Dusk quickly came, and the door to Warren's little hut opened. As his siblings and father walked into the hut, the first thing that they noticed was the four bowls of porridge sitting on the table.
At first, there was a look of confusion on each of their faces, but as soon it was replaced with excitement. It had been weeks since they each had their own bowl of food!
“Warren, what is all this?” His father questioned.
“I was fortunate enough today to meet a great benefactor. He asked me to do some small tasks for him, and in exchange, he gave me all this rice.” Warren replied.
Warren didn’t want to tell his family of his encounter with Xia Mi and the situation with Yun Hou at the Azure Sky Sect. There was nothing they could do for him, and by telling him, it would only make them worry.
His father gave him a deep and meaningful look but did not press any further.
On the other hand, his siblings were just too content to finally be able to fill their bellies to ask any questions.
“Ahhh! That was so good! I haven't eaten so much in so long!” Seth loudly exclaimed after finishing his food.
“You don’t have to worry about food for a while.” Warren calmly said while pointing at the two bags of rice in the corner of the room.
They all looked at the two bags of rice in wonder. The last time when they saw this much food was when his father was still well, and they were still living in the worker’s district.
---
After the meal was over and everyone had settled down, Warren and his siblings started meditating.
Sometime later when both his siblings where in deep meditation, Warren discreetly took the second Chi Expansion Pill. Moments later he started to hear the now familiar popping sound within his body — this time, instead of 5 pops, that were only four pops.
Warren didn’t stop meditating until he felt his Chi Pool was full. By this time, it was already the middle of the night, and everyone else had gone to sleep.
Walking to the bed, Warren placed his hand on the now four-time enhanced blanket and thought “Equipment Enhancement."
This time the Warren notice the glow lasted a bit longer and more intense than before.
[9 (UCF) Used]
[9/18 UCF Remaining]
[Enhancing...]
[Enhancement Successful]
[Upgrade successful]
[New Effect added]
“Huh.”
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A bit surprised and puzzled at the new notifications, Warren quickly used “Analyze” on the blanket.
[1 UCF Used]
[8/18 UCF Remaining]
[Analyzing...]
[Analysis Complete]
[Item Grade: Common]
[Enhancement Level: +5]
[Item Name: Blanket Rag]
[Attack: 0]
[Defense: 3]
[Durability: 7/10]
[Description: A poorly-made, worn-down blanket that can keep one person warm]
[Effect: Increase warmth produced by the blanket by 10%]
[Enhancement Requirement: 10 UCF]
Interesting. Somehow the Item Grade increased from Lesser Common to Common and also gained an Effect. The description also changed to "can keep one person warm".
After sometime of thinking, Warren knew he would get anywhere. The only way for him to find out what was going on was by testing his new skills and repeating what he did. However, with the pity amount of Chi Force that he had, he couldn’t do much testing.
He climbed into the bed and quickly fell asleep.
---
The next morning Warren woke up to the smell of cooked porridge.
I can get used to this.
It was the second time that Warren woke up to the smell of food. He got off the bed and saw that his siblings and his father were already awake. There were four bowls of porridge on the table just like last night.
“Come! Come! Brother, we all waiting for you to eat!” Jude said.
Walking over to the table, Warren took his normal spot.
I can’t remember the last time we were able to eat breakfast as a family together.
He didn't say much during breakfast. He just quietly look at his family and remember the scene before him. At this moment he was content. However, he knew that this wasn't going to last long. He knew that all this was given to him by Xia Mi and there was a debt that he still needed to pay.
It was his last day home before he had to go to the azure sky sect.
The family decided to stay in today and spend time together. For most of the morning, Warren played with his siblings. After they got tired, his two siblings started meditation. There was a fire lit inside of Seth and Jude. They wanted to be like his brother and follow his footsteps and join him at the Azure Sky Sect in the future.
Instead of joining them in meditation, Warren sat beside his father. It had been a while since they had time to talk one on one like this. With his father ill, most of the duties had fallen on to him. He didn’t fault his father. He knew that his father was doing the best that he can.
“My son, thank you for giving me hope again. The past year and a half, I have only been going through the motions for the sake of three of you. I was too afraid to think that one day one of you might be able to pull our family out of here. But now you are on your way to doing it. I am truly proud of you. But if life at the sect is too hard, you always have a home here.”
Warren didn’t know what to say. In the end, he gave his father a nod.
Seeing that his son understood him, he smiled and left the house to try to get some more food for the family.
Warren walked to where his siblings were mediating and sat down next to them and began doing the same.
---
The night quickly came, and his father had come back with a small meat bum.
Once again, the four of them sat around and had porridge together. This time each one got one-fourth of the meat bum as well.
---
It had almost become a routine for Warren by now. He waited until everyone was asleep and gently used his Equipment Enhancement skill on the blanket. This time he the glow was a lot fainter than before and didn’t get any new notifications like the last time.
"Basic Analyze!"
[1 UCF Used]
[7/18 UCF Remaining]
[Analyzing...]
[Analysis Complete]
[Item Grade: Common]
[Enhancement Level: +6]
[Item Name: Blanket Rag]
[Attack: 0]
[Defense: 3.5]
[Durability: 8/11]
[Description: A poorly-made, worn-down blanket that can keep one person warm]
[Effect: Increase warmth produced by the blanket by 10%]
[Enhancement Requirement: 11 UCF]
Although Warren was confused as to what triggers the item to upgrade and gain an effect, he was half expecting this. He didn’t think it would get another effect, at least not so quickly.
The item got an effect when it was upgraded, so maybe that is the reason? Then what caused the upgrade? Ahhh. Too many questions and not enough Chi Force to test everything.
End of Chapter 8