The warrior from the Wu Club Clan looked at the man, who was dressed in a cook's outfit—mainly a white sheet of cloth with a number of stains on it—but Zon's outfit had something a little different: the Head Chef bandana that was tied around his head, white in color as well.
"Head Chef Zon!" one of the cooks shouted. "What are you doing? Get back here!"
"You can't go up against them," another shouted. "They're warriors! We need to make a formal complaint to the Academy."
In a normal case, one could make a complaint to the mayor, who would work with the citizens, and that was how citizens could lodge a complaint, but the academy was a special case since it wasn't a normal city and was one of the pieces of territory actually owned by the Factions rather than the kingdoms.
"But… was he supposed to just let Rane get hit like that? I wanted to go forward myself, but I was too scared," another worker said.
Some of them were relieved when they saw Zon catch the club, but the real question was, what was going to happen now? Now, Zon and Rane were both most likely to get hurt.
"A mere chef is holding my club? You should get your dirty hands off it!" The man pulled the club away from Zon and was ready to swing it again as he lifted it in the air above his head.
The moment Rane saw this, he squinted and panicked.
'No, he's the only one who can create the perfect recipe—no matter what, he has to survive!'
However, the swing was too fast for Rane to do anything. When the club was swung down, a large amount of wind and Qi hit the floor, and Zon was standing to the side.
"What the—" The man then continued to swing his club through the air, but Zon was moving casually, avoiding each of the swings. One after the other, the warrior was failing to hit his target.
Then, Zon's back hit the edge of a table. The warrior lunged at him, and Zon once again lifted his hand, grabbing the club and stopping it in its tracks.
'He stopped my attack again… and he avoided them all before. I didn't think about it… but now that I am, how is that even possible for a normal person?'
Right then, grasped in Zon's hand, he tensed up, squeezing the end of the club, and the metal scrunched up like a ball of paper. Zon then pulled it forward and punched the man in the face lightning fast, hitting him squarely and sending him to the floor.
Zon stood there next to the fallen warrior, while the cooks, the customers inside the restaurant, and Rane were all trying to process what had just occurred.
"The boss does not wish to see his restaurant destroyed," Zon said. "And you all need a lesson so that this never happens again."
Seeing how their fellow clan member had been hit to the floor, the others started rushing in one after the other, all aiming for Zon, the head chef.
"We have to help him, otherwise he's going to get killed!" the other chefs said. They wanted to move, but their bodies were shaking. Even against a regular Pagna warrior, they would be unable to do anything, and these were quite skilled ones.
The first person threw their club from above, swinging it down, using all the Qi they had. In response, Zon simply avoided the strike and then burst forward until he reached the man's chest, giving him a forceful push, hitting one person into another.
He quickly moved to the side, as if he could see an attack coming, and then threw out another fist, hitting the man on the side of the head, right on the temple. The attack was powerful, causing the person's body to spin.
The chefs, even Rane, didn't understand what was going on. A person so good at cooking was also good at fighting, avoiding each hit, and knocking out his opponents with a single strike.
'Crap, the others went too far!' Skyler thought. 'But I can't let my entire clan get humiliated , all from one person.'
It was then that Skyler started to rush in from side to side, dragging his club along the floor. The floorboards were being ripped out from the ground as he moved through the restaurant.
He then looked ahead, ready to attack his opponent. He saw the head chef attacking another with a single hit right on the face, blood spewing from their nose as they fell to the floor.
Then suddenly, the man disappeared from his view, and before he knew it, Skyler was no longer able to move. He looked to his arm and saw a hand pushing down on his wrist.
While another hand was gripping his head firmly.
'I didn't even see him move… he must be a high-level middle-stage warrior, but how could there be such a person, and I've never heard of them before? And he's a chef of all things. Am I dreaming right now?'
The one thing that Skyler was sure of was that his life was in the hands of this person, and it wouldn't be clever of him to make any rash moves.
"Your stupid attack ruined the restaurant even further. Didn't you hear what I said before? You will pay for the damage you have done to this place. I left you alone because you had yet to do any damage," Zon claimed.
Zon continued to hold Skyler back and then started to look at his facial expression as he noticed something.
"You push as hard as you can."
"Huh?" Skyler said, confused by the order.
"Push the club in your hand as hard as you can—use what you've got."
Not quite understanding the situation but fully under this man's control, Skyler decided to push the club, but it didn't move a single inch, showing the clear superior strength between the two.
It was then that Zon turned to Rane, who was still in disbelief at everything that was happening.
"You are looking for more people who can create the perfect noodles for this shop, right?"
Rane slowly nodded, wondering why at a time Zon was asking about noodles.
"Then allow me to hire the perfect team. You, come work in this noodle shop," Zon asked.
Inside the academy, there was a large, empty hall with special hardened walls. It was made from a tree located in another dimension. The tree had portions that made it one of the strongest materials known in the Pagna world, at least for durability.
Unfortunately, its durability made it hard to be made into any type of weapon, and it seemed to reject Qi, which was one of the reasons why it was so durable. So it wasn't so good for Pagna warriors to use.
Instead, parts of the trees were used to build structures where dangerous portals currently resided, just in case there was a portal break, and in one room, it was Murkel's personal training room.
The inside parts of the walls and floors had already been scuffed in certain areas, most likely due to Murkel's own training, and in the room, there were two people present.
Standing by the side, there was Dame, watching the center with his arms folded, and in the center of the room was Raze.
"You think you got the hang of it this time?" Dame asked.
"Definitely," Raze answered. "Thanks to your help."
In becoming the Dark Faction leader, Raze had obtained a number of different techniques from clans all over the continent, and he had picked those best suited for him and best suited for his fighting style.
More importantly, Raze wanted to try and combine some of these techniques with his magic to make them more powerful than ever. Picking Dame along with him, a person he could trust, he wanted him to guide him.
After all, Raze's knowledge of Pagna techniques was quite limited.
It was then that Raze started to lift his hands, as he gathered the Qi in his body and gathered his magic. In the reflection of Dame's eyes, everything could be seen.
A loud, powerful force and several bangs were heard all over the place. It only lasted around thirty seconds or so, and then it came to a stop as Raze was there on the floor.
He was kneeling on one knee, and behind him was mass destruction—the specially made floorboards had been ripped up, and the state of the room looked as if it could never be repaired again.
As for Raze's feet, his shoes were no longer there, and a large amount of his skin had been ripped off; they were bleeding.
"You have become really strong, Raze… too strong," Dame said, just wondering how anyone would be able to deal with him now.
"Raze!" Amir called out, entering the room. He was going to speak, but the state of the room shocked him. He had almost forgotten what he was about to say but then continued to speak. "There is someone who wishes to speak to you, a man named Himmy."