Ch 30: Alone
New
Pind_Ala
Making the rounds.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2026
- Messages
- 42
- Likes received
- 829
The grand New Year's Eve feast had finally reached its natural conclusion. One by one, the satiated disciples began to take their leave. Stepping out into the biting winter chill, they respectfully bowed to Zani before disappearing into the snowy night.
Some of the youths reside right here in Big Wheat Village, while others face much longer journeys, traversing the snow-covered roads back to their respective settlements or the bustling Grains City.
Many parents and relatives had already been waiting out in the cold. As Zani personally escorted his students to the gates, the crowd gradually dispersed until the grounds were completely empty.
Due to the profound importance of the New Year festival, the Iron Core Gym will remain closed for five full days.
In the end, as the courtyard fell quiet and the festive noise faded into the howling of the winter wind, Little Leo was the last person remaining. Standing near the grand iron gates, she adjusted her thick winter cloak, her veiled face obscuring her expression.
"Will you be alright traveling alone in this weather?" Zani asked, his tone carrying the genuine concern of a master. "The roads are already freezing over. Should I escort you?"
"There is no need, Master Zani," Leo replied, her voice maintaining its usual aristocratic calmness, though softened slightly by the warm feast they had just shared. "My mother will be picking me up from just outside the village borders. She is already waiting."
Zani nodded slowly, a profound light flashing in his eyes. He still knows very little about Leo's mysterious Immortal background, so he can only accept her words. "Very well. Have a safe journey, and take care of yourself."
As Leo respectfully bid her farewell and vanished into the swirling white mist, Zani let out a long, foggy breath. Than firmly grabbed the heavy iron handles of the main gates, pulled them shut, and slid the massive wooden locking bar into place with a resounding... THUD.
The gym is now completely silent.
In the past, the nighttime silence of the courtyard was always broken by the heavy grunting and shuffling of the Mud Boars. However, currently, only Zani and his head chef are left in the entire compound. The massive Mud Boar pen has been entirely relocated to another recently purchased plot of land due to the extensive construction of the outer walls. The hired caretakers, have naturally moved along with the beasts to look after them.
Turning away from the freezing gates, Zani walked across the snow-dusted yard and headed back inside, toward the warm glow spilling from the main hall.
Inside the massive, newly renovated dining hall, the lingering aroma of rich spices and roasted meat still hung heavily in the air. There, sitting hunched over a small, circular wooden table in the corner, was Julian.
The head chef was currently drinking, entirely alone.
"It is only the two of us now, Julian," Zani said softly, his footsteps echoing lightly on the stone floor as he moved toward the table.
"Yes, Master," Julian replied, his voice uncharacteristically hollow. He didn't look up, choosing instead to quietly take a long, agonizing sip from a large clay jug of cheap, fiery mortal wine.
Zani's eyes narrowed slightly as he deeply observed his head chef. "Are you absolutely certain you have nowhere else to be? No family to return to for the New Year? The gym is closed for five days; you are entirely free to leave."
Julian paused. His calloused fingers tightened fiercely around the neck of the clay jug until his knuckles turned entirely white. "I am certain."
Confirming the deep, unresolved melancholy swirling in the young man's bloodshot eyes, Zani quietly pulled out a wooden chair and sat directly beside him. "Pour a cup for me as well."
Startled out of his depression, Julian hurriedly set his jug down. "Of course."
He scrambled to find a clean ceramic cup, his hands trembling slightly as he respectfully served his Master.
Although Julian is twenty-five years old, technically older than Zani, the brutal hierarchy of the martial world is absolute and unquestionable. Zani is his employer, his savior from the freezing streets, and an unfathomable martial expert.
As the cheap, burning wine flowed down his throat, Zani found his own mind drifting into the silent void of the dining hall.
He thought about the passing months, his gaze tracing the empty chairs where his disciples had just sat. He wonders just how many disciples have officially graduated from his gym by now. Honestly, he has completely lost count. After hosting the very first official graduation ceremony months ago, he quickly realized the grand fanfare is simply no longer worth the effort.
Since graduating from the gym merely requires a disciple to physically lift 150 kilograms, a feat easily achieved after two or three months of training with pure iron equipment, many youths have successfully graduated. Some join the only Dojo or the Mayor's Manor, others simply stop due to financial difficulties, and some ambitious one left for other cities to try their luck.
"I wonder if any of them will ever return to visit?" Zani mused silently, staring into the amber liquid in his cup. He swirled the wine gently. Well, who cares? As long as they don't cause trouble for me or tarnish the gym's name, their paths are their own.
"Who will come back...?"
Julian's slurred, heartbreakingly fragile voice suddenly interrupted Zani's internal monologue.
Turning to look at his chef, Zani was taken aback. Julian's face was flushed bright red, and thick, unrestrained tears were streaming freely down his cheeks. He stared blankly into his empty cup, his voice cracking violently as if the question was meant for the heavens rather than for Zani.
SNIFF... SNIFF...
"Julian, what happened?" Zani asked, his tone filled with genuine, grounded worry.
"Nothing... it's nothing, Master..." Julian choked out, violently shaking his head in denial, though the tears only fell faster.
Then, with trembling hands, the broken man poured himself another entirely overflowing cup of wine, downed it in a single, desperate gulp, and completely broke down.
WAAAAAHHH!
The twenty-five-year-old man slumped entirely over the wooden table, burying his face in his arms, wailing openly like a lost, broken child who had just had his entire world shattered.
"Hey, hey. Easy now," Zani sighed softly, gently but firmly patting the crying man's shaking shoulder.
And so, Zani spent the remainder of his New Year's Eve playing the unexpected role of a consoling therapist. Through an endless stream of drunken tears, heavy hiccups, and broken sentences, the tragic, heaven-cursed past of Julian finally poured out into the open.
He had not always been a filthy beggar on the streets of Grains City. Julian had once been the legitimate Young Master of an incredibly wealthy, prominent clan in a distant, prosperous city.
In his vibrant youth, he had been the pride of his family, destined for greatness. But fate is a cruel mistress. He had fallen madly, hopelessly in love with a breathtakingly beautiful girl, a true jade beauty of the city who was tragically suffering from a mysterious, terminal illness.
Blinded by his young, desperate love, Julian had secretly embezzled and completely squandered the vast majority of his clan's hoarded wealth. He drained their treasuries to invite renowned physicians, alchemists, and traveling doctors. He purchased outrageously expensive, miraculous spirit herbs in a desperate, ultimately futile bid to cure her withering body.
When the elders of his clan inevitably discovered his massive financial crimes, the retribution was swift and merciless. He was ruthlessly stripped of his status, brutally beaten, and unceremoniously kicked out into the streets, branded forever as an unfilial waste who had doomed his own family for a dying woman.
Tragically, the woman he gave absolutely everything to, his wealth, his status, his martial future, and his family, only stayed by his side in the slums for a few meager months.
One cold morning, Julian woke up in their dilapidated shack to find her gone. She had vanished entirely into the mist, leaving behind nothing but a single, hastily written note:
"I have no choice but to leave. Please, wait for me. I will come back."
And so, the foolish, broken boy had waited.
He waited there for five agonizing years. He degraded himself, living like a filthy, starving beggar in the gutters, enduring beatings from local thugs and the biting cold of winter, all just in case she returned to that exact spot looking for him.
Finally, a year ago, the undeniable weight of reality forced him to move. He had been drifting aimlessly from one city to another ever since, wandering the world, desperately trying to see if he could find a trace of her. But it was all to no avail.
Eventually, entirely broken in both body and spirit, the tides of fate washed him up in Grains City, right to the doorstep of the Iron Core Gym.
Amidst wet tears and heavy snorts, the sheer emotional exhaustion and the cheap alcohol finally claimed him. Julian fell asleep right there on the wooden table, his breathing steadying.
Thankfully he did not vomit, Zani thought pragmatically, eyeing the pristine floor of his new dining hall. But this story... huh. Wait a minute. If he was a pampered Young Master who immediately transitioned into a starving street beggar... then where in the absolute hell did he learn to cook like a master chef?!
Zani could only shake his head in sheer wonder at the bizarre plot holes of this martial reality as he hoisted the sleeping man over his shoulder. Carrying his head chef, Zani walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the newly constructed living quarters to put the man to bed.
As he walked through the snow, Zani's eyes naturally evaluated the sprawling architecture of his developing establishment.
Originally, the System had only required a total of 12 accommodations to facilitate the Level 2 upgrade: 2 rooms for Core Disciples, and 10 rooms for Inner Disciples.
However, Zani's initial blueprints had spectacularly failed. About two months into the massive construction project, as the foundations for the new outer walls began encroaching near their pens, the Mud Boars became violently agitated.
This unexpected complication had not only put the entire construction operation on hold, but it had also forced Zani to bleed his funds to urgently purchase a completely new, adjacent plot of land to relocate the pens.
But this massive headache had a silver lining. Moving the beasts completely washed away his initial, cramped ideas. Because the massive pens are gone, Zani suddenly finds himself with vastly more usable space within the compound's original territory.
Instead of settling for the bare minimum, the accommodations are redesigned to be significantly larger and far more comfortable. Furthermore, extra rooms are added, bringing the initial 10 dormitories up to a grand total of 20. Out of those 20 new rooms, two are specifically allocated as private quarters for his chefs, Julian and Lady Tassy.
And this count of 20 does not even include the 3 large rooms constructed in the right wing of the main hall, designed specifically for himself and the future instructors, currently occupied by his core disciples.
Laying Julian down on a comfortable bed in his designated quarters, Zani pulled a thick blanket over the sleeping man.
Stepping back out into the freezing courtyard, Zani looked up at the perimeter of the gym. Right now, the only thing left, the final hurdle stopping the complete activation of the System's Level 2 upgrade, is the grand outer wall. Due to the heavy winter snow slowing down the laborers, it is not fully completed yet.
Just one more week's worth of work is left on it, Zani thought, crossing his arms. Once the snow clears and the final stones are laid, the Iron Core Gym will officially step into a completely new era.
______________________________________
[Question: How do you see Julian: miserable, foolish, or just a sucker?]
[Author Note: you can read chapter 31 and 32 free on my patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/unpaid13]
Some of the youths reside right here in Big Wheat Village, while others face much longer journeys, traversing the snow-covered roads back to their respective settlements or the bustling Grains City.
Many parents and relatives had already been waiting out in the cold. As Zani personally escorted his students to the gates, the crowd gradually dispersed until the grounds were completely empty.
Due to the profound importance of the New Year festival, the Iron Core Gym will remain closed for five full days.
In the end, as the courtyard fell quiet and the festive noise faded into the howling of the winter wind, Little Leo was the last person remaining. Standing near the grand iron gates, she adjusted her thick winter cloak, her veiled face obscuring her expression.
"Will you be alright traveling alone in this weather?" Zani asked, his tone carrying the genuine concern of a master. "The roads are already freezing over. Should I escort you?"
"There is no need, Master Zani," Leo replied, her voice maintaining its usual aristocratic calmness, though softened slightly by the warm feast they had just shared. "My mother will be picking me up from just outside the village borders. She is already waiting."
Zani nodded slowly, a profound light flashing in his eyes. He still knows very little about Leo's mysterious Immortal background, so he can only accept her words. "Very well. Have a safe journey, and take care of yourself."
As Leo respectfully bid her farewell and vanished into the swirling white mist, Zani let out a long, foggy breath. Than firmly grabbed the heavy iron handles of the main gates, pulled them shut, and slid the massive wooden locking bar into place with a resounding... THUD.
The gym is now completely silent.
In the past, the nighttime silence of the courtyard was always broken by the heavy grunting and shuffling of the Mud Boars. However, currently, only Zani and his head chef are left in the entire compound. The massive Mud Boar pen has been entirely relocated to another recently purchased plot of land due to the extensive construction of the outer walls. The hired caretakers, have naturally moved along with the beasts to look after them.
Turning away from the freezing gates, Zani walked across the snow-dusted yard and headed back inside, toward the warm glow spilling from the main hall.
Inside the massive, newly renovated dining hall, the lingering aroma of rich spices and roasted meat still hung heavily in the air. There, sitting hunched over a small, circular wooden table in the corner, was Julian.
The head chef was currently drinking, entirely alone.
"It is only the two of us now, Julian," Zani said softly, his footsteps echoing lightly on the stone floor as he moved toward the table.
"Yes, Master," Julian replied, his voice uncharacteristically hollow. He didn't look up, choosing instead to quietly take a long, agonizing sip from a large clay jug of cheap, fiery mortal wine.
Zani's eyes narrowed slightly as he deeply observed his head chef. "Are you absolutely certain you have nowhere else to be? No family to return to for the New Year? The gym is closed for five days; you are entirely free to leave."
Julian paused. His calloused fingers tightened fiercely around the neck of the clay jug until his knuckles turned entirely white. "I am certain."
Confirming the deep, unresolved melancholy swirling in the young man's bloodshot eyes, Zani quietly pulled out a wooden chair and sat directly beside him. "Pour a cup for me as well."
Startled out of his depression, Julian hurriedly set his jug down. "Of course."
He scrambled to find a clean ceramic cup, his hands trembling slightly as he respectfully served his Master.
Although Julian is twenty-five years old, technically older than Zani, the brutal hierarchy of the martial world is absolute and unquestionable. Zani is his employer, his savior from the freezing streets, and an unfathomable martial expert.
As the cheap, burning wine flowed down his throat, Zani found his own mind drifting into the silent void of the dining hall.
He thought about the passing months, his gaze tracing the empty chairs where his disciples had just sat. He wonders just how many disciples have officially graduated from his gym by now. Honestly, he has completely lost count. After hosting the very first official graduation ceremony months ago, he quickly realized the grand fanfare is simply no longer worth the effort.
Since graduating from the gym merely requires a disciple to physically lift 150 kilograms, a feat easily achieved after two or three months of training with pure iron equipment, many youths have successfully graduated. Some join the only Dojo or the Mayor's Manor, others simply stop due to financial difficulties, and some ambitious one left for other cities to try their luck.
"I wonder if any of them will ever return to visit?" Zani mused silently, staring into the amber liquid in his cup. He swirled the wine gently. Well, who cares? As long as they don't cause trouble for me or tarnish the gym's name, their paths are their own.
"Who will come back...?"
Julian's slurred, heartbreakingly fragile voice suddenly interrupted Zani's internal monologue.
Turning to look at his chef, Zani was taken aback. Julian's face was flushed bright red, and thick, unrestrained tears were streaming freely down his cheeks. He stared blankly into his empty cup, his voice cracking violently as if the question was meant for the heavens rather than for Zani.
SNIFF... SNIFF...
"Julian, what happened?" Zani asked, his tone filled with genuine, grounded worry.
"Nothing... it's nothing, Master..." Julian choked out, violently shaking his head in denial, though the tears only fell faster.
Then, with trembling hands, the broken man poured himself another entirely overflowing cup of wine, downed it in a single, desperate gulp, and completely broke down.
WAAAAAHHH!
The twenty-five-year-old man slumped entirely over the wooden table, burying his face in his arms, wailing openly like a lost, broken child who had just had his entire world shattered.
"Hey, hey. Easy now," Zani sighed softly, gently but firmly patting the crying man's shaking shoulder.
And so, Zani spent the remainder of his New Year's Eve playing the unexpected role of a consoling therapist. Through an endless stream of drunken tears, heavy hiccups, and broken sentences, the tragic, heaven-cursed past of Julian finally poured out into the open.
He had not always been a filthy beggar on the streets of Grains City. Julian had once been the legitimate Young Master of an incredibly wealthy, prominent clan in a distant, prosperous city.
In his vibrant youth, he had been the pride of his family, destined for greatness. But fate is a cruel mistress. He had fallen madly, hopelessly in love with a breathtakingly beautiful girl, a true jade beauty of the city who was tragically suffering from a mysterious, terminal illness.
Blinded by his young, desperate love, Julian had secretly embezzled and completely squandered the vast majority of his clan's hoarded wealth. He drained their treasuries to invite renowned physicians, alchemists, and traveling doctors. He purchased outrageously expensive, miraculous spirit herbs in a desperate, ultimately futile bid to cure her withering body.
When the elders of his clan inevitably discovered his massive financial crimes, the retribution was swift and merciless. He was ruthlessly stripped of his status, brutally beaten, and unceremoniously kicked out into the streets, branded forever as an unfilial waste who had doomed his own family for a dying woman.
Tragically, the woman he gave absolutely everything to, his wealth, his status, his martial future, and his family, only stayed by his side in the slums for a few meager months.
One cold morning, Julian woke up in their dilapidated shack to find her gone. She had vanished entirely into the mist, leaving behind nothing but a single, hastily written note:
"I have no choice but to leave. Please, wait for me. I will come back."
And so, the foolish, broken boy had waited.
He waited there for five agonizing years. He degraded himself, living like a filthy, starving beggar in the gutters, enduring beatings from local thugs and the biting cold of winter, all just in case she returned to that exact spot looking for him.
Finally, a year ago, the undeniable weight of reality forced him to move. He had been drifting aimlessly from one city to another ever since, wandering the world, desperately trying to see if he could find a trace of her. But it was all to no avail.
Eventually, entirely broken in both body and spirit, the tides of fate washed him up in Grains City, right to the doorstep of the Iron Core Gym.
Amidst wet tears and heavy snorts, the sheer emotional exhaustion and the cheap alcohol finally claimed him. Julian fell asleep right there on the wooden table, his breathing steadying.
Thankfully he did not vomit, Zani thought pragmatically, eyeing the pristine floor of his new dining hall. But this story... huh. Wait a minute. If he was a pampered Young Master who immediately transitioned into a starving street beggar... then where in the absolute hell did he learn to cook like a master chef?!
Zani could only shake his head in sheer wonder at the bizarre plot holes of this martial reality as he hoisted the sleeping man over his shoulder. Carrying his head chef, Zani walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the newly constructed living quarters to put the man to bed.
As he walked through the snow, Zani's eyes naturally evaluated the sprawling architecture of his developing establishment.
Originally, the System had only required a total of 12 accommodations to facilitate the Level 2 upgrade: 2 rooms for Core Disciples, and 10 rooms for Inner Disciples.
However, Zani's initial blueprints had spectacularly failed. About two months into the massive construction project, as the foundations for the new outer walls began encroaching near their pens, the Mud Boars became violently agitated.
This unexpected complication had not only put the entire construction operation on hold, but it had also forced Zani to bleed his funds to urgently purchase a completely new, adjacent plot of land to relocate the pens.
But this massive headache had a silver lining. Moving the beasts completely washed away his initial, cramped ideas. Because the massive pens are gone, Zani suddenly finds himself with vastly more usable space within the compound's original territory.
Instead of settling for the bare minimum, the accommodations are redesigned to be significantly larger and far more comfortable. Furthermore, extra rooms are added, bringing the initial 10 dormitories up to a grand total of 20. Out of those 20 new rooms, two are specifically allocated as private quarters for his chefs, Julian and Lady Tassy.
And this count of 20 does not even include the 3 large rooms constructed in the right wing of the main hall, designed specifically for himself and the future instructors, currently occupied by his core disciples.
Laying Julian down on a comfortable bed in his designated quarters, Zani pulled a thick blanket over the sleeping man.
Stepping back out into the freezing courtyard, Zani looked up at the perimeter of the gym. Right now, the only thing left, the final hurdle stopping the complete activation of the System's Level 2 upgrade, is the grand outer wall. Due to the heavy winter snow slowing down the laborers, it is not fully completed yet.
Just one more week's worth of work is left on it, Zani thought, crossing his arms. Once the snow clears and the final stones are laid, the Iron Core Gym will officially step into a completely new era.
______________________________________
[Question: How do you see Julian: miserable, foolish, or just a sucker?]
[Author Note: you can read chapter 31 and 32 free on my patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/unpaid13]