The blows to Ganja's mind only evolved further. His obsession only evolved further down the line. And he started offending people more and more. This included the cultivator friends he used to have.
He no longer took orders to make swords. All he did was stay by the furnace day and night. His children could not take it anymore and left him one by one.
Only two stayed. A boy and a girl. Their ever-undying love for their father kept them with him.
The children were determined to let their father see the error in his ways and tried out a lot of different things just to take away his attention to this ultimate forging technique he was so obsessed with.
But it yielded no fruits. Sometimes, there would wet his furnace so that he couldn't melt the iron, and other times, they would hide his equipment, but it still did not work.
One day, his son became frustrated, and as he blasted his father in an argument, one thing led to another and an unfortunate accident happened. The boy died.
It was at this point that Ganja realized the error of his ways, but it was too late. For his dreams and obsession, he had lost his wife and family, friends, and wealth.
Worst of all, he was the reason his son was now no more.
Like any man that had lost his dream, family, woman, and even purpose in life, he dived into the solace embrace of alcohol.
Behold, the temporary joy Lady drunkenness gave him to help forget if only temporarily, his problems and the guilt of killing his own son.
It's in her embrace has he been lost for a long time now.
Meanwhile, his last remaining family member that has stayed with him sought ways to help her father. After the burial of her brother, she decided to sell the land of meteorite ore that had coursed her family so much pain with its black allure.
At first, there were potential buyers, but after a few blacksmiths tested out the meteorite ore in their furnaces, they came to the swift decision that apart from the copper one could get from parts of the ore, it was totally useless.
Ganja's daughter tried all she could to put food on the table for herself and her father. Many of them were very morally questionable. But who could blame her? she had lost too much. All because of an obsession.
In this world, pity was something many people could not spare. It was only power that moved hearts. Even if it was not in cultivation. Being useful in any description of the word was the only solace that could truly guarantee survival.
Even the cultivators that fanned around Ganja left him.
Now, the man was like a barrel with no wine. He was empty inside. He felt no zeal or even passion any more for forging and even vowed to himself that he was never going to lay his eyes on a furnace again.
Now, his daughter went around once in a while to sell the meteorite ore.
At least, the copper in the ore was still useful. Once in a while, some blacksmiths lacking copper would buy from her, but in little quantities and in extremely cheap amounts.
This was how she and her father now got by daily.
The Sales boy explained thus far.
Usually, when one would hear a story like this, most people would feel pity and feel the need to lend assistance or the like. In fact, this was exactly what the Sales boy was expecting Chiron to feel. However, Chiron had a slight smile at the corner of his lips.
As far as he was concerned, this was perfect. Absolutely perfect. In fact, it couldn't have been better than it was at the moment.
There was a saying in Chiron's previous world, "Trouble waters were always best for fishing."
This saying according to Chiron's memory of the other world has been proven true again and again. Whenever the stock markets went down and people were complaining of a crash, it was at this exact moment that other people dumped their savings into the market to become rich.
Every great man knew that trouble was the needed rain for success.
The salesboy was still blabbing about the misfortune of Ganja and his family. Meanwhile, Chiron had already left him and approached the young girl that had been thrown out of the shop on the floor.
One look at her, and he could judge that she was already in her late teens, but her lack of proper nutrition made her look like puberty never arrived.
Chiron walked up to her and picked the Meteorite Ore from the ground. Chiron's eyes shone with understanding the moment his fingers touched the black mass of rock.
Meanwhile, the sales boy noticed that his customer left him and hurried after Chiron, but when he got to him, the first words he heard Chiron utter from his mouth surprised him.
"How much would you sell me this Ore?" Chiron asked her with a smile.
This took the young lady by surprise. She could not believe what she was hearing. She casually threw any number at Chiron. "I'll give you two yellow beast cores."
Chiron waved his hand and two beast cores flew out in her direction. Even when she subconsciously caught the beast cores in her hands, she could not believe what she was seeing. "Wait! is this person daft? that piece of Meteorite Ore can barely sell for two pieces of nearly cored beast meat, and he just took it for two yellow beast cores. Maybe he is a gullible fool. maybe if I try more, I'll get more." She told herself.
However, the moment that idea rose in her head, she immediately saw Chiron's eyes.
In this world, age was never a description for strength. Although she could see that Chiron was barely ten years of age, the look in his eyes spoke volumes of his ability.
Because of the things that had happened in her life, she was a good judge of character, and so like a cat after a rat, she pursued the idiotic idea out of her mind.
Chiron looked at her and smiled, "Take me to Ganja!"