"Ugh... this was brutal..." Vayu returned with a blackened eye. But he wasn't the only one. Trilok had a bloodied nose and a cut across his lips. Strangely, only Kol was more than healthy, but she looked dispirited, too.
"At least, we got that technique," Trilok sighed. He wasn't in the mood of beating Vayu again to teach him. A punch from an annoyed Patch Jenc was enough, who, was almost at the peak of an uncommon physique. If he didn't hold back at the time," Trilok shuddered.
Of course, the punches were simply the price of satiation Jenc. However, he had increased the price of his technique from 18,000 coins to 25,000!
"I'm sorry... again, brother," Vayu sighed. Hearing his voice, Kol almost lost her cool and itched to hit him but instead of beating Vayu, Trilok chuckled and patted Vayu's tiny back.
"For all it's worth, you didn't cry after that punch... it's already amazing. But remember, I only had tears because he hit me in the nose. Everybody tear up when the nose is hit," Trilok's voice remained kind but Vayu nodded hurriedly. He seemed to have gained a little understanding of common meanings hidden within a statement while Kol pursed her lips. She didn't poke fun at Trilok.
It was true after all. If the nose is hit even the slightest, she would end up crying unconsciously.
"Rub Poor Man's Health over your eyes and rest. When you wake up, start remembering the body cultivation technique, alright?" Trilok inquired.
"Understood, brother," Vayu nodded and climbed up to his room. But when Trilok sat behind the counter, he patted the spare seat and pointed Kol to take a seat.
"What do you think is the general earning of Jenc? I haven't seen him that much... but I don't recall him being so strong."
Jenc's physical strength was greater than Roa himself!
Trilok felt that Jenc had encountered a great fortune. After all, he only sold a mid-common cultivation manual. However, he himself cultivated a body refinement technique slightly better than Drunk Ashura of the Chief's family. A High-ranked exotic cultivation manual.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Mystic, Exotic, Legendary, and Unique.
These are the qualities for every rank of cultivation technique, skills, potions, pills, weapons, and even spiritual beasts!
The fact that Jenc had remained so hidden despite having such a great technique was the center of Trilok's thoughts.
"He should earn around 40,000 as a group, but his individual income is not greater than 9,000 coins."
"Kol, after learning this technique, help me spread the news that Jenc handed my ass down with a single punch," Trilok suddenly smiled, "Be careful with the next thing I'm about to say. Let the words turn into the fact that Jenc may have earned a great treasure in Body Cultivation. Make sure to imply the fact that I have seen Roa's true strength and Jenc is far stronger than the eldest son of the chief."
Kol slowly digested the information and tried to find the reason for such a course of action. She realized that the most basic way of getting back at Jenc was through simply banning him from the store or raise the price of their goods out of spite. But she realized that they would have to raise prices for everyone eventually. Doing this twice would sully the pristine reputation of their store.
Instead, by just spreading a few rumors that suggested Jenc to be stronger than Roa and holder of a fortune in the way of body cultivation would remove Trilok from the center of the conversation, pull Roa in the whirlpool of gossip and make him pay attention to Jenc. Meanwhile, Jenc's own sources will start to inquire and with a bit of luck, harass him to find out the truth.
While Trilok had Roa's reputation and protection of his fishers, Jenc did not have any of it.
'Tch... I couldn't care less about the punch. Sure, it was Vayu's fault and the score was settled... but the bastard ripped me off!' Trilok balled his fist.
"I'll get to it soon," Kol's smile turned malevolent.
"Before that, we have our stock to produce. So, let's go through this cultivation technique and quickly begin with production."
"Yes, boss!" Kol smiled, rejuvenated at the thought of making more money.
---
"Let this be a lesson, kid!" Jenc's bellow echoed in Vayu's ears still while the memory of his fist enlarging and zooming towards him continued to resurface in his mind.
"It was my fault," Vayu whispered as he lied down with a damp article of clothing over his blackened left eye, "But how dare he raise his fist towards brother." Vayu clenched his fist as his eyes unconsciously turned warm. The memory of his brother knocked back a full meter, obviously due to a greater force behind the punch than the one that darkened his own eye, the drops of blood leaking, the awkward chuckle, and silent tears escaping with a few jeers from those around them...
Vayu did feel humiliated. Not because of the pain or the punch itself. No. It was as Kol had harshly scolded Vayu with while he silently followed Trilok without being able to look his brother in the eye.
"Remember! Don't poke a raging bull that can stab through your chest! Because of your impatience, even Boss got injured. Worse, he would be mocked and his reputation would be affected!" Her cold shout rang in his head and his nose soured up.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered, tears finally forming in his eyes. He wanted to have a back as straight as his brother even after being punched. He felt that this is the reason why Trilok walked ahead all this time.
"I'm sorry... I'll act smartly... I'll be strong... and I will protect everybody!" Vayu wept, but he continued to make sobbing promises, not to the world, but himself. The young heart of the boy, after years of happiness and without an ounce of hate, finally seemed to have been scarred by a wave of regret.
But he didn't mind anything else. Turning over his stomach, Vayu pressed his face against the mattress and cried his eyes out. His fist continuously smacking against the mattress made dull thuds echo around the room and the pain of his eye due to being pressed against the bed made him feel his weakness again and again.
After a few minutes of venting, Vayu suddenly sat up.
He pulled out the black scale from his pocket and felt the same pang in his heart once again. From the moment he laid eyes on the scale, he felt that this scale was calling out to him.
'The Devouring Serpent Technique says that I can eat stuff like rock and wood to get stronger quickly. Food isn't the only thing I need to eat... but I was afraid of hurting my mouth and tongue. I'll start with you. You're something special, I can feel it, so please help me get strong!' With a determined expression, Vayu opened his mouth and bit on a small section of the scale but it simply melted!
This discovery shocked Vayu. He quickly opened his mouth wider this time and chomped on the entire scale, making the pitch-black scale melt into energy and enter Vayu's body.
The moment Vayu attempted to [Assimilate] the energy as depicted in his cultivation technique, he felt his body boiling.
His vision changed and he found himself watching a weird human with a long... tail-like legs... no, a lower body belonging to a Serpent! Vayu saw this scaled man performing some strange action before spitting a mouthful of black blood on the desolate land.
Of course, the strangest thing in the scenery was the sky. It wasn't covered by an ocean... but... something strange. Like nothing was even covering the sky.
*Boom*
A dull thud echoed in Vayu's body and he suddenly lost his consciousness with a slithering voice echoing in his head.
"The Eye of Gorgon."
---
[19,360 Spirit Points Collected.]
With the sale of 20 Spirit Trace Oil and 34 Poor Man's Health, Trilok had been lucky enough to get all the coins 'alive' and well, which, he quickly devoured, of course.
Once the rush hour was tackled, Kol quickly left. She had already observed the strange gazes with which the customers eyes Trilok. Of course, she only went to 'chat' with the contacts near the port since she had to handle the accounting for today's inventory of resources brought in by Roa's men. Since Vayu hadn't returned by now and seeing no indication that Trilok wanted to wake him up, Kol left alone.
Once she left, Trilok opened his own information and sighed softly.
[Name: Trilok
Age: 19
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 2 (Upgrade Requirement: 29,000)
Spirit Points: 67,908
Technique: Sea God's Essence (Earth-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2, Ruler of Ocean: 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,000,000)
Mighty Fist (Mid-Common)(No Special Traits)(Upgrade Requirement: 10,000)
]
Trilok wasn't impatient to quickly cultivate. Instead, he idly gazed at his information. This is the time of the day which felt extremely awkward to Trilok. He didn't have to brew, cultivate, eat, or piss. After the rush hour came the blank hour.
Originally, Trilok wanted to use this time to slowly teach an orphan, or possibly a slave, but the latter was out of the window because of the strange epic of the Jolly. And after Fang's unfortunate death, there really wasn't anyone worthy enough to be picked from the orphanage in Trilok's eyes.
'What else can I do at this moment? I possibly cannot sleep. Resting my eyes is an option, but I don't feel tired. Pained, maybe. But not tired. Let's just hope that this doesn't affect Vayu too much. Just because I didn't want him to see my expression, I walked forward... but my face wasn't pretty at the time. Heck, I never felt this angry since father just... made Vayu cry excessively that day...
He recalled the body swinging akin to a slow pendulum and shook his head.
*Sniff*
Suddenly, a grim stench filled the surroundings and Trilok looked back with a frown. Seeing a dazed Vayu covered in filth and darkened blood this time, Trilok pursed his lips.
"Do you need me to teach you how to bathe once again? Fill a bucket with water and go crazy," Trilok waved his hand while he looked at Vayu's information.
He had been worried about the wrong thing. Instead of someone else hurting him, Trilok felt that he would end up beating up Vayu more.
'What is with the world? Come on! At least... I could have dealt with this more responsibly tomorrow... but why today of all times!' Trilok shouted internally.
[Name: Vayu
Age: 12
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Dweller— 8 (Upgrade Requirement: 23,000), Common Physique— 1 (Upgrade Requirement: 4000)
Technique: Devouring Serpent Technique (Heaven-Unique)(Special Traits: Devour— 1, Assimilation— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: —)
The Eye of Gorgon (Earth-Exotic)(Special Traits: Scale Armor— 1, Eye of Petrification— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,200,000)
]