My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Xia Zuo secretly rejoiced.

10 training sessions will earn you 1 point of strength, plus 10 bonus upgrade experience points. Pretty good.

A boring journey has found a new way to pass the time.

Chapter 9 Fire-Breathing Talent

More than a month later.

The circus has arrived at the third stop on this trip.

This is a city that is slightly less impressive than Rosac, smaller in size and with lower city walls, but it has a full range of shops in the city.

There is also a fountain square in the center of the city.

Xia Zuo and the other members had reached a tacit understanding and worked together with the strongman Popai to move props and set up the pointed tent in the square.

After completing the grip and pressure training with the miniature bouncy ball, you gained 1 point of strength attribute.

He moved things more easily, but he was always very careful.

Whether it's the tent stakes or cables, the stage mats or wooden weapons, everything is handled with care to avoid costly repairs.

The boss is very clear about rewards and punishments in this regard. Anyone who damages a prop has to pay for a new one or hire a craftsman to repair it.

Fortunately, Vans carried the suitcase containing the flamethrower himself, without needing any help from Shazo or the other members.

While Vaners was fiddling with the potion bottle, Xia Zuo secretly peeked into the suitcase. Inside was a simple set of alchemical equipment, a small bottle of ready-made flamethrower, and several boxes of potions.

He cast a detection spell and received a startling message.

"Fans-style intermediate flamethrower potion. Drinking it will cause bodily damage, with an estimated 180 health points deducted over 60 minutes. Holding it in the mouth will deduct 10 health points per hour. Successfully drinking or using this potion to breathe fire will grant experience."

180 HP deducted in 60 minutes

Xia Zuo looked at his character template.

Health 2020

With 20 HP, you can only last about 7 minutes.

For Xia Zuo, this small bottle of medicine meant certain death after drinking it.

Fortunately, this potion isn't meant to be drunk; it's a prop for performing fire-breathing. The real way to use it is to hold it in your mouth and spit it out.

In the medicine box containing the raw materials, there were several small red vials, each about the thickness of a little finger. They had a pungent smell, and just one whiff would make your nose sting and your eyes water.

This potion seems to be a very important ingredient, as it can determine the power of the flames.

The detection spell returned a series of question marks, failing to even predict the negative effects. Clearly, this was due to insufficient perception and a lack of alchemical knowledge.

When making flamethrower, Vans only uses two or three drops of red liquid. If he wants the fire to burn more fiercely, he will add a few more drops.

Before tonight's rehearsal, Van Ers unusually changed into her performance costume.

Audrey gathered the members together. "Everyone, Vans wants to try out a new fire-breathing act. Popeye, you and the Joker siblings will go on stage later. Snake and Shazzo, you two go prepare five fire rings and stands."

On days when the fire-breathing character isn't around, the clown siblings perform jumping through fire hoops, so the props are readily available.

Following Vanss's instructions, Shazo arranged the fire rings in a circle, and Snake coated them with a flammable agent.

In previous fire-breathing performances, Vans would breathe fire straight out and spew water while standing still, without turning his body or head.

This time, the fire-breathing process was very different.

Vans stood in the center of the ring of fire, first spewing out a long flame to ignite the first ring of fire in front of him, then slowly turning around.

When Xia Zuo saw this, he instinctively clenched his hands, his palms sweating profusely.

Vans' approach was too dangerous.

Standing still while breathing fire is to maintain smooth exhalation, concentrate on the airflow, and steadily expel the medicine from your mouth.

If even the slightest mishap occurs, such as throat discomfort or loss of balance, the act of exhaling will subconsciously turn into inhaling. In an instant, the flames will reverse, severely burning the fire-breathing person.

As it turned out, Vans had better control over the flames than expected.

The stream of water gushing from his mouth suddenly became torrential, and the fire intensified. Vans quickly spun around, instantly igniting the remaining four rings of fire.

He stood in the midst of the blazing fire, raising his arms to celebrate a major breakthrough in fire-breathing performances.

At this moment, something strange seemed to emanate from the bald man surrounded by flames.

A unique charm of fire-breathing took root in Xia Zuo's heart.

His eyes widened, filled with images of raging flames, imagining himself surrounded by rings of fire, enjoying the pleasure of creating the incineration with his own hands amidst the heatwave.

"I've made up my mind, I'm going to become a fire-breathing man."

Xia Zuo secretly made up his mind.

With the advantage of immortality, even burns from flames are no problem; as long as health is fully restored, the body will be completely repaired. Forget about burning off hair and eyebrows; even a damaged throat is no issue.

Instead of wasting time and energy on less lucrative acrobatics, it would be better to make good use of one's immortal body, endure more hardship, and hone a true skill of fire-breathing.

Yes, the training process can be quite painful, but it's worth it compared to the copper coins and experience you gain.

The fire in Xia Zuo's eyes was slowly fading, but the look in his eyes became more and more determined.

Only after the ring of fire died down on its own did Audrey step forward and ask Vans, "How are you feeling? Are you sure it's safe?"

Vans nodded emphatically and gave an affirmative gesture.

"Do you want to use this program to replace the roast chicken, or add it after the roast chicken?" Audrey asked Snake to take away the fire ring.

Vans clenched his fists and brought them together.

“Including the warm-up acts, that makes three shows. How about we set the ticket price for the fire-breathing show at 12 copper coins?” Audrey said, counting on her fingers.

Vans gestured that everything was fine and then left the backstage area.

"Shazo, go and change the price list." Audrey looked at the boy who had come back to his senses from the performance.

"Received, boss."

When Xia Zuo stepped out of the low tent, besides his anticipation of the fire-breathing performance, he also looked forward to the income from the show.

Tickets for the fire-breathing show are the best-selling, as many people come specifically to see Vans' performance. There's no need to worry about tickets not selling after the price is raised.

The fire-breathing show ticket, which used to cost 8 copper coins, has now increased to 12 copper coins (50 copper coins). This will significantly boost both the circus's ticket revenue and the upgrade experience gained.

Early the next morning.

Xia Zuo hung the new price list on the carriage.

After updating the prices, he even drew a simple sketch to promote the new fire-breathing show: a bald man standing in a circle of flames with his arms raised.

This is an inspiration I got during last night's rehearsal.

Perhaps the promotional posters worked, or perhaps the residents had simply grown tired of the old fire-breathing show, but the tickets sold out even faster after the price increase!

By evening, with plenty of tickets still available for the first three shows, the tickets for the fire-breathing show had sold out ahead of schedule.

Xia Zuo had no choice but to hang up a "Temporarily Departed" sign and run backstage to ask the boss.

As soon as he pulled back the curtain of the low tent, he saw Vans drinking a light blue potion, while Snake, who was about to enter the arena, was whispering to the Green Snake.

Xia Zuo nodded to the two people and the snake in greeting, then went straight to the changing room and talked to the boss through the curtain.

One minute later, Audrey changed into her performance costume and stood in front of the fire-breathing man. "Vanles, your performance is very popular, and the tickets have already sold out. Would you like to add a solo performance? I'll have the clown sister warm up the crowd for you."

Vans pondered for a few seconds, then gestured to indicate that two more sessions would be added.

"Xia Zuo, take the spare blank wooden pieces as tickets for the extra performance. Go quickly."

"Alright, boss."

2000 copper coins! That's today's ticket revenue, the same as the first day's revenue in Rosac.

Vans' personal earnings were close to 1000 copper coins, of which more than 400 came from those two solo performances.

As usual, Xia Zuo handed over his earnings to Audrey for safekeeping. After everyone else had left, he told the boss about his desire to learn how to breathe fire.

Audrey had noticed the boy's interest in fire-breathing long ago.

She cupped the other person's face in her hands and rubbed it vigorously. "Little one, breathing fire requires talent."

"Huh? Talent?" Xia Zuo blinked.

Audrey brought two leather bags of the same size, filled one of them with air, and said, "You can start by inhaling air from this bag."

Xia Zuo stuffed his mouth into the bulging leather bag and tried to inhale as much air as possible, but he ended up inhaling more than half of the air in the bag and not being able to inhale it all.

Audrey flattened another leather bag to expel all the air, then held it to the boy's mouth and sealed the gap between his mouth and the bag's opening with both hands. "Blow hard, blow all the air out of your body."

"Huff!" Xia Zuo's face turned bright red as he strained to compress his lungs.

The air gushing from his mouth actually inflated the empty leather bag!

"Hahaha, I never knew you had the talent for breathing fire!!"

Audrey laughed happily, opened her arms and hugged the boy, then picked him up and spun him around.

Xia Zuo had just finished blowing air and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when the waves blocked his nose.

He broke free from the astonishing embrace, braced his arms on his knees, and gasped for breath. "Big Sister... why, why did you say I have... the talent to breathe fire?"

Audrey's eyes sparkled with excitement as she filled the leather bag with air again. "Let's try one more time, and confirm it again."

After resting for half a minute, the dizziness caused by exhaling air had almost disappeared.

Xia Zuo, together with the eldest sister, tested it again and got the same result:

He only inhaled about half a bag of air, yet he was able to exhale a whole bag of air!

Even Xia Zuo, who was completely unaware of what was going on, became happy.

It has no elemental affinity, but it has the potential to become a fire-breathing creature!

That's great! Not everything goes wrong, right?

Audrey stared at the boy with wide, shining eyes, as if she were looking at a glittering treasure, her voice trembling with excitement:

"When people breathe, they unconsciously retain a small amount of air in their bodies."