The group dispersed, Funmi and Mira went back to the lounge. Funmi said “I’m sorry if I come on too strongly, it’s just that spending all my time with people that are way older than me is kind of a bummer, they’re nice but they can be too serious sometimes. There is a Rank 4 that is our age but he is very boring so I can’t get along with him easily”.

Sadly Mira didn’t understand the sentiment, but Funmi wasn’t disheartened she smiled and asked Mira “Where do you stay?” Mira answered smiling too “I stay at The Lotus motel”. Funmi burst into laughter when she heard her answer and said “You know that a hotel for hook ups right? They don’t have great customer service there”

Mira was embarrassed ‘No wonder there were many people staring, it wasn’t just my outfit’. Funmi seeing her embarrassment consoled her “It’s not bad though, I’m sure their prices must be very low, as a new comer it’s only natural that you would choose such a place.

You can stay in the hotel I live at, there’s great customer service and it has an incredible window view… at least my room has, and I can sponsor your bill and you can pay me back when you get en-code tomorrow. Or you can stay in David’s duplex, that’s where Adura, Rashid and Theo stay, because it’s free.

I know we have to save en-code to keep growing stronger and to keep up with competition but I also think that if you’re going to kill monsters and brave dangers to keep your life, you should enjoy that life as much as possible”

Mira said “You have a point, what’s the name of the hotel you stay at?” Funmi answered “It’s called Green Dragon, I’ll take you there”. Mira asked again “Is there a place where Rank 4s can work out, to improve our stats?”

Funmi’s smile widened and she answered “That’s one of the reasons why our hotel is so expensive, you get free access to a Rank 4 gym when you stay in their premium rooms, you also get free weekly spar treatments and the food is great because they serve the best undead meat and if you pay some extra you can get a monster meat cut if they’re available”

Mira thought ‘No wonder Leke looked at me like that; he must see people who eat undead meat as cannibals’. Mira asked “Do all high rankers eat, undead meat?”

Funmi nodded and said “When one gets into Rank 3 they can’t get full on just normal food, and even if they want to they’ll have to eat a truck load of food to get full or even feel refreshed. If a Rank 3 keeps eating normal food, the person’s stats will drop to that of a Rank 2 because of malnutrition”

Mira thought ‘That makes sense, no wonder, Leke must have thought I was special when he saw me at the restaurant, and when I spoke about monster meat he must have been disappointed… Well, it’s his loss’

Funmi said “Well not every high Rank person is comfortable with eating undead meat, since undead are made from human corpses, but since they have to eat it they just force themselves to. Rashid and Adura are like that, being all old and sentimental, for me as long as the food tastes good and don’t look like human parts; it’s fine”

Mira added “I also don’t mind undead meat, if it’s cooked well it works just fine, it’s better to eat it and be able to fight better than letting it waste and dying a stupid death”

Funmi nodded “Girl, you understand what I’m saying. I don’t understand why so many low Ranks are so insensible. Saying that high Ranks are cannibals because we eat undead, if we didn’t eat them the undead would have eaten all of us”.

Mira said “Totally! I met a Rank 2 guy today, he was the one who showed me this place, and he got disgusted when I said I eat monster meat. Are all low Ranks like that?”

Funmi shook her head and said “It isn’t all of them that think that way; a good number of them eat undead meat anyway as they may have had no choice on their way here and since it’s cheaper, but about half of them think it’s disgusting. I know the average Rank of people is on the rise, so those who refuse to eat will surely become miserable in the future”

Mira internally agreed with Funmi and nodded. Funmi said “Who do you think is the hottest guy in our group?” hearing her question, Mira remember an issue she had been forgetting, she asked “Do you know where I can buy some clothes, preferably monster clothing”.

Funmi smiled and said “Is it because David and Rashid were stealing some glances at you? Don’t worry about them, you look hot, they can go and die if they can’t handle seeing some curves”

Mira said “It’s not only them, I really need to wear something more modest” Funmi sighed and said “Ok, I’ll show you, but the fashion designers of monster wears aren’t the best so it’s a very boring and annoying shopping experience” as she got up.

The two of them went out of the lounge and bought the clothes, they were honestly, terrible. The store was filled with the same clothing the regular people wore, rags. Mira wore the clothes, a large jacket and a larger trouser, over her body suit making her look terrible like other people.

Funmi asked “Did you make the body suit yourself? Now that I think about it, if you can make such, you should be able to make better clothing, right?” Mira shook her head and said “I didn’t make the suit, the person that took care of me made it”

Funmi said “You seem to have a bad relationship with the person”, Mira replied “We have a good relationship; he can just be a little annoying is all”. Funmi said “Really? I would love it if I could get a body suit, or some proper clothing at least, can you buy some for me? I’ll pay”, Mira laughed and said “I’ll see what I can do”.