Ultimate Rice System 98 Peaceful Days: Side Xin Fan

"Ah Xin Fan! Want some roasted sweet potatoes? I'll give you 2 for a single Mu. Share one with Xiao Xing."

An old vendor smiled gently at the 6 year old boy. Xin Fan would often buy snacks here when he had spare change and was feeling a bit hungry. More often than not, he would usually be accompanied by either Tianfei or Xiao Xing. Xin Fan took a coin from his pocket and handed it over to the old man. The old man returned with a paper bag filled with two roasted potatoes.

"You always make the best food Old man."

The old man gave a short chuckle before waving farewell to the child. Xin Fan made his way down the streets to Xiao Xing's house. As he opened the door, he saw Xiao Xing diligently reading a book on cultivation. Xin Fan had let her borrow it so she could prepare before she started school, a.s.suming she awakens in the upcoming year.

"Busy Xiao Xing?"

"Brother Xin Fan!"

The girl's eyes lit up at the sight of Xin Fan at the door. She ran up to him dropping her book and everything. Xin Fan silently chuckled and patted her on the head. He then pa.s.sed her the other sweet potato. Uncle Xu put down his paper and looked up at Xin Fan. The place was a lot more different since the last time he saw it. While it was still small, rather than run down, the place felt a lot more cozy.

"Doing well?"

Xin Fan nodded.

"I'm going to head to the Uncle Jin's place. I was wondering whether Xiao Xing wanted to come along."

Uncle Xu looked at Xiao Xing who was looking at him expectedly. He turned to Xin Fan and nodded. Little known fact within the city is that all uncles and aunties for some reason seem to know each other. Xin Fan walked out with Xiao Xing following close behind. Through the twisting of alleyways, there were many suspicious figures around. However after a death glare from Xin Fan, most seemed to walk away. Xin Fan walked up to the door and knocked three times. He started to count.

'1...2...3...29...30.'

He then knocked twice before the doors opened again. To his surprise, he found the old man in the rocking chair sober today.

"Oh hey it's Xin boy! And who do we have here...a lady friend? Gwahaha."

"Hey Uncle Jin."

The old man seemed to be in a jolly mood today. Something was definitely up.

"What's the occasion?"

Xin Fan realized that the old man was wearing a different shirt as well. It was a much cleaner one that the one he usually would wear.

"Oh it's nothing really. Jun boy broke through to manifestation realm a while ago. He's treating me to a dinner at Han boy's place. It's just a celebration between me and a couple of old mates. Nothing much. Speaking of which, what brings you here?"

Xin Fan took out his scythe and brought it to the attention of the old man. He stared at it and rubbed his stubble.

"Wow...seems like you have quite the story to tell."

"Well...I did have a training program at the tower city abyss."

"Ahhh...I see? So you want me to give some maintenance? Some improvements?"

Xin Fan nodded. Uncle Jin wagged his finger telling him to enter the back room where his forge was. Uncle Jin placed the scythe on the bench and observed it more closely. While he did so, Xin Fan took a few of the remaining parts of the snake he had left namely:The bones and the scales. He placed them on the bench and awaited a response.

"This is something I got when I slayed some snake that shot bubbles."

"Ahh...a bubble snake...interesting...very interesting."

The old man rubbed his chin in interest.

"What about it?"

"It's just that the bones of this particular snake is similar to the other snake that was used to make this scythe."

"And how?"

"Well...they are both renowned as materials to not use to make weapons...at least orthodox ones. But I have an idea."

A small fire seemed to be lit in the old man's eyes. He took hold of the materials he had in hand and threw them in the fire. From a shelf, he took out a bluish looking metal and also threw it into the flames. The old man reforged the blade from the scythe from scratch. Xin Fan watched as the materials slowly fused inside the one blade. After Uncle Jin quenched the blade, he refitted the blade back into the scythe. The blade was significantly larger than before and had cloud like patterns all over the blade.

"Try it."

Uncle Jin grinned as he handed the scythe back to Xin Fan. Xin Fan swung it around his body. It didn't feel that much different despite the change in size. The ma.s.s still felt around the same and he could wield it just as before. Uncle Jin threw a fruit that was lying nearby towards Xin Fan. By instinct, he slashed down towards the incoming projectile. Xin Fan's eyes widened as he saw what happen next. Upon contact, the blade spiked outwards into fine needles as if there was an explosion inside. It was similar to the effect you would get when popping a bubble. However in this case, after a short moment, it returned back to it's original shape.

Uncle Jin started to chuckle.

"Gehehe...It actually worked..."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh it's nothing. Usually when you use this material, it would shatter into pieces almost immediately. But due to the flexibility of the blade, it simply didn't happen. If the blade could be sharp...I can say that I made two useless materials useful...Wait...what if I ad..."

As Uncle Jin was contemplating on modifications, Xin Fan walked the girl out of the shop. It seemed that Uncle Jin was not going to be finished any time soon so Xin Fan decided to just leave.

"See you next time!"

Uncle Jin didn't respond back. Xin Fan looked to the girl who by this point was getting a bit bored.

"If you ever need any tools, just go for Uncle Jin. Now that my business is done, let's go to the shopping district."

The girl's eyes lit up as she followed behind. Xin Fan spent the rest of the time aimlessly walking around the city. For him, a break like this was not too bad.