IRM Chapter 80

Ji Chi listened to Linton’s explanation and didn’t react for a long time. Instead, he looked at him with an examining gaze.

It wasn’t until Linton lost his composure first. He put away his confident demeanor and anxiously poked Ji Chi. “Say something.”

Ji Chi: “Oh.”

Linton was shocked. “That’s it?! Don’t you have anything to ask me?”

Ji Chi thought for a moment. “Where is the most famous restaurant in Yiste Town?”

Linton: “Oh, it’s not far from here. Walk five more minutes to the right and you’ll reach it.”

“No!” Linton suddenly snapped back to his senses and jogged to catch up with Ji Chi, clinging to his side and chattering away, “Do you think I’m lying to you, that my words aren’t credible at all?”

Without waiting for Ji Chi to speak, he refuted, “I absolutely don’t lie about profession matters! I can guarantee it with my talent!”

Ji Chi said flatly, “No, I believe you. What you said makes a lot of sense.”

Linton looked at him half-believing, hung his head in silence for a while, and said, “I originally didn’t plan to reveal my identity, but actually… I’m a High-level Engineer.”

After saying this, he looked at Ji Chi with an expression that said “Isn’t this surprising? Aren’t you shocked?”

Ji Chi let out another “oh.”

Linton finally got angry. He took three or two steps forward and turned back to block Ji Chi’s path. “I’m not bragging. I just… want you to believe me.”

A trace of confusion flashed through Linton’s eyes. He wasn’t usually this rash, but for some reason, when facing Ji Chi, he inexplicably didn’t want to appear too pathetic.

Ji Chi helplessly stopped to look at him. “Why wouldn’t I believe you? Is this very rare?”

“Huh?” Linton was dumbfounded. Wasn’t this rare? A seventeen-year-old High-level Engineer! That’s a once-in-a-century genius, okay?

Ji Chi also became serious and counted on his fingers. “One friend of mine is a High-level Mage, another friend is a High-level Summoner, and another is currently an Intermediate Mage, but his fire magic’s destructive power is stronger than a High-level Mage’s… Oh, they’re all only sixteen years old.”

“So…” Ji Chi asked Linton earnestly, “Why would I doubt you?”

Linton: “…Are you the one lying to me?”

Ji Chi walked around him and continued. “If you don’t believe me, then forget it.”

Linton followed expressionlessly. Though he said he didn’t believe it, in reality, his confidence as a rare genius had already been shattered to pieces. He was still thinking in a daze—he would rather Ji Chi not believe him than face this cruel reality.

The two walked in silence for a while and stopped in front of a very busy restaurant.

People in this world mostly loved alcohol. In any town, taverns of all sizes lined the streets. People here were accustomed to running to taverns to order a solid mug of ale, ordering some bread and roasted meat as drinking snacks to fill their stomachs—that counted as a meal.

Therefore, proper restaurants were actually quite rare.

Linton noticed Ji Chi’s confusion and perked up to introduce it to him. “Decades ago, Yiste Town was much poorer than now. There wasn’t any excess grain for brewing alcohol. This restaurant stopped selling alcohol from that time, and even now only focuses on making good food, making even many drunkards unable to resist coming here.”

Linton stepped forward to push open the door and stood aside to let Ji Chi enter.

The restaurant wasn’t very large, yet many people sat inside. Some wore tattered clothes, others wore luxurious garments, all enjoying their food with laughter and cheer—a scene of complete harmony.

Linton smiled. “Some nobles who know about this restaurant also come here very often. They wanted to pay big money to have the owner ban commoners from entering, but the owner refused. At the time he even said, ‘Everyone uses their mouth to eat, so why separate them? If you nobles are somehow special, I can invite you to eat on the street.’ Hahaha! He made that noble’s face turn green!”

“Stop bringing it up, stop bringing it up. That was so long ago.” A rough voice came from behind them. The owner held a copper tray and shooed them away with disdain. “Don’t block my way, hurry and find a place to sit. And you, kid, don’t take all my sauce home this time, or I’ll start charging you next time!”

Linton stiffened, deflating like someone whose vital point had been seized. He nodded and stuffed a small jar at his waist further into his pocket.

Ji Chi: “…” Is that jar for real?

The two quickly ordered their food and sat at a spot near the window. Linton propped his head up with one hand, staring fixedly at the free secret sauce on the table, unable to look away.

Ji Chi looked at him speechlessly and tried to divert his attention. “I’m a bit curious, how did you become a High-level Engineer? Although my friends are also very impressive, they’ve been receiving the Empire’s best education since awakening their profession talents.”

Linton finally tore his gaze away from the free sauce and grinned at Ji Chi. “So you’re from the royal capital. Pretty much what I guessed. But you’re wrong—the education I received is also the best.”

Ji Chi assumed a posture of listening attentively.

But Linton refused to continue. He slowly sipped his tea and pretended to lament in distress. “Sigh, I don’t know how many days I’ll have to go hungry after spending money on this meal…”

A vein jumped at Ji Chi’s temple. “This meal is on me.”

Linton beamed. “Because I met an excellent teacher! Although he’s not very serious and likes to hide my coins to tease me, he’s really impressive. I can recognize the styles of many master engineers at a glance, but I’ve never been able to discern his.”

Linton thought for a moment and added, “Oh, I also can’t figure out Master Borg’s style. Those two are the master engineers I admire most in my life.”

Ji Chi fell silent. Master Borg was Bard, and that unserious one… He felt like nothing good came from these people getting together.

“Aren’t you going to ask me how I met my teacher?” Seeing Ji Chi fall silent again, Linton dissatisfiedly nudged him. “Just order me one more wrap and I’ll tell you everything!”

Ji Chi sneered. “Then please shut up, thank you.”

This restaurant’s most famous dish was the wrap. The staff brought over two plates that occupied the entire tabletop. On the shining plates, half was golden baked bread fragrant with wheat, and the other half was steaming hot vegetable stew.

The eating method was also simple and straightforward—use a small spoon to spread a layer of secret sauce on the baked bread, then layer on the thick, fragrant vegetable stew. Tear it off gently and you could start enjoying it.

The wrap’s taste truly lived up to its reputation. The baked bread was crispy and fragrant, the sauce fresh and sweet, the stew rich—even though Ji Chi wasn’t originally hungry, he unconsciously finished a large plate.

He stared at the plate before him with heavy thoughts, planning to trick Harvey into coming here next time and use the Time Freeze divine spell to pack several portions to put in his magic bag.

Vacuum-sealed tool-person Harvey: ???

At this moment, Linton across from him hugged several oiled paper bags—portions of fresh wraps that he’d earned from Ji Chi’s coin purse using various information and questions.

Even Linton felt somewhat ashamed. He carefully stuffed the wraps into his backpack. “Hey, I won’t charge you anything for the next question. How’s that for a deal?”

Ji Chi snapped back to attention and laughed. “How very generous of you. But why are you taking so many wraps? To bring home for your family?”

Linton’s hands tying the string paused very subtly. He looked up and smiled. “Of course not. These can save several days’ worth of meal money. I’ve calculated it—I can finish them just before they go bad!”

Ji Chi: “…” Seriously, young man, there’s really no need to be this stingy.

This time, Linton still used up all the secret sauce on the table, but seeing how much they bought, the owner didn’t say anything. He only called out to Linton as they were leaving and reminded him flatly, “Your days are still long. Don’t wear yourself down.”

The smile at the corner of Linton’s mouth stiffened. He responded softly, lowered his head, and quickly walked out of the restaurant.

They had eaten quite early. When they walked onto the street, it was just reaching the normal meal time, yet the street was abnormally crowded with people. These were mostly young people, looking with joy and longing in the same direction.

“What’s going on?” Ji Chi looked in that direction in confusion, but was blocked by the sea of people and couldn’t see anything.

Linton’s eyes brightened. “It’s the royal aid station! Commoners can receive a portion of food just by presenting their letter and emblem!”

As he spoke, he took his heavy backpack off his shoulder and protected it in his arms. He turned to Ji Chi and said, “Wait for me! I’ll squeeze in, collect it, and come out!”

Like being chased by dogs, Linton didn’t wait for Ji Chi’s agreement before happily rushing into the crowd, immediately disappearing from sight.

Ji Chi looked on in awe, staring dumbstruck for a long moment before murmuring, “This kid really has it tough…”

Ji Chi was also currently a commoner. Those provisions included his share too, but he wouldn’t join in this kind of commotion.

Ji Chi sighed almost inaudibly. In this world, it was truly extremely difficult for ordinary commoners to climb upward. When even eating was a problem, wanting to achieve profession success was practically impossible.

They didn’t lack perseverance and dedication. They only needed an opportunity. Once they grasped it, these resilient people would sweep forward with the force of a prairie fire, completely overthrowing the corrupt system.

Ji Chi withdrew his gaze. Just as he was about to step back a bit, he suddenly noticed that on this street, there weren’t just the young people participating in the test, but also children who originally lived in Yiste Town.

They hid in the small alleys, eyes wide open, enviously watching the grand scene in the distance.

They too had long suffered from grinding hunger, but because they had no talent and were the most useless people, the royal family wouldn’t give them even a single piece of bread.

“Big brother, I’m so hungry… Can’t we really go get food?” A little girl with withered yellow pigtails held her finger in her mouth and tugged at the hem of her brother’s clothes in front of her, speaking softly.

Her brother silently shook his head, crouched down, and seriously reminded the little girl, “Nana must stay far away from there. Do you remember Brother Pete? He wanted that food and got his leg broken by those people.”

The little girl was frightened. Thinking of Brother Pete who still couldn’t walk, she immediately hid behind her brother, not daring to say another word, not even daring to look carefully in the direction of the aid food.

Her big eyes darted left and right, and soon met a pair of pitch-black eyes.

The mysterious black pupils were very beautiful, not at all like the demons the adults spoke of. The little girl couldn’t help but stare in fascination.

Ji Chi slowly walked near her, crouched down, and asked softly, “Does Nana know how to hide treasures?”

Following his words, the little girl nodded dumbly.

Her brother noticed the movement beside him and immediately pulled the little girl behind him, looking at Ji Chi’s neat clothes with an unfriendly expression. “Do you need something?”

Ji Chi smiled, turned sideways to take out the magic bag from under his coat, lowered his head to organize it, then placed the bag in the little girl’s hands and winked at her: “Remember to hide it well and only open it when you get home, okay?”

He stood up, rubbed the little girl’s head, didn’t say anything more, and walked back the way he came.

Seeing Linton approaching, he raised his hand and waved naturally. “Yo, you’re out? What did you get?”

Linton looked at him with a complex expression and lowered his eyes. “Nothing good, but enough to eat a full meal.”

Ji Chi smiled. “Then won’t one of those wraps you calculated go bad?”

Linton pulled at the corner of his mouth. “No, it’s far from enough.”

He didn’t explain further. Next, he dutifully took Ji Chi around all of Yiste Town, sharing many experiences and places to pay attention to during that time, all without charging a fee.

All without charging a fee! Ji Chi was simply shocked! He looked at Linton suspiciously several times and asked, “Do you know someone named Linton?”

Linton stopped his explanation and looked at him coolly. “What are you trying to say?”

Ji Chi: “Oh, it’s just that he hasn’t asked me for money all afternoon. It’s a bit unusual.”

Linton scoffed and didn’t want to deal with him, muttering under his breath. “Do you even have any gold coins left…”

It was getting late. Linton escorted Ji Chi back to that inn. He hesitated at the entrance for a while and said again, “I’m really confident about the test direction. You can think about it in that direction tonight.”

Ji Chi smiled. “I’m also confident about the test. Don’t worry, I’m someone blessed by the gods.”

He dared to be certain that Harvey hoped even more than himself to pass the test.

Linton didn’t want to say more and nodded hastily. “Whatever you want. I’m leaving then.”

Ji Chi watched his retreating figure and shook his head with a smile. Just because there was no service fee for one afternoon, his attitude was this different?

That night, Linton returned home cloaked in starlight.

His home was in the most remote corner of Yiste Town. This place was so desolate that even thieves and robbers didn’t want to visit. They had long known that only a group of commoner orphans who couldn’t even eat their fill lived here.

But today seemed a bit different.

A child saw Linton return and immediately cheered softly, “Brother Linton is back!”

As soon as the words fell, a group of little ones swarmed around Linton’s side, looking at him excitedly.

Linton bent down to pat each head one by one and asked with a smile, “What are you so happy about?”

The children pulled him to a room in the very back and mysteriously presented a magic bag. “Look! What did Nana bring back?”

“It’s all fragrant, fragrant food! And it’s still hot!”

“Oh no, why did you tell him? Weren’t we supposed to let Brother Linton guess?”

“Sorry… I couldn’t hold it in.”

Linton was startled, then laughed. “It’s all food… That’s good, I was worried someone would target us…”

Linton breathed a sigh of relief and put down his bulging backpack. “I also have gifts for you. Divide them up—no sleeping tonight until you’re full!”

The children laughed with delight. They had endured all afternoon and were already terribly hungry. Each person took a portion of food and happily dug in.

“Mmm, I’ve never eaten anything this delicious! Is this the sandwich the nobles eat?”

“But I think what the nobles eat isn’t this fragrant!”

“Right, right! And this is a magic sandwich! Look! It’s still steaming! Eh, wait, what’s this?”

The child held the sandwich with a bite taken out of it, looked carefully twice, and reached into the very bottom of the paper bag to pinch out something round.

Even in the dim light, it couldn’t conceal the dazzling brilliance of gold coins.

The children were shocked and hurriedly searched through their food, successfully pulling out a gold coin from each paper bag. They lay like little stars in the children’s small palms.

“Brother Linton!” The overwhelming calls startled Linton. He turned around helplessly. “What’s wrong? Don’t suddenly scare me…”

His gaze fixed on the golden starlight in the children’s hands.

His eyes trembled for a long time. Suddenly he turned around and covered his eyes. A line of starlight also fell from between his fingers. “Really… How many more stories do I have to tell you…”