A walk around the town

It's been twenty days already since the first day that my little brother did his first routine of exercise. I just finished washing my hands and the pot that had only little amount of oil, which means that there is still twelve hours before I am completely done with the oil. I have to say that my cousin did not lie. Perhaps it is in the genes, but my little brother is now two inches bigger than before.

Perhaps a little bigger, I'm not too sure. My thumb is the only way to measure his size after all.

With nothing else to do anymore, I decided to leave my place to buy some food as usual. I have to say, there is quite the variety of food in this place which are very cheap. Maybe not that cheap perhaps, because it actually costs one crystal, which is equal to the price of ten normal attires that the normal people wear. The spear that I bought was way more expensive though, so I'm not sure. It's not my money though, so why should I care. Let's just say that I'm taking my worth of the items that Xianner specifically picked for herself inside the ring.

"Hmm… The city is quite bustling today." I muttered to myself as I made my way around the town.

"Oh. There are plenty of merchants today as well." My eyes widened a bit when I saw a huge number of new merchants setting up a stall or camp to sell their items.

There were merchants that sold fruits and vegetables. Merchants that sold gambling rocks. And a few other new people who came to the city to prepare food or drinks, and sell. Other than those new faces, I was sure that the rest of them must be here for the PP examination. PP examination, right? Yeah.. I think that's what Xianner called it. Haha. PP… The actual English letters that spells PP.

Slowly and steadily, I explored the new vendors with my sack of crystals being held tightly between my fingers. I didn't want anyone robbing my only source of money after all. If I'm not wrong, there should still be two days before the examination begins. So yeah… I don't want to go hungry while I take the exams, because it is common for someone not to be themselves when they're hungry.

As I was making my way inside the town, I figured that I should go do some rock gambling, since my luck is pretty good when it comes to gaming and so on. Approaching the man that was selling his stones like he was selling some fruits, I asked him what the rocks were for from afar.

"Hey there, young man. Inside these rocks you might find a PP crystal. While some of them might have nothing, some of them might have a crystal with the PP energy of an ancient and powerful beast. If you get one so powerful, you wouldn't even have to worry about your cultivation progress after you enter the sect as an outer disciple!" The man was chubby and had a gray beard, however, he did not seem older than forty years old. He looked quite like the cheerful type of person as well, or perhaps it was just his acting to attract customers to buy his items.

"Is it allowed to bring PP crystals within the sect? I thought it wasn't…" I told the man, making a typical bullsh*t of a plot that would usually appear inside a cultivation story.

"Haha, of course it is allowed! However, not many know of it… You for example. This is exactly why I also sell these rocks a few days before the examination, young man! To give oblivious people like you to get a chance to compete with the aristocrats that already know of the option to bring PP crystals with them. I don't know what's inside the rocks however, so it is a chance that I give and a chance that you got to have. But here's the good in this. Because I don't open the rocks, nobody knows the worth of it, so they're all cheap. This means that commoners have a chance to get a PP crystal too!"

"Hmm… Why is that section a bit more expensive?"

"Hehe..." The man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment with a bright smile. "That's because it's obvious for me and other professionals to see that there might be worthwhile crystals inside those rocks, young man."

"I see… What does that number mean than?"

"The price, obviously. The mid grade rocks are one gold coin, and the high grade rocks, five."

"Wow! Are you sure this is affordable for commoners?"

"Are you perhaps…" The man started looking at me full of suspicion.

"Also, I don't have gold coins." I continued to say before the man completed his question.

"Leav- E! eee..." Upon mentioning that I didn't have any gold coins, the man was about to shoo me, but struggled to, the instant I removed one of those crystals inside the sack that used to belong to Xianner.

"Ahaha…" The man looked embarrassed again. "One low grade PP crystal is worth a hundred coins, but I have enough change." He continued to talk to me, and still had his embarrassed smile on his face.

"Oh, don't worry about giving me coins. I don't want that. I'll buy everything I can with my PP crystal instead."

"Oh! Well, then go ahead. Choose as you may… Do you want me to open them up for you immediately?" The man seemed alighted.

"Is that necessary?"

"No, it isn't, young man. Just hit the rock on something hard, and the crystal that is way stronger than its covering, will be free from its shell. If there's one, of course. Also, It's just that many people prefer seeing their prizes immediately, hence why I asked."

"I see. There's no need then. Just put it all in a sack for me. The sack will be free, since I'll by this many rocks, right?

"Well, of course."

"Alright." I answered, and closed my eyes to focus on the darkness for a few seconds.