“Selling strange fruits!” Nick shouted on the outskirts of town.
Rarely anyone came to this part of the town unless they were entering from the swamp or leaving to the swamp. That made it hard for Nick to find customers that were willing to try these mystical fruits. Mystical in his opinion, anyway. Back in his old world, there weren’t any fruits like this on any part of the planet! In this world, there were all kinds of magical fruits and stuff.
“First-time seller gets a 30% off discount!” He yelled out.
[Discounts are not allowed to be set by the host. Only the system.]
Nick read the annoying warning sign floating in front of his eyes and waved it away.
“First-time seller gets a nice performance by me!” He corrected.
Barely anyone looked in his direction. It was expected, but it sure didn’t feel good to be looked at like trash and a scammer. If he could get at least one customer to vouch for one of his fruits, then it wouldn’t be so hard to sell in this town. And then maybe he could actually accomplish his first fucking mission from this unforgiving slave-driving piece of shit system!
“Let’s calm down, Nick.” He took a deep breath. “All you need to do is make enough money to buy a proper fruit stand. Then you can move on to the next mission and hopefully get something that can protect you against these violent savages.” He muttered under his breath.
The system provided him no guardian or protection for his stand. It left mostly everything to him. The only thing the system did was make rules about his fruit stand, give him the fruits or seeds to sell, and reward him for completing the annoying missions it gives him. Nick has already lost two stands in two other small towns like this one because he couldn’t defend himself or his shop with his weak human strength. He thought about hiring a bodyguard or something like it to ward off any gangsters, but the thing is, that required a little something called ‘money’. A very important thing that he was a little empty on after having to run away to this new town out of fear for his life. If he didn’t make a single sale today, there was a good chance he was going to go hungry tonight.
‘Time to break out my super ultra desperate plan.’ Nick cracked his knuckles and stood to the side of his dinky stand that looked like it was on the verge of collapsing.
On top of his stand were 2 distinctly colored fruits with odd shapes and a tiny brown seed with a green swirling pattern etched into it. He had more in stock if he asked the system. He only had those for display purposes. If he needed to sell them, he could replace it with another from the system so that the customers could see what he had on sale at all times.
Nick moved back and forth on his feet in a rhythmic manner. Every part of his body moved in complete sync. At first, Nick thought this ability was really, really fucking useless, but after the system told him of its future potential, his mind was changed quickly. It was called Capoeira, and from how the system described what it could eventually do after being ranked up, he wouldn’t have anything to fear from the so-called cultivators in this world. A smile slowly grew on his face as he broke into dance.
In his head, he played an imaginary beat to groove to. It just felt right doing it. He didn’t have this martial art style back in his old world, it’d probably be made fun of just like it was right now. Many of the adults looked at him in ridicule when they passed by his stand, but he ignored them and just focused on entertaining the few who liked what he was doing. Mostly those of the younger generation. The children and young adults who didn’t have anything important going on in their lives stopped what they were doing and looked at Nick. Nick inwardly grinned as his advertisement was actually working.
He just hoped these young customers had some cash on them, or he would be doing this for nothing. Wait, no, that was a lie. The system said he couldn’t rank up his ability through practice, only life-or-death battles and the system itself. But for some reason, actually putting his moves into practice made him feel more at ease using it. Maybe the system was full of shit. Practice did make perfect, you know?
The spectators of this unusual but strange entertaining dance had their own thoughts about Nick.
“What kind of martial arts do you guys think that is?” Boolin asked.
“Does that look like a martial art to you idiot? He’s obviously just damaged in the brain.” Lan scoffed.
“I don’t know what he’s doing, but I do know I want to learn it.” Chen stared with stars in his eyes.
“You want to learn that? Anyone with a sword could chop you down in one swipe.” Boolin mocked.
“Look at how he’s moving though. He could probably dodge a sword.” Chen responded back.
“And then what? Kick them to death with his feet? Ha. That would be hilarious.” Lan also didn’t believe that weird way of moving could kill anyone.
The purpose of learning martial arts was to kill. Why else would someone learn martial arts? To have fun? Maybe if you were sick in the head! It was every child’s dream in the Soaring Pheonix continent to become a powerful cultivator. They all learned from a young age that power was the most coveted resource in the world. Yet there were so few chances to stumble along someone willing to share that resource or gift it to those unrelated to them without some ridiculous form of payment. Even the most common cultivation techniques cost fortunes for normal people.
“I still think learning it would be better than not learning it.” Chen defended his choice.
“A knife would be more effective.” Boolin rolled his eyes.
“I’m going over there to ask if he can teach it to me.” Chen began walking to the interesting adult.
“Do you think he’s really going to teach you if you just ask!? No one just shares martial arts!” Lan yelled at him.
Both Lan and Boolin followed behind him just on the slightest chance that the weird guy would actually teach Chen. They doubted the man would be willing to teach Chen anything, but they didn’t doubt it 100%. Just like 99% sure he wouldn’t teach him at all. But if there was a 1% chance of learning martial arts for free, then they’d better take it. Lan and Boolin knew that people would kill for the chance of learning a legitimate martial art, no matter how silly it looked.
“Hey, mister! Can you teach me your martial arts?” Chen asked directly.
“Only if you come to buy one of my products every day this week and then once every week going forth. Oh, and make sure to tell everyone you know to come to buy fruits at my stand.” Nick told him.
Nick finished his spin on the ground and flipped backward into a standing position. He got behind his fruit stand and stared at the kids walking up to it. They looked like a bunch of poor gremlins, but who was he to judge a book by its cover? He had absolutely not a single coin on him but looked like your average person here. Like he had a decent job and was a respectable adult.
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“You have a deal!” Chen quickly agreed.
“WAIT! WE WANT TO LEARN TOO!” Boolin and Lan yelled after seeing how quickly their friend worked.
They would make sure to never doubt his judgment ever again in the foreseeable future to come.
“Alright, but since you two came a bit later than him, you’ll have to work harder than him.” He told them.
“Wait, can I help you with your stand and learn your martial arts?” Chen asked.
“Yeah, but you don’t have too.” Nick shrugged.
He didn’t see why these kids were so eager to learn Capoeira that they’d even help him with his work. Back in his old world, kids would do anything to get away from helping out adults doing work. To those kids, work was a synonym with the word boring and tiresome. He knew he would never volunteer to help his parents with work when he could be off playing and doing who knows else.
“Alright, kids. What would you like to buy? This fruit is called the Laugh Laugh fruit.” Nick pointed to the green and black fruit shaped into a question mark.
“What does it do?” Lan asked, entirely put off by its strange appearance.
“Great question, young lady! This Laugh Laugh fruit came from a Goofy Tree. A tree that can only grow through the laughter of those with a pure heart. This fruit can soothe mental fatigue and give you a good laugh while you’re eating it. Kids like you wouldn’t need a fruit like this because you aren’t burdened with the responsibilities of being an adult yet.” He whispered that last part.
“What kind of fruit is this? It looks like a penis.” Boolin pointed to the phallic-shaped fruit.
“This fruit might look something like that, but this is actually quite an amazing fruit, young man. It is called the Refresher fruit. Grown from an Azure Wind Replenishing Plant. Let me tell you guys something about this fruit...” He beckoned them closer.
They were all clearly intrigued by the peculiar fruits and liked the way Nick spoke to them. He didn’t talk to them like they were stupid or annoying. Most shop owners would’ve told them to scram after taking a single look at them. But the most important fact was that he was going to teach them martial arts! This guy could’ve talked to them in any kind of way and treated them however he wanted and they would’ve been fine with it just because he was going to teach them martial arts. His nice attitude was just a bonus.
“You all are definitely going to need this fruit if you wanna get through the training to learn my martial arts.” He grinned.
“What does it do?” Chen asked.
“It recovers physical fatigue.” He smiled as if he had just told the biggest secret in the world.
“How much does it cost?” Lan asked with her pupils shining, immediately understanding what he was getting at.
“Just 50 coins.” Nick answered.
“I could borrow that much from my dad if I promise to help him with the fields!” Chen happily exclaimed.
“Do you think he’ll pay me too if I help out?” Boolin asked his friend.
“We can find out.”
“I’d have to ask my mom... But if she knew I was planning to spend it on martial arts, she wouldn’t give it to me.” Lan muttered.
“Just lie to her!” Boolin suggested.
“Now now, there’s no need to buy it as soon as possible. Let me explain my final product to you three. This one is the cheapest item I have to sell.” Nick calmed them down.
He knew he probably could entice the kids into trying to buy the Refresher fruit immediately if he hyped up the training more but he’d feel scummy doing that to some innocent kids. If it were someone around his age or older, then he wouldn’t feel half as bad. They could only blame themselves for being so naïve to think they needed something like this. It was only good for recovering stamina.
“This little brown seed is called a Happypot Seed. If you give it plenty of water and sunshine after planting it, it’ll eventually grow into a Happypot plant that will bear Happypot fruits. A very sweet fruit that’ll make your taste buds dance like lightning bugs.” Nick explained.
“What are lightning bugs?” Boolin questioned.
“They don’t have lightning bugs here? Then it’ll make your taste bud feel like it was struck by lightning but in a good way.”
“You’re weird.” Lan said, but not in a bad way.
“We’ll buy the Happypot seeds!” Chen declared.
“That’ll be 30 coins, young man. 10 for each of you.” Nick held out his hand.
Chen reached into his underwear and pulled out a small brown bag. It was tightened with a small white string and loosened as he grabbed a bunch of coins out of it. Nick didn’t mind where they came from as it was his first time getting legitimate coinage in days! Now he just had to make get enough money to purchase a proper fruit stand before he could complete his first mission.
[Tutorial Mission Part 1]
[What kind of fruit salesman doesn’t even have a proper fruit stand?! Get yourself some money and buy a respectable stand.]
[30/500 coins required for a good fruit stand.]
[Penalty For Failure: No additional missions will be added.]
[Rewards: Unlock a new cycle of fruits relative to your rank, 50 points, 1 proper fruit stand, 10 Refresher fruits, 10 Laugh Laugh fruits, and 10 Happypot seeds for host.]
“Here you go.” He handed them three individual seeds, and they pocketed them.
“Can we learn now!?” Chen excitedly shouted.
“Hmm... Let me see.” Nick looked to the curious adults watching the kids in front of his stands. “Selling abnormal fruits! Come and find out just how abnormal they are! You’ll never find anything else similar to them on the market!” He advertised.
None of them were baited in as easily as the kids. He clicked his tongue at the wary bastards before motioning the kids to the side of his stand. Nick was going to keep his part of the deal. And to make sure he didn’t get hoodwinked by a bunch of brats, he’ll only teach them the very basics this week. Not a single attacking move or anything. Just the stances, movements, and some simple exercises.
“My name is Nick. You all can just call me Teacher or Nick. Whichever you prefer. What’re your names?”
“I’m Chen, Teacher!” Chen bowed deeply with great respect and gratitude.
“You can call me Boolin.” He bowed awkwardly, not used to showing respect to adults.
“My name is Lan, Teacher. Thank you for passing this on to us.” She bowed like a proper lady.
“Good. You all can raise your heads now.” Nick nodded. They seemed to know what manners were, at least.
“My martial art is called Capoeira. It’s a martial art focused on the art of continuous motion. There is nothing more important than the rhythm of your body, soul, and mind. Without a flow that refuses to submit, you will never come close to mastering Capoeira.” Nick shared honestly.
“What does rhythm mean, Teacher?” Chen asked.
“I think it means like being able to move all the time. Like earlier, Teacher was able to move from all those weird positions without stopping once.” Lam explained.
“That’s right, Lam. Today I'm going to teach you the fundamentals of Capoeira. You most likely won’t be able to get a basic understanding of them all for a few weeks, and even then, being able to use it somewhat smoothly would be asking a lot of you all.” Nick honestly shared with them.
“How hard could it be?” Boolin asked, not believing it could be as hard as he was making it.
“You’ll see. Now try and copy my movements. This is the Ginga, your main stance for this martial art.” Nick backed up a little to give himself some space before rocking side to side with his feet along with his arms moving in form with his legs.
“Eventually, when you gain enough experience, you’ll be able to develop your own stance to what fits you best. But for now, you will copy me and only use this stance.” Nick spoke.
“Doesn’t look too hard...” Lam murmured hesitantly.
“Come on. Do it with me.” Nick smiled.
The kids were nervous, but all of them were equally excited to learn this martial art. Boolin and Lam may have seemed doubtful about learning the funny-looking fighting technique, but they were just as attentive and eager to know it as Chen was. All of them awkwardly tried mimicking Nick’s movement. It took them a bit to get started until Nick intentionally slowed his stance down for them to properly look at.
“Good. Don’t be nervous. Just relax. It's just like a dance.” Nick instructed.
“A dance?” Chen questioned.
“Do you people not dance here either?”
Just what kind of backward ass place was he taken to?