Finding Joy in Misery

Chen Jinyang, who had been fast asleep, felt a tickle on his nose and couldn't help but sneeze. Hearing the giggles of a little girl in his ears, he opened his eyes to see a cute little girl pinching a lock of red hair and covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. Looking at this adorable, lovable creature, a sudden urge for mischief bubbled up from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Jinyang closed his eyes, pretending to continue sleeping. When the girl's small hand reached out again to tickle his nose, he suddenly opened his eyes, pulled down his eyelids, stuck out his tongue, and made a funny face at her. The little girl jumped in fright, let out an "ah," and dove back under the animal-skin quilt, leaving Chen Jinyang laughing heartily.

The little girl crawled out from under the skin and pounced into his arms, giggling non-stop. Chen Jinyang stroked Mishaer's red hair, lost in thought—it felt so soft, and an inexplicable warmth rippled through his heart.

A moment later, a soft "gurgle" sound broke the silence. Mishaer looked up at him, looking a bit shy. It took Chen Jinyang a while to realize that the little girl was hungry.

Chen Jinyang pulled a portable backpack from under the bed and rummaged through it, finding some leftover horse meat and roasted fish. The horse meat was too tough and "hot" in nature, making it hard for a child to digest, so he picked out the fattest piece of roasted fish and handed it to the wide-eyed Mishaer.

Mishaer took the fish and opened her mouth to bite it, but Chen Jinyang quickly snatched it back. It seemed the little girl had never eaten fish before and didn't know how to pick out the bones.

Having her food taken away, Mishaer didn't say a word, just stared at Chen Jinyang with her large, watery eyes. Seeing the poor little thing's pitiful expression, Chen Jinyang felt a pang of guilt, as if he had stolen a lollipop from a child. He tore off a piece of boneless fish meat and stuffed it into Mishaer's mouth. The little one's eyes lit up; she chewed quickly, her bright eyes curving into crescent moons with joy.

Mishaer also tried to tear off a small piece of fish and held it to the corner of Chen Jinyang's mouth. Chen Jinyang opened his mouth and gently bit her finger, which startled Mishaer into pulling her hand back quickly, and then they both burst into laughter.

Mishaer ate the fish with a beaming smile, though most of the meat ended up in Chen Jinyang's stomach.

Seeing that Mishaer was full, Chen Jinyang put away the remaining food on the wooden table, tossed the fish bones aside, and wiped the grease from his hands. He gave Mishaer a mysterious smile, crawled under the bed, took out the cleaned helmet, and placed it on her small head. Mishaer carefully stroked the horn helmet with her small hands as if she were touching a beautiful work of art. It was such a beautiful treasure that she feared even a little too much force might break it; the little one's eyes were filled with unbelievable wonder and awe.

"Is this for me? William, my brother!" the little girl asked in a whisper, her voice filled with hope. Chen Jinyang, who didn't need to guess her meaning, flashed his signature goofy grin. He ruffled Mishaer's beautiful curly hair, stood up, and walked out the door under the girl's protesting gaze. A new day had begun.

As the fiery red sun just leaped over the horizon, Chen Jinyang arrived at the stable to begin William's daily routine. By this time, young Alos was already working in the stable ahead of him. The first task for the brothers every morning was to fill the troughs of all the livestock with barley bran and hay. Chen Jinyang lifted a burlap sack of barley bran with one hand and used the other to untie the opening, pouring it into the horse trough, while Alos carried hay to the troughs for the goats and cows. Barley bran was a precious commodity; usually, a large portion was added when making bread, and only in this season would the village spare enough to feed the horses to help them gain weight.

There were five heavy horses, nine medium horses, eleven light horses, four goats, two cows, and four Highland Rothé in the stable. The Highland Rothé was a common type of livestock—a large magical beast that looked like a musk ox, tall and sturdy with curved horns, cloven hooves, and thick, fluffy long hair. They were stronger and had more endurance than heavy horses, were faster than cows, and could travel normally even at night.

The two of them worked for half the morning to feed all the livestock. A sweating Alos hurried back to the tavern to work as a waiter, while Chen Jinyang prepared to draw water from the nearby well to fill the drinking troughs.

The well's edge was built of stone into a two-foot-high circular ring, with a wooden frame shaped like a gate standing in the middle, from which a dozen feet of hemp rope and a wooden bucket were tied. Every trough was connected by a wooden pipe to a large water basin next to the well. One only needed to pull the plug on the pipe, and the cool well water would flow from the basin to fill the trough, then be plugged again. Pulling the plug, Chen Jinyang stood on the well's edge in a horse stance, awkwardly drawing water from the well and pouring it into the large basin. When the trough was full, he lifted his legs, which barely felt like his own, and struggled to reinsert the plug before returning to the well to continue his horse-stance water drawing until the large basin was full.

When all the work was finished, Chen Jinyang, his legs completely numb, lay limply in a pile of hay. Closing his eyes, he felt the pulse of his body bit by bit. Every strong, powerful heartbeat gave his whole body a sense of volcanic power, and he could clearly feel the soreness and numbness in every muscle as they recovered. Feeling this formidable physical foundation and unparalleled recovery speed, Chen Jinyang was confident that he could withstand even more brutal training. If he could undergo systematic training and development, the power this body could unleash would be unimaginable. Chen Jinyang was full of confidence and anticipation for his future.

At noon, Chen Jinyang dragged his two long, aching legs that barely felt like his own, limping home like someone suffering from hemorrhoids, which made the surrounding villagers burst into laughter. Mishaer was playing a game while wearing the horn helmet; the warm, soft animal skins and toys filled her with vitality and laughter. She stood before Chen Jinyang, who had just returned home, and chanted solemnly:

"Under the blue-leaf tree with the crown, the beautiful princess waves goodbye. The departing Champion embarks on an adventure. Mysterious ruins, dark caves, Leaving my deep footprints. Dark wizards, Evil demons."

Mishaer waved her cute little fist forcefully at Chen Jinyang:

"Accept the judgment of justice under my sword!"

Chen Jinyang returned a smile that looked worse than crying. Mishaer's little face blossomed into a giggle, and she pounced into his arms like a clingy little kitten. Chen Jinyang thoroughly enjoyed this warm, cozy life; it was a feeling he had never experienced in his three years of fleeing—a sense of home.

A while later, Alos returned home with lunch: hard bread and frozen mashed potatoes, plus Chen Jinyang's roasted fish and horse meat. The three of them ate with beaming smiles; Mishaer felt that today was the happiest day of her life. Chen Jinyang had noticed something unusual about the red hair on Alos's forehead that morning. Subconsciously reaching out to touch it, a clump of hair fell off. Seeing that Alos didn't look surprised, it seemed he had already noticed. He mimicked him in a silly tone:

"A-los..." He didn't know what to say next, so he pretended to be deep in thought.

Alos, thinking Chen Jinyang was worried, said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, William, I'm fine. Look, I still have plenty of hair on my head." As he spoke, he scratched his hair, but to his surprise, even more red hair came off. Alos looked at the fallen hair in his hand with frustration, staring silently at Chen Jinyang and Mishaer, who were laughing together. None of them knew that whenever the Fire Bloodline awakened, one had to go through this stage: all the body hair would burn off and fall out, and before long, it would grow back. Regardless of what color the hair was before awakening, it would grow back fiery red. The hair loss meant that Alos's Fire Bloodline awakening had succeeded, and it was a perfect awakening.

A so-called perfect awakening occurred because, for most Fire Bloodline possessors, the immense heat generated within the body during the awakening process would instantly destroy the awakener's consciousness when released. The awakener would then become an idiot, only regaining their sanity a day later when the bloodline activated and their memories were recalled. Such awakeners had limited potential, much like a vegetable that had lost consciousness but had a new soul born within, retaining the original memories. To outsiders, the awakener just seemed to have a more irritable temper, but in reality, other than the memories, the core of the person was no longer the original self.

However, Chen Jinyang's bucket of cold water yesterday had precisely saved Alos's consciousness. Not only was Alos's sanity undamaged, but during the bloodline memory recall, his mental realm would receive great benefits, much like adding extra attribute points to a character in a game. Alos's bloodline memory recall would happen tonight, and he would gain the foundation and traits to become a powerful spellcaster.

Unaware that he had struck gold, Alos returned to the tavern with a sorrowful look. Mishaer watched with the eyes of a child from Earth looking at Doraemon as Chen Jinyang pulled a dagger from under the bed and tucked it into his waist. After ruffling her hair again, he walked out the door with a goofy grin. The little one peeked cautiously at the door; she was full of curiosity about the world under the bed.

William's afternoon task was to go into the woods, cut a log, and carry it back. He had to cut at least three logs a week. A week in Faerun was ten days, meaning William had to carry back a suitable log every three days.

Chen Jinyang carried a felling axe out of the village and headed straight into the dense forest. When he arrived at the spot where he had left the wooden spear last time, the Goblin leader was still there, trying every possible way to pull out the "divine weapon" he had stuck in the ground. The Goblin leader finally discovered Chen Jinyang standing behind it and was so scared that it bumped its head against the spear shaft, causing the wooden spear to vibrate. The dizzy Goblin leader wobbled and fell to the ground, stars dancing in its small, yellowish-brown eyes. Chen Jinyang found it amusing; he pulled up the wooden spear and continued toward the logging site, with the staggering Goblin leader stubbornly following behind.

Chen Jinyang found it strange that the Goblin leader was so persistent; it was nothing like the cowardly image he had imagined.

In fact, the cause was Chen Jinyang himself. The reason this Goblin leader could rule its tribe was because of that horn helmet, but that helmet had been stolen by the Goblin leader from the home of a great mage. It was a magical item with power, known as the "Horn of Kor."

The Goblin leader had used the magic of the Horn of Kor to rule the local goblins and had used surrender tactics more than once in times of danger. Every time, adventurers would look with disdain at the treasure, which was covered in filth and stench.

Who would have thought it would run into Chen Jinyang, a "miser" who would "scrape the ground three feet deep"? He had snatched its "crown" without a word. The Goblin leader, having lost its throne due to the loss of the Horn of Kor, could only follow Chen Jinyang step by step, hoping that this greedy human would, like his kind, mercifully discard its "crown" because of the filth. Unfortunately, even after Chen Jinyang stepped into the human village, the Goblin leader's wish remained unfulfilled. Thus, it had to settle for second best, hoping to get the wooden spear that had once intimidated the goblin ambushers to use as its new scepter to maintain its leadership. Unfortunately, the "scepter" that Chen Jinyang had driven into the ground with all his might was clearly not something that could be shaken by the thin frame of a tiny goblin. Dominated by ambition, the Goblin leader had yet to complete its plan and could only leave its unique "mark" on the spot.