Chapter 12: To the City

Wan Shi and Guo Yi, as well as their children, were

gobsmacked. This Jia Yuan… had no manners at all! They actually stopped eating

and watched as Jia Yuan systematically devoured the food on the table.

“Wahhh, this food is so good! Heh? Why aren’t any of you

eating?”

Wan Shi awkwardly responded. “Ah…that… *ahem* you seem to have

quite an appetite, young man.”

“Oh, normally I don’t have much to eat and earlier today I

had expended a very large amount of energy…ah, I’ll do my best to hold back,

sorry.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it! Continue eating to your heart’s

content! It is just that I was surprised is all.”

Guo Yi and Wan Shi glanced at each other. What Jia Yuan had

just said had confirmed their suspicions. This child was most likely a commoner

from a poor household. At the very least, Jia Yuan’s family was definitely

poorer than theirs.

Wan Shi cast an eye back towards Jia Yuan and thought to himself, “This

boy should come from a poor family… So how is his training speed so fast? How

is he so strong? Could it be…that he is a genius that comes along only once in

a thousand years?”

Of course, Wan Shi didn’t know that the domineering strength

he had seen Jia Yuan exhibit earlier was due to Jia Yuan handing his body over

to his Song. After all, this was a technique that was rarely ever used, due to

the dangers associated with it. Why would someone put themselves in such danger

for some strangers?

Wan Shi shuddered at the thought of Jia Yuan’s future development,

and decided in his heart to make an effort to find out where Jia Yuan was from

and to help him in the future.

After dinner, Jia Yuan played around with the two children

at around midnight they all settled in for a peaceful night. 

Jia Yuan woke early the next morning and did his best to

sneak his way out of the house without waking the Wan Shi and his family up.

After all, they had quite an exhausting day yesterday, with the bandit attack

and all.

When Wan Shi's family woke up, their parents understood Jia Yuan's actions, but they felt a little peeved. Late that night while their children and Jia Yuan had been sleeping, they had decided that they would try and help Jia Yuan with whatever he needed to do. It could be considered an investment for the future! Unfortunately, Jia Yuan had already left and they didn't know if they would ever meet the young man again.

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After a day of

walking, Jia Yuan saw the walls of the city, embellished with gigantic Fire Kingdom

Banners. Although RockFire City wasn’t one of the premier cities of the Fire

Kingdom, to Jia Yuan, it was a gigantic city of opportunities. After all, he

grew up in the tiny Fire Hill Village.

After another hour of walking, he neared the city gates, and

his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

Jia Yuan loved cities. Well, he didn’t like everything about

cities. For example, he didn’t like seeing the destitute milling about the

slums on the outer regions of the city, but he loved seeing the magnificent

walls, the guards in shiny armor patrolling the streets, and he loved gazing

towards the inner reaches of the city, where the mere roof tiles spoke of an

extravagance that Jia Yuan lacked in his life. Sometimes in his dreams, he would imagine himself walking through the streets wearing a fiery robe embedded with countless jewels...

Jia Yuan was caught in a daze staring at his surroundings.

Ah, right. I was here

to buy a pot and uh… well, we’ll see.

Jia Yuan roamed through the streets until he found a street

selling various goods. He then found a store selling pots and walked in.

“Hello sir, I’ve come to buy a pot!”

The store owner looked Jia Yuan up and down and sighed. It

was just another poor person…

“What kind of pot do you need?”

“Not a great one, just one that is able to cook congee and

maybe from time to time some meat. Although, it’d be nice if it is rather sturdy.”

The store owner heaved another sigh in his mind, and lead Jia

Yuan to a simple steel pot.

“10 small fire shards.”

Jia Yuan was caught in a rather awkward situation. After

all, his master had only given him 5 small fire shards.

“5 small fire shards is my offer.”

“Scram kid, that pot cost me 5 small fire shards of material

to make. The Army’s been buying up all the steel around the Kingdom, it’s hard

to come by these days.”

And so, Jia Yuan was rather ungracefully forced out of the shop.