A Hundred Times: Ascending With The Strongest System Chapter 26 - 25: A Date With Christine [Part 2]

"It's really amazing, this is such an upgrade from the resturant we've been to before." Zoey said with a bit of admiration behind her voice, her eyes roaming around the resturant for a little bit, before settling back on Christine.

"I'm glad you liked it, today's such an special occasion. I'm very happy for your awakening! You'll finally start getting the respect and recognition you deserve!" Christine said happily, grinning ear to ear.

"Hehe," Zoey chuckled lightly, amused by Christine's excitent. Before a interesting topic ca to mind, "So, Christine, how's your Awakening process going, have your Mana levels been recorded?" Zoey asked curiously, leaning her arms over the table as she leaned closer.

Christine grinned playfully as she also leaned in closer, "It's going well, the doctor said that my Mana levels are quite high, so I should be expecting an Awakening soon. He also said that I might possess a high Intelligence stat upon Awakening, so I should be suitable for a Mage class if that's the case."

Zoey's eyes shone as she heard that, a genuinely happy smile forming on her face "That's amazing!" Zoey said, her tone full of joy. "If you need to get started with levelling, you should co to . I can help you advance way faster." Zoey whispered softly, smiling smugly.

"Oh? If it ans spending ti together, I'd gladly accept your invitation." Christine said, adding: "Just imagine the two of us going hunting, it would be like Mini-Dates!" Christine said playfully, causing the blush on Zoey's cheeks to intensify a little.

"I told you before, it's not a date!" Zoey replied, her voice a bit shaky, but the blush on her cheeks spurred Christine on as she enjoyed seeing Zoey flustered. With high confidence, Christine placed her hand on Zoey's hand gently, noticing the blush on her cheeks to turn a deeper shade of red.

"If that's the case, why are you blushing?" Christine asked, grinning.

'I...I'm blushing?' Zoey thought suprised as she only noticed her raging heart, beating loudly like a drum.

"I can hear your heart beating so fast, y'know? It's honestly very adorable." Christine said as she suddenly slipped her fingers through Zoey's, intertwining them, causing Zoey's eyes to widen in shock at the intimacy behind Christine's gesture.

'.....' Zoey's eyes remained wide for a few seconds, processing the events that transpired the past few minutes. She had never held soone's hand so intimately before, but she felt comfortable when it was Christine.

Gently, Zoey pressed her hand on Christine's as she tightened the intimate grip, causing Christine to blush a little much to her suprise.

The two of them said nothing for a mont as they enjoyed the company and warmth that blood between them, adding a sense of belonging that settled deep into the hearts of the two.

"Greetings ladies." A gentle voice asked as the waiter pulled up to the scene, causing Zoey and Christine to jolt in suprise, quickly pulling away their hands as they began to blush furiously at the act.

"Would you like to start ordering?" The waiter asked with a kind smile as he passed them their nus, which Zoey and Christine gently accepted.

Zoey browsed through the items available, finding them to be amazing. After a few minutes of browsing, Zoey started to order one of the most popular items on the nu.

"I'll take a large steak, dium rare please." Zoey said to the waiter, which they quickly jolted her order down on a small notepad.

"Would that be everything?" He asked her, to which she nodded. Then he turned to Christine and awaited her order.

Christine glanced at Zoey, raising an eyebrow curiously, "That's it, you're only going to be ordering a steak?" She asked a bit suprised, before grinning playfully.

Zoey raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, why?" Zoey asked curious.

Christine shrugged casually, "No reason," she said calmly as she turned to look at the waiter, "A steak for too please, oh, and I'd like a glass of fine red wine to go along with it." Christine said.

"Alright, I'll be back soon with your als." The waiter said as he nodded, before walking away. After the waiter left, Zoey exhaled sharply, turning to look at Christine with a bit of a serious, and slightly annoyed expression.

"I should've figured that you'd also be ordering a steak, you weirdly like ordering the sa thing I do." Zoey said, sighing sharply with a bit of annoyance evident in her tone.

Christine grinned as she knew that Zoey gets slightly annoyed whenever she did that, it made her happy to see Zoey a bit mad, as she honestly found her reactions cute.

"I like seeing you like that, all annoyed. Makes you even more beautiful, honestly." Christine teased, causing Zoey to blush a little.

"You've been calling that the whole night now," Zoey replied with a playful roll of her eyes, a small smile on her face. The table remained silent for a little bit as neither side said nothing, the air starting to crackle with tension.

"Zoey, I've been aning to ask sothing." Christine started, breaking the silence. "You've recently beco a huge sensation over social dia, with major news headlines all talking about you and what the future holds for your hunting career.

Similarly to the Guilds that will start approaching you with offers, Hunter Academies would no doubt want you for themselves as well, you're definetly a treasure in their eyes as they wouldn't dare think of giving you up."

'....' Zoey remained silent for a bit, her expression turning serious as that thought hadn't crossed her mind yet.

"Zoey, do you plan on joining an Academy?" Christine asked, her tone soft, "Although you told that you wouldn't be accepting any guild offering, I really advise you on joining an Academy and see what offers they might hold for you.

You could grow much more stronger and extend your knowledge on Mana within an academy, so please, consider joining one, for my sake."

Zoey's mind was in deep contemplation as she began to think of joining an Academy, after what Christine had said about the Academies that will try to recruit her, she knew that joining an Academy would definetly have a lot more benefits for her.

"....Alright." Zoey replied with a small smile, making up her mind.

Christine blinked, suprised, as she had expected Zoey to refuse joining an Academy as well, but was ultimately relieved to see that she was on board.

"Good," Christine exhaled in relief, "I was a bit worried, but atleast you're on board. So, what academy would you be joining?" Christine asked curiously.

"Hmm....." Zoey thought about it for a mont, there were many prestigious academies within Zolorius City, but they weren't as good as other academies from neighboring cities, like Sunrow for example.

"I'll think about it." Zoey said, chuckling nervously as she still hadn't co to a conclusion yet. She decided to think on it later, "Right now, let's just enjoy what we ca here for. The guilds, the dungeons, the academies, they can all wait."

Christine blinked in suprise for a mont, "I never knew you wanted to take this seriously," Christine teased lightly, chuckling with a small smirk.

After a few minutes of light discussion, the waiter finally returned with their als. Zoey's eyes shone as she was suprised by the quality of the steak, it's surface glistening in a rich marinated sauce that made it look even more delicious.

"Woah...this is amazing." Zoey muttered to herself as she used her fork and knife to cut a small piece of the steak and plop it into her mouth, finding the taste extraordinary.

"I an, the prices were pretty high. So the quality of their als would be high too." Christine said.

"I guess so..." Zoey replied.

As the minutes dragged on, the table they were at was filled with a warmth and comfort that they couldn't explain. There was a blissful silence blooming between them both, but neither side wanted to say anything, as they just enjoyed the mont of silence.

After a little while, they had finished their als. The waiter ca and handed them their bills, the als costed around $3,500 in total, which Zoey paid as they got up to leave.

"Wow, that was amazing." Christine said as she started to walk towards the doors, with Zoey walking beside her.

"I'm glad you enjoyed tonight. I guess it makes happy being the one there for you this ti." Zoey said with a small blush tinting her cheeks as she looked away awkwardly for a mont.

"You like seeing happy?" Christine asked, curiously raising her brow.

"I an...yeah, I guess. I like seeing you happy." Zoey said a bit nervously, her heart pounding.

"You what would make really happy?" Christine asked as they continued to walk down the streets, the air a bit cold but the atmosphere charged with sothing more.

"What?" Zoey asked as they approached a small bench and sat down, nervously clutching the gift bag she had gotten for Christine.