Zhao Wei's curiosity got the better of him. He picked up the bowl and tasted the dish. His eyes lit up, the flavor was clear and fresh the light soup was a showcase of beautiful flavors all mingling playfully but coming off in one strong push. The noodles were soft and yet snapped energetically when he bit through it. He couldn't believe that such strong flavors were made from such simple craftsmanship. Zhao Wei was sure he'd be able to make something that was several times more appealing with all the ingredients he had in hand. But if he were to be limited to just the same ingredients, he'd probably be beaten down by a large margin.
"Uh-hm!... I believe we didn't come here for the food." Guru interrupted his thought process. "So tell me what's on your mind?..." he said as he continued to eat.
"I don't know..." he said.
"Oh please spare me the..." Guru wanted to criticize his wishy washy attitude.
"It's just that at the start of all this I had a goal you know, and at the time it was quite naive for my world's standards, but the farther I come here the more I realize how actually difficult it is to achieve. You see when I started I had nothing, no experience, no direction and nothing akin to a responsibility. And that made it easier as my focus was simply to keep my own life and keep moving forward...." suddenly a string of sentences came from his mouth without end, the intervals for inhaling and exhaling almost non-existent.
At first Guru tried to keep up with the stream of info. But everytime before he could digest and understand the last statement another two would be coming at him. At some point he was so troubled that he couldn't keep up with it anymore. It was like a newbie suddenly listening to Rap God by Eminem and trying to understand all the words.
Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "... but with strength there's a"
"Stop!!" Guru screamed, somehow he found himself sweating from trying to digest all the information. He turned towards Zhao Wei who seemed to still need to get the problems off his chest and took a deep breath.
"Could you start again?..." he asked.
"Why?" Zhao Wei replied.
"Because I didn't catch what you meant at first and I haven't been able to keep up" he said honestly, "could you try from the very beginning?"
"The very beginning?"
"Yes"
"Ok..." Zhao Wei thought, "if that's the case then I'd have to start from back then, so when I was in my mother's womb my father wasn't sure he wanted a second child yet..."
Smack! He felt Guru's cane smash the back of his head and turned to him questioningly. "Not that far in the beginning!!"
"Oh..." Zhao Wei said.
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"Oh..." Guru said after Zhao Wei told him all that was troubling him. Especially with the case of Sola's parents.
"Oh?" Zhao Wei asked.
"Yeah?... I mean what other answer did you think I would give?" Guru replied.
"I don't know... I guess I was expecting something saintly or more....." Zhao Wei hesitated finishing his sentence which just added to Guru's curiosity.
"More what?"
"Nevermind."
"No seriously, more what?"
"Mentor-like?~" Zhao Wei answered nervously.
"What do you mean mentor like? I'm not mentor like?" Guru felt hurt.
"No you're not... a mentor is more like... take off the jacket, put on the jacket... or like patience young grasshopper.... or um... these are not the drones you are looking for." He tried to imitate all the great 'masters' he'd seen before. "I tell you my problems and your answers are more like 'meh'"
To be honest he expected atleast an answer. Isn't that the way every teacher is supposed to train their students?, with some worldly wisdom they gained after years of experience. Instead after beating his heart to his new found teacher his worries were just brushed off.
Then again he should've seen it coming. Even in training, Guru wasn't the type to explain about the wisdom behind his methods.
"Who the hell talks like that!?" Guru stressed.
"Ahahahaha!!" The old man in the building laughed, "Apparently good mentors!"
"Shut up Jeff!" Guru replied. Apparently his name was Jeff... Zhao Wei thought.
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All over the kingdom, Zhao Wei's food was being spread cut by cut. Several stalls were open in the main streets where the warriors would give every household head a small parcel. It was barely enough for a four person family to eat a few spoonfuls a meal for a week.
Unfortunately, even with Zhao Wei killing so many beasts, it was still quite a little once spread across thousands of people. And Eyisha needed to make sure that this lasted everyone a little longer just in case they were stuck in this situation longer.
It helped alleviate a little of the depression in the atmosphere but it wasn't a permanent fix. Somehow they needed to fix the situation soon. Even now the smallest of incidents could probably cause the already antsy people to riot.
And they hadn't been told yet what was outside. Only a chosen few at the top really knew. It was relatively easier to keep this a secret as most of those who had been chosen to go out were either missing or dead from beasts or simply that dark black gateway.