“It's called a phoenix’s tear.” The tall rat that stood on the boulder explained as he looked down at me. At least he tried to, the boulder was large but it only stood high enough that he matched my height while on top of it.

“The one you destroyed was called the thousand year blood essence.” He was still a bit salty about the fact I threw the elixir or whatever it was into the fire. He basically accepted by saying it was mine to do with as I pleased but that didn’t change the fact that he was obviously offended. I’m sure there was some sort of magic involved but I am never going to drink anything that is a thousand years old.

I inspected the teardrop shaped bulb with fire rolling inside. I would have thrown this in the forge as well if it wasn’t for the fact that I was about 80 percent sure it would explode.

“What the hell is it for?” It was beautiful, sure, but it didn’t seem practical beyond throwing it like a pop-it. I had to restrain myself from popping it on the ground here and now just to see if my theory would work.

“For those with a fire attribute it is an invaluable collection of almost pure essence. For someone like you…” He sighed before continuing.

“You’re imagining using it as a firework aren’t you?” He pinched the bridge of his snout.

I froze for a moment. Damn mind reading abilities.

“I can’t read your mind, you're just incredibly direct with your thoughts.” He looked at me with borderline disdain.

"I had expected Long to do the work so it isn't the correct element for you." Shu shrugged slightly.

“AHH!” We were interrupted by a scream from not far away. It was from where Hu had run off to. We both bolted towards the cry and quickly found a young blonde boy inspecting his hair as well as he could.

“Henry! Help me!” The child looked up at me and I nearly burst out in laughter. Hu seemed to have gone super saiyan while I wasn’t watching.

“Hm, this might be the earliest manifestation I’ve ever seen.” Shu checked the child from head to toe but he didn’t seem concerned so I let out my laughter. Seeing bleach blonde hair on the rambunctious kid was just too much for me. It even looked like he got a bad dye job that only changed most of his hair color instead of all of it.

“This isn’t funny! What the hell happened to me!?” He nearly started pulling out his hair.

“Nothing bad, just accept that this is how you will look from now on.” Shu waved his hand, I mean paw.

There was a look of absolute horror on his face as he scrambled over to the water to see his reflection.

We returned to the smithy once Hu was calm enough to go back. When we arrived I noticed Long Fa speaking to the fire. There are probably a few old artisans that did that sort of thing but I had never seen him do it until we moved into the new building. He also demanded that we never try to put out the fire. He even transferred over the still burning fire from the old forge.

It felt like the sort of thing that would just confuse me more if I tried to think more about it.

He was pulled out of his conversation with the fire when he noticed us. His eyes darted to Hu’s new hair color and he started beaming.

“Oh, this is beyond my expectations.” He scratched his stubbly chin as he spoke.

“Usually a manifestation only happens once you reach the earth realm.” He didn’t seem to notice the look of despair on Hu’s face.

“This calls for a celebration!”

There really isn’t much you can do for a kid friendly celebration without electronics. Sadly, I don’t know a damn thing about electronics. We did our best and had his parents over for dinner. Shu gave him a ring that was similar to mine. He immediately started to check the two boxes that he had received. He didn’t even need to be shown how to use the ring. I did my best to hide the single tear that had begun to fall.

Hu got an ornate box that had a tiger sculpture sleeping on it. The lidded eyes were like the ones on the snake I had received. Glowing gems that seemed to watch as you moved around. It even had the texture of fur.

He opened it immediately and pulled out a polygonal crystal that seemed to have mercury swirling inside of it. As he lifted it in his hands his hair began to rise slightly. There was a strange look on his face as he seemed to be drawn into the liquid metal inside.

Long Fa snapped him out of it and started to chuckle.

“You shouldn’t try absorbing all of it at once.” Wang Tai and I were both a bit delirious because of the display of power the kid had done. We both drank from the particularly strong jar of wine Tai had brought to distract ourselves. I had just realized he and I were the only non cultivators in the room. Originally I thought Mrs. Wang was a normal person as well, but after seeing her reaction I wasn't so sure any more. The old man might call me a body cultivator but really I just work out regularly.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Wang Hu fell asleep early after the excitement died down so I took his parents out for drinks at the new restaurant. I wasn’t sure what to refer to it as, honestly. The lower floor was a restaurant and bar while the upper was an inn.

Wang Tai’s wife was beaming proudly. She obviously couldn’t stop thinking about how talented her kid was.

“This looks like a party.” A tall woman with red hair arrived at our table and set down a glass bottle that was difficult for me to forget.

“Ms. Min! Join us, we’re celebrating my son’s achievement.” Wang Tai seemed excited to see her. I tried to smile but the sudden appearance was a bit off putting. I didn’t even know her name but apparently she was friendly with most of the villagers already.

“Oh? What has he done?” She seemed honestly curious as she took a seat next to me.

“He had an elemental manifestation.” Mrs. Wang bobbed side to side as she spoke. Her cheeks glowing from the alcohol.

Min began to choke on her drink.

“Your son is in the earth realm?” Her voice was a bit ragged from the coughing.

“No, he’s in the initiate realm.” Mrs. Wang was more prideful with every word. Min dropped the small cup she had been holding. She turned to me with a questioning look. It’s not like I had any answers for her. Even if I did I was still a bit annoyed about her stealing my favorite knife.

“My, now that is quite a feat.” Another person had appeared beside us. It was the doctor Xinyi.

“I hope you won’t mind me joining your celebration as well.” It was a small place so several other people that knew the Wang couple and their son passed by and offered congratulations, though most just seemed to be going with the flow rather than understanding what was going on.

Before long Wang Tai was carrying his wife home while they both laughed at whatever inside joke they were sharing. Min was approached by a large mercenary, he whispered something to her and she left not long after with an irritated expression.

“Henry, I have a favor to ask you.” Xinyi patted his long beard as we continued to drink. He seemed to be holding in a question since he sat down.

“Eh, what’s up doc?” I had to stifle my laugh. No one else in the world was going to understand my references but that didn’t mean I was going to stop making them.

“I’ve noticed that you and the Wang boy have the same foundation technique.” He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

“I know it isn’t one that Long would have taught you, so I’d like to request that you teach that technique to my apprentice as well.” He had a strained expression that said he didn’t like asking for favors. It seemed that he didn’t even like explaining himself either.

I could understand.

“How’re the peppers coming along?” He was a bit confused for a moment.

“Well, fine. The first sprouts have started to…” I cut him off.

“Then tell you what, grow more herbs and spices for me and I’ll teach that kid whatever you want.” It wouldn’t really make a difference to me if another person joined our morning workout but it felt like he would prefer to pay me back somehow.

Xinyi had an almost incredulous expression as he nodded.

“But that doesn’t sound like something a ‘normal doctor’ would say.” I grinned at him and he began to lightly chuckle.

“I suppose I’m a normal doctor in the way that brother Long is a normal blacksmith.” He began to laugh a bit louder at that.

_________________________________________

Dang Tong returned to Iron Falls City after he had checked the villages involved in the reports he gathered. The foreigners that appeared were mostly gone in different directions. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any more like the one he first encountered amongst this list.

He was distracted by the memory of seeing two powerhouses clash as he went to find the first man he was searching for. They were far beyond what he could handle. He felt that he still should see and confirm things with his own eyes but it wouldn’t make a difference if people like that were involved. He also hadn’t expected to see a recruit that was injured under his command several years ago. Much less for that man to talk about the foreigner as if he was an old friend.

The village was still nameless but that wouldn’t be true for long with the sudden infrastructure they built.

Dang Tong couldn’t even imagine where they got the money and workers for such a feat. Not a single contractor had been hired from their city either. All the construction workers here were under a project that the lord was keeping well hidden.

The door to his office opened. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had barged in on him.

Elder Zhang marched into the office and sat in the chair across from him. The general always saw him as a buffoonish coward that was more concerned with going home than his actual work.

The look on his face broke that expectation into pieces. The blank and cold expression seemed to be watching countless gears turning in the distance.

“How is the investigation going?” Normally he would avoid the general like the plague, not randomly ask about work. Dang held back his energy as he placed the last of the files he had on the table. The other files that he didn’t take with him had all disappeared.

“Slowly.” He was a man of few words. The elder nodded.

“It seems our lord does not wish to pursue this issue. Keep that in mind.” The elder stood abruptly and made his way out of the office. The general had expected a much longer conversation. Zhang was well known for his silver tongue. When he was alone again he started to look at the paperwork on his desk to organize his thoughts.

There was a note that hadn’t been there before.

‘Report to me discreetly.’ It was simple and direct. There was only one person that could have left it on his desk.

Dang Tong was an investigator before his promotion, but he was still confused by what was going on around him. He took a deep breath and organized what thoughts he could.

There was no way in hell he would stop looking into this.