Chapter 2: State of the world.
Chapter 2: State of the world.
Duan Li then looked around towards his surrounding with confused expression, "What in the world... just happened?" he said to himself, feeling bewildered.
He remembered that he had only tried to pluck out that mysterious pearl away from the tree to get a better look at it, before a blinding white light to suddenly flash and encompassed him followed by surges of intense pain ramming through his head that caused him to immediately faint.
Must things be so exaggerated?
He turned to look at the halfway chopped tree and to his surprise, realized that the pearl was no longer there. In its place was now replaced by a hollow rounded space, the only evidence that his experience was neither a dream nor illusion.
"Did the pearl broke apart when I touched it?" he thought to himself but immediately shook his head afterwards.
"That cannot be, even my axe was forcefully repulsed by it with a metallic clanking sound. Thus, it should be pretty sturdy…" he mumbled as he bent his knees and squatted to the ground, searching among the fallen leaves in case it fell off from the tree after he had touched it.
After several minutes of attempt in searching for that mysterious pearl, he stood up and tidied himself as he dusted away the dirt from his clothes.
"Forget it... I should just continue chopping down trees for the firewood... I need to get back by noon or else mother would get worried..." he sighed helplessly and decided to put the previous matter to the back of his head.
...
"Mother, I am home!" shouted Duan Li as he laid down the pieces of firewood which he had strapped to his back with the help of some ropes by the entrance.
"Ahh… there you are! I was beginning to get worried! Tell me, where did you ran off to?" queried his mother with a stern, reprimanding look with both hands on her waist. But if one were to see that face of her right now, they would only find that expression to be quite adorable instead.
"Well... after I finished chopping down trees for some firewood, I decided to sat down and rest..." replied Duan Li. He decided to not tell his mother about the bizarre experience he just had before. After all, who would believe him if he were to say a pearl was growing inside the tree he was chopping?
"And then you dozed off, correct? Haa..." sighed his mother. "Well, as long as you're fine..." she said with a smile and continued, "Come let's eat now, the food is ready!"
Hearing this, Duan Li's eyes turned bright. For him in this world, there are only three things that he could truly enjoy doing - sleeping, eating and learning! Everything else is but optional and he chose to not care too much. He already had this kind of mind-set since he was but a child. Therefore because of that, he didn't manage to make a lot of friends.
- Munch! Munch!
"Slow down young man... you're going to choke yourself up!" giggled his mother and continued with a tease, "You are already 21! Stop eating like a child..."
"Mother, these potatoes... it's not from our farm at the back of the house right?" asked Duan Li as he stared at the mashed potatoes on his spoon with a contemplative look.
"Hmm? Oh yes... those potatoes was given by our friendly neighbour..." replied his mother, "Why? Does it not taste that good?" she continued, feeling worried that the potatoes tasted weird.
But when she thought about it, that shouldn't have been the case... because she had also tried the mashed potatoes herself before serving it and the taste was quite the same as their potatoes. Even the way she had cooked it was normal without any sort of extra or special ingredients added.
"Oh... no that's not it, I just felt like this is the case..." replied Duan Li casually as he continued to stuff his mouth with the mashed potatoes happily.
Hearing his answer, his mother felt weird and thought, "How could he tell the difference?" as various assumptions sprung up in her mind.
- Thud!
"Finished!" exclaimed Duan Li after putting down the bowl onto the wooden table feeling quite satisfied with a big hearty smile. He truly loves his mother's cooking as he could somehow felt the gentle warmth of his mother's love every time he ate it.
"Good! Now wash those dishes and take this money..." said his mother as she took out and handed a pouch filled with copper coins. "Go to grandma Ying's grocery and buy some fresh fish enough for about three people for the dinner tonight."
"For three people? Is someone visiting tonight?" he asked curiously as he look towards the pouch on his hand with his brows creased together and continued, "But 10 copper coins in here is a little bit too much..."
"Yes, you will know tonight! Consider the remaining copper coins your pocket money. Now get going!" replied his mother with a stern but cute look.
"Okay mother..." replied Duan Li as he put away the dishes to the kitchen to wash them. After that, he headed out and walked lazily with both hands tucked inside his clothes.
Looking at the disappearing figure of his son from the distance, Meng Yue couldn't help but to feel that something was amiss as she contemplated, "How did he know that there are 10 copper coins inside that pouch?"
She thought that this was extremely weird!
This is because when she handed down the pouch over to him, not only did she not state how many copper coins were inside, she didn't even see her son taking a peek inside the pouch but only casually grabbed it with his right hand.
...
Walking down towards the village marketplace, Duan Li immersed himself with the busy atmosphere as he observed people of all ages doing various activities and daily transactions with the vendors and stores along the street. He wasn't a fan of being in crowded places, but the marketplace is an exception as he could listen to the numerous kinds of conversation, from adventures down to the latest hot news.
Also, although Duan Li hadn't got that much money to him, he had spent most of his pocket money on books regarding the various contemporary basic knowledge and fields. Thus, with both of these combined, he knew quite a bit on the current state of affairs of the world.
Firstly, this village they were in is called the Xuan village, with a total population of roughly over a thousand. It is situated on the Tian continent and ruled by the Jiu Empire.
Secondly, the Tian continent by itself is quite vast and wide, spanning some few million kilometres in size. However, of these total areas, only about 30 percent were currently habituated by people. This is because the Tian continent only had a few places where humans could live safely away from danger. The rest are lurked with various form of hazards, be it monsters or carnivorous and toxic environment.
Of these 30 percent, the land is ruled further by nine Empires spread across the continent, some are sparse while others are closely located to each other. Thus, war is quite a common occurrence. In terms of power, the strength of the Jiu Empire and its close rival by the border, separated only by the mountain ranges stretching all the way from the North to the South, which is the Liu Empire to the East, is practically equal in strength.
Although skirmishes would often broke out at the borders, rarely has there ever been any sort of an all-out wars between the two of these empires since their founding two thousand years ago.
That is because, compared to the other seven empires out there, their individual strengths as an empire are not even worth a mention. Had any of these other seven empires decided to invade, they would be doomed. Thus, the relationship between the Jiu and Liu Empire could be considered as complicated.
The only reason why these two empires were currently safe from invasion is due to its geographical location being surrounded by long stretches of deserts with extreme heat during the day and freezing cold temperatures during the night. Furthermore, the thousands of kilometres wide rivers are the habitat of many instant-kill behemoths and monster creatures that could wipe out a few million soldiers with just a few slaps and gulps here and there.
Therefore, at times of peace, these two neighbouring empire would only poke at each other here and there playfully. Sometimes, they do fought some small wars so as to not get rusty, but these are mostly 'war' in names as it was pretty much just some friendly competition between the two.
Thus, if any of these two were to be invaded by the other seven empires, both would immediately ally themselves and stand back to back like a pair of old best friends on reunion to fight together until the end.
Duan Li felt that these kinds situation is quite ironic, or it would be more accurate to say it as romantic. He conjectured that the founding emperors of the Jiu and Liu empires must have been in love with each other as they are of the opposite sexes when they are alive! However, they do not dare to confess to one another during their lifetime and had only expressed their mutual feelings through petty fights and rivalries. Thus, this trend had escalated down to the present era.
"Hais... People should be more straightforward with each other so as not to implicate the latter generation..." sighed Duan Li as he thought to himself.
...
After a few twists and turn around some corners, he finally saw grandma Ying's grocery store on the distance. As he was approaching closer however, voices of shouts and yelling could be heard coming out from the store.
Duan Li's brows furrowed together.
"A fight?"
...