Fonta awoke after a long sleep, his body covered in wraps as various broken bones all over his body had been set, then placed in splints. Moving his arm set all of his nerves ablaze, and sent his mind into alert mode.

“Molta! Where? What happened to my sister!” Fonta tried to shoot up but various contraptions held him still.

“Easy Fonta, you need to stay quiet,” Ted stated with a tired look in his eyes. He clearly hadn't slept for a while, how long however wasn't on Fonta's mind, however.

Fonta looked ready to leap out of his cast and shake the young man when the pained look in his eyes told him a different story.

“What happened?”

“You said that the two of you were twins. How sure of you are that?” Ted lowered his voice to a whisper.

“We have been together for as long as I can remember, and we were always orphans. Why?”

“When we were running from the chaos I was impaled by a support beam. Molta used healing magic to save my life. Closed the wound and kept me alive. The light attracted those monsters and soon she magically created the barrier that protected us.

“Magic? Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’ve seen healers work using chi. Matter can’t be created from nothing, what had to be done to keep me alive did that. This beating heart in my chest was created from nothing.”

“Vinx! Ted, have you told anyone else?” Fonta sat up, feeling his ribs ache.

“No. Of course not.” Ted helped his brother in all but blood, up.

“Do you still have that money I gave you earlier?”

“I retrieved it after bringing you here why?”

“Those wheelchair things. Receive any payment for those if they were expensive. Where are my weapons?”

“The cultivators retrieved them. Apparently, they were sect property.”

Fonta sighed and placed a hand against his head. “Right. Use it to get the kids somewhere safe in the city. There is another sack of money under my bed, use that to get them schooled. I need to get stronger fast. I won’t let them keep her. Also, that magic thing she did will likely lead to me being questioned or interrogated by those in white.”

“So you’ll just abandon us.”

“You’re practically an adult. You don’t need me to cause trouble. Also, the ruins won't be giving money for a while.”

“You both give me too much credit.” Ted looked sullen but he didn’t argue any further.

“Good.” Fonta began to trace his chi in the pattern as he moved, getting his blood flowing faster as well, breaking through a second meridian before he made it out of the tent.

The stench of his breakthrough caused some retching as a few plants withered and died as he passed. Noticing regular people were retching.

Fonta moved into a jog out of the area where a familiar old man stood arms crossed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Eh? I’m going on a journey.”

“Well kid, have you left the city before? Been on the road? Explored the wild lands? Where are you headed?”

“Someone from Lumino City said that they would help me train and teach me the basics.”

“With a caravan that's a two-week trip. Alone with a horse for one week if you're skilled. Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Well no.”

“Do you know north from south when not in a city, can you tell what time of day it is by the position of the sun?”

“No…”

“And does this boy here owe you for saving his life?”

“A little but...”

“Well my sect has been all but destroyed, leaving me as one of its few elders and I hate the doublespeak so I’ll be me. My grandson has been disowned due to his injuries and thus can’t afford to pay his debts any time soon. Thus I have a compromise”

“Uh-huh.” Fonta couldn’t see a way out of the hospitality shown.

“He will travel with you in search of a healer, who can fix help with his crippled limbs. Until he finds one, he will act as a guide, and ally. He may not be a fighter or very tough, compared to you, but he can likely be of use to you in a support capacity.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Fine. But he better be on his best behavior. No challenging people to fights.”

“I can do that. But are you sure you’ll have me? There are reasons you can say know.”

“You can’t walk, can’t fight, you antagonized me in the past which led to me waking up near death in a dumpster. But I’m alive and you’ve come out worse for ware. I assume that caramel stuff was in play. One day's opponent is a brother down the line.”

“Exactly! Wait what was that about not getting the proper treatment? I took you to one of those new doctors and told them to take care of you.”

“Wait… You told them to, Take care of me?”

“Of course, honestly I’d have tried to recruit you yesterday if we could find you. Though it appears you just broke through two of your meridians. Heart and lower intestines based on the odor.”

“Ugh...was this doctor severely overweight with a solid jade left eye and cross-shaped scar over his left hand?” Fonta realized why he woke up untreated in a trash bin.

“He was also bald but yes.”

“Ugh. So you know. Other rich people go to doctors like him when they want to make problems go away.”

“As a doctor should.”

“Oh…Remember elder Duskwood’s scandal?” The grandson caught on first.

“Oh. Ohhhh! I’m surprised to see you here if he was one of those.”

“He isn’t usually, but I owed him money, so he threw me in a dumpster instead of healing me.”

“You owed a healer money? Do you have a death wish?”

“I likely owe every healer in the lower district something. Got lucky it was that one and not one of the organ traders.”

“Sheesh.”

“You don’t know the half of it. “

“Imagine waking up on an operating table and fighting your way to another doctor to fix the wounds you had before as well as the ones gained from those people. You may have word wisdom but when a doctor offers in the lower district free anesthesia. They plan on recouping said investment through a special weight loss program.”

“Serpents and Weasels, how have you lived this long.”

“I have recently learned my talent is reasonably strong for someone who wasn’t a cultivator. I won’t tell you what it is.”

“Some form of weapon master makes the most sense. You have skill and maneuverability over power and proper technique. Talents like that grow faster with training and battle experience.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I may not have fought you at full strength but to best my son-in-law and his lackeys alone, with little more than a pair of chopsticks gives away that you were a hidden master or a youth with brawling experience and a strong talent.”

“You could tell that from one fight?”

“I’m old and experienced. You haven’t fought many cultivators, but nothing major changes until the Awakened Realm. Anyone under that can be taken down if they get cocky.”

“I see. Anything else I should know?”

“This continent has 6 Nascent Level cultivators, known as the 6 Emperors in Lumino City each of them has a medium to high awakened tier cultivator acting as their voice in the territory. They have tens of Awakened tier cultivators at their disposal, To put it in perspective, this city has one, me. I have stopped at the peak of my tier and have gotten too old to risk breaking through.”

“So you’re telling me there are people that can make you look weak. One of the strongest people in this city. Someone who made me look like a drowning kitten.”

“Yes.”

“And those people...Demons. They were leagues above most of the people here. Well some of them.”

“The strongest were equivalent to the nascent tier. From what I could tell. The only reason I survived was because I managed to kill one before they all fled.”

Fonta raised his eyebrows. “They are more destructive but aren’t as durable as us. Is that right?”

“Yes, when they are alone. But if you have a way of getting past their barriers or defenses, they can be killed.”

“Alright then...Let's go… Huh, I don’t know your names.”

“Long, Yang is his name, Long, Jiang, is mine.” The old man stated.

Fonta had heard of the Long family. Powerful and vast, one of their minor branch families could take a city in a night. It was no surprise that it was why the other two were cocky and why the old man seemed powerful. Such a name had its constraints.

“Oh…” Fonta knew he couldn’t say no. “By chance, would a healer from the”

“No, we are a minor branch family. We keep the name but it doesn’t do much on its own. Also...”

“Also what?”

“If he were to invoke his name to the main family in his state with a cultivation level so low. They may just kill him on the spot.”

“That’s mad.”

“That is the way of this world.”

“O.k. then.” Fonta adjusted his shoulder before scowling at Yang.

“Yes?” Yang asked willfulfully playing ignorant.

“Will I have to carry you? I don’t see the wheelchair.”

“No need.” Yang was picked up and held as wooden crutches were given to him. While slow, it appeared as though he could move a little.

Fonta opened up the shop and scowled as he saw a chair with large wheels and easy-to-push cost around 10k Ducks. Clicking his tongue, he spent the money and watched as the item appeared. It was surprisingly durable and mobile. Oddly enough there were metal devices on the side that looked like they did something when you put your arms there.

“Mental movement enchantments, absorb chi or mana. Is this a precursor relic?”

“No idea what that means. But it cost me 10k.”

“That is a lot of money here but surprisingly cheap for what it is.”

“Yes, it...Wait, why did you say that here?”

“Ruins generate currency, with the sects monopolizing the few we have, gaining money is limited.”

“I see.”

“Mostly because precursor relics are mostly money-hungry. I see.” The Long senior helped his grandson into the chair and guided him on getting it to move.

The chair seemed to move when Yang concentrated, the speed determined by how much power he could put into it. Meaning he’d have to stay in a state of meditation to keep it moving for an extended period.

Fonta and the Longs eventually arrived where the carriage had been prepared. It clearly all cost more than 500 Ducks. Though the debt had been increased by 10k, so he wouldn’t bring that up.

“So… Who’s driving?” Fonta asked.

A man in blue robes jogged up.

“That would be me, young masters. I’ll get you there fast.” Fonta looked at the older man’s wrinkled face and recognized it, he was with the people who tried to ambush him.

“I don’t like the smell of this.”

“You won that fight, as far as this one is concerned you are a guest of our esteemed elder and the savior of this young master. This one, will not dare defy you again.”

“Then speak regularly. Your speech hurts my head.”

“Yes, young masters.”

Fonta looks to Yang. “Oh Right, I’m Fonta Pain.”

“Fountain pin?” Yang asked in surprise.

“Fon-ta Pain.” Fonta squinted as Yang failed to properly pronounce it.

“Are you from a different country?” Yang hadn't recognized the surname and decided to probe a bit.

“I really wouldn’t know. I let Ted choose our last name, since we needed one for official things.” Fonta shrugged cutting the conversation off as his journey began.