"My brother..." Jung Hook cried out as he looked at the forest with anger.
Yuan Tai didn't say anything, he just looked at Jung Hook quietly from the side.
The day was pretty hectic for him. He didn't expect that he could leave the forest after a two day walk, he was pretty lucky to not run into a powerful beast too.
Just thinking about the Blood Bats made him shiver. If he ran into them when the Hook brothers weren't there, he would have died.
Although it pains him to sacrifice someone for his survival, he couldn't do anything since he's weak.
"I have to get stronger," Yuan Tai muttered as he looked at the forest with cold eyes.
"Brother! I will come back for you! I swear I will!"
Jung Hook finally stood up after kowtowing to Ghost Forest for the sake of his brother. He wiped the tears off his face and stood up tall and erect as he looked at the forest with a serious face.
Turning around, he headed off into a set direction.
Seeing that Jung Hook knew where he was going, Yuan Tai decided to follow him from behind. He carried the little fox on his shoulders and followed him.
Along the walk, they both didn't speak.
Little while later, Yuan Tai saw a city far ahead of them.
Looking at the city, Yuan Tai couldn't stop himself from looking at it with amazement.
In King City, everything was rather old fashioned and there was even a 10 meter wall surrounding the entire city. It was dark, dirty, and very inhospitable to many who live there.
Compared to the city before him, King City was a pile of shit.
The city in front looked magnificent, many cars of different shapes and styles roamed around the streets. People with many hairstyles, most being common. Many of the people in the city all had different hair colors as well.
The city's buildings looked magnificent and tall, unlike the old and dilapidated buildings in King City.
"Brother Jung Hook, what is that city called?" Yuan Tai asked.
"Hundred Miles City. It's one of the lower ranking cities in the world. I'm surprised you don't know about this city," Jung Hook said before sending a look over to Yuan Tai.
"I lived in a remote place, such information never came by," he astutely responded.
"I see," Jung Hook turned back to face the city.
Whilst still admiring Hundred Miles City, Yuan Tai asked, "Do cities have rankings?"
"Yes..." Jung Hook explained to Yuan Tai about many things that concerned the ranking of cities.
According to Jung Hook, the cities are all ranked into three categories; Low-rank, Mid-rank, and High-rank.
Low-rank cities contained low-level people from levels 0 to 30. They contained nothing special, low-level alchemists and blacksmiths are of great abundance in low-rank and mid-rank cities.
Mid-rank cities weren't all too different from the low-rank cities besides having people from level 30-80.
In High-rank cities, everything seems to change. Although no being can use magic outside of the World's Dungeon, they can still take out the magic cores of beasts.
Using those magic cores, the magic engineers, blacksmiths, and some alchemists, were able to create magical equipment. Such as a toothbrush that works with magic.
Many things would also end up working thanks to the use of magic, no longer needing to use electricity.
Yuan Tai furrowed his eyebrows after hearing what the High-rank cities have. If they can use magic like that, what's to say that they don't already have magical weapons?
After arriving at the city, Yuan Tai and Jung Hook separated.
Jung Hook mentioned that he had to break in the news of his brother dying. As well as gather a couple of stuff before dedicating himself to leveling up to a higher level than before.
He wanted to avenge his brother's death and he can't do it at his low level.
Yuan Tai let him go and inform his family over his brother's death while he walked around the city, admiring it.
Everything he saw was amazing. He had never seen such amazing things in his entire life.
Huge and colorful buildings. Many different types of businesses, it is completely different to King City. What amazed him the most were all the powerful weapons put on display.
He would usually not be allowed to see such weapons since they would get stolen if not put under close watch. So seeing so many weapons in the open made him want to take one, though he won't.
Looking left and right casually, Yuan Tai strode over to the weapon closest to him, a one handed longsword.
From his expertise in dealing with swords when he was younger, he could tell that it is extremely sharp and of a high level. Personally crafted by someone with a blacksmith profession instead of being a drop.
He could tell it was made by a human by the engraving on the sword, a blacksmith's mark.
Yuan Tai stretched out his hands to softly run his fingers over the blade. His eyes were glued to the engraving on the sword.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," softly spoke a voice from behind him.
Yuan Tai stopped his fingers from touching the sword's blade and turned to look at the person calmly.
He glanced at the sword behind himself and then back to the person, "Is there something wrong with the long sword?"
"Not really. It has a barrier around itself to prevent people from touching it. Besides the owner of the shop, no one else can touch the sword until it is sold," spoke the woman. "My name's Mingyue Li."
"Yuan Tai," he smiled and shook her hand.
Mingyue Li spaced out for a moment after hearing Yuan Tai's name before giggling a bit and saying, "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I just never met someone who has a chinese name and is of a different race."
"It's alright. Compared to the many times I was made fun of, this is one of the ones I don't care about," Yuan Tai shook his hand in the air, waving off the apology.
"I see..." Mingyue Li softly smiled before returning to a happy mood. "I have owned this store since three years ago when I turned 18."
"Amazing.." complimented Yuan Tai.
"I got it as a birthday from my father, who was also a blacksmith. He retired and now only teaches me." Mingyue Li wryly smiled as she looked at her blacksmith shop's plaque over the door; Crystal Blacksmith Shop.
"Why are you telling me this?" Yuan Tai stared at Mingyue Li with a suspicious gaze.
Mingyue Li, being a blacksmith, wore a black shirt that hugged her body tightly and baggy pants. She has a white apron over herself to protect her clothes from being further ruined by the work of smithing.
Her black hair reached all the way down to her chest before stopping there. Cherry red lips that seductively draws in a person's attention to them before being dragged further down by her breasts being pushed up by her arms.
Even with the baggy pants, with Yuan Tai's discerning eye, he could tell that she has long and slender legs that reach up to a plump butt.
Mingyue Li smiled and pointed a finger at him, "Because you have a very good understanding over swords and how they are made, and if my instincts aren't wrong, you know a bit over other weapons as well."
'Well if it wasn't for my father insisting on reading every book regarding the craftsmanship of every weapon to decide which is best, I wouldn't have known anything,' chuckled Yuan Tai.
"I know a little," Yuan Tai nodded.
"Knowing that you have good knowledge over weapons makes me even happier, as well as the sword air surrounding you, showing to me you can use a sword very well. Even if your sword air is completely weak," smiled Mingyue Li. 'It is surprisingly refined… interesting!'
A sword air is usually noticed by those who have a deep understanding of their martial arts or of the weapons they make. So Mingyue Li being able to see Yuan Tai's weak sword air proves how knowledgeable she is in the weapons she makes.
'If only I had a sword to continue my training all these years..' Yuan Tai thought.
"I point this all out because I have something I want to talk to you about," seriously spoke Mingyue Li. She put her face close to Yuan Tai's and held his shoulders tight.
"What is it?" asked Yuan Tai with a bit of blush as he felt her breasts press up against his chest.
Even with all his lonely time in King City and having to be ruthless to survive, he was still a very healthy 18 year old who hasn't had any sexual experiences. He was very stimulated in the moment and could only stay still.
Mingyue Li must have been of a high level since he couldn't budge a single inch from her incredible strength, making him rather serious.
"I will give you this long sword if you work for me," offered Mingyue Li as she grabbed the long sword from it's rack.
"Depends on the type of work and the benefits I will get in the future as I continue working," spoke Yuan Tai without wasting a second.
"Quick thinking and smart, good. You will do just well." Mingyue Li nodded before continuing, "I need you to give me every single tooth, bone, skin, scales, horns, claws, and tendons of every beast you defeat, I will pay you handsomely for the job too. If it all goes well, maybe also the magic cores in the future."
"Sounds good, what do you need the teeth, bones and tendons for?" curiously asked Yuan Tai.
"Blacksmithing," answered Mingyue Li.
Blacksmithing and other craftsmanship and artist professions all work differently from the swordsmen and other combatant professions work differently.
Professions like swordsmanship and combatant professions rely on experience obtained from killing beasts.
Production professions like blacksmithing relies on creating something from raw materials to obtain experience. The higher the grade or level of the materials, the more experience is earned from the created product. Although they can also obtain experience from beasts, the earned experience is reduced down to just a tenth of the original amount.
"I should tell you that I don't even have a level, yet," sighed Yuan Tai.
He would like to accept the offer, but if he were to accept the offer and only bring back level 1 beasts, she might fire him and request the sword back. He wouldn't want to betray someone's kindness towards him.
It was something his mother would say before they were regrettably killed in World's Dungeon.
'When someone is being kind to you, make sure to repay a hundred fold. Especially if it's a girl, you might not regret it, haha.'
Remembering those words made Yuan Tai smile, ruining his calm look he maintained the whole time.
"I already knew it," smiled Mingyue Li.
"How-" Yuan Tai stopped as he realized how she had found out.
"I'm only level two. Although I can't tell you what attributes I put my points in, I can confidently tell you that my strength isn't that high," Mingyue Li laughed and looked into Yuan Tai's eyes.
"So what will it be Yuan Tai?"
Yuan Tai gave a sigh before smiling and nodding, "I'm in, just don't regret it when I get a terrible profession."
"As long as you bring me materials, I don't care what profession you get. As long as it's not blacksmithing," smirked Mingyue Li before letting go of Yuan Tai and picking up the long sword from it's rack.
"Follow me."
Yuan Tai followed behind Mingyue Li and inspected the insider of her blacksmith shop. He hasn't seen any before, but it looked to be very well made and the weapons were evenly spread out in a way that still drew in one's attention.
"I will need to get you a scabbard and fit it to your size to make sure it perfectly fits you." Mingyue Li left Yuan Tai alone in the waiting area while she left to her work space to make a scabbard and the necessary additions to have it fit Yuan Tai.