The difference between a regular mortal realm with ‘normal’ amount of Qi in the environment and the Dreadlands was already like comparing heaven and earth, but the immortal realm was on a completely different level. The abundance of Qi was the reason why people here were born more talented and could actually become immortals and now, strolling through the streets of the Golden city, Leo felt the difference with every pore of his body.
Probably because he arrived from a place with basically no Qi at all, he was starved for it and the impression he got was that the body was absorbing large amounts of Qi on its own. Leo was slightly concerned because of the damned lightning mutation, but for now he couldn’t do anything about it therefore decided to not think too much.
He did enjoy the influx of strength though. To get to the food district he had to walk for over half a day, but apart from the problem of getting thirsty he could easily carry the Cleaver on the shoulder with a smile on his lips. It was slightly embarrassing to clench thirst in water fountains on public squares, but in was not like anyone thought of him being from a noble family to begin with.
‘I need to learn how to use this thing as soon as possible.’ Leo thought to himself and glanced at the crown.
It would’ve been so easy to carry a large barrel of water in it according to the rule number two! Of course, that was if he didn’t need to consume a dark-crimson horned beetle each time he wanted to use it. It was a bit painful since there were only four of those things left, but if he managed to get them back to the sect, lady Evelyn should be satisfied.
If it was two, three years ago, during the half day of battling though the crowds Leo would’ve been lost multiple times over. But after spending months and months in forests and jungles with a bunch of commandos, he even surprised himself with how easy he found the way. At some point he simply began to consider the Golden city a different kind of jungle – instead of trees there were buildings and instead of insects and beasts it was full of people and, well, ranked beasts.
Of course, the difference was that the current ‘jungle’ had hardly a speck of dust anywhere on its marble covered streets and buildings and the dirtiest thing around was probably the boy with the oversized weapon on his shoulder.
The sun was almost setting when Leo arrived at the white four storey building. Just like the last time it was covered in blooming red flowers, giving the impression they bloomed all year round. The sign ‘King’s kitchen’ clearly stated he was at the right place and suddenly Leo felt incredibly hungry.
“Is Jamie in today?” He loudly asked the receptionist, imitating the George’s nonchalant demeanor.
There were quite a few people at the entrance waiting for their turn and all of them at once turned towards the weird boy and, while most curiously observed the proceedings, interested in how exactly the dirty kid would be disposed of, many directly laughed and shouted ‘get lost!’, ‘where the hell this thing came from?’ and ‘this is no place for country bumpkins!’.
Leo already expected this, but the ridicule still hurt his pride, especially the shouts from a bunch of youths a bit older than him standing not too far away, waiting for their turn to enter. Nevertheless, even though he was blushed all over, he pretended to not hear anyone and continued to stare at the receptionist.
The man had seen many people in his life and knew that many newcomers had a considerable backing in the city, therefore held back the ‘f*ck off’ on the tip of his tongue and, forcing out the smile, asked, “And who might you be … khem … young master?”
Despite the receptionist being formally polite, his question caused another wave of laughter from the crowd. Leo, his face already in beet red color, took a deep breath and said, “My name is Leo. Jamie gave me a book few years ago and ... I need to ask him something.”
His mind was a mess and obviously he should’ve formulated his intention differently, but it was already too late, because currently the whole street was laughing at the weird boy with the ugly weapon on his shoulder.
But then something happened that stunned everyone silent, including the boy who kept cursing himself for the moronic idea to come here.
The receptionist’s expression suddenly turned serious, he slightly bowed and said, “One moment, master Leo! Please wait!”
“What the f*ck?!” One of the youths from the nearby bunch shouted out loud what was on everyone’s mind, but a nearby girl smacked him on the back of his head for cursing publicly.
With their attention focused on the boy, no one noticed how earlier a young, elegantly dressed man from fifteen, twenty yards away gave a signal to the receptionist. And while there might be people who didn’t recognize him, everyone would recognize the beautiful young woman standing next to him. Her protruding belly proved that the ‘wedding of the century’ held in the Golden city less than a year ago was not for naught and the two former rival families had finally grown close.
Of course, just because Fan Lia was pregnant didn’t mean all Cilin’s and Fan’s suddenly became friends, but at least their rivalry had toned down quite a bit. Truth to be said, everyone curiously was looking forward to see what would the child with both bloodlines be like and if the Golden city could finally produce another ‘master Shaw’.
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“Why can’t we go over and say ‘hello’?” Lia angrily hissed at George, while lovingly placing her palms on the belly as if protecting the child from the stupefied crowd, “He’s our benefactor, you know? See how embarrassed he is? Without him …”
“I know, I know!” George whispered back, “But don’t you find it amazing how much courage the kid has? To run around as he is and to even come here? I’m really curious what he’s up to!”
“But …” Lia wanted to argue, but George interrupted her with a smile.
“You know, if he would’ve wanted, he could’ve found us through the many shops belonging to our families he passed on the way here. Let’s see how this plays out!”
The couple stealthily continued to argue, but no one noticed them since most people were busy discussing the event themselves. Of course, the most clueless one, the cause for the whole commotion, stood still blushed and confused, but kind of happy everything went better than he hoped. He had no clue there were people in the crowd who recognized him and whole three at that.
This was the busiest time of the day for any restaurant and even more for the ‘King’s kitchen’, and, of course, the busiest of all were the cooks. If not for the receptionist insisting it was George Cilin who signaled to go, Jamie would’ve never come out for a random fan.
The crowd curiously watched how he stared at the weird country bumpkin for a moment and already began to ridicule the boy again, but then a smile bloomed on the Jamie’s face – the memory of a Nascent soul stage cultivator was at a complete another level after all.
“Ah! I remember you! Leo, right?! How did you like the book? Was it helpful?”
Cooking was the passion of his life and it would’ve been strange if he would speak about anything else.
“It was incredibly helpful, thank you!” Leo truthfully said, “I couldn’t bring it along on the last expedition, but I tried to memorize everything and, to be honest, your teachings saved my life on too many occasions. Long version short, during the two years in the realm without Qi I would’ve died multiple times over if not for you.”
The friendly and casual conversation threw the ridiculing crowd off and some already began to regret they might’ve insulted someone from an actually remarkable background.
“Oh? Tell me, what’s the best dish you prepared so far?” Jamie curiously asked forgetting all the pots and roasts in the kitchen that currently needed his attention. Of course, there were plenty of assistants who could take care of everything, but they also had their hands full this time of the day.
“I guess the turtle stew …” Leo said and the tense crowd behind him erupted in laughter once again while Lia angrily pinched George pointing at her displeasure their young friend was ridiculed again.
“Interesting.” Jamie didn’t even notice the crowd, “Give me details!”
“Well, the local empress was kind of a foodie and decided to hunt a ‘swamp dragon’.” Leo began his story, but it was immediately accompanied by a loud laughter from the bystanders. The boy ignored it and continued, “Of course, it’s not a real dragon, the people of Dreadlands call their oversized animals that way. Anyway … it turned out to be a huge turtle – in a size of a small house. The imperial forces battled it for two days and in the end managed to somehow kill it. Then it was my turn – I kept gutting it all night and in the end used the shell as a big pot.”
Leo paused to have a breather, but hearing everyone snickering behind him, rushed to continue, “First I marinaded the meat and afterwards we made a huge bonfire beneath the shell ...”
“Hahaha! What a fish story!” One of the youngest bystanders couldn’t hold back anymore and began to ridicule.
“No, it’s not!” Leo finally couldn’t take it and showed Jamie the iron crown, “I have another one right here! Except this ‘water dragon’ is a snake and I killed it myself!”
Jamie immediately took the crown, closed his eyes for a moment and said, “Interesting … hahaha … and you took it head on … and with that thing of yours! Too bad you lost its brain – it might’ve been rather good …”
“Clearly someone has lost their brains …” The youth from before remarked, but Jamie ignored him.
He said, “Listen, I don’t have much free time now. What would you say if I cooked you some of this?”
“Sir, may I also have some of it?” Suddenly a clear and youthful voice came from the crowd and few moments later a slender young man came to the front accompanied by shouts of surprise.
“Young master!”
“Why?”
“What the …!”
It took a moment for Leo to process the grinning face through his memories and the next moment he stunned the crowd for the last time this evening.
“Kevin?” He blurted out, “What are you doing here?”
After few moments passed finally everyone realized why the kid allowed himself to be so brazen. Someone who knew young master Kevin Shaw on the first name basis was not a random nobody and the following conversation ‘proved it’.
“Sorry I didn’t stop them earlier …” Kevin tried to apologize, but similar to George and Lia he was curious how the boy from a mortal realm would deal with the situation.
The boy, of course, didn’t mind.
He knowingly said, “I understand ‘your situation’. It probably has not been easy on you.”
Obviously he meant master Shaw’s illegal activities since just by mentioning his name Leo was thrown out the hospital, but in the eyes of the crowd he appeared as someone who was empathetic for his friend receiving too much unwanted attention.
“Oh? Good! You know each other. Then I’ll bring the dishes when their ready!” Jamie said and hurried away leaving behind only few words, “This is so great! It has been a decade since I cooked something from a mortal realm!”
The crowd was completely stunned by how the things turned out, including youths with whom Kevin arrived, therefore noticing the awkward situation the youth clapped his hands and shouted, “Alright! The show is over!”
Then he turned towards the receptionist and politely said, “I’ve booked a table for nine, but could you please make an exception and allow my friend to join us?”
Everyone in the city knew how down-to-earth the young master Shaw was, but Leo his way of speech interpreted as another proof his standing was not as high as those years ago. Maybe the guy’s father had even lost their floating island … it would be a great shame though – having your own island in the Golden city was beyond cool!