Sugar paintings were something many people probably saw quite often when they were children, but they had become much rarer in recent years.
Simply put, they were artful sweets made by drizzling sugar syrup melted to the proper consistency onto a clean stone slab to outline whatever shape the customer wanted, then sticking a wooden stick into it and letting it cool and set. To children nowadays, they were more valuable as things to look at than to eat.
As an inheritor of an intangible traditional cultural heritage, Cheng had properly obtained his certification. And as a young man, his ideas were clearly much more unconventional than his master's.
Compared with the fixed Chinese Zodiac designs randomly selected by spinning an arrow on the stone slab, Cheng was clearly much more in tune with the times, putting considerable effort into choosing his sugar painting designs.
He would ask around at the convenience stores near the various schools he often visited, mainly inquiring about which cards sold well and which toys were more popular. He would then incorporate the things children liked into his sugar painting repertoire.
In all honesty, these "new-style sugar paintings" sold far better than traditional designs. There were more boys and girls who liked Ultraman, Armor Hero, My Little Pony, Barbie Dolls, and the exquisite character art from mobile games than those who liked the Chinese Zodiac. Every now and then, even adults couldn't resist spending money at Cheng's stall.
Cheng also took this opportunity to openly slip in some of his own personal favorites. On his random sugar painting wheel, one couldn't find the Chinese Zodiac, but one could see special sugar painting designs such as Fire Flower, Kirby, Jackal Jeep, Pikachu, and Frostmourne.
However, starting today, his sugar painting designs would gain a new image: the Demon Cicada.
His new-style sugar paintings naturally cost a little more. Small ones cost fifteen yuan, large ones thirty, and some complex custom designs could even reach fifty yuan each.
That was only for flat designs. If one wanted a three-dimensional sugar sculpture, the price would double again. Such orders generally only appeared during temple fairs, cultural and art festivals, and the like. On ordinary days, sugar paintings remained the main business.
Regardless of whether they were sugar paintings or sugar sculptures, what customers were really paying for was the process of making them and the chance to admire these short-lived works of art. Once they had looked enough, they would simply crunch them up and eat them. No one was going to take them home, freeze them, and admire them every day.
Cheng's master wasn't some stubborn old fossil, either. See, when he asked Cheng what Ultraman looked like, he was actually preparing to make an Ultraman sugar painting.
Anyone who refused to make money was a fool~
Although this line of work couldn't make him rich and powerful, the state of having enough to feed himself without having to support a family allowed him to live quite comfortably.
If he wanted to set up his stall, he set up his stall. If he wanted to stay home, he stayed home. On top of that, Cheng didn't smoke, drink, gamble, or touch drugs. His overall lifestyle practically ran counter to consumerism. Even if he did absolutely nothing from now on, his savings were enough to let him live comfortably for four or five years without scraping by.
As for his sugar painting business, Cheng had always treated it as both a livelihood and a hobby.
Unfortunately, his sugar painting business was probably about to become Madam Niu--
He had clearly already found something like the Chosen Evolution Space, something that made him more eager to devote his energy, and even his life, to.
After sending his master the same sugar painting design he had recorded earlier, Cheng prepared to eat a big meal and then get a good night's sleep.
After recuperating, he would go face the beautiful Gotham City~
According to normal human physiology, Cheng should have been suffering from intense post-battle pain after fighting fiercely on and off for seven or eight hours the previous day, including several one-on-one battles against powerful units like Red Arremer and the Cyclops. Yet he climbed out of bed as if nothing had happened.
Not only did he have no muscle soreness or difficulty lifting his legs, he even felt physically better than ever. He had no idea whether it was due to his extraordinary natural gifts or the increased recovery ability brought by those six points of Strength.
The improvement in his physical toughness was obvious, yet it didn't feel abrupt at all. He wasn't suddenly crushing cups or twisting door handles off. It was just that when he looked in the mirror, he could clearly see that the excess flesh that had once been quite noticeable on his body was gone.
Oh, right. His appetite had also increased considerably. That morning, he directly polished off five baskets of beef xiaolongbao and three large bowls of preserved-egg-and-lean-pork congee. His carb intake was through the roof!
If his appetite continued developing at this rate, his savings probably wouldn't last four or five years after all...
The thought flashed through Cheng's mind before he dismissed it at lightning speed. Before long, with hardly any troublesome real-world matters to deal with, Cheng reappeared in the Chosen Evolution Space.
Cheng wasn't in a hurry to enter a dungeon. Instead, he first went to the South District, where he found someone who looked incredibly similar to that person no matter how he looked at her.
"If I could infuse bullets with aura, how cool would that be~"
Watching the woman mutter those extraordinarily familiar words to herself beside an equally familiar enhancement machine, Cheng clicked his tongue and walked over. He then pulled out the Crystal Option he had just obtained and decisively began enhancing it.
As a blue-grade Excellent item, enhancing it for the first time required 1,000 Heaven's Chosen Coins. The higher the enhancement level, the more expensive it became, while the success rate would also continue to drop. The enhancement level could even decrease, or the item itself could explode.
In addition, depending on the characteristics of the item being enhanced, higher-level enhancements might require special materials to serve as fuel.
Fortunately, the vast majority of magical equipment had a one-hundred-percent enhancement success rate up to +4. Enhancement +4 was likely the most cost-effective level among all equipment enhancement levels, because equipment enhancements underwent a minor qualitative transformation at +4, +7, +10, +14, and so on.
They either granted the equipment a new enchantment or strengthened an existing enchantment skill.
Thus, under normal circumstances, players would first concentrate their resources on enhancing one piece of equipment before considering the others. They wouldn't end up in the awkward situation of having four or five pieces of equipment all sitting at +2 or +3.
Oh, you're wondering how Cheng knew about the enhancement rules?
He had asked Auntie Custer, a staff member in the Quest Hall!
Auntie was the best!
After trading a set of Knight Armor for Old Fan's Old Four Strong Set, along with the equipment and items Cheng already possessed, he had clearly gained more options. But after considering the matter again and again, he still chose to enhance the Crystal Option first.
After selling the King Statue directly to the space, Cheng finally succeeded in enhancing the Crystal Option to +4, leaving himself with only two digits' worth of Heaven's Chosen Coins.
Without having sold the Knight Armor yet, he had completely emptied his reserves. This was also in keeping with Cheng's usual style: before battle, he would push his resources to the limit to convert them into combat power. He even exchanged the last dozen or so coins directly for ordinary gold coins, which could be used in the vast majority of dungeons, ensuring that he would have a source of starting funds inside the dungeon.
He wasn't in a hurry to sell the Knight Armor, either. Instead, he kept it on him as insurance.
However, Cheng, already enveloped in the light of teleportation, had no idea that the moment he had accepted the quest and stepped out of the Quest Hall yesterday, the remaining three slots for that quest had immediately been taken...
Before you continue