CHAPTER 4

After his words, the people in the tavern discussed it together and could accept that explanation. Even though it came from a five-year-old, it was the reality. They had been too focused on the numbers and failed to notice the words. This was in a way an important lesson they would remember. Many uncles went and took it upon themselves to congratulate and praise Mir. Boras received a few praises as well for having raised such a bright child. After some time, the herbalist group head left the scene with the other and the quiz continued.

Once all eyes were again on her, the girl took out something from her bag. This time, there were ten pellets like the previous one. Ten. The crowd became agitated again. The girl said :

“You aren’t mistaken. We’re now entering the real martial quiz. This next question goes for ten pellets 1.1”

The crowd was overexcited, they were jumping on their seats. Many ordered beers at the same time. It was an enjoyable event for those old men. Even Mir was incomparably impatient. Then, a disciple brought a small table on scene and a pot containing a plant. The plant was one meter tall and abundant in various kinds of leaves. There were also many flowers of distinct colors. Once it was on the table, it started spinning on itself so the crowd could take a good look at the plant. The girl then said :

“For this second test, we ask you this : What plants were used to create this plant here”

An herbalist group for you. That plant was so big with so many different shapes. It was actually a question even harder than the previous one. Even the old man frowned upon seeing it. Boras was sighing :

“Ah…I’ve been a farmer all my life and I can’t even guess a single one of those plants. What a shame.”

Mir was smiling broadly again. With his eyes, he already knew all the plants contained inside that pot. However, he wasn’t planning on answering right away. He wished for the players to exhaust their chances once again… That’s when, during this silence, the old man asked :

“Is there a part under the soil ?”

And the girl replied :

“You really are wise, elder. However, I can assure you that there is nothing hidden in the soil. All the plants can be found from the upper part outside the soil. I guarantee it on our group’s honor.”

The elder nodded a few times and started observing the plant while writing on his paper. Many other men had also started writing plants names. Mir wasn’t alarmed. He knew they probably wouldn’t get them all…

After long minutes, a man tried to answer. He failed. Seeing that he still managed to get quite a lot of them, the girl said :

“Like before, since it is a puzzling question, I will be giving you hints whenever someone fail. I will tell you how many plants left to find there are. Considering what this uncle said, there are still 23 plants to discover”

Some people were speechless. The man who had tried his luck was even more surprised. He was himself an herbalist. It came as a shock to him. But being surprised is being surprised. He came back to his senses and began to observe more cautiously the plant. And soon, he wrote something more on his paper. Time was flying by but the players were only concentrating their gazes towards the plant. They weren’t fools. According to what the precious failure revealed, there was a total of 35 plants composing the one in front of them. Obviously, this had been done through a long time and meticulous herbalism techniques. After all, to incorporate the genetics of 35 plants to form one is not an easy task. But in the end, there was someone who tried is luck. The old man. He went ahead and began saying the names of rare plants one after another. He said 34 in total and then:

“While I could find out about those 34, I have no idea what the last one could be. That is why I thought it could be the dandelion. After all, it is a very basic plant capable of fusing with others and shouldn’t be recognizable. The 35th plant is a dandelion.

-You’re wrong, elder. But you were close. The first 34 plants were right. However, while it is true that the dandelion would have been easy to mix in, we didn’t use it.

-What a shame ohohoh, this old man failed again.

-Yes. Let’s continue then…Oh, someone else placed their signs on the rock. Let’s see. Number fifty-five.”

Under the gazes of all those old men, Mir was smiling. Though this time there was some sweat on his forehead. The old man had made him worry quite a lot until the 35th plant. It is obvious that this elder is quite knowledgeable in herbs. Out of fear of losing the tasty meat in front of me, he had rushed to use his sign. In the end, he succeeded in being able to answer after the old man. But he wouldn’t have been able to make players lose their chances. However, he decided not to miss the prize in front of him out of greed to make others lose. So, he answered. Of course, the first 34 plants were right just like the old man. But to finish he said :

“I can’t find any traces of the 35th plant so I’ll guess too. I’ll say it’s the raging thunderous herb.”

It created uproar in the room and the eyes of many disciples flashed with a hint of surprise. A 5-year-old kid knew about that herb ? That was unprecedented. That’s when the old man laughed and applauded with a smile on his face. The girl on stage smiled as well and said :

“Correct young brother. Congratulations, those ten pellets are yours !”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This made the crowd rage again. After all, it was a bit too much for this young boy to get that question right when they couldn’t. and the raging thunderous herb ? How did he even thought about that? Being frustrated, the first man who tried his luck for this question asked him loudly :

“How did you found out it was the raging thunderous herb ?”

Mir didn’t quite like the tone of that man but he knew that if he didn’t explain, then he might face accusations of trickeries. He answered :

“I didn’t know the last herb so I was thinking. Then senior got 34 of them. It meant you guys could just go and try your luck for the remaining one and it would end sooner or later. I decided to be the first taking the chance because I had a hunch. I mean, she said we could find out from seeing the plant but…We can’t. Not now at least. The raging thunderous herb can only be differentiated during a storm when there’s lightning. At that time, it’d turn yellow with fluctuating lightnings on it. The fact that we can see it yet can’t meant it was likely to be that plant. As for why this one precisely and not another one…The symbol of their group is a raging thunderous leaf. I still had my three chances so I tried my luck. And I was right !”

This stunned the crowd once more. Their opinion of this youth took a profound change. They were astonished about his knowledge and his ability to analyze. The truth was however that Mir saw through the 35 plants with his eyes and their mystical power. His explanation was only a big lie he made up easily thanks to years of being a businessman and politician. Being able to come with satisfying answers on the spot was a requirement to his job. This was a piece of cake. And sure enough, he received his pellets. This time, he didn’t give them all to his father. He gave him only two of them and kept the remaining eight. His father was startled by everything but he didn’t poke much into it. The fact that he got 3 pellets worth a few gold coins was enough to make him forget the world…

And time passed. The next questions were regarding herbalism as well. But Mir couldn’t answer them. They were words testing the player’s knowledge. And he didn’t have any. He was only relying on his eyes. It was impossible for him to answer them. Time passed like this and many players started to give up. After many hours, there were still sixty players left, Mir and his father included. This time, the girl asked a question related to a typical herb given to animals as nutrients :

“How much Valianty herbs can a blue-skinned pig eat in a day ?”

For the first time, the rock on scene lighted up right away. And the number was fifty-five. But it wasn’t Mir. It was his father. The girl on stage asked him :

“Uncle 55, please, your answer.

-Blue-skinned pig can eat 400kg of food a day and they are fond of Valianty herbs. So much so that sometimes they lose sight of their appetite and eat too much…Going as far as 500kg. But the thing is, the Valianty grass isn’t something that can be eaten in such quantities. If the pig ate that much, he’d dead by the next morning. While it depends on his size and age, that kind of pig should be able to take in between 100  and 180 kg of that herb without risks. 200 being the very limit.

-Correct ! A perfectly detailed answer ! Congratulations, uncle. How did you know about this ?

-I’m a farmer. Been one since birth.

-I see. Well, you won this space bag and ten 1.2 pellets so congratulations.

-Thank you.”

When his father received the reward, he placed five pellets in the bag and handed it over to his son. Then he said :

“Here is your present son. You’re wise so don’t waste those precious treasures, alright ?

-Yes ! Thank you, daddy, !”

While it felt weird for this old man in a body of a young boy to call someone that should be younger than him, his daddy, it remained that in this life he was Boras’s son. Anyway, Mir was more interested at the present. The pellets were of course very valuable but the bag even more. It was a space bag. As its name implies, it is a bag connected to a martial space. They were made through martial techniques very difficult to grasp and rare materials. It was very small. One hand was enough to support it. However, it could contain unlimited amount of everything. It was a magnificent item worth dozens of golds. A true treasure. Of course, to martial cultivators, this space bag wasn’t a luxury but a requirement so the bag itself didn’t mean much to most people here. It remained that it was a treasure for a farmer’s son. The quiz continued and after some time, Boras tried again on a question related to mighty earth cows and lost his three chances on it. He reached game over in a single question. The game continued with no possibilities for Mir to participate and finally… The last question. It was already late in the afternoon and counting Mir, they were only eleven players left. Except for Mir, all ten men had a single chance remaining. The old man was one of them. He managed to get a few wins during the day and never failed again when he chooses to answer. The cute girl smiled and said :

“For our last question, the reward will be this, a 1.9 pellet. The highest first rank martial pellet.”

Everyone was excited. Even though they had lost the ability to participate, the players had stayed to enjoy the show and sure enough it was worth it. A 1.9 pellet used as a prize in a one-silver entry quiz. Some had their heads in their hands, feeling foolish for having lost before reaching the last question. After all, the value of this pellet was far more than everything else. If you added all the previous prizes, you wouldn’t be able to exchange them for a single 1.9 pellet. As everyone was ecstatic by the sight, the girl said :

“And now, for the question you’ve all been waiting for :  Do you remember when I presented you our group’s head on the morning ? Well, he was one of our two inner court disciple. The second one is somewhere in the room. The question is, who is it ?”

That was a very difficult question. There were twenty tables. And only eleven players left. What’s more, they only had one chance each except for Mir. But in the end, there would be only thirteen answers given. The possibility that the pellet would not be won today existed. Turned out that the quiz was truly hard. Enough so that at the end, it wasn’t sure if all the prizes would have been given. If not for Mir, Boras, the old man and a few others having answered questions while others had no clues, the result might have been even worse for the players. Still, Mir was rejoicing. This was a question he could answer easily. His eyes couldn’t let him see things like who was an inner court disciple or outer court but he could see one’s martial cultivation. And obviously, the one who would have the highest cultivation would be that disciple. Mir stood up on his chair and started observing around calmly. He was focusing himself. A few men laughed at his actions, some sighed and some were expecting a miracle. A man with a chance left placed his sign on the rock and answered first :

“Since I can’t find out another’s cultivation and I don’t know your group, I can only try my luck. I will put my bet on you little lady. Your cultivation is the highest of those I know from your group after all.

-Thank you for your praise, uncle. Unfortunately, you are wrong. I’m ashamed but I am still an outer court disciple. It seems like it is a game over for you.

-Bah, it’s fine, it was fun.

-Glad to hear it.”

After that, the old man placed his sign on the rock and answered :

“I am the same as you my friend ohoh. Since it is fate that brought me to this table, I will place my bet on the disciple sitting with us here, Jallof.

-Sorry elder, he is an outer court disciple as well.

-Too bad ohoh. I still enjoyed myself greatly today, thank you for this wonderful quiz game ohoh

-It was a pleasure, elder.”