Cheng Tian, New Generation Sugar Painting Inheritor

Sugar paintings were probably a common sight when everyone was younger, but they've become less common in recent years.

Simply put, it's an artistic sweet treat made by using melted sugar to draw the shape the buyer wants on a clean slate, then sticking it on a wooden stick to cool and set. For today's kids, it's more about the visual appeal than the taste.

As an inheritor of an intangible cultural heritage, Cheng Tian even has a legitimate certificate. And as a young adult, he's clearly more innovative than his master.

Instead of the fixed Chinese Zodiac shapes on the slate, chosen randomly by a spinning arrow, Cheng Tian is clearly more up-to-date, putting a lot of effort into the selection of sugar painting designs.

He asks around at the small shops near the various schools he frequents, mainly asking which cards sell well and which toys are more popular. Then, he incorporates these things that kids like into his sugar painting repertoire.

Honestly, these "new-style sugar paintings" sell much better than the traditional ones. Kids who like Ultraman, Armor Hero, My Little Pony, Barbie Dolls, and those beautifully illustrated characters from mobile games outnumber those who like the Chinese Zodiac. Sometimes, even adults can't resist buying one from Cheng Tian.

And Cheng Tian takes this opportunity to sneak in his own personal favorites. In his random sugar painting wheel, you won't see the Chinese Zodiac, but you will see special sugar painting designs like Fire Flower, Kirby, Jackal Jeep, Pikachu, and Frostmourne.

But starting today, he'll be adding a "Demon Cicada" image to his sugar painting designs.

His new-style sugar paintings are naturally more expensive. Small ones are 15 yuan, large ones are 30 yuan, and some complex custom designs can even go for 50 yuan each.

That's just for the flat ones. If he makes a three-dimensional sugar sculpture, the price doubles. But these kinds of three-dimensional sugar sculpture orders usually only come up during temple fairs or cultural art gatherings; he mainly does sugar paintings on a regular basis.

But whether it's a sugar painting or a sugar sculpture, what customers are really paying for is the creation process, to appreciate this fleeting work of art. Once the customers have seen enough, they just crunch it up and eat it; they don't usually take it home and freeze it to admire every day.

Cheng Tian's master isn't some stubborn old fogey. He asked Cheng Tian what Ultraman looks like because he's planning to make Ultraman sugar paintings.

A fool doesn't make money~

Although he can't get rich doing this, the state of being able to feed himself and not worry about his family allows him to live very comfortably.

He can set up his stall whenever he wants, or stay home if he wants. Plus, Cheng Tian doesn't smoke, drink, or gamble, and his overall lifestyle is almost the opposite of consumerism. Even if he didn't do anything, the money he has saved up would be enough for him to live comfortably for four or five years without being strapped for cash.

Cheng Tian has always treated his sugar painting business as both a livelihood and a hobby.

Unfortunately, sugar painting is probably going to become the "old flame" for Cheng Tian—

He has clearly found something like the Chosen Evolution Space, something that makes him more enthusiastic to put his energy and even his life into.

After sending the same sugar painting he had previously recorded directly to his master, Cheng Tian prepared to have a big meal and get a good night's sleep.

To recharge his batteries before facing the beautiful Gotham City~

According to the normal functioning of the human body, after seven or eight hours of intermittent intense fighting yesterday, including one-on-one battles with powerful units like the Red Imp and the Cyclops, Cheng, who should have been in severe pain from the aftereffects of the battle, got out of bed as if nothing had happened.

Forget about muscle soreness or not being able to lift his legs; he even felt that his body was stronger than ever. He didn't know if it was a gift or if it was the increased body recovery ability brought by his 6 points of Strength.

The improvement in physical strength was obvious, but there was no suddenness. He wouldn't accidentally crush a water glass or break a doorknob. It's just that when he looked in the mirror, he could clearly see that the obvious excess fat on his body was gone.

Oh, right, his appetite had also increased a lot. This morning, he directly devoured five steamers of beef soup dumplings and three large bowls of preserved egg and lean pork congee, a super carb overload!

If his appetite continues to develop like this, then his savings probably won't last four or five years...

This thought flashed through Cheng Tian's mind and was quickly dismissed. Not long after, Cheng Tian, who didn't have much real-world trivialities to deal with, reappeared in the Chosen Evolution Space.

Cheng Tian wasn't in a hurry to directly enter an instance. Instead, he went to the South District and found someone who looked very much like that person.

"How cool would it be to attach Nen to bullets~"

Looking at the woman muttering to herself with that unusually familiar phrase, next to the equally familiar reinforcement machine, Cheng Tian clicked his tongue and walked over. Then, he took out his newly acquired Crystal Option and decisively started reinforcing it.

As a blue, excellent equipment, reinforcing it for the first time costs 1,000 Heaven's Chosen Coins. The higher the reinforcement level, the more money it costs, and the success rate will further decrease. The level might even drop, or the item might explode.

In addition, depending on the characteristics of the item being reinforced, higher-level reinforcements may require special materials as a combustion aid.

Fortunately, most magical equipment has a 100% success rate up to +4 reinforcement. And +4 reinforcement should be the most cost-effective of all equipment reinforcement levels, because equipment reinforcement will undergo a small qualitative change in reinforcement every +4, +7, +10, +14, and so on.

Either giving new equipment enchantments, or strengthening the original enchantment skills.

So, under normal circumstances, players will first concentrate resources to strengthen one piece of equipment before considering others, and will not have the awkward situation of having four or five pieces of equipment that are all +2 or +3.

Oh, you ask how Cheng Tian knows these reinforcement rules?

He asked Auntie Custer, the staff member at the mission hall!

Auntie is awesome!

After exchanging a set of Knight Armor for Old Fan's Old Four Strong Set, plus the equipment and props Cheng Tian already had, his choices obviously increased. But after considering it, he still chose to reinforce the Crystal Option first.

After selling the King Statue to the space, Cheng Tian finally managed to reinforce the Crystal Option to +4 when he only had double-digit Heaven's Chosen Coins left.

Without temporarily selling the Knight Armor, he was completely broke. He also upheld Cheng Tian's consistent style, exchanging resources for combat power as much as possible before the battle, including exchanging the last dozen or so coins directly for ordinary gold coins that could be used in most instances, to ensure his initial source of funds in the instance.

He didn't rush to sell the Knight Armor, but kept it as insurance.

However, what Cheng Tian, who had already been enveloped in the light of teleportation, didn't know was that just yesterday, after he had accepted the mission and stepped out of the mission hall, the remaining three spots for the mission were all taken