"Sigh. Why the price of black bread increased ?" sighed a youth with tattered clothes.

Tang Ling was a ordinary youth in the Bao Feng City.Yes, a normal youth.

As he lived in Bao Feng City, a outer city of the mighty Borkang Continent, the city was sometimes attacked by monsters. The Borkang Continent was ruled as the Borkang Empire but honestly, it couldn't be considered as an empire. In a sense, there were 3 main cities of which were ruled by three powerful "Kings". They battled each others to gain the "Golden Throne"( Emperor's position) and he, was a citizen of the Mysterious Fire faction. Well, it wasn't decided by the city, it was just that the King was accorded a territory and the city happened to here. It wasn't anything new to him as it teached in school where everyone had to attend when one was a child or punishments would follow.

Thinking about that, Tang Ling thought about his sister, Tang Fuxi. Tang Fuxi was the only family member he had. His parents died by a swipe of a monster in the 34rd incident of BaoFeng's city war.

He also knew the cause, while the official reason was "a great army of monster invasion and the lack of manpower" he had heard when he followed a rich young master, he happened to that it was the ingenious tactic of the mayor to "eliminate the weeds" and the mayor lamented that the invasion didn't killed enough "trashes".

While his sister seemed to adapt to these changes, he knew that she was acting like it. He knew that this event was deeply carved on her heart and would forcelly try to expel these thoughts off her mind. She would also work for a sweatshop that sold low-quality tools for a few coins a hour.

The Mysterious Fire faction didn't really help too, in exchange of their so-called "protection", they were expected to give "tributes" to them. The corruption of the mayor didn't help and required that each household had the obligation to give 10 credits every month which was 5 more than normal.

(Note : 15 credits is the rent of a normal household)

The additional expendure left many to cry and they were also ones who were really affected.

The burden was immense

The poor sufferings was an enjoyment of richs. Tang Ling's heart was pained. But he recovered himself of his musings, he then looked at the dark alley. It was a small path where innocent children played soccer and other things. But as it was school time, the small street seemed quite desolate (14+ could enjoy the privileges to skip a few classes). It also meant that the Little Variety grocery was near.

The Little Variety grocery was the only grocery in the surrounding areas. The boss here was pretty good and would sometimes ask him to do the count for some pocket changes. Although he was the shop owner, he was soft-hearted so he was loved by many and would sometime lower the price to the bare minimum unlike many unscrupulous merchants in the city who abused their authority and let the population starve as they swimmed at their profits.

He then saw a small stone, this stone was just like any stone but somehow, he felt that it had a small connection to him.

"Hummm... This stone was the first time I saw after recovering from my memories..." As an act of momento, Tang Ling streched his hand and took the stone. He then examined the stone as forr why it attracted his attention while it was only a stone in trillions of stones.

The stone was black, black of black, it was totally different than a normal stone which were normally gray. There were also a strange carving which emited a blue lightning light. While it seemed crude at first, when one looked closely it seemed to be exquise and had a certain pattern to it. He didn't really know about it but it could be sold at a great price.

Tang Ling stored the mysterious stone in his pocket and went to the grocery with his measly coins.

Only 2km to go.