Fengtian City.
Early November, the weather grew cooler, signifying the entrance of autumn.
Following the end of a significant event not long ago, numerous materials poured out from the secret realms, filling the city streets with the cries of vendors at this time.
"Freshly released E-grade material 'Red-haired Jiu Long Yan,' essential for the 'Driver' occupation promotion, limited offer of 50k credit points! Only one available, first come first served!!"
"Extremely rare F-grade material 'Fox-Tail Grass,' excellent forging material, the perfect choice for crafting your divine weapon!"
"The finest professional legacies..."
Within the Seventh District, countless shop owners stuck their heads out, eagerly shouting at the passersby on the streets.
Many customers stood at the doorsteps of the shops, their faces full of indecision, evidently having to carefully consider which to purchase due to their modest budgets.
"..."
Chen Miao squatted on the steps of a dark alley opposite the Drum Tower District, squinting slightly, absentmindedly toying with the Jade Amulet of Safety in his hand, observing the scene outside.
Having been in this world for seven days, he was preparing for his first foray into a secret realm.
He had to make sure his preparations were absolutely thorough.
Yes.
He had traveled through time.
Seven days ago, he traversed to this world, his body included, landing stark naked without even a stitch of clothing, save for the Jade Amulet of Safety that he had been wearing on him which made the journey too.
Before consciousness was swallowed by darkness, he vaguely remembered the shocked cries from people nearby, and when he instinctively looked up, he saw a coconut growing larger and larger.
"Thud"
The next second—
His vision went black, and he found himself in this world.
He had lived to 24 years old in his previous life and never imagined he would experience something like traveling to another world, much like he never anticipated being killed by a falling coconut while traveling abroad, the twists and turns of life presenting endless surprises.
This world was largely similar to his previous life, but the biggest difference was that this world boasted a multitude of supernatural occupations and ordinary lifestyle ones, along with countless secret realms around the globe. By surviving an excursion into the secret realms, one could acquire materials to forge weapons, level up professions or even get promoted.
In this world.
Almost everyone had a profession.
Students had the 'Student' profession, which significantly boosted memory retention, known as the simplest occupation to activate, yet one of the hardest to level up.
Workers had professions like 'Bricklayer' and 'Carpenter,' with corresponding skills that improved with repeated labor.
Even 'Deliveryman' and 'Driver' had their corresponding occupations.
All these were known as lifestyle occupations, while those with combat abilities like 'Bandit,' 'Thief,' 'Martial Artist,' and others were referred to as supernatural occupations.
Lifestyle occupations were responsible for maintaining the normal operation of society, while those with supernatural occupations often opted to gather materials from secret realms or escort and protect other companies, as well as fend off invasions from foreign races.
The E-grade material 'Red-haired Jiu Long Yan,' necessary for the 'Driver' profession promotion and also a vital component for a 'Bandit's' promotion, fetched a high price of 50k credit points largely because of this reason, but this was something that couldn't be openly advertised.
At least, it wasn't appropriate to mention it in commercials.
...
"Hu."
Chen Miao, squatting in the dim alleyway, tucked the Jade Talisman of Safety back into his bosom, looking at the semi-transparent panel in front of him.
'Player Name': Chen Miao.
'Player Level': 0 (0/100)
'Profession Name': Gunman (Pending Activation)
'Occupation Exclusive': Ability to use firearms.
'Attribute Panel': Detailed body attributes panel activates after breaking through level 0.
'Occupation Activation Conditions':
1: Craft a personal F-grade weapon 'Python R6 Revolver.' Required materials—F-grade material 'Fox-Tail Grass' *2, F-grade material 'Saltpeter' *2.
2: Complete a secret realm.
3: Spend 200 Star Coins.
-
To safely make his way alive out of a secret realm, it was urgent to craft the personal F-grade weapon 'Python R6 Revolver.' Having such a defensive tool would greatly increase his safety, but the issue was that the sum of materials needed to craft this weapon totaled 12k credit points.
As for him, he was flat broke.
Due to having an unregistered residence, he didn't even possess the watch used to pay with credit points.
How to obtain 12k credit points was a problem.
And 'Gunman' was the supernatural profession he had chosen; in this world, every person could activate an occupation, with each occupation varying in the difficulty of activation.
When he first arrived, he borrowed clothes from a passerby in a dark alley at night. As day broke, he rushed to the city library to learn about the history of this world, swearing he had never been so eager to learn history!
Thus, he gained a deeper understanding of this world known as Blue Star and learned much fragmented, non-systematic knowledge.
For instance, one of the lifestyle occupations was called 'Person of Leisure.'
The activation condition was quite simple—just have no income for seven consecutive days, and one could meet the requirement for activating this profession. The effect of this occupation was that if a player's monthly income did not reach 6k credit points, it would be topped up to that amount.
If more than 6k, then the extra credit points above 6k will be deducted.
Every day, 200 credit points are automatically credited upon waking up, and one can never enter secret domains, upgrade professions, craft weapons or learn skills; this profession cannot be promoted, and it is forbidden to participate in major events, etc.
To be honest.
At that time, he was tempted.
The currency in this world is basically on par with purchasing power in his original world. Earning 200 credit points every day, that's a monthly income of 6k, and he didn't have to do anything. Just lying at home would suffice. It was like the dream job for a slacker.
It was just a shame that this profession could only be chosen and activated by citizens who had lived in Broken Pot City for more than 3 years, and upon checking the distance, it was quite far.
And the first step to fitting into this world was to choose a profession. Although professions can be changed and retrained, it comes with a great cost, akin to starting all over again, so choosing the first profession had to be done with great care and caution.
After a lot of deliberation, he chose the Gunman Profession.
This was a distinctive profession in Fengtian City. Once upon a time, it was a popular profession here, but for various reasons, it had gradually declined and was now no longer chosen by anyone. The reason why he chose this profession was also very simple.
First, he loved the charm of firearms.
Second... there was no other choice.
The Legacy Books for other Supernatural Occupations were all very expensive, okay? It was only the Gunman's Legacy Book that he found in a trash can.
As for Lifestyle Occupations?
He didn't consider them.
Having been given a second chance at life, not trying something new and continuing to work nine-to-nine? Was that really embracing a new world, or was it like going to hell to embrace torture?
"Miao!"
Just then.
An excited and urgent voice rang out beside Chen Miao's ear, interrupting his drifting thoughts. He saw a thin man hastily stepping into the alley and coming over, his eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement and he whispered in a hoarse voice.
"Everything went smoothly, it's done!"
Yes.
No money to buy materials means no materials to craft weapons, no weapons mean no access to secret domains, no access to secret domains means no materials, no money, no experience, and with no money, no materials, no experience... eventually, people would be gone.
It's a perfect Mobius strip to an extreme.
And the only way to break this cycle—
Is, to get money!
After carefully reading through the penal code of this world in the library, he made his first decision in the new world, to lead a team and make big money.
Getting 12k credit points in a short time isn't hard according to the penal code, there are quite a few ways.
And at that moment.
'Ding, city-wide announcement from Fengtian City, the next major event in Fengtian City is a combat event, named 'Coward's Special'.
'All citizens aged 18 to 60, possessing a Supernatural Occupation of no higher than level 3, will be forcibly teleported to participate in this major event.'
'Please all eligible citizens prepare.'
'Ding...'
It was broadcast three times in a row.
And this electronic synthetic voice echoed in the ears of all citizens within Fengtian City, including Chen Miao.
"..."
As this voice sounded, Chen Miao's eyes narrowed slightly. Progress had to be accelerated—last time during the combat event, several hundred citizens from Fengtian City who participated had died.
With his current strength being forcibly teleported to a combat event, he didn't think he would survive.
He had to get himself fully equipped from head to toe.
He looked up at the darkening sky.
Under the dark clouds above Fengtian City, there was a giant countdown in glowing letters.
'Time left until the next major event 'Coward's Special' begins—168 hours.'
"Phew!"
Chen Miao took a deep breath, looked at the excited man who had dashed beside him, and took a business card from him, "You've negotiated this clinic? At what price?"
"3,000 per day."
The man in front of him still had excitement on his face, but doubt lingered in his eyes, "But Miao, why do we need to spend 3,000 credit points to rent an andrology clinic for a day?"
"Although it's credit first, payment later, if we get caught while running away, it could be quite painful."
"Ever heard of 'using a chicken to lay eggs'? Rent a clinic and perform some skinning."
Chen Miao looked down at the 'Big Sunflower Andrology Clinic' business card in his hand, glanced at its detailed address, and then strode out of the alley, heading towards the outside of Seventh District, "Follow me, we don't have much time left, we need to speed things up."
"Oh, oh."
The man didn't say much and hurried to keep up, scanning the surroundings curiously, "Can skinning really make big money?"
"Theoretically, no."
"Ah?"
"But we don't follow theory, we follow practice."