Michael transported himself near the forest of Neo Orcus. There, he saw a large factory building with white smoke rising from the chimneys. The scent of a rich and sweet mixture wafted over his nose—the smell of chocolates.
This was the chocolate factory where they turned the native Kakao seeds into delectable sweet snacks that everybody seemed to enjoy.
Chocolates was actually one of the most sold products in Reborn. Not only was it loved by the general public, but its public perception as an energy booster helped it become a mandatory snack for the Knights and other fighting-related jobs.
Even adventurers used it as their sustenance whenever they were off on missions for long periods of time. But because of its demand, there were some troublemakers who wanted to get it directly from source.
But of course, the factory was tightly guarded, with Rebornians positioned all around the walls surrounding the building. There were watchtowers pointing lights all over the corners, making sure there was no one there plotting to rob the place.
The guards bowed as he walked inside the building.
Inside, he saw Rebornians garbed in white safety coats and glasses. After all, processing chocolates needed a lot of heat and steam, which can create a lot of accidents.
Michael walked past conveyor belts with a worker magically using the mechanical spouts to pour perfectly portioned liquid chocolate into a mold. This would then get transferred over to the next machine, where it would get cooled and packaged by a Rebornian into a wrap.
The workers bowed and gave Michael a smile as he walked past them. Since he already announced his arrival, the guards guided him to the top floor where the offices were located.
Michael knocked on the door and opened it, seeing Beth in her baking attire with oven mitts in her hand. She had just finished cooking a batch of cookie chocolates.
Even though this was an 'office', Beth had it retrofitted to become a bakery where she could experiment with new recipes to sell.
"Michael…it's great to see you! Come have a try of this," she said, giving Michael a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.
He tasted it and knew that her skills had improved since the last time he saw her.
"This is good, but this is not actually what I came here for," he said to her. "I'm here for the concentrated chocolates."
Beth nodded and immediately walked over to her cabinet to take out a metal box containing five separate chocolate bars. Each bar turned darker from left to right.
"Just as you have ordered, we have been doing experiments to make the chocolate more concentrated than the last," she said, bringing up the lightest-colored bar on the box.
"This is our normal chocolates, the one we sell to the general public. It contains 25% Kakao concentration."
Michael nodded. This was the normal amount of Kakao that they sold everywhere.
According to their research, it was in this concentration where it was chocolatey with not much bitterness to consume. But for Rebornians, it was a whole new different story. After all, Michael gave them all a skill called [Sugar Rush], allowing them to increase their mana efficiency, mana consumption, mana power, and everything else upon consumption of a chocolate bar.
Right now, the 25% Kakao chocolate allowed each Rebornian to increase their power by 1 star realm. If they were 3-star magicians, they would turn into 4-star magicians upon consumption.
Michael still wasn't satisfied with this, however. He wanted to see what would happen if they increased the concentration of the Kakao chocolates to the [Sugar Rush] skill.
The first result was disappointing. Just putting more Kakaos into the recipe only resulted in a very marginal increase in strength.
Thankfully though, after many iterations and experiments from Beth and the rest of the talented bakers in the factory, they were able to make their first breakthrough.
By compressing chocolates into a much denser material, while still adding in more ingredients, they were able to create a 35% Kakao concentration chocolate.
It still wasn't enough to improve power by two star realms, but it was enough to almost reach it by just a hair.
"This is our very best chocolates," Beth said as she showed Michael the darkest chocolate bar with the number 35% stamped on top of it.
"How much do we have right now?" he asked her.
"We have about five thousand in stock, and we can rush production for another thousand today if we shut down all normal chocolate production."
"That's enough for now," Michael said, pocketing the chocolate in his inventory. "Can you make more in the future?"
"The problem is with our current stock of cacaos. Creating the 35% concentrated chocolate needs about twice the amount of Kakao needed for a normal chocolate. And the Sacred Trees of the Orcs are only limited in amount. If we were to focus on the production of concentrated chocolate, we won't have enough to satisfy the demand of our customers."
Although the sacred Kakao trees from the Orc tribes were numerous, it was still limited. And the Kakao trees that were planted back in the Nation of Reborn still wouldn't mature for another few years before it was able to bear fruit.
"I'll ask Anne if she could plant more Kakao trees back in the Parched Lands so that we won't have this problem in the future," he said, making a mental note.
"I'll have the Shadow Orcs come and pick up the 35% chocolates to distribute among our forces. Thanks for your help Beth."
"No problem Michael. Come by if you want some freshly baked cookies!"
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Meanwhile, the Bastard Bandits had set off from the safety of their forest and ventured into Reborn's territory.
They stalked the Golden Road deep into the night, hoping to catch straddlers that were easy prey.
However, they were horrified to find out that each of those automobiles could ride faster than even an arrow! They zoomed through the flat roads, leaving the bandits unable to catch up to them with their horses.
Eventually, one of their scouts came back from Angora City. The man had been walking into taverns and trying to find more information about Reborn and the Golden Road.
It didn't take long before the conversation ended up at the Truck Stop.
"Truck Stop?" the bandits questioned. "Is that a new town?"
The scout clearly didn't know as well. "It doesn't matter what it is. What's more important is that they are property of Reborn in the Golden Road! I heard there's a lot of people going there and camping to sleep!"
With no luck robbing the people driving in the roads, the bandits decided to travel to this so-called 'Truck Stop' for days on end.
It took them a while, but they finally reached their destination.
And there, they saw a bustling community of automobiles and people alike. Cars were going in and out of the Truck Stop, with most parking their cars on the designated spots and leaving to enter an establishment on the side.
"McTony's…" the bandits muttered to themselves.
There were a lot of people inside. A lot. And they were just there like sitting ducks, ready to be robbed.
With a silent nod, the Bandits approached the busy building.