune, this..."

Krune shook his head.

"No complaints. I will not take the Godly Stones back either. Now, since you are back, you better work hard."

Everyone nodded, excited.

"Yes!"

"Good, now clean up the restaurant. Nina, you come with me. I need to prepare a few things."

Krune smiled and then went back to the kitchen with Nina. Sometime later, the two of them came back with a few plates of dishes.

"Alright, prepare a table for us, let's eat."

Everyone's eyes lit up, and they quickly organized everything. As expected, Krune had cooked Spiritual Food again, which would greatly help everyone's cultivations. They ate, drunk, and talked for a few hours. In the end, Krune sent everyone back to their homes. He also passed a few extra Godly Stones to Nina and told her to go use the Energy Gathering Formation.

Krune was very satisfied with Nina after he came back. Even though she lost his support of Godly Stones, it turned out that her talent really wasn't bad. Three months was enough for her to go all the way up to the 8th Stage of the Foundation Establishment. And that was only using the heaven and earth Godly Energy in the air.

Of course, part of her speed was due to the fact that she passed through those stages before as well. With her experiences, things became a lot easier to repeat. Now that Krune was back, she wouldn't have a problem with Godly Stones anymore.

After that, Krune went back to the kitchen. He didn't cook anything in the last three months, so he wanted to practice a little. Besides, now that he was in the Divine View Realm, he wanted to try his hand on Semi-Divinity Realm ingredients. As he looked at everything in front of him, Krune smiled.

"Let's start."