"Boss, please continue to work in my stall. I'll pay you 50 percent of the profits." The stall vendor grabbed Krune's thigh, begging after having tasted true delicacy, the delicacy of rolling money.
"As if. You didn't even eat a single item that I cooked. How do you expect me to work in your stall?" Krune cursed back, extricating himself from the vendor's hold.
"I could have sold them for money. Why would I waste it by eating it?" The boss said like it was a matter of fact, looking at Krune with concern, wondering if the other party had a couple of screws loose.
"Anyways, I only joined in for fun. I don't have time to be working here," Krune said soon after, waving his hand as he walked away.
"Alright," The vendor sighed, turning around to look at Teng Zakutra. "How about you? If you work with me, I'll give you 45 percent of the profits."
"…no thank you." Teng Zakutra turned around and walked away.
The vendor looked at their receding backs, sighing before grinning once. "Anyways, I made as much as what I would make in two years. Plus, I don't need to share profits with them."
He laughed, looking at the bustling crowd, "Thanks to these two, I have a lot of attention on my stall. I've cooked chicken all my life. I'm sure my skills are in no way inferior to them."
"On top of that, I've copied their techniques." He grinned. "I might lose to them in other delicacies, but not with chicken."
He began to work once again, replicating Krune's and Teng Zakutra's techniques flawlessly, causing the crowd to go bonkers as the queue became even longer. He was all smiles when suddenly, he noticed, all his stock of chicken had run out.
"Wait, boss, I run a chicken farm. I'll supply you an exclusive batch." One of the customers hurriedly came forward, presenting him a card. "Just say the word, and I'll bring you a batch right now."
"Please hurry up," the vendor said, whispering in return. "I'll treat you to my special brewed chicken as a kind gesture."
"You're the boss!" The man flashed a thumbs up and contacted his farm, quickly bringing a batch within ten minutes.
In a similar fashion, many other people also arrived to help him with the supplies, earnestly anticipating the completed product while drooling.
"Sir, do you mind opening a restaurant? I'm sure you'll make more money this way." A real estate owner quickly noticed the opportunity, noticing the cash flow into the vendor's hands. "There's one in this street as well. It was closed down just last week."
"Oh, you mean that one?" The vendor understood, having passed by that shop daily to return home. "Tell me the price."
"A down payment of 1000 God Stones and an interest of 100 God Stones every month. You can buy it within five years," the real-estate owner replied.
'At the rate I'm going, I can pay it off within a couple of months.' The vendor laughed, handing over the down payment immediately as he signed off the contract. One of the customers was a lawyer who helped smooth things up.
Another person that worked on interiors quickly worked in refurbishing the place, making the place ready within a couple of days. Throughout the day, the vendor was busy, already noticing an even bigger crowd.
A week later, he transferred all his goods to the restaurant, earning money the likes of which he hadn't ever seen. His family and friends too arrived to help with the work, shaving off some of his burdens, also profiting from the lucrative business and the hype their restaurant carried.
Seeing the prosperity brought towards his life, the vendor thanked two people in his mind. "I've sold the same chicken all my life, but I never made such a large sum. It's thanks to the hands of the two of them. They have hands that perform miracles, truly."
As for the concerned people, they were currently traveling through a train, tremendously bored. They had been talking nonstop for the past few days until their throats turned sore. And now, when they rested, they felt bored.
After some time, they began to share the many incidents that they had experienced in their lives, soon making the atmosphere lively. Once Teng Zakutra came to know about the truth of the Four Realms, he sighed, amazed. "To think such a massive place existed. I truly am a frog at the bottom of the well."
"Not actually," Krune replied. "This Sub-Realm is actually created by a joint venture of many Gods. So, there are many things here that aren't even available in the God Realm. Just consider the Spiritual Marks. They don't exist in the God Realm. You also have one, right?"
"Yes," Teng Zakutra nodded, thinking, 'Two of them, in fact.'
He had an interesting encounter during his childhood. When he was young, he was indeed a genius, one that stood out among millions of youths. He had also ventured forth to the Alacatra Ruins, obtaining a powerful Spiritual Mark.
Just when he had exited, a strange fluctuation had happened in the place as a bolt of lightning landed on him, singeing him, causing him to fall unconscious. When he woke up, he felt strange, for he could sense his soul in the first place.
Surprisingly, there was a second soul there, one forming a small connection to his own. And, it was a dragon that belonged to a once-mighty existence.
Dragon!
After being defeated, the dragon had hoped to take over his body after destroying his soul, hence why it had appeared in him in the first place. Though, the lightning bolt had destroyed its ego, its personality, and its sense of self.
Now, the only thing remaining in its soul was pure knowledge, and of course, the Spiritual Mark that it had obtained. Thanks to this connection between their souls, Teng Zakutra was also able to siphon the power of the dragon's Spiritual Mark.
Thanks to this, he was stronger than even cultivators with Spiritual Marks, also becoming the strongest of his village, blazing through the levels before arriving at the peak.. The moment Krune talked about the Four Realms, it seemed the final restriction in the dragon's soul shattered, causing all the knowledge it had about the Four Realms to flow into him.