Food Vendor

In the main street, a teeny petite girl tiptoed, trying to smell as much flavors in the air as she can. She whiffed a heavy pleasant fragrance of soy sauce, with a hint of sesame that her mom always cooks with. But more importantly, the steam rising revealed the beautiful rice hidden within the oasis, waiting for the pecking.

Licking her small pink lips she called out to her mom with obvious expectation, "Mo-Mom, I want it...".

The mom turned towards the place her daughter pointed towards, noticing a small vendor, she walked more closely to see what her daughter wanted to eat. When she got close, she recognized that the seller wasn't even an adult, but a little kid that was probably still in primary school...

As she was about to turn away, she then noticed two things that caught her eyes. The first one was the neatly written sign on the side, displaying that all the proceeds will go to the local children's home. And the second one was what really caught her eye, the menu only had one item, and it presented a dish she had never heard of, "Yaki Rice Balls?".

Hearing his first potential customer come up to him, he already felt like the idea that he formed today was the best one so far. It was still morning, but he already had potential customers when he had just set up!

Last night, he decided to try selling food mixed with his powder. He already tried forms of it before, like mixing peppers with his powder, but they never worked, at least the actual effect he wanted never came.

As Chen Hai lived in a children's home, he didn't have any income or allowance to spend, so he had to think of a good reason for his grandpa to agree with him. But the trouble he was expecting never came when he asked this morning, this might have been with how good and creative his idea actually was.

He had no money, so naturally he had to cook cheap things that still look appleasing, then he thought of a fabulous idea! He thought of making rice balls! He never saw anyone make or eat this dish, even when it was so simple! The dish might not even exist, and if it does, than its not from anywhere near here, meaning it was unknown to the place that he is living.

Second, he had to borrow the ingredients from the children's home, so he had to make it simple, while making all the proceeds he earns also go to that place. This was the second reason the owner agreed to him so easily, this was because the place will have extra income to spend.

Because of this, he made the only ingredients rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a simple grill to cook on. Luckily the old man actually used to be a vender during his younger years, so he still had this, if not, Chen Hai would have never been able to make this idea live through!

It cost on average about one spirit stone per roll as the ingredients are only bought in bulk, and the actual rolls are hand sized, meaning that less ingredients were used for the cost. As it only cost one spirit stone, he decided to sell each roll for two as he was not in this for the money, but was in this to cultivate.

Two spirit stones were also very cheap for a vender food, so Chen Hai thought he will have no trouble gaining customers today. So now, it was time to make his miracle into fruition.

"Young mam, do you wish to have some rice balls? All of the proceeds go to the homeless children of our town...", and of course Chen Hai didn't forget to pull out the pity card. However, he brought this to the next level, making himself look at the woman with teary eyes and expectation, while inwardly he smirked to himself.

Seeing the cute boy with his puppy dog eyes, and knowing the good cause of all this, she couldn't hold herself back, and ended up throwing everything she had. "I-I'll take everything on the grill!", she just couldn't resist that look she gave him... She was already doing well off, so losing twenty spirit stones were not much anyways...

"Ok! Coming right up miss!", not forgetting to show how excited he was at her order. First he poured out some sesame oil onto the wide black grill. Next he summoned his Martial Soul and sprinkled the powder all across the flat pan. He then quickly scooped out ten handfuls of rice from the bamboo rice steamer, putting the ten scoops on the flat grill, and then closing the lid of the basket. Afterwards he poured a little bit of soy sauce on each roll of rice, and started to flip them every so often. Finally he grabbed ten herbs that he had picked in the wild last night, and wrapped each rice ball.

"Ok your Yaki Rice Balls are ready! I hope you enjoy them! That white powder is my secret ingredient, heh-heh!"

The mom and the daughter pair gazed expectantly at the ten Yaki Rice Balls. Although it was simple, they never heard of a dish similar to this, so they couldn't help but anticipate what it will taste like. As ten were too much to hold at once without a bag or something to carry them, they decided to just eat on the spot.

Paying Chen Hai twenty spirit stones, they began to dig in the food. The moment their tongues experienced an other worldly fantasy, Chen Hai smiled. He felt energy start to fill up in him, so this meant his idea really wasn't wrong, and his Martial Soul truly can help him cultivate!

People at the side however all thought that he was smiling because the two were enjoying the dish, but innerly Chen Hai didn't give a care about the taste as long as it can work, meaning that he can cultivate.

To the two, they felt flavors explode within their mouths. The mom didn't understand as there were only five ingredients, but what she was tasting... well it was amazing! She wasn't a foodie so she couldn't explain everything properly to someone else, but one thing she knew was that it tasted so good!

"Kid! Can you tell me what your seasoning is? I know it's your secret ingredient so I'll pay you for it! I need to cook stuff like this at home too! Please tell me! Name your price and I'll pay for it!"

Hearing the random outburst from the women, Chen Hai smiled to himself again. This was his Martial Soul, how can it be a seasoning, he wouldn't have minded gaining extra spirit stones if not. "Sorry, its a trade secret..."

'Yes... How can he possibly give away his secret seasoning...', sighing to herself, she decided to try for another option. "Then is it possible for me to buy your seasoning? I really wish to cook with it at home..."

'Bring it away?'... Chen Hai wasn't sure if this will work or not as he never had a similar circumstance happened to him yet, but it was truly too good a deal to pass by. He can gain extra spirit stones for his own use as this was his item, not the children's home, plus he would also be able to cultivate if everything works right.

Seeing no harm in trying, Chen Hai decided to try out this deal and see if it works, "Heh-heh, Here I'll give you a handful for free, in turn just tell me how it tastes later when you come back. I can't really explain as it relates to my well being, but I think it can only work properly at its best when I do it, so just tell me if you can get it to work."

She felt confused on what he meant as it was only seasoning, but she promised him anyways since he gave it to her for free. After the two ate half of the Yaki Rice Balls, they carried the rest with them home.

After the two left, new customers quickly rushed in to give his item a try. They felt interested when they saw the two people's reactions, and also by seeing the food they were carrying, so some of the passerbyers became interested in his stall. This in turn made him more popular by word of mouth, both by people seeing some individuals holding a snack they had never seen, and also by the eaters bragging to all their friends, family, and strangers they talked with on how lucky they were today to try a new food.

This just made Chen Hai's popularity seemingly exponentially explode, and by noon he was all sold out. Speechlessly staring at the huge crowd which surrounded him, he never thought that he would become this famous, not to mention even popular. He wasn't even a cook... Plus he was a kid...

"Little boss serve me one!"

"Little boss tell me your seasoning!"

"Little boss I've been waiting for a whole hour in line!"

"Kid why don't you let us have some samples as this is a never before seen treat!"

"Forget your samples! There'd be less for us then! Its all your fault you people spread the word so much!"

"Yes we must keep the little kid to ourselves! Stop spreading the news so much or we won't even have a chance to eat!"

Yes... Chen Hai was literally surrounded by a mob of grown men and women... So much tall adults towered over him in waves and droves... "Um, guys... I ran out of ingredients, I'll bring more tomorrow ok?"

The crowd turned silent from Chen Hai's sentence, but quickly became lively again as someone in the crowd shouted out to him. "Little boy! I'll get the ingredients for you! Just serve mine on the house and let me skip the line!"

In the end, Chen Hai couldn't leave till well after supper time, heading to his home in the middle of the night. He never knew his powder would be so effective like this... It was almost as if they were experiencing an addiction... Of course he noticed not everyone believed in his seasoning, resulting in some not encountering the true essence.

However, as more people spread the word, this in turn caused more people's expectations to turn high, resulting in more trusting in his "seasoning". This also confirmed his other idea, the powder will only give him Soul Power when the consumer believes in its purpose. As he sold hundreds of Yaki Rice Balls today, he actually already reached level five in his rank!

He was now a level five Spirit Gatherer! He just needed five more levels till he reaches the bear minimum! His dream was not possible and filled with hope!

But at the same time, Chen Hai could not shake off his worry still. Each level got exponentially more difficult, and each level that separated the rank had a huge bottle neck, some which people will never cross in their lives! He only gained two because he was already close to level four, and while the five was just because he was low level, and this idea was a lot more popular than he thought...

He still had a long three months ahead of him...