Kenja tilted the basket so that he could read the signpost.

Wise Man Satoshi's Shop

Satoshi Maru, also known as Wise Man Satoshi, sold various goods and snacks. Additionally, he served as an unofficial information agent. It was common knowledge that if you need to inquire about a person, place or the recent gossip around town, all you had to do was ask Wise Man Satoshi.

Kenja took the basket off his head and walked through the open door. He carried it toward the counter where Satoshi was conversing with a young man.

"Yes, she will be passing through here tomorrow. I hear she will be attending this year’s entrance exam. It starts an hour past noon, so she will most likely pass through here around noon. So if you wish to catch a look, you'd best come early. Otherwise…you’ll be stuck standing behind everyone else.”

The customer grabbed his chin and appeared to ponder over how early he should arrive the next day.

“If you would like, I can reserve you a spot on my store's front porch." Satoshi gestured to the customer by rubbing his thumb and fingers together.

The excited customer, who could only be one or two years older than Kenja, confirmed their implicit understanding by placing a few coins on the counter without making a sound.

"Thank you, Satoshi-san. I will see you tomorrow." He bowed his head before walking out of the store.

Satoshi began counting the coins as he picked them up one-by-one with a smile stuck between sincere and sly. Kenja waited in front of the counter until Satoshi picked up the last coin.

"Who's coming tomorrow, Satoshi-san?"

Satoshi jerked his head up at the question.

"Oh, it's just you, Kenja. Don't surprise your elders like that!"

"It was unintentional. Satoshi-san. My apologies…so who is coming tomorrow?"

Satoshi paused for a few seconds showing a slight hesitation before answering. "Princess Ryu will be passing through here on her way to the examination. She intends to join the sect as a disciple. In fact, I've heard she has already reached the pinnacle of the Body Tempering stage."

The Body Tempering stage was the first stage of cultivation that one must complete before being considered a ‘cultivator’. It involved strengthening the body's muscles and bones to the extent that they could process Qi, thereby increasing one's sensitivity and resonance with the universe’s energy. Those with a keen sense for Qi were able to temper their bodies more quickly, and those with tempered bodies could grasp the concept of ‘Qi’ more easily.

Only after one had surpassed the Body Tempering stage by circulating Qi in a complete cycle through one’s meridians and reaching one’s dantian could they be considered true cultivators walking one’s own path to Immortality.

Until then, one would be labeled a mortal like Satoshi, Kenja and the rest of the world.

Kenja grinned at the thought of passing the examination today and becoming a sect disciple before the princess. He could then use his seniority within the sect to help him befriend the affluent junior. How great would that be?

Having sensed his thoughts, Satoshi rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you should be grinning? You've failed the exam two dozen times already."

"Nineteen!"

"You are right. You've only failed nineteen times. Indeed, why was I worried?" Satoshi's sarcasm was quite heavy.

Kenja's forehead creased at Satoshi's words as if frowning at his implication. "Just for that, you must pay 15 silver coins for every kilo."

Satoshi’s staggered at Kenja’s declaration. "That's triple the normal price! Don’t let a few teasing words ruin your business sense! Why do you think I will buy from you today when you're being so unreasonable?"

Kenja stared at Satoshi with lucid eyes and a charming smile. His disposition became more mature and scholarly, and he placed his hands behind his back in a dignified manner.

‘Oh no…’ Satoshi’s eye twitched as he panicked at this sight.

"I have seventeen reasons for you. Are you sure you want me to name them?"

Satoshi grimaced at his words. This was not the first time he had seen this pattern, but he persevered, intent on forcing Kenja's hand. "Go on and list them."

"Firstly, I know you haven't bought any normal spirit stones for the past month. Your establishment runs almost entirely on my crushed fragments, so without these stones, you cannot power your cooking tools until you find your previous supplier who is probably still upset with you for switching to my product."

Although spirit tools were meant for those who delve in Qi and cultivation, some households contained one or two low-end spirit tools that were used for their craft or recreation. Satoshi himself used his tools to cook many of his goods. Without them, his supply would run out and he would be unable to produce more than half of his inventory.

"Secondly, even if you were able to obtain a supplier for your spirit stone needs, it would still cost you five times this price for the same effect, and you know it."

Low-tier spirit stones were not an ordinary commodity. Their use was severely limited in a mortal’s hands. Assuming one had a tool that required spirit stones, they were still hard-to-find and expensive to buy in bulk. Cultivators held a majority of the spirit stones, and they rarely needed mortal currency or goods. For them, their spirit stones were much more valuable than anything Satoshi could offer them. The few suppliers that could procure them were either low-end cultivators that had yet to abstain from worldly desires or powerful mortals with a good amount of influence and backing.

"Thirdly, I am probably the only supplier of crushed spirit stones in the world."

Kenja's words were mostly correct.

Low-tier spirit stones were incredibly resilient. Forget crushing them, just chipping these stones was an impossible task for mortals and most cultivators. Only an individual who had advanced high enough as a cultivator would be able to crush low-tier spirit stones in this manner. But once one reached such a level, they would have no reason to break or sell spirit stones in such a way, creating the paradox: those who can use them, can't produce them, and those who can produce them, won't use them.

If Kenja had not enticed Vice Elder Shirou every morning with target practice, Satoshi would have no way of procuring these crushed stones.

"Fourthly, you understand the effectiveness of these crushed spirit stones better than anyone. Normal spirit stones can’t compare."

When a spirit tool utilized the power of a regular spirit stone, it did not use all of the spirit stone's Qi. In fact, it was no secret that low-end spirit tools would harness only around 60% of its Qi. Through experimentation and comparison with Satsohi-san’s previous supply of spirit stones, Kenja deduced that his crushed spirit stones were up to 35% more effective per kilogram, proportional to the degree of “crushedness”—the smaller the fragments, the more power that was extracted.

By the same logic, a cup of warm water filled with big ice cubes would cool down more slowly than a cup with crushed ice. Essentially, Satoshi’s spirit tools had a much easier time collecting Qi from the crushed spirit stones, and he began buying from Kenja after seeing these results.

Kenja had wondered if crushing the stones into smaller and smaller pieces would improve the extraction process further, but he had doubts whether Vice Elder Shirou would willingly start throwing powdered sand at him.

"Fifthly, this may be the last time I can supply you. Think of it as what may be the final—"

"Alright, alright. Stop!" Satoshi interjected exasperatedly.

"But…I wasn't done!" Kenja furrowed his brows and frowned at being stopped prematurely.

"It's fine, I understand. Let's just complete the transaction, okay?" Satoshi rolled his eyes once more after turning around to fetch the scale, a slight frown matching the curve of his mustache.

"Cheer up, Satoshi-san. It may look like I am taking advantage of you, but I am actually doing you a favor."

Satoshi was intrigued. "And how is that?" He laid the scale on the counter in between several trays of candies and baked goods.

"Because you've already been selling my stock for that price. Now you can triple the new price and sell for 45 silver. And if anyone asks why you raised the price, you can tell them I am charging you more. If they ask me, I will confirm it with your favorite motto, ‘Wise Man Satoshi never lies!’”

Satoshi was astounded after hearing Kenja's advice. It was not a secret that he sold Kenja's stock to other store owners and customers, but it did not occur to him to raise the price by the same factor. Instead of profiting ten silver a kilogram, he could profit thirty silver, and no one could complain. After all, everyone knew Kenja had a monopoly on the supply.

"Not only that, but the princess will be passing by your store tomorrow, so business will be booming. Naturally, no one can fault you for raising your prices in anticipation of the crowd." Kenja winked at Satoshi.

Satoshi chuckled while shaking his head in disbelief. "You’ve come a long way from the little boy who used to swipe bread from my shelves. I can no longer tell who is the wise one anymore.”

He pointed at his shelves with his thumb.

“Feel free to take as much food with you as you want. My treat!"

Kenja smiled at Satoshi before clasping his hands and bowing. He left the basket at the counter and picked up a folded, brown bag from the side before moving to the appointed aisle to peruse the assortment of baked goods and sweets.

While Satoshi weighed the basket, he spoke out in a laid-back manner. “You’re taking your sisters with you today?”

Kenja picked up a sweet bread filled with grape jelly and put it in the bag. “Yes. They’ll be taking it with me today.”

Satoshi squinted at the scale’s dial and wrote some numbers down on a notepad, calculating the cost of the stones. “What are their odds of success?”

A smile crept onto Kenja’s face while he picked up a glazed pastry with raspberries embedded in the surface. “Shizuka is a quick study and hard worker, and she has shown some talent for it. I have no doubt she will pass.”

Fumbling under the desk, he bellowed out with a chuckle, “So she takes after you. What about the younger one?”

Kenja sneaked a peek at the man bending down behind the counter. He sneakily snagged a handful of those itty-bitty chocolates that the girls loved snacking on and stuffed them into the bag without making a sound.

“Yoshie is a bit slower in her studies and is very dependent on others, but her talent is evident in her practice. I have faith she will pass with Shizuka.”

Satoshi finally stood up with a hefty brown bag in his right hand. He began pulling out and counting the coins.

“That’s good to hear. And you? Will you pass this time?” Satoshi peeked at Kenja from the corner of his eye. This was the real question he wanted the answer to.

Kenja paused for several moments to stare at the space in between two small pies as if he couldn’t decide which one to buy.

“I’ll pass this time, too!”

He took the left pie and several spice bottles on the bottom shelf before walking back to the counter.

Satoshi secretly rolled his eyes at the heavy-looking brown bag, but he didn’t say anything about it since he had just told Kenja to take as much as he wanted, especially considering what he was about to do.

A smirk appeared on Satoshi’s face. “Since you are so confident, how about a little wager?”

Kenja returned the smirk with one of his own. “I’m listening.”

Growing up as an orphan, gambling gave Kenja a rush that other hobbies did not. The idea of instantly gaining something through little-to-no effort was an allure many, including him, had trouble resisting. But he was smart about it and wouldn’t be suckered into bad gambles or accrue a debt he couldn’t pay, and Satoshi knew this.

“If you don’t pass this year, then when you bring your crushed rocks next time, I get the first five kilos for free.”

“Oh? And what if I succeed?”

“Hmmm…How about I watch over old lady Baba-san for you while you are gone? Check up on her from time to time and deliver her groceries,” he offered while holding a bag of coins out to Kenja.

Kenja and Satoshi knowingly grinned at each other for several moments without speaking. Over the past few years, the old man and boy combo had a history of squeezing out as many benefits from each other as they could, and this wager was no different.

From Satoshi’s perspective, Kenja had failed the examination nineteen times, and only two more attempts remained for this year. Considering his track record, Kenja’s odds of success were probably lower than what his confidence claimed while five free kilograms was a decent amount, it was not something Kenja would be unable to pay. Plus, if Kenja happened to achieve the improbable and succeed, ‘looking after old lady Baba-san’ would end up costing him much more than the five kilograms of crushed spirit stones.

Kenja grabbed a napkin placed next to a tray displaying a couple of crispy, cream-filled confections and crammed them into the brown bag. Then, he snatched the bag of coins Satoshi held out and widened his grin.

“Deal!”

Without relaxing his smile, Kenja bowed and left the store while Satoshi’s smile slackened at the sight of the now-empty tray of treats. He shook his head at the departing back.

Because his only son had successfully joined a caravan and opened his own shop several years back, Satoshi planned to take in Kenja as an apprentice and inherit his mantle once he had officially given up on joining the sect. But perhaps he was making things too easy for this kid.

The wager was a win-win in Satoshi’s book since it might push Kenja to perform better than before with the stakes at hand, but perhaps he should have made it ten kilos, not five.

After all…Kenja was definitely asking for it!