章 3: Shine City

All detectors were capable of seeing mana; however, very few detectors were capable of successfully drawing out a runic character.

In fact, for most detectors, they could try to accomplish this feat for their entire lives. But with no success.

Even though Jake succeeded easily, this was by no means a simple process.

What Jake had just written out was the healing runic character - the foundation of a healing talisman. The runic character had 86 strokes.

Writing out 86 strokes correctly on paper would not be an easy task. Jake had to do this in 3D. The distance between each stroke had to be perfect. Also, there's interference from the environment. Every time Jake drew out a new runic character, he had to solve various on-the-spot problems.

Sure. Jake made this look easy now. But previously, he went through 5 years of relentless practice, going over just 8 runic characters.

Five years of relentless yet fruitless practice...

Hours and hours of training...

Going through the hopelessness and countless failures...

Frustration... Doubt... Anger... The urge to just give up, and just yield to fate...

But now, Jake gained the ability to perfectly control his hands. This was the last piece of the puzzle.

Now, Jake had become one of the rare detectors who were capable of drawing runic characters. Jake had became an artisan.

With enough practice, artisans could produce magical artifacts. Even the simplest and cheapest artifacts - talismans, cost at least five figures each.

Even at this price, there's always a demand and never enough in stock.

As a result, almost all artisans can say things like:

'Money is just a number.'

'I don't care about money. Don't talk money with me.'

Or things along those lines.

Now, with this success, in the near future, Jake would also become one of these filthy rich individuals.

'What a magical world...' Jake leaned back and took a deep breath.

'If I'm still stuck in my previous universe, maybe I could also get to that stage through hard work... It's just that the process would be rather long... Maybe ten thousand years of non-stop overtime...'

To make sure that he wasn't delusional, Jake went back to practicing.

Time quickly passed from early morning to noon. Without knowing it, the long distance bus had already arrived its destination.

Standing up along with the other passengers, Jake lightly shook his head.

From the practices, Jake felt a little sleepy and tired. This was the natural symptoms of spending mana energy.

'Each runic character cost me 2% to 3% of my mana energy.'

'A success rate of around 80%. And the reason of failure for those 20% was due to the bumps in the road.'

'In other words, I can maintain 100% success rate if I worked in a stable environment.'

Thinking of his previous performances, plotting out his future, Jake followed the crowd off the bus.

Along with the sparse crowd, Jake stepped out of the bus station.

The first thing that entered Jake's view was a bright pillar of yellow light.

A yellow-tier realm! A tier higher than the green-tiers.

These first appeared in the August of 2013.

Inside the yellow-tier realms, the green-tier final bosses were just field bosses.

Nowadays, in 2018, there were four tiers of realms in this world. The difficulty of the realms corresponded with its colors.

Green tier, yellow tier, orange tier, and red tier.

(Green tiers are the safest; red tiers are the most dangerous)

During these five years, the strength gap among explorers had widened as well. For classification, the explorers could be classified into five ranks:

Unranked, iron rank, bronze rank, silver rank, gold rank.

(Unranked are the weakest; gold ranks are the strongest)

In order to get to the other side, Jake had to pass through a red-tier boss room.

Yet, at the moment, Jake didn't feel safe entering even a yellow realm.

'There's still a long way to go...'

Of course, as a newbie, he's not expected to enter a yellow realm either.

At Shine city, that yellow realm was mainly tackled by the three local iron-tier guilds.

(Each iron-tier guild owns at least one iron-tier explorer.)

Jake was here to join his uncle's guild - the Shining Arrow Guild. Out of the eleven unranked guild here, the Shining Arrow Guild sat at number one in the rankings.

(Unranked guilds are made up of unranked explorers.)

Just like Jake's parents, uncle Chad had always been an exploration enthusiast.

The two family started doing wilderness exploration trips since when again? When Jake was 5? Or maybe 6? Somewhere around there.

Just like Jake's parents, uncle Chad was also one of the pioneers of realm exploration.

Just like most serious explorers, these guys spent most of their wealth strengthening themselves.

As a result, at the moment, uncle Chad was the unrivaled vice-guildmaster of the Shining Arrows Guild.

A rather convenient connection for Jake. Most of the documentation works were covered by uncle Chad. Jake didn't even go through an interview to join this guild. All in all, it's just... Tsk. Very nice.

'Just like in my previous universe, uncle Chad had helped me a lot... even after my parents went missing...'

'I couldn't do much to return the favor in my last lifetime... But now...'

Sensing the raw strength in his body, going over all the crafting knowledge in his mind, Jake faintly smiled.

At noon, this public parking lot was getting congested already.

Walking down the parking lot lanes, Jake looked for his ride.

"Hey! Jake! Over here!" Someone shouted.

Looking in that direction, someone was waving at him.

In response, Jake waved once and walked in that direction.

Taking a closer look, down the parking lot, there were two beauties standing in front of a silver Honda Odyssey, attracting a lot of gazes.

The taller girl lazily waving at Jake wore a grey T-shirt and sturdy-looking jeans. Her hair was tied up into a bun. Standing there, she emitted an aura of confidence and firmness. This eighteen years old looked more like a Valkyrie than a princess. Nevertheless, even without any makeup on, she was still a natural beauty. However, at the moment, she looked rather drained and overworked.

Samantha Hudson!

Daughter of uncle Chad Hudson. Jake's friend since childhood.

Since the two families went on frequent wilderness exploration trips, Jake had known this girl for a while now. This girl had always been a true bro.

The shorter girl was wearing a white mage's cloak. 19 or 20 years old. Wearing a pair of thin glasses. Giving off a presence of pride and elite stature. An elegant beauty with a cold attitude. Probably a new recruit just like Jake.

As Jake observed the new girl, that girl took a subtle look at Jake as well.

Disappointment flashed by in her gaze. Just an average looking eighteen years old, appearing rather calm and relaxed.

More importantly... the new girl took a quick scan at Jake from head to shoes. A blank grey T-shirt. Grey sweatpants. A pair of cheap sneakers. Empty wrists. The entire set of outfit probably cost less than one hundred dollars.

No matter how she looked at Jake, she couldn't see anything impressive on this eighteen years old.

Jake's childhood friend, Samantha Hudson looked at Jake in surprise though. The last time the two met was the Christmas of 2017. Back then, Samantha remembered Jake as a hot-blooded idiot.

Yet now, just over a few months, there was a sense of maturity in Jake's demeanors.

"Hey Sam. It's been a while..."