The diner was packed.

  “I think this diner might be a little more famous than you let on.” I looked at the various people in the small building. Most of them didn’t look like Adventurers though, which confused me because of all the other places I’d been, the Mundane rarely ate in a restaurant.

  “This is normal for one of the city diners.” Miel gestured for us to follow her. “Klix has this type of building set up all over the city. Most Mundane eat their meals in one of them rather than bothering to prepare it themselves since there’s something special about this.” She held up her hand. “Food vouchers.”

  “Food vouchers?” Fray paused. “What do you mean?”

  “They’re included with paychecks.” Ether paused, making sure her mother was okay with her taking over the conversation. “As are housing vouchers. As long as you reach your minimums at your job, your housing and meals are taken care of.”

  “How does this type of society function?” I took a seat at the table Miel had guided us to.

  “It’s a similar way that my parents run the clinic.” Justia sat across from me. Except instead of my father and uncle Paul financing it through farming tours, Klix just goes down to the lower floors and farms. A single Tier Eight crystal would provide energy far beyond what most crystals produce.”

  “That’s actually what powers most of the lower farmers.” Miel touched the screen on the table to display the menu. “Since the amount of foodstuff that can be gathered from a crystal is the same regardless of Tier, the ninth floor tends to get farmed for food in the Dungeons that have monsters that can have meat or produce farmed from them. There are even Mundane groups that will go into the first floor of Dungeons that have fruit or nut trees to gather them to sell. Then they ship those crystals to the various cities where they are processed and the consumables are extracted.”

  The older woman selected what she wanted from the menu, then sat back in her chair while the rest of us looked at the menu.

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  “There’s way more stuff here than back in Zeb!” Aelin was sorting through the choices.

  “Not surprising.” Miel puffed out her chest. “Zeb is a godless town, so it had to be subsidized by the Temple, whereas here we have Klix to help bring in more variety.”

  “What do you want?” Aelin made her selection and looked at me.

  I looked at Ether on my left, then Rix on my right. “Do you know what you want?”

  Ether was able to make her selection with barely a glance at the screen. It made sense. She’d grown up here, so she’d know what was available. It only took Justia a few moments to find what she wanted, but the other three of us had a little more trouble.

  “Aelin, why don’t you pick something you think I’ll like?” The list was daunting, and I had no clue what most of it was just based on names and images.

  “I have the power!” The blonde cackled as she looked on the other side of Justia. “Fray, do you want me to order for you too?”

  The shy woman nodded slowly and shrank into her seat.

  Rix made her selection after a few more moments of looking over the options, and Miel placed the order. I saw that she paid just over double the All for the meal.

  “You paid for it?” It had been just under fifty All, which was expensive to begin with.

  “You aren’t Mundane, so no vouchers.” Miel tapped the extra line. “I added this because if you’re paying with All that usually means you’re an Adventurer.” She smiled. “You want to make sure they know you’re going to be polite. Always a good idea to be nice to the people who prepare your food.”

  “I was wondering why you did that.”

  “A level thirty-two crystal is worth a hundred All.” She shrugged. “I’d take me longer to find a monster on that floor than to beat it. Might as well be nice.”

  “If food and housing are covered, then what do Mundane have to spend All on?” In my experience, those were the only two things I’d had to worry about when I’d worked as a porter.

  “There’s plenty of luxury items that can be bought.” Miel shrugged. “Clothes other than your work uniforms, vehicles, and there are lots of forms of entertainment.” She shook her head. “Stay away from the Red District. People need a way to blow off steam, but that's not somewhere any of you need to be.”

  Before I could ask her about that, a middle-aged woman showed up with our food. It was probably for the best. I had far too many things on my plate as it was without adding something else to it. I settled into my chair so I could enjoy my meal.

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