After the old man handed him some shells, the currency mainly used in The Kingdom of Toro, Mwana put them in his bag and pretended to leave. Seeing that, the old man got nervous and after looking left and right at the empty streets, he stopped Mwana. The old man sheepishly rubbed his hands looking extremely suspicious before asking the question Mwana was expecting all along.
"Mwana my boy, what about that painting you told me about last time?"
Although Mwana knew what this fellow was up to, he pretended not to know, "What are you talking about?"
It was only after the old fellow Jua Fisi stuffed another two shells into his hands that he pretended to have remembered. "Oh, you mean THAT village beauty painting?"
"Shhh, Shhh, don't be so loud, my wives might be listening!"
'What a coward! He has five wives but is still so whipped,' Mwana silently thought but on his face was a bright amiable smile, "Why are you asking about it? Do you want it?"
"No no no no, my wives would have my head! Especially Wakili and Tenga." Old man Fisi sheepishly responded but Mwana knew he was just acting 'hard to get'. This was a painting of Jua Urembo after all. While she had been the top village beauty over twenty or so years ago, she still had a strong hold over these old and middle-aged men like his uncle Jua Wapili and this old fellow, Jua Fisi.
"Good, it's not for sale anyway, so don't get any ideas" Mwana added.
Fisi's face drastically changed and Mwana knew he had him hooked like a fish on a line. The old man immediately started negotiating. Mwana did not want to waste too much time on this as he was already getting late for the HookBall match.
"Old man, don't waste my time. You know my level as an artist, there are many who will want it even if you don't. If not for being from a brutish village like this, I would have already made it big." Mwana was indeed right, in this world, artists and painters had their own levels just like warriors. It might be strange for artists to have 'power levels' but it was with regard to the effect of their art. Artists were graded as:
> Level 1: Ordinary painter.
> Level 2: Artists who achieve injecting emotion into art.
> Level 3: Emotion radiating outside the painting.
> Level 4: Painting World - The viewer sees the painting as if they have been sucked into the world of the painting itself.
> Level 5: The world of the painting comes to life in the real world.
> Level 6: The real world including people and objects can be physically transported into the artwork.
Mwana was an extremely talented artist who had already reached the third level at his age. His art could go as far as ease depression just by looking at it. The old man Fisi saw that Mwana was eager to leave and did not hesitate anymore before stuffing a few more shells in Mwana's hand. To this act, Mwana acted unperturbed although internally he was jumping from joy from all the money he had gotten from this old fellow. For a while, the old man did not seem too bad in his eyes.
However, he still could not understand the feelings of men like Fisi with regard to Jua Urembo. Maybe he was still too young, but he could never imagine himself sneaking around like old man Fisi just to buy a beauty's painting.
"Old man, do you think money is enough for this?"
Fisi was ready to collect his 'goods' when he saw Mwana's fake smile. 'This kid is trying to fleece me even further.' Knowing what the old man was thinking, Mwana quickly corrected, "I don't need your money, In fact I can even throw it in as a bonus." The last part was said as a suspicious whisper, "No one will have to know."
'Is this kid threatening to expose me?' Fisi felt that things were getting too out of control early in the morning. He just wanted a beautiful painting to stare at in his free time when he was bored or drunk.
"I'm not a snitch so don't worry about anything, it's just that other people also know I was painting Urembo, what will I say if they ask?" Mwana sighed.
As Jua Fisi was about to start complaining, he saw his second wife Jua Wakili walk out of the house. It seemed that she was on her way to feed the poultry early in the morning, but after seeing Mwana she came over to greet him before looking at her husband suspiciously. Fisi was already fidgeting like a man caught in the act. 'Heh. This will be easy,' Mwana triumphantly thought.
"Morning, Madam, we were just talking business."
"Business? What business?" Wakili already saw their son's painting in the old man's hands and from the time he came out, they should have been done a long time ago. Her husband was also acting suspiciously; he had clearly never been good at hiding things. His body language alone exposed everything.
Seeing the old man about to expose himself with his body language alone, Mwana quickly came to his rescue, "My bloodline just awakened and the Elder was going to forge a good sword for me in exchange for the painting." Wakili was mildly surprised and congratulated him. "Come by for a present later," she added before leaving to continue her morning routine.
Fisi on the other hand was shocked not just at the bloodline awakening but everything else, 'Forging a sword? I didn't hear of this. For the Wanyama's painting? But I already paid money twice! And since when did I go from old man to elder in this kid's mouth?' As his wife was not far away, the old man still heavily agreed, nodding like a chicken.
Mwana could only think, 'henpecked indeed.'
Mwana indeed needed a better weapon, preferably a silver ranked sword. He could not use his uncle or late father's sword at the moment as their ranks were too far above his current level. Before the Crystal level, warriors would only use Mortal Grade Weapons which were divided into [Earth, Sky, Heaven] ranks with Earth Ranked weapons having Bronze, Silver, Gold and Black categories.
Above the Mortal Grade was the Spirit Grade, mostly used by Crystal Warriors and Divine Spiritualists who focused on training their spirit instead of body. There was also the Sacred Grade and Divine Grade for armaments above Spiritual weapons. All these weapons required a corresponding level of power to use as they were inbuilt with energy patterns and energy channels that allowed warriors to infuse energy and run techniques through them.
A good weapon enhanced the warrior's techniques. The only weapons that did not follow this rule were Holy Weapons as they empowered the user themselves instead of just their techniques. A mortal with zero martial training could become a God with a Holy weapon in hand but needless to say, such weapons only existed in the legends.
After Mwana got the promise he wanted, he left thinking, 'the world sure is strange. How can a rotten tree beget a good fruit? I was sure it was impossible before meeting the old man. No wonder Big bro Waya still can't get rid of 'certain' behaviors even after becoming a village hero.'
Fisi on the other hand was elated to finally get what he wanted without getting caught but his smile faded when he remembered he had still been fleeced. 'Didn't he say he didn't want my money? Didn't he say it was a bonus? In the end I paid twice.' Nevertheless, he was a man of his word.
***New Words***
Wakili – Lawyer
Tenga – to separate