Chapter 10

In the city center, Wanshi Street.

This street is home to shops from various prominent families in Qingshan City.

The central Wanshi Square integrates leisure, dining, entertainment, and retail.

The owner behind it is the Wang family, a top family from the capital "Dongdu" of Tianshui Kingdom. Therefore, Wanshi Street quickly became the city center after Qingshan City was established.

Since it was early morning, there weren't many customers on the street.

Wanshi Street is very large, with countless shops lining both sides of the street.

"Xiao Zhang's Weapon Forging."

"Dan Yan Yue Se."

"Jian Dao Education Center."

...

These shops target different customers and can survive in the martial culture of Tianshui Kingdom.

A second-level weapon forger can actually open a weapon forging shop, customizing weapons for some civilian martial artists to maintain a normal life.

Lin Yuan entered a small shop called "Song Family Weapon Forging."

"Welcome, please come in..."

Song Yi was carefully wiping the cold weapons hanging around. Upon hearing the sound of a customer entering, he immediately put on a smile and welcomed them.

Lin Yuan politely smiled, "Hello, Uncle Song."

"Lin Yuan?"

"How did you come here? Didn't you go to class today?"

Song Yi was a bit surprised.

His son, Song Cheng, is a member of the small group of seven or eight people that includes Lin Yuan, Fang Zixin, and Wu Di. He had seen them a few times here.

"I didn't go today, I came to buy something."

Uncle Song warmly said, "Come, come, don't stand at the door, come inside and talk."

"What do you want to buy? Uncle Song will help you pick."

"I'll sell it to you at cost."

Song Cheng had always told him that Lin Yuan and the others take very good care of him at school, and they have a very good relationship.

"I want to buy a few types of spirit stones."

Uncle Song was slightly surprised, "Spirit stones?"

"What do you need them for?"

Low-grade spirit stones are the basic materials for weapon forging and the core material for spirit energy bullets.

Due to the low core energy, they cannot be directly absorbed for cultivation, but high-grade spirit stones with pure energy can.

Faced with Uncle Song's confusion, Lin Yuan didn't know how to explain in a few words.

He himself hadn't fully understood the mechanical foundation theory.

Seeing that Lin Yuan didn't want to say, Uncle Song smiled, "It's fine."

"Tell me which ones you want. I don't have high-grade ones, but I have low-grade spirit stones."

"Come."

Lin Yuan was led to the spirit stone display area. After looking around, he pointed to the first-grade and second-grade spirit iron stones and said, "Uncle Song."

"How much do these spirit iron stones cost?"

Uncle Song took out the two stones from the display cabinet and said, "The first-grade one is cheaper, 3000 yuan."

"The second-grade one is more expensive, 24000 yuan."

"These are all at cost price."

Uncle Song glanced at Lin Yuan, who carefully said, "Uncle Song, you're not selling at a loss, right?"

Lin Yuan had previously searched for the prices of first-grade and second-grade spirit iron stones on the Tianshui Martial Arts Network, which were 9000 and 70000 yuan, respectively.

Is this business so profitable?

Uncle Song shook his head, "No, this is the cost price."

"The minerals we can get from small shops are the leftovers from the big family shops, generally of lower quality."

Uncle Song continued, holding up the first-grade spirit iron stone, "And the size of the stone greatly affects the price."

"The normal selling price for this one is around 4500 yuan."

Hearing Uncle Song's explanation, Lin Yuan nodded; he really didn't know this.

Uncle Song continued, "If we forge a spirit iron sword, it's usually a semi-spiritual weapon."

"To forge a true spirit iron sword, we need a whole piece of spirit iron stone."

Uncle Song gestured to show the size.

A whole piece of spirit iron stone would be very expensive.

Lin Yuan looked at the spirit iron stone in front of him and thought for a moment, then said, "Uncle Song."

"Please get me three first-grade spirit iron stones and one second-grade one."

"Sure."

"Thank you, Uncle Song."

...

After leaving the Song Family Weapon Forging shop, Lin Yuan carefully put the four stones in his pocket.

Although he wanted to browse more cultivation shops on Wanshi Street, he was short on money, with only about 20,000 yuan left.

This 20,000 yuan is a small amount for ordinary people, but for martial artists, it's a drop in the ocean.

"Let's go back."

Every day is important for Lin Yuan now. He needs to go back and study the mechanics of elasticity.

Just as he turned a corner, a middle-aged couple with a bouncing little boy came out of a clothing store on the street corner.

Lin Yuan looked up and met their eyes.

"Lin Yuan?"

"Dad?"

This family of three was none other than Lin Yuan's father, Lin Shouyi, his stepmother, Zhao Lan, and his half-brother, Lin Xiaoyang.

Since high school, Lin Yuan hasn't been home much, occasionally going out to eat with his father, Lin Shouyi, and chatting about recent events.

So the nine-year-old Lin Xiaoyang, who is half-brother to Lin Yuan, is quite unfamiliar with him and instinctively grabbed Lin Shouyi's sleeve.

"Didn't you go to class today?"

"I didn't go to the cultural class."

"I came here to buy something."

Lin Shouyi nodded slightly.

He knew that Lin Yuan's cultural class grades were very good, so he wasn't too worried.

The most troublesome thing is that Lin Yuan is determined to apply for a martial arts school.

Since last year, Lin Shouyi has received several calls from the school.

He hasn't seriously discussed this with Lin Yuan yet.

Then Lin Shouyi whispered to Zhao Lan beside him.

After Zhao Lan gave Lin Shouyi a slight glare, she took Lin Xiaoyang and slowly walked away.

Seeing Zhao Lan and her son leave, Lin Shouyi smiled and said to Lin Yuan, "Let's go, have lunch together."

"I have something to talk to you about."

...

Wanshi Square, Xiao Zheng Restaurant.

"Try it."

Seeing the mutton soup arrive, Lin Shouyi invited Lin Yuan to try it.

Lin Yuan picked up a piece of bread, dipped it in the mutton soup, and took a bite, savoring the rich aroma.

"How is it? It's quite good, a new place."

"Um."

Compared to the lively atmosphere at other tables, the atmosphere between Lin Yuan and his father was a bit awkward.

This was mainly due to the lack of shared life experiences and common topics.

After a moment of silence, Lin Shouyi spoke first, "How much longer until the college entrance exam?"

Lin Yuan, while munching on the bread, answered, "Less than half a year."

Lin Yuan had no good feelings towards his stepmother, Zhao Lan.

His father, Lin Shouyi, has a gentle personality and no status in the family, but he and Lin Yuan are father and son, blood is thicker than water.

Lin Shouyi nodded, "Have you decided which school you want to apply to?"

"Military academy."

When Lin Yuan said "military academy," Lin Shouyi's expression clearly changed.

Lin Shouyi's family conditions are decent, but they are still a civilian family. Given the family environment, they can't afford to spend a lot of resources on Lin Yuan's martial arts studies.

Lin Yuan has shown maturity far beyond his peers since childhood.

If Lin Yuan wants to achieve something in martial arts, a military academy is indeed the best place.

"Military academy?"

"The martial arts score for military academies is quite high."