The Bukelin Duchy.
A frontier town in the Eastern Region.
The Desert, a ten-minute journey from town.
Riding the horse he had just tamed, An Kai was in a fine mood as he ambled toward town.
Not far behind him, a traveling merchant of the Desert and three burly guards watched him leave with hatred in their eyes.
But there was nothing they could do...
The merchant glanced at his thoroughly looted carriage and sighed helplessly. "I can't come to the Bukelin Duchy anymore. I was robbed clean before I even crossed the border. This place is far too lawless!"
The merchant sat on his horseless carriage, his expression helpless yet tinged with resentment...
After one last look at the carriage he had paid a fortune for, he reluctantly abandoned it and headed back the way he had come with his three guards...
The four figures looked forlorn as they trudged across the endless Desert. A muffled curse drifted faintly through the air. "Damned barbarian!"
At the entrance to the frontier town.
Riding his horse, An Kai found a hunched, middle-aged man.
The man was lying beneath a crooked tree with barely any green leaves at the town entrance.
Listening closely, An Kai could hear faint snores.
An Kai dismounted, walked over, and kicked the man's calf. "Wake up! Wake up! Widow Wang ran off with someone!"
"What?! Who did Widow Wang run off with?!" The hunched man sprang to his feet, his back suddenly ramrod straight!
He looked around but saw no sign of the Widow Wang he longed for. Instead, he found An Kai standing before him with a mischievous grin...
"Why is it you, you little bastard?!" The man's back instantly stooped again...
Unbothered by the insult, An Kai pointed at the yellow horse behind him and said:
"A high-ranking magical beast that can gallop ten thousand miles, three brand-new sets of protective gear, a legendary-quality gemstone ring, and two bags of seeds enchanted by a noble mage."
"All that for two Superior Magic Stones. Aren't you making a killing?!"
With a look that said the man was getting an incredible bargain, An Kai held out his hand for payment...
But the man ignored his outstretched hand completely and walked over to the old, ordinary yellow horse, which was panting heavily.
He deftly rummaged through the saddlebags on either side.
Three daggers with rotting handles, three patched robes, and a cracked, earthy-brown gemstone ring...
Of everything An Kai had mentioned, only the last two bags of enchanted seeds might have been genuine...
Because that bastard An Kai was indeed an apprentice mage in the Mage Association.
Heaven only knew whether the God of Magic had been sleeping too deeply to think straight when he bestowed noble magical talent on this fellow...
In just a few breaths, the man finished estimating the value of everything An Kai had brought...
He pulled a blue stone the size of a fingernail from inside his clothes and tossed it to An Kai...
"One Lower-grade Magic Stone. Selling or not?"
An Kai hurriedly caught the magic stone, turned, and left without a moment's hesitation...
"You greedy old codger! Aren't you afraid of getting your just deserts?"
At the town entrance, An Kai abruptly turned and shouted those words, then took to his heels and dashed into the nameless frontier town...
"Get lost! If anyone's getting their just deserts, it'll be you first!"
Hanks laughed as he cursed, took the horse's reins, and prepared to head back to the crooked tree...
Finding itself with yet another new owner, the yellow horse was displeased and was about to put up a fight when Hanks slapped its back...
The yellow horse stumbled, whinnied plaintively a few times, and obediently followed Hanks...
"A beast is a beast!"
Muttering those words, Hanks tied the yellow horse to a branch of the crooked tree, snickered wickedly, and lay back down...
"Hehehe, Widow Wang, here I come~"
Once inside town, An Kai jogged all the way back to his home in the northeastern corner.
It was a single-story stone house built from yellow earth mixed with rocks.
It covered roughly fifty square meters, with a courtyard of forty or fifty square meters...
He ran inside and shut the door.
An Kai took out the fingernail-sized blue magic stone.
He silently commanded, Exchange!
[Skill Points +1]
"Finally!"
Inside the room, An Kai let out a long breath.
Without much hesitation, he continued silently, Add it to Fireball.
[Fireball Lv0 proficiency +1] [Fireball upgraded to Lv1] [Fireball Lv1: 1/10]
After the notification panel appeared, An Kai willed it, and a fist-sized fireball radiating scorching light appeared above his open right hand!
He glanced around, pushed open the door, walked into the courtyard, and thrust his right hand downward!
The fireball in his hand slammed into the courtyard!
Bang!
A basketball-sized crater appeared!
Blackish-brown scorch marks surrounded it...
"It worked!"
He silently commanded, System, and a personal panel exclusive to An Kai appeared.
[Level Lv1: 10/10 "Locked"] [Intelligence: 4 (initially 1)] [Endurance: 4 (initially 1)] [Stamina: 3 (initially 1)] [Strength: 4 (initially 1)] [Talents: Immortality "∞", Mage's Body "lv1"] [Spells: Meditation Lv1 "1/10", Fireball Lv1 "1/10"] [Identity: Nobody.]
A year ago, An Kai had arrived here from Blue Star.
He had also brought along his game talent: Immortality.
It gave him an infinite lifespan, though injuries, starvation, illness, and similar afflictions could still kill him.
Upon arriving, An Kai already possessed the Meditation skill, which allowed him to gain level experience through meditation.
He had thought he was in for a story where he became an unstoppable, overpowered hero.
Reality, however, had taught him a lesson.
He had arrived in this world roughly ten thousand years ahead of the players.
As a result, his level cap was 1. After spending a month meditating until his level 1 experience was full, An Kai suddenly discovered...
He had reached max level...
Being unable to level up meant he couldn't quickly obtain attribute rewards from leveling or rapidly improve his strength...
All of this had struck An Kai like a hammer to the head.
Fortunately, when he advanced from level 0 to level 1, he awakened his magical talent.
He managed to get into the town's Mage Association and become a noble apprentice mage!
Through Meditation, he then converted his excess experience into attribute points, resulting in his current attribute panel.
He was just barely capable of doing a little hunting and fishing...
Of course, the targets of his hunting and fishing weren't animals, but people passing through the Desert...
After an entire year, An Kai had finally scraped together the item needed to exchange for Skill Points: a Lower-grade Magic Stone.
He also had that traveling merchant to thank. Despite being so weak, the man had actually brought a horse across the Desert.
Combined with some supplies An Kai had saved up earlier, it had been enough to trade for a Lower-grade Magic Stone.
"Five days until the qualification assessment. I'm not too late!"
Being an apprentice mage in the Mage Association wasn't something anyone could do on a whim.
Anyone who failed to master a level 1 spell within a year would be expelled from the Mage Association.
Those who succeeded would become first-tier mages and full members of the Mage Association, entitled to one Lower-grade Magic Stone every month!
That was undoubtedly a fortune!
An Kai glanced at the sky. The sun hung high overhead. After weighing his options, he decided to brave the blazing sun and head to the Mage Association to gain full membership.
Because he had suddenly remembered that tomorrow marked the start of a new month...
A new author with a new book. Dear readers, please go easy on me...
Daily updates at noon and 5 p.m.
Two updates a day before the premium launch, then a flood of updates afterward!!!
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