"Urgh..." groaned Duan Li as he slowly woke up and sat on the ground.Touching his forehead, Duan Li looked around towards his surrounding in confusion, "What in the world.. just happened?" he said to himself while feeling bewildered.
He remembered that he had only tried to pluck that mysterious pearl away from the tree to take a better look, before a blinding light to suddenly encompa.s.sed him followed by surges of pain a.s.saulting his head that caused him to faint.
Must things be so exagerated?
Turning his dizzied head slowly towards the halfway chopped tree, he realized that the pearl was no longer there. In its place was a hollow rounded s.p.a.ce, the only evidence that what he had experienced was not a dream or illusion.
"Did the pearl broke apart when I touched it?" he thought to himself but shook his head immediately afterwards.
"That cannot be, even my axe was strongly repulsed by it with a metallic clanking sound, thus it should be pretty st.u.r.dy.." he mumbled as he rustled around the ground among the fallen leaves to find it in case it fell off from the tree after he had touched it.
After several minutes of attempt, he stood up and tidied himself as he shook his head again. "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, as he decided to put the previous matter to the back of his head.
...
"Mother, I am home!" shouted Duan Li as he put down the pieces of firewood that he had straped to his back with ropes.
"Ahh there you are! I was beginning to get worried! Tell me, where did you run off to?" queried his mother with a stern, reprimanding look. But if one were to see her face right now, they would only find that reprimanding face to be quite adorable instead.
"Well.. after I finished chopping some firewoods, I decided to sat down and rest.." replied Duan Li. He decided not to tell his mother about the bizarre experience he just had before.
After all, who would believe him if he were to said a pearl was growing inside a tree he was chopping?
"And then you dozed off, correct? Ha... " sighed his mother. "Well, as long as you"re fine.." she said with a smile. "Come let"s eat, the food is ready!"
Hearing this, Duan Li"s eyes turned bright. In this world, there are only three things that he truly enjoyed doing; sleeping, eating and learning! Everything else he chose to not care too much. He had lived with such a mindset since he was a child, therefore, he didn"t manage to make a lot of friends.
"Munch munch!"
"Slow down young man.. you"re going to choke yourself up!" said his mother with a giggle and added with a tease, "You are already 21! Stop eating like a child..".
"Mother, this potatoes.. its not from our farm at the back of our house right?" asked Duan Li as he stared at the mashed potatoes on his spoon.
"Hmm? Yes.. that 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 wierd.
But that shouldn"t be the case.. because she had tried the mashed potatoes too before serving it. It tasted the same as their potatoes. Even the way she cooked it was normal without any extra added ingredients.
"Ohh.. no that"s not it, I just feel like this is the case.." replied Duan Li casually while still stuffing his mouth with the food.
His mother felt weird when she heard this. "How could he tell the difference?" she thought to herself as various a.s.sumption sprung up in her mind.
"thud!"
"Finished!" said Duan Li after putting down the bowl onto the wooden table feeling quite satisfied with a smile. He truly loved his mother"s cooking as he could somehow felt the gentle warmth everytime he ate it.
"Good! Now wash the dishes and take this money.." said her mother while handing a pouch filled with copper coins. "Go to grandma Ying"s grocery and buy some fresh fish enough for three people for dinner tonight."
"For three people? Is someone visiting ?" he asked curiously and then continued, "But 10 copper coins in here is a little bit too much..."
"Yes, you will know later on.. and consider the remaining copper coins your pocket money. Now get going!" replied her mother with again a stern but cute look.
"Okay mother..." replied Duan Li as he stepped out from the house and walked lazily with one arm tucked inside his clothes as always.
Looking at the disappearing figure of his son from the distance, his mother couldn"t help but to feel that something is amiss. "How did he know there are 10 copper coins inside the pouch?" she thought this is extremely weird.
This is because when she handed the pouch over, not only did she not state how many copper coins were there inside, she didn"t even see her son taking a peek inside but only casually grabbed it with his right hand.
...
Walking down the village, Duan Li immersed himself with the atmosphere as he observed people of all ages doing various activities and daily transactions with vendors and stores.
Although Duan Li came from a low-cla.s.s and impoverished family, he had spent most of his pocket money on books regarding the various contemporary knowledge and fields. Thus, he knew quite a bit on the current state of affairs of the world.
The village that they lived in is called the Xuan village, with a total population of over a thousand. It is situated on the Tian continent and ruled by the Jiu Empire.
The Tian continent in itself is quite vast and wide, spanning some few million kilometers in size. However, of these total areas, only about 30 percent were currently habitated 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, it is ruled further by nine Empires spread across the continent, some are spa.r.s.e while others are closely located to each other, thus, war is quite a common occurence. In terms of power, the strength of the Jiu Empire and its close rival by the border, separated only by the mountain ranges, the Liu Empire, is quite equal.
Although skirmishes would often break out at the borders, rarely has there been any 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 strength 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 being surrounded by long stretch of deserts with extreme heat and cold temperatures, and thousands of kilometers wide rivers filled with instant-kill behemoths and monster creatures that could wipe a few million soldiers on march with a few slaps and gulps here and there.
Therefore, at times of peace, they would only poke at each other here and there playfully, and fight some small wars so as to not get rusty. But 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 bestfriend on reunion and fight together until the end.
Duan Li thought to himself that this situation is quite romantic indeed. He conjectured that the founding emperors of the Jiu and Liu must have been in love as they are of opposite s.e.xes! However they do not dare to confess to each other in their lifetime and only expressed their loves through petty fights and rivalries. Thus, this trend had escalated down to the current generation as well.
"Hais... People should be more straightforward with each other so as not to complicate the latter generation.." sighed Duan Li as he thought to himself.
...
After a few twist and turn around some corners, he finally saw grandma Ying"s grocery store at a distance. As he was approaching however, voices of shouts and yelling could be heard coming out from the store.
Duan Li"s brows furrowed together.
"A fight?"
...