Chapter 1781 Endless Appetite
“Popcorn! Roasted chicken legs! Pizza! Ice juice! And the betting board for the Knight’s results!” A person with a tray of snacks hanging in front of them and a large box on their back walked by.
As it was late, many guests had skipped dinner to watch the match, so his business was exceptionally good. Often, before he even finished serving one level of the stands, the food in his hands and backpack would be sold out.
He had just restocked with a fresh batch of goods, and it happened to be my turn. I waved my hand directly, “Young man, I’ll take it all.”
“All, all of it?” the vendor looked at me suspiciously. How much could a petite young girl eat? The food he had prepared was high-calorie, enough to feed more than ten adults.
“Yes, all of it, including the food in your backpack.” I tossed one gold coin onto his tray. Even if he had brought more food, it was enough to buy it all.
The vendor’s eyes widened, and he looked at me in surprise. Then his gaze fell on the gold coin, revealing an expression of joy and greed.
“Thank you, Miss!” He placed the tray full of food and the backpack in front of me, stuffed the gold coin into his pocket, and then turned to leave.
The vendor intended to abscond with the gold coin and not give any change. With so many spectators, if he just blended into the crowd, this little girl would definitely not find him, and he would make a huge profit. He wouldn’t earn a gold coin even after selling snacks for a whole day.
However, just as the vendor was about to quickly leave, he suddenly felt an extremely terrifying aura firmly locking onto him, making it as difficult as climbing a mountain to even lift his foot to take a step.
Then he felt an intense hunger in his stomach, as if he hadn’t eaten for three days and three nights. The hunger came so suddenly and fiercely that he felt like he would starve to death if he didn’t eat something. Right now, he even wanted to eat his own fingers.
The aroma of food around him intensified countless times. The vendor felt as if he were in a cafeteria, surrounded by rich scents, as if the food had just been freshly made.
The vendor swallowed, turned his head, and followed the scent. He saw the girl holding the roasted chicken he had just sold, tearing off a roasted chicken leg and eating with relish.
With one bite, the oil spurted out with an intoxicating fragrance. Even in such a chaotic arena, the vendor could clearly smell the aroma. He was certain that the roasted chicken hadn’t smelled this good when it was in his hands.
When he saw the girl biting the chicken leg, the consciousness in his mind collapsed instantly. He no longer had any self-control and eagerly rushed towards the girl.
However, at that moment, the vendor suddenly found that his body couldn’t move, as if being hooked by some creepy claws that held him in place, making him unable to budge.
“No!” the vendor cried out miserably. The delicious food was just one step away, but he could only watch as others ate it, while he was forced to endure hunger and starvation.
The intense hunger tormented him, causing the vendor’s eyes to turn red, his breath to become ragged, and stars to appear before his eyes. His stomach and intestines even began to cramp from hunger.
His cries for help were drowned out by the cheers of the spectators. No one paid attention to his abnormal state; everyone just wanted to watch the match and subconsciously ignored the person calling for help.
Seeing that he was being tormented by hunger, I then, while gnawing on the chicken leg, slightly alleviated his hunger before speaking, “Humans have three major desires: appetite, lust, and sleep.”
“And among these three desires, because appetite is the desire that satisfies human survival needs, the act of satisfying appetite takes precedence over the other two.”
“You, what are you talking about?” the vendor asked fearfully. He already knew he had offended the wrong person. His momentary greed had run into a master.
“Nothing, I just want my change. If you don’t give it to me, believe me, the gold coin you greedily took will probably not be enough for your next meal, just like me.” I devoured a whole roasted chicken in front of him, not even leaving a bone.
“I don’t have enough change either. I was just about to go back to get you some change,” the vendor said, on the verge of tears. Nothing was more tormenting than watching someone eat delicious food while you were starving.
The first half of his statement was true; he indeed didn’t have enough silver coins on him. The second half was false; he had no intention of returning with change if he left.
“It doesn’t matter, leave the rest of your money and you can go.” I opened the backpack, took out the popcorn, and tossed it into my mouth, simultaneously releasing him from his hunger.
The vendor finally felt the hunger that had nearly driven him mad disappear. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he almost wanted to kneel before the girl, but he found his legs were held in place, preventing him from kneeling.
“Stand up, no kneeling. Put the money in the box, and you can go.” I tapped his backpack. The vendor quickly threw the remaining money into the box, which was mostly copper coins.
He even wanted to return the gold coin, but I pushed his hand back again with my Invisible Hand, “I want my change, not to rob you. This gold coin is what you deserve. Consider the extra part my meal fee. You can go now.”
“Thank you, thank you, Miss, for letting me go!” The vendor hurried away. Even though the spell was released, he was still starving. While this residual hunger was not as intense as before, it still made him eager to find food.
Simply put, now I was just making people want to eat normally. They could recover once they ingested some food.
Before that, it was enough to drive a person to madness with abnormal appetite. Even eating wouldn’t alleviate it; it would only provide temporary satisfaction before it vanished instantly, leading to endless gluttony until one burst.
It was this vendor’s bad luck to have provoked me at this time. I had just learned a new spell and was wondering if anyone could help me test it, and then someone came along to be the “head.”
In reality, I didn’t care about this small amount of money at all. Even if he had pocketed a gold coin, I could have considered it a gift.
Now, it seemed that this gluttony spell, which I had previously considered a waste, was actually quite powerful. If it were someone weaker than me, they would probably be driven mad by their appetite.
However, against opponents of the same level, the effect would not be as good. They would definitely have reduced spell resistance, and the hunger should not be as intense, but it should still be able to serve an auxiliary purpose in combat.
After the vendor left, I ate pizza while watching the match. Lorna’s voice came through my ears, “Why did you even make a move on a normal vendor? You used to be much more cautious and low-key than you are now.”
“Just testing out a spell. Besides, with so many experts in the city now, they won’t notice one like me,” I said indifferently.
