Chapter 208: Melvin’s Shop*

Vigor, however, can only last so long before lethargy starts to set in. And in the two hours that it took him to plod through this rabble of people to make it to Melvin shop, that is exactly what happened.

It wasn't the walk itself that tired him out, no it was the multitude of stares and whispers directed at him. It might have started as just plain annoying, but at some point, it escalated to where he wanted to loudly announce to everyone how they were going to be eating their words soon.

Instead, he just clenched his fists whilst pretending to be deaf to it all. Checking his map again for the 10th time in the last few hours, he saw that he was finally just a couple more blocks away from the toy store.

Skirting his way through the massive crowd, Xinya made his way over to the nearby intersection. Turning the corner he walked three more blocks before becoming stunned by the sight in front of him.

Although he doesn't know why he was so shocked, this was something that he should have expected from Melvin. Only that man would be eccentric enough to decorate his shop totally against the norm of the town.

While the building still had the familiar traditional Chinese elements like the others Xinya walked past on his way here. Such as the sweeping roofs, the screen windows, towering wood columns, and sculptures of figures, like dragons on clouds and etc.

In contrast, the toy shop in front of him stood out completely. While the other buildings he saw were mostly dull reds and browns, Melvin's store was colored in bold blues, greens and even included bright yellow ornamentation in different places.

Even though the building looked absurd placed in the middle of this traditional town Xinya had to admit that it was eye-catching. Especially to kids with the way they seemed to be gravitating over towards the store.

Just in the last few minutes that he was standing here, he saw about thirty of them. Twenty of them dragged their parents inside, while the other ten were leaving with big smiles and holding the toy of their choice.

A part of him felt extremely proud of his instructor, and all of his success. Because in barely any time at all Melvin had created a very thriving business in another town.

He couldn't help but wonder if he would be able to do the same, after the update, would he become as busy as Melvin seems to be. He really hoped so, or all his planning would have been for naught.

While clearing that bad thought from his mind, Xinya opened the door to the store and walked in. Only to be amazed by the inside like he was the out.

The first thing he saw when he entered was a large circular room with a high-domed ceiling. As opposed to it's outside with its colorful decadence, the inside was decorated in a plain golden brown wood.

However, once he looked around some more he realized that the inside wasn't as plain as he first thought. Around the walls were inlaid scenes from what appeared to be children's books.

These were made from thin slices of chalcedony, malachite, turquoise, jade, and the like, cut to shape, and chosen individually because of the surface pattern. These, too, were polished only near the bottom where children could reach, and especially near the faces.

Turning his head away from the walls, his attention was drawn to the middle of the store, where a single spiral staircase was leading upwards like a tall tree. From what he could tell the staircase was carved in the Art Nouveau style, all leaves, and gently diverging curves, making it a very unique feature in the store.

The farther he walked into the store the sadder he got that Melting Snow wasn't here to appreciate these surroundings with him. He knew for sure that the boy would have loved this place very much, with all the different rooms full of toys everywhere who wouldn't love it.

A smile crept on his face as he imagined Melting Snow running through the rooms wildly, looking at each toy. He would totally have to make sure to bring the boy here later on sometime.

As he walked through the store, he passed by many different rooms that were full of colorful toys, to the point where the room felt almost crowded. Xinya had a feeling that even if it looked messy, they were probably organized with care by some kind of theme that only Melvin had privy to.

There were kites, masks, and puppets in one section, carved figures of animals in another. There was also a room full of musical instrument shaped toys for kids, like whistles, bamboo flutes, reed pipes, and colorful rattles.

Across from the instrument room, he could see action figures for boys and dolls for girls. He couldn't even begin to describe everything else that was around there was just too much to take in.

But there was one thing that made him stop in his tracks and stare in wonderment. In the corner of the main room, a couple of feet away from the curving staircase stood a suit of ancient Chinese bronze polished armor, with a winged helmet, just the size of a child.

'Melting Snow would love this,' Xinya thought as he opened his interface and took a picture of the antique armor, before messaging a copy to the boy.

"You seem mighty intrigued by that armor," stated a boisterous voice from behind, startling Xinya so bad that he almost jumped out of his skin. "Was the armor I gave you not good enough?"

Clutching his hand to his chest, Xinya quickly turned around only to see that it was Melvin standing behind him with that goofy smile on his face. He looked to his left and his right, but he had no clue where the man came from.

Giving the man a look that indicated his confusion as to where he popped up from, Xinya replied, "No, the armor you gave me is wonderful. I'll be able to use it for a while yet."

"That's good to hear. I know that most adventures are short on money, so I gave you the rose armor especially for that purpose," Melvin sincerely told him while inspecting how the armor looked on the Xinya.

"Well I must thank you once again," Xinya stated, feeling a little shy about how intensely Melvin was looking him over. "This armor helped me a bunch through my travels."

A look of interest appeared on Melvin's face, "That's right your travels, how about you tell me about them."

Just as Xinya was about to respond three kids ran past him screaming and he could see that more was about to follow. Melvin just chuckled at the chaos that was ensuing around him, eyes lighting up at the sight of all the kids enjoying his store."I think it would be best if we finish talking about this in my office, don't you?"

"Yes I think that would be for the best as well," Xinya agreed with a nod of his head.