Immediate Special Treatment

Luke: "They definitely need some maintenance. I visited the website, and it's quite… primitive. Honestly, if they don't step up their game, they would be targeted by hackers, bots, spams, and DDOS from all over the world simply because they stood out too much."

Anna: "If they could survive for a bit, I bet this site would explode. Even if not for anything else, having access to in-game digital content is already an accomplishment."

Quinton: "True."

Anna: "Hehe…"

Luke: "…"

Ye Qing shared Luke's sentiment; this low-key flirting was simply too transparent. Like, couldn't they be more subtle about it? Well, even though it had only been one day for Ye Qing, these guys must have been playing for days now.

It wasn't weird that they've somehow bonded a little.

Even as the trio kept going back and forth in the open party chat, Ye Qing arrived at a vast clearing behind the town square. This vast clearing greeted him the moment he circled one of the towering, artificial mountains.

The clearing had many people packed together in a dense crowd, and as Ye Qing approached, he realized that he was the only person currently using his incognito robes.

"It's useless trying to hide your identity here," Luke broke from the crowd, smiling. "The registry post at the center of the clearance will record your identity, vocation, and other personal information including your appearance for the database of the Floating Academy."

Ye Qing was stunned. "Isn't this a little premature? What if we don't make it into the academy?"

Ye Qing looked around. "Where are Anna and Quinton?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "You don't gotta ask, they're obviously somewhere practicing team coordination due to their similar field of expertise."

Ye Qing laughed, removing his incognito robes and switching them out for the standard, newbie robes of silk and soft, hemp sleeves.

"You Talisman Masters sure are a weird bunch, you don't even carry the standard weapons on your person," Luke commented lightly. As for Ye Qing, he simply shrugged.

He already learned a few rudimentary runes, inscription patterns, and talisman-drawing techniques. Of course, these were the comprehensions from the three books:

Introducing Runecraft, Introducing Inscriptions, and Basics of Drawing Talismans. However, Ye Qing didn't have the spiritual ink or quills, let alone papers to draw the talismans he learned. Thus, learning them and not learning them was basically the same to him.

The way Talisman Masters gained experience is by learning and drawing new talismans, not killing monsters and completing quests. Well, the latter method is indeed valuable, but the expenditures of doing so exceed the limits of an individual's resources.

This is why Ye Qing was even more adamant about joining the academy and steadily increasing his level. Once he reached level 10, he would have sufficient internal energy for flight, but Ye Qing desired to expend the energy on drawing talismans instead.

Ye Qing shook his head. "We don't really have any specific weapons, you can say I'm a jack of all trades yet master of none… Well, I have yet to become a jack of any trade, to begin with, but I have enough talismans to look after myself."

Luke nodded with a hint of sympathy in his eyes, patting his chest. "Don't worry, Mortal. As long as I'm still a single pringle, I'll always watch your back!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Anna's charming voice of soft rebuttal echoed from the distance. Dressed in a voluminous white dress, a little wolf cub in her arms, and the standard-issued silent Gunslinger walking not that far behind her.

Anna said, "You've been constantly turning down our invitations to practice teamwork, don't you know that the three of us will eventually part ways with Mortal upon reaching the Floating Academy? None of us is a close-range combatant, so if we're not perfectly clear on our shortcomings, we wouldn't make it past the first mission in the wilds!"

Luke slumped his shoulders. "Spare me the lecture, I'm tired of being a third wheel!"

Even as he spoke, he plopped down on the grassy field, playing dead. Ye Qing chuckled, shaking his head.

Anna's words did make a lot of sense, even as her pretty eyes turned over to give Ye Qing a once over.

She grumbled, muttering with a bit of concern, "You're still at level 1? The weakest players around the clearing are already level 3 you know…"

Ye Qing's laughter paused for a bit as he said, "Why would I bother with that stuff? Under level 10, everyone is just the same, we could barely use any internal or external energies whatsoever, let alone combat effectively in PvP."

Luke sat up straight and shouted in a low voice, "That's what I told them! God, finally you sent down someone who understands me! The first ten levels are baby steps, no one would bother picking random fights with other newbies around this power scale!"

Quinton in the back furrowed his brows. "She's only trying to help, no need to be so harsh."

Ye Qing gave the guy a look and said, "You don't even know the route of your vocation's evolution path, let alone whether your skill tree would go down the tunnel vision or mass effect firepower. How exactly are you training your coordinations?"

Quinton was stumped on words, while Anna also blushed a little. Ranged vocations either had tunneling or funneled skills that focused on an extended range in linear movement, concentrated firepower, or mass effect explosives like controlling an advanced mecha.

If Quinton's evolution path was a gunsmith, then he would proceed with evolving powerful weapons such as guns, rifles, snipers, etc. If, on the other hand, he became a mechanic, his evolution path would introduce skills related to building machines of war just like classic Gundam.

Every vocation except for the Talisman Apprentice had a 50:50 roll for an evolution path upon achieving level 10.

Even Anna would have to choose between Mystic Summoner or Beast Tamer. Thus, from Luke's and Ye Qing's perspectives, extensive practice at this point in time is truly a waste of time.

"Anyone yet to register, hurry over!"

A loud shout echoed from the distance, drawing Ye Qing's attention. Then, after excusing himself in a hurry, he speed-paced across the clearing.

When Ye Qing left, Luke sighed and said, "Brother Mortal is right! We should be relaxing and steadily increasing our levels now, we can talk about coordinating when we've discovered the ins and outs of our future attributes!"

Anna pursed her lips and pouted, finally convinced as she folded her legs and sat down. Though, just a little bit later, her mood cleared up and she started talking enthusiastically again. This time, Quinton joined the conversation with a few comments, while the trio slowly shifted their discussion towards the new auction site.

…

"Next!"

Finally, it was Ye Qing's turn to enter the temporary tent in the center of the clearing. This tent had sound-isolating properties, and apparently, it provided a measured set of privacy.

The moment Ye Qing went inside, he saw the middle-aged man with gray eyes and formal attire, seated behind a wooden desk with a purple crystal ball resting in front of his chest.

"Take a seat, Undying Otherworlder." His tone was soft, and it sparked with a bit of interest. This was yet another face he hadn't seen before, safely assuming he belonged to the group of incognito participants.

He smiled. In fact, this whole process was redundant, this man was merely curious to see the faces of everyone involved, especially since he didn't like things going out of his control.

Ye Qing approached the table and took a seat, silent ever since he stepped foot into the tent. He looked around, nothing special about the environment.

"Your vocation is?" The Envoy of Storm spoke blandly since Ye Qing didn't disclose any particular attitude.

Ye Qing didn't respond as he wasn't sure if any formations to detect lies or abnormalities in the speech were installed.

Thus, instead of answering, he switched out his casual robes with the set designed for a rudimentary talisman apprentice. The badge of a blank talisman with the rune representing the word 'Rudimentary' caught the envoy off guard. Besides himself with shock and elation, the man stood up and rotated over, laughing as he patted Ye Qing's shoulder. "Haha! Talent! A talent! What's your name?"

The Envoy of Storm was very elated, especially since the status of a Talisman Master is beyond exalted in Themis' dominion.

Thus, very smoothly, Ye Qing's registration ended and he was in fact directly transported to the flying vessel hidden in the clouds. Everyone in the vast clearing only saw a white pillar of light shooting into the clouds, and the resemblance of a silhouette rushing high above.

Only then did everyone notice the concealed, massive figure of the flying vessel. Let alone them, Ye Qing was beside himself with shock when he found himself in a private, isolated room all of a sudden.

He blinked once, twice, and as his thoughts cleared up, he was elated.

"I'm going to require some time for myself, don't disturb me please." Ye Qing said in the party chat, ignoring the clamoring, and muted the three friends. Then, he sat down, crossed his legs and started reciting the Book of Changes sutra.

Unbeknownst to Ye Qing, in the real world, his body flashed a pale golden light as the dense runes all across his skeleton pulsed with light…