Part 4
The Immortal artificer, this is what Joe Wang was called when he was in the immortal world. When his master ascended to the deity realm and left the planet, he was left with the task as one of his disciples to be one of the master artificers of the planet. For hundreds of years, he perfected and pushes the advancement of the planet. Before his ascension to the deity realm eight hundred years later, the world he stayed at is already reaching the modernized cultivation era where huge battleships would be used to go out of the planet's surface and explore the stars.
The chaos and wars that plague the planet were minimized and the many races in the planet bond together and instead of fighting began exploring the stars and beyond. When he reported this to his master when they accidentally met in the immortal realm, his master became proud and happy of his accomplishments.
The two of them then began to be famous in the immortal world as the two greatest immortal artificers. And their name was spread far and beyond becoming famous to all deities. Many sects and groups would curry favor to them for a rare artifact, and they would gain massive immortal cultivation resources in return.
Life was good until one day the dark forces invaded the immortal world, and that was the day that he lost his master. He swore that day that he would become stronger and be better. But before he knew it, he has failed his ascension to true Godhood and was instead thrown to some unknown land and began anew.
Now his goal in this world is to once again get the same status as a Deity realm expert or even become a true God. But this time he would do it slowly at his own pace. He has experienced the cruelty of some of the Gods. And he didn't want to fall again, so since this is a new start he needs to begin cultivating and to do that he needed to make gears and artifacts to absorb more natural energies so that he is able to protect himself in this world.
"Hmm… I must go out… but… I… I have no money. Damn it! If only I was able to protect my stuff, but that damned purple lightning destroyed them all." Joe Wang thought while feeling a bit of grievance for the loss of the things he has worked hard to craft.
Right now, he was currently sitting crossed legged on the cold ceramic floor of a beautiful 3 bedroom apartment.
They have just arrived after 2 hours of a taxi ride. And he found out that Melissa Krin is living a simple life in this big and spacious apartment.
Suddenly, Joe Wang heard the sound of flowing water followed by a sobbing voice of a girl. Though she tried to drown her voice with the sprinkling of the shower, Joe Wang can still hear everything. He knows that Melissa Krin was truly hurt because of the betrayal of the two people she cared about.
"Sigh… at least this way she would become a strong and vigilant woman." Joe Wang thought with a heavy sigh.
"I need to call home…" Joe Wang suddenly thought as his gaze turns towards the mobile phone on the table.
"But Big sister should agree first before I can use her phone." He thought as he decided to wait for Melissa Krin to finish taking a bath.
Half an hour later, the sound of footsteps sounded from Melissa Krin's room, then the room's door cracked open.
Hearing this, Joe Wang opened his eyes and turn towards the door seeing the beautiful figure of Melissa Krin. She has already finished showering and is currently drying her dark brown hair.
"Little brother Joe, are you hungry?" she asked showing a beautiful smile.
It seems that she has gotten over the sadness or is trying to just hold it in her heart.
"Nah, I'm good. Big sister, can I borrow your phone? I… I need to call home." Joe Wang awkwardly asked.
"Sure… But… why don't you just go home? I mean…" Melissa Krin asked also feeling a bit awkward.
She wanted to ask this for a while now, but would always forget it as they continually converse while traveling. But now she has a chance to finally ask this question.
"There are things that I must do that I don't want my parents to know. But I trust you, big sister, so…" Joe Wang explained.
"Okay, okay, suit yourself… Here…" Melissa Krin said as she opens the lock on her mobile phone and tossed it to Joe Wang.
Joe Wang called his mom and discussed something with her.
When he told her about him having an old master and that he would accompany his old master, Melissa Krin pouted her lips.
"Is this little brother saying that I am his old master? Me? Do I look like an old man to him?" she thought while feeling a bit wronged.
Seeing her face, Joe Wang could immediately see through her flow of thought but he didn't explain himself and just smiled while handing her the phone.
"Thank you… Well, I'll cook for you then. What do you want to eat?" Joe Wang said as he jumps up and patted his robe.
Noticing his clothes, Melissa Krin suddenly thought of how strange Joe Wang is. And astute as she is, she suddenly recalled him saying that he found an old master in that forest. Then she suddenly realized something…
"This little brother, are you really a martial artist?" Melissa Krin asked.
Then suddenly her mind fantasized of someone protecting her from some bastard and becoming her own personal hero. As her thoughts process drifted, she suddenly smelled something nice which woke her up from her fantasy.
…
That afternoon, they had a scrumptious late lunch, which made her satisfied and viewed Joe Wang into a new light.
"Big sister, can you let me borrow some money?" Joe Wang suddenly asked with a serious face.
Though he knows that this is a bit of a shameless request but he has no choice.
"What do you need money for?" she asked with a knitted brow.
"I… I need to buy something. But I promise to give it back within a week and I will give you a precious gift as a bonus." Joe Wang said with confidence in his voice.
"Well, it's not that I don't trust you and anything, but I'm just curious about what you will do with the money?" she asked.
"I wanted to buy some antiques. My master taught me some skills and I wanted to test it out." Joe Wang said with a smile.
"Really? I… I don't have that much… I can lend you at most 5,000 credits." Melissa Krin said.
"Credits?..." Joe Wang wanted to ask but then the memory of his body suddenly showed him that in this world, money is universal and it is called Credits.
"Okay… that would be enough. Thank you, big sister!" Joe Wang said feeling a little excited.
"Umm… can I… Can I go with you? I would just feel bored here." Melissa Krin suddenly asked.
She wanted to see the skill that this young man is talking about. She knows that true antiques are hard to find, if they can get lucky then the both of them can strike it rich.
"Hmm… I don't see any problems with that." Joe Wang replied which made Melissa Krin became excited.
The two then took a taxi ride and went towards a particular street that sold old antiques.
For Joe Wang, he didn't care about the Qi in the antiques as he could not even absorb those things. What's important to him is the natural energy which has accumulated in them; this is because his cultivation needed those the most.
Qi are only useful to him when the tenth sphere appears in his dantian. That is the time that he can use and combine the Qi with natural energy. But for now, he only needed a lot of natural energy to strengthen his cultivation.
As the two walks around, Joe Wang's attention was suddenly caught by a wisp of natural energy in the air.
"This wisp has a strong source of natural energy… but they seemed to be suppressed. This… this is a great treasure." Joe Wang thought as his gaze caught the sight of a small cart with thirty mini statues of a frog spirit which is made of glass which looks like jades.
From a single look, he knows that the things in the cart are what they called fakes, as most of them are actually not jade but made of glass. But what baffled him is that those things have trapped a huge amount of natural energy.
"In many people's eyes, these things are fakes… but… hehehe… For me… I hit the jackpot!" Joe Wang wanted to jump and dance but he restrained himself and calmly strode towards the small cart.
As he walks closer, he can clearly feel the amount of natural energy within the fake jade statues.
"If I can absorb all of this, I would definitely reach around four to five spheres. This is enough for me to be able to make more artifacts and gears. Hehe…" Joe Wang thought while trying to constrain himself from grinning.
Sitting beside the cart is a young boy wearing a simple worn out and dirty t-shirt and shorts. His hands and feet are full of dirt as it seems that he just played around in the area.
"Boy, how much is this?" Joe Wang asked.
But before the little boy could ask, the beautiful young woman beside Joe Wang extended her hand and held Joe Wang's hand.
"Little brother, these are all fakes." Melissa Krin whispered in a low voice.
"I know, but trust me, big sister. These are the most precious item in this place." Joe Wang said in a low tone with a smile.
Then his gaze turns towards the young boy as he flashed the boy a simple smile.
The boy looks at Joe Wang's way of dressing, though the young man is handsome yet his fashion is weird. He looks like those monks from the monastery in the olden times. So the boy hesitated for a bit but still told them the price.
"Umm… these things cost 2 credits each. They are fake replicas of those jades inside the stores." The boy said as he wipes the snot from his face.
"Hmm… So that would be 40 credits. Good, I'll take them all." Joe Wang said as he flashed a smile towards Melissa Krin beside him.
She just rolled her eyes and helplessly paid the little boy. After wrapping the items he bought the two continued to check the shops and the stalls around the street.
It was almost 6 pm when they arrive in the last store which was selling some raw jades and jade jewelry. As they were about to walk inside, they saw a well-dressed young man in front of four burly men who wore some scary tattoos on their arms.
And from their conversation, it seems that the four burly men are angry about something.
"You stupid second-generation rich brat thought that you can just have your ways in this Little Dragon's territory, huh? Do you think you can just wave your money in front of me?" a burly man with a huge dragon tattoo on his exposed chest inside his vest shouted.
The young man didn't budge as he coldly looks at the four men.
"I didn't bother anyone and the four of you are the ones who started this. Why would you say some stupid thing like that?" the young man said in a cold voice.
"Hahaha… you're talking back to me, let me thrash you this one time then." The man said as he lifted his hand and quickly sent a punch towards the rich young man's face who was stunned at the lawless action of the burly tattooed man.