Prologue: The Alchemist in the Expedition Team_2

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He had smuggled his way into this world.

Entering the mid-21st century, humankind inadvertently discovered a special material in the hast042 region of the asteroid belt—the Glow Material. Through the deconstruction of 'Second Class Elements,' which are remnants of high-dimensional universe information contained within Glow Material, in 2071, utilizing the Constancy Structure, humankind finally erected a ring-shaped Stargate between Earth and the Moon, leading to the 'High Dimensional World.'

That world is Eteliria.

However, it quickly became apparent that Eteliria was not the high-dimensional world of imagination—rather, it resembles a segment of residual information. There were no truly existing materials, but an abundance of Second Class Elements and high-dimensional information activated and formed a 'seemingly real' world. To exploit and seize the Second Class Elements, the governments' pioneers who entered the Stargate—instant Invokers—embarked on a fierce scramble in Eteliria. Over time, this scramble gradually became a well-known display and competition of national power between countries, and Invoker became, seemingly overnight, a designation full of glory and halos.

This is the origin of Super Competitive—

As one born on Earth after the Stargate Era, Fang Hong grew up listening to those stories, dreaming that one day he could become one of those heroic characters. But becoming an Invoker was not an easy task; just the training and obtaining qualifications required a large sum of money, and it was clearly unrealistic to expect his aunt's family to invest such an amount following his parents' early demise.

Luckily, every cloud has a silver lining; he met a supposedly reliable Snakehead through friends online. The person worked at the Starport, and after spending almost all his savings, this employee did not vanish into thin air but kept his promise and actually helped him with forge an internal affairs boat ticket to sneak into the Stargate.

The process went smoothly, if not with a minor flaw.

Because he was a stowaway, Fang Hong lacked Glow Material equipment, which meant he had no Magical Adaptability and could only be an ordinary person in this world. Moreover, having not registered at the Starport, he had no rookie guidance and lived alone in Kapuka for six months before he learned a bit of the Alchemist's craft and groped his way through mastering the manipulation skills of several magical tools.

Fortunately, he was a natural optimist, not feeling any depression but rather joy in his experiences. Thus, he blunderingly embarked on his first adventure.

He went alone to Rodell first, staying there for quite some time, hoping to find a team that would accept him. However, no one was interested in a newbie without Magical Adaptability, until he encountered Sicape's team.

The team Sicape and her boyfriend founded was the common type of private Adventure Group in this world, self-financing with the team's capital often not very ample after paying out members' salaries and daily expenses—in short, it was tight.

In fact, at that time, she was also looking for an Alchemist whose price was right. Thinking back to their first encounter, Sicape couldn't help laughing. This simple big boy didn't understand the difference between ordinary members and an accompanying Alchemist. An Adventure Group would of course not want a member without Magical Adaptability, but he never made clear his Alchemist skills.

Lucky for him, the always astute Sicape was thorough in her inquiry and then took advantage of the opportunity to secure Fang Hong for an unbelievable price—board and lodging. This price could even be illegal, as the Artisan Association of Eteliria, to protect the interests of Alchemists, had actually set a minimum wage standard for Alchemists participating in adventures.

There are probably not many people in the world who would dare to offend such an enormous entity as the Artisan Association.

Of course, we also know that high rewards always tempt capitalists to take risks.

And then Sicape discovered she had struck gold.

Although the big boy claimed it took him six months to master the basic skills of an Alchemist and to pass the assessment to become an Apprentice Second Class Alchemist, Sicape and her boyfriend Kroid had never heard of anyone taking six months to get past the rookie phase, as it typically takes at most a month. This sounded like an utterly hopeless talent, yet they unexpectedly found Fang Hong's craftsmanship to be exquisite, and he even knew how to operate a Clockwork Fairy.

That is usually the craft of a Combat Artisan—

To Sicape, it felt like she had found a gold brick, except this gold brick seemed to be genuinely solid 24K, with a mind to match. Despite lacking even basic Magic Adaptability, he was adamant about going to the Second World, stubbornly refusing to join her team.

Madman!

Since the relics of Golgon Sanctuary can now be seen in this direction, it indicates the team has entered the designated target area. Because Sicape's group was only responsible for support and had to wait for two other teams to enter, the Adventure Group stopped at the spot.

Sicape's boyfriend—a tall man named Kroid sitting on a rotting log, barking orders to set up camp—had a chiseled face, peppered with light stubble, and a brooding handsome look that was very manly. His War Gear was a Great Sword; the sword looked like two pieces of metal fused together, with a blade as thick as two fingers, over a meter long and covered in scratches, and a piece of Crimson Spodumene set in the hilt-guard.

His Magic Guided Reactor on his back was even bigger than Fang Hong's, with only three Plugin ports, but every socket was fitted with odd metal Plugins—some were pure copper components, others were crystal columns embedded in the metal.

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