124 Glory to Wet Bananas (1/2)
”Say, comrade. Who is the author, I mean, creator of our goddess?” Xu Miao probed if this brown man knew anything about the anime author.
There was something weird about this anime and the goddess's existence. If she was a Dao God, why was she an anime character? How did she become an idol for these people?
And most importantly, what was her origin and the connection to this sect?
Unless Xu Miao understood everything about this goddess, he would not be able to sleep soundly. There was a chance that Yuan Hua was controlling this alchemist sect from the shadow. As Xu Miao was tired of being manipulated by a cunning villain, he never wanted to work with an unknown organization.
The brown man turned to the poster with a proud look.
”Goddess Yuan Hua is the founder of our alchemist sect. She ascended to the immortal realm and left our continent a hundred years ago. She always returned to our sect once every 10 years, but she only stays for only a day. The goddess also shares us with her Dao, the wet bananas! Our sect thrives because of these magical items. To show our gratitude to the goddess, the sect master composed a tale based on Goddess Yuan Hua's journey. And then, he hired several artists from the entire continent to create this masterpiece!”
In other words, Yuan Hua was indeed a Dao Goddess, and she was a real person. The anime was based on her character and her life.
Still, it didn't answer why the disciples were so obsessed with her.
”So, what's a wet banana? Is it a fruit?”
”It's a divine fruit!”
Xu Miao couldn't rebuke the brown man. His eyes were so passionate that he could see stars in them.
”If anyone eats that fruit raw, their cultivation speed will be boosted by a few hours. But if we eat a wet banana when we have abundant cultivation resources, oh boy, that's a party,” The brown man couldn't stop smiling. It seemed as if he was yearning to have one of those wet bananas.
”Do we get wet bananas if we're her vessel?”
”Haiz, no. Only the worthy ones can receive her blessing. Look at me, I'm already an Essence Foundation Realm, but I've never received a single banana from the goddess. I ate one, though.”
”What?”
Xu Miao was shocked. He had to reread the banana description again to see if what the system said was legit.
No matter how many times Xu Miao reread the description, it clearly said that she would give him 1,000 wet bananas a day, which was suspicious.
The local vessels never got anything from her. Then, why did she offer him 1,000 bananas a day for being her vessel?
Something was not right.
'System, can I have a chat with the Goddess Yuan Hua?'
\u003c\u003cNo. The interaction between the observing gods and you is one-way. You cannot communicate with them unless you're their dao vessel.\u003e\u003e
Since talking to the system was useless, Xu Miao turned back to the brown man.
”What do you mean you never received one, but you ate one?”
”Ah,” The brown man pointed at the tallest skyscraper silhouette at a distance. It was the main building of Myriad Cauldron Sect. ”Only the elders and the sect master in there have them. They are selling it at an exorbitant price, but I scrapped my fortune and bought one. My cultivation jumped from the initial essence gathering realm to my current realm within a day!”
The man flexed his muscles to display his strength. His white teeth and reflected the sunlight.
Xu Miao had Saitama's [Okay] expression as he wasn't impressed. Still, he obtained valuable info about the goddess and her relationship with the sect.
”Are the slave treatment in this sect severe? I meant, I'm new and I'm worried.”
There was one more reason why Xu Miao chose to approach this bald brown man. As he was different than the local cultivators with Asian physical characteristics, he might be a foreigner or an ex-slave who got stuck in this continent.
”Nah, mate. As long as you have one of these tattoos or our goddess symbol, we're cool. There's no such thing as status discrimination here among our comrades. You know what? Come inside. I can give you an avatar pin, so you won't get bullied by one of those Han old hags.”
Xu Miao hesitated at first, but he sensed no harmful intent or dishonesty within his tone, body language, or pupils. He decided to trust a stranger for once.
…
Xu Miao was not disappointed.
The brown man introduced himself as CJ, an honest alchemist shop owner. He was also a certified outer disciple who was authorized to open a pill shop on his own. He even had a portal gate to a private sub-dimensional realm behind his backyard.
The pills CJ sold here were mostly body enhancement supplements, strength boosters, and diet-related. The shop was also selling unique weaponry.
Explosive pills, aka grenade pills, were CJ's signature items. Each round black pill was at the size of Xu Miao's pinky finger. Although it wasn't made of shrapnel, gunpowder, or modern chemical substance, the firepower was similar to an M67. All descriptions and its usage were written under the pill bottles, which interested Xu Miao.
”Wow,” Xu Miao browsed all wares that CJ was selling in his shop. He couldn't avert his eyes from the grenade pills, ”How much is this?”
CJ laughed, ”Ah, that. One raw spirit stone each. Do you want them?”
”Why so cheap!?” Xu Miao was astonished, ”Something like this should be worth a lot!!”
”There are more advanced poison pills, acid pills, hallucinating pills, and sleeping pills that can be thrown and cause more damage than these simple explosive pills. Most disciples opt for stronger and more expensive toys while they neglect weaker ones like mine,” CJ looked sad when he gazed at his creation.
”How strong are these explosives?”
”Oh, this?” CJ snapped back to his senses, ”It's enough to blast through a 2nd-stage cultivator's protective aura if you only inject one strand of Qi into it. The blast radius and its power depending on how many strands you use.”
”What's the maximum range and power?”
”Each pill can only contain 100 strands of Qi. Higher than that, it will self-detonate. As for the max power, well, it can kill 2nd-stage fighters within a li instantly, but it can only annoy 3rd-stage fighters.”
Xu Miao understood why it wasn't popular.