Chapter 278 - Searching For Stone (1/2)
You can read the novel online free at LatestNovel.Net or NovelTeam.Net
”Get out!” A gravelly voice sounded followed by a heavy thump of flesh meeting solid ground. A soft cry of pain also followed, but there were grumbles as if the person attempted to stifle his voice.
A rather old lady, about upper middle-aged and quite heavy-set, walked out of a building's entrance. The entrance could barely fit the woman in width. This was a liquor shop and bar, selling cheap and allowing ease of purchase, and the lady was its manager.
The one thrown out forcefully was a young man no older than twelve. He was covered in scratches and dirt. This was Damian.
”I have no need for pathetic boys here. Take your pity show and hike it! Ptui!” The lady spat at Damian. Quite literally. Her words were aggressive and drew in the crowd's eyes. Some of the men in distance had their eyes flicker with a sorrowful light, and although they seemed to express the desire to say a few words, no one stepped up.
Damian had a wad of spit on his left cheek, but his eyes didn't seem to contain a hint of anger or hatred. He simply stood up, calmly wiped off the spit, and deeply bowed. ”Thank you for listening, I apologize if I was an inconvenience. Have a nice day, Barmaster Grenda.” His words were the epitome of respect, and his actions were exceptional.
The calm response left Barmaster Grenda reeling in shock. Not only her, quite a few who were watching were also in shock. If they had suffered such a violent response filled with disgust and violence, could they remain so calm? Could anyone?
Damian, however, did. After bidding farewell, he calmly left and his eyes seemed to be contemplating other matters. The matters on his mind was finding a job, which was becoming more difficult by the minute. With the family head's wife blacklisting him from gardening jobs, he could only attempt to work in the occupation of manual labor.
However, he was too young, he had no backing, and most importantly, he wasn't female. Despite females often avoiding jobs of manual labor, if they wished for it, it would be an easy task to obtain in this society. And although males often worked in manual labor, there was too much competition for a young boy to win during the hiring process.
He didn't have the resources to cultivate in the Bodily Path, or even a high qi cultivation base - being only at the initial-Qi Cyclone. While the first realm of the Essence Path, the realm of Qi Foundation, was easy to enter and progress in without resources, unless you had resources, a good environment, good cultivation method, or decent talent, progressing through the Qi Cyclone Realm was too difficult.
Yan Zaizen was sixteen and still in the realm, so one could see the difficulties.
After an entire day, Damian had asked essentially all of the employers he possibly could in Sun Cross City. Some were kind, they would simply reject him with an excuse. Others would directly assault or insult him and his intelligence or competence. Just like Barmaster Grenda, they would kick him out decisively.
He returned home to his father who was still pale and coughing often. Taking care of his father was his top priority, and to do that, he needed an income stream for medicine and food.
”Urgh...cough...Da-Damian…” Damian's father weakly called. Damian quietly scurried over, his hand grabbing his father's. His hand was quite cold and it caused Yan Zaizen to frown slightly. ”Yes?”
”Is...cough...cough...is everything okay?”
”Mhm. Just worked a little later today, just a little late. No worries.” Damian smiled, but this smile wasn't false and filled with a genuineness that was hard to come by in this world. It was untainted by hardship and reality.
It was only after a while that he placated his father's worries and laid in bed. His eyes that had the glimmer of youth still burned with an ardent light. ”I need to buy more food tomorrow...with the medicine costs added...we have enough for three days, five if I cut back my portions. During that time, I'll find a job!” With his mind focused on his goal, he slept peacefully.
Five days later.
Sitting at the entrance to this shoddy hut he called home, Damian felt his heart plummet in the depths of a frosty world. He had run out of savings, had exhausted every option but not a single person was willing to hire him in the entire city, even when he threw away his pride and resorted to begging on his knees. They simply laughed, kicked, and spat at him.
It was disheartening.
”How can I take care of father? Become a hunter?” As he contemplated the options left, he felt a stifling feeling as if the world around him was shrinking and on the verge of collapse.
A hunter was as it explained but a tad bit more complex. They were more so scavengers than hunters. In this realm, divine beasts didn't inhabit the world, only humans and standard beasts. These beasts would be hunted often, but the world mostly breeds creatures in-house and slaughters them for food, there was essentially no need to hunt, but still a need to pay.
Hunting involved trying to obtain heavenly materials or earthly herbs. The heavenly materials in this realm are often called Objects of Law, as they are infused with true law and sometimes, specific conceptual laws. If found, they are used to craft armaments, talismans, formations, or even array flags. The uses were nearly endless and practiced widely.
As for earthly herbs, used for poisons, alchemy, and sometimes cultivation as they can often gather essence energy, even those of an attributed nature. Hunters hunt for these objects and the competition is fiercely aggressive and deadly. Without a profound cultivation base, it was no different than courting death.
This didn't factor in the environments that herbs or heavenly materials were birthed. They weren't always friendly and can have some dangerous natural formations surrounding them. If one was careless or weak, a single misstep can reap your life away faster than you can blink.