Chapter 23: 11 Years Later
( Humming! )
( Splash! )
Stepping out of the bathtub and heading to his room, sitting down at the desk in his room, Chan took a look at himself through a mirror. Remembering his father's and brother's faces, Chan could see the similarities in the mirror. His eyes like his father and brother were darkish green, also like the two, he had a strong jawline and high cheekbone.
"My hair has gotten longer again," said Chan as he noticed his long black hair was now past his neck. "Maybe I should get a haircut later today,". Chan combed his hair and tied it up to make a ponytail.
Walking around the house Chan noticed both Qu In and Di were gone as they were probably at the smithy.
Chan prepared some spicy beef soup with rice before going to the smithy to tell Qu In and Di that the food was ready.
During the years that he spent with Qu In and Di, Chan was asked to do chores around the house and sometimes help at the smithy by being one of the front counter workers, running errands to fetch materials, and on rare days he would be asked to help heat the furnace.
Chan never once asked or was asked to help make the weapons as Qu In would only teach those willing to commit to blacksmithing as their life-long career. Qu In's life was based on the weapons and equipment that he made, he would spend most of his days just working and never resting. Throughout the year, Qu In would only spend 2 weeks out of the year resting.
Like Chan's old world the calendar systems were similar, except instead of 12 months there were 13 months. Also, the weeks of the calendar like his old world consist of 7 days. The current calendar year was 921.
( Creak! )
Opening the door leading to the furnace area, Chan noticed both Qu In and Di resting and he informed them that the food was ready.
All 3 made their way back into the house and sat around the table. Before eating Qu In asked Chan, "Chan, you're only 2 months away from becoming an adult. Do you know what you want to do? Do you want to become a mercenary group like the Crimson Reapers?". During the 11 years that passed, the Crimson Reapers became a big-time mercenary group with more than 50 members and contributed to plenty of wars.
"I'm not sure yet," Chan answered.
"Well, you don't have much time as if you don't decide you might be forced into the army, as Di and I have been making a lot of weapons for the army and there can only be one reason. War. It seems like Biyou is getting ready for quite the battle with the commission that they have been giving us, If you want, instead of going to war I can teach you how to make weapons as I know how hard-working you are," Qu In told Chan.
"Thank you for thinking about my future but I don't have the will to become a blacksmith as I feel that isn't my calling," Chan declined Qu In's offer of an apprenticeship.
After eating and cleaning the dishes, Chan had free time and he chose to go on a walk to think about what Qu In said.
There was one thing on Chan's mind and that was vengeance for his family. Ever since the day that his family was slaughtered he would once in a while dream about the scene and hear the voices and sounds of the people in his household being killed one by one. Every time he is reminded of his family he couldn't help but imagine what the intruders that day did to his family. There was one name Chan remembered, Yu Lo. He would pray some nights for Yu Lo to be alive so he could kill him with his own hands.
He also remembered the feeling when he first killed one of the cavalrymen. He remembers the knife going through the throat of the man so easily and the warm thick red blood that poured down to his little hands.
"Ahh!" said Chan as he shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts he was having. He could feel that his thoughts were becoming too dark.
"If I want revenge I can't be a blacksmith as I know I must be on the battlefields just to get a chance to seek out Yu Lo. Argggh, but that would mean I have to serve one of these sh*thead kings. Not only can they just get rid of anyone they like, but they also treat others like sh*t and they have been allowing slavery for the longest time," Chan thought to himself as he now knows how the world works.
Walking to the heart of the city, he could see a group of men, some on horses and some walking. The group surrounded a carriage. They all were equipped like they were ready to go to war or that they were ready to fight to protect someone important.
Being careful, Chan walked a far bit away behind them as he didn't want to start any trouble. Eventually, the group and Chan made it to the heart of the city and went their separate ways.
Chan was an outcast in Nos as he lived away from the city and was not friends with any of the kids his age. Chan had only one friend, and that was Ca Wu. Ca Wu was 3 years younger than Chan. The two meet at the smithy on Chan's sixth year in Nos. Working the front counter, the front door was opened by a kid with blonde hair. Walking up to the front counter, Chan found out that the kid came in looking to buy a short sword.
"Why would a kid your age be looking for a short sword, we sell real weapons, if you're looking for a toy go somewhere else," Chan told the kid as the kid looked younger than Chan, who was 11 at the time.
"I'm not looking to buy a toy I need a real sword!" the kid replied angrily.
"I can't sell it to you as you can get hurt, or you can accidentally hurt others," Chan told the kid.
"I have money to buy it though, don't you just want money!" shouted the kid as he was getting frustrated.
Chan laughed and asked the kid, "Ok then, How much money do you have?"
The kid showed 20 copper coins, seeing the money chan told the kid, "Ok, I'll sell a short sword to you,".
Chan paused for a second and saw the mad-looking kid calm down, seeing the kid calm down Chan told the kid, "I'll sell it to you for 5 gold. If you can give me five gold, I'll sell you any short sword that we have.".
Getting angry, the kid snatched a short sword from one of the shelves and ran out the door.
( Thump! )
The door closed behind the kid as he ran out.
Letting out a sigh, Chan then opened the door to chase the kid.
Making it pretty far, Chan had to draw out his ki to cover the distance the kid had made.
( Zoom! )
Quickly getting in front of the kid, Chan snatched the short sword back and trip the kid.
( Thud! )
The kid face-planted onto the ground.
Putting his right foot on the back and holding the kid down, he told the kid, "You're lucky I took the sword back and didn't let you fall onto it, now go before I change my mind and stick the sword in your stomach myself,". The kid quickly ran off.
The next day again, Chan was working the front counter and the same kid came in, recognizing the kid, Chan shouted, "Get out right now!".
"I"m sorry for what I tried to do yesterday. I just wanted to help my mom." the kid said.
The kid introduced himself as Ca Wu and explained his reasoning for trying to steal the short sword. Ca Wu wanted to help his mother, one of the pleasure hall workers. His mother was abused physically by one of the usual customers. He also then went on to explain how he had been raised by his single mother all of his life and he didn't know who his father was.
Hearing the story, Chan accepted Ca Wu's apology. Not knowing why Ca Wu needed to come back, Chan told him, "Ok, I accepted your apology you can head out now as I still won't sell you a short sword.".
"That's ok, I don't want a sword anymore, I want you to teach me how to do what you did to catch up to me as I looked back and saw you chasing me, then as I looked forward you had already taken the sword and tripped me. I also want to learn how to do it." Ca Wu replied.
Hitting his head on the counter, Chan left off a groan before rejecting, "I don't know know what you're talking about, and if I did I wouldn't want to."
"Please?" begged Ca Wu.
"No! Now get out!" Chan shouted at Ca Wu.
"Ok, I'll go, but I wonder what everyone is going to think about when I tell the story of a boy being able to teleport," said Ca Wu.
"Haha, tell them. Like they will believe someone can teleport," Chan mocked Ca Wu.
"Ok, I'll just tell one of the guards I saw you use ki," Ca Wu threatened Chan as he turned around heading for the door.
Not wanting to draw any attention to himself, Chan finally broke and gave Ca Wu an answer that he liked, "Ok fine, as long as you keep quiet and only come by on the last 2 days of the week as that's when I'm free."
Chan's friendship with Ca Wu started as a teacher-student relationship. With not much to do in his free time, Chan would go out to a secluded area with Ca Wu and teach him how to control ki.
During his free time in the past, he learned to better use his ki and came up with a new method for gathering ki. When Chan was swimming for his life in the river to escape from the Kan soldiers, he found out it was possible to gather ki without being in a still position. Slowly experimenting, Chan found out the trigger was when his body was in a fight or flight stage while being in s trance. You have to be scared of dying, but let it also go and feel zen, so basically, Chan was on a tight rope of being zen and fearful for his life.
Teaching Ca Wu his method, Ca Wu was never able to do it. Chan hypnotized that for one to master his ki-gathering technique one might have to die at least once.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Treehouse_Tales
Treehouse_Tales From this point on the story should pick up a little bit, I wanted to use the first few chapters to build a background and reasoning for Chan's future actions
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