You can win! Believe it! 

As usual, that pillar of light had walled off. People were lining up at the entrance station.

However, it's way less crowded here comparing to the green-tier pillar. And the explorers here had much better equipment. They looked like level 20 MMORPG players now. Haven't collected the entire set, but no missing articles either.

One after another, Jake's bodyguards got out the car. Their friendly and light-hearted expressions quickly faded away.

Airhorn opened the back trunk. He started equipping himself in a brown-colored full armor. Thick plates. Barely reflecting any light. This thing looked rather heavy. Inside, there was his shield and sword. By the looks of it, this guy had a full set of knight equipment.

Arsonist put on a red mage's robe over his clothing. A black metal staff. A brown belt. One after another, this guy put rings on his fingers. Flipping open a plastic container, this guy clipped cloth pouches onto his belt. Looked like each pouch contained a fist-sized orb?

Emily put on an earth-brown robe over her green dress. A wooden staff. A necklace of talismans. Some bracelets.

Taking a look at Pitcher. This guy had already put on a teal-colored robe. There were pouches tied to his waist now. Looked like they contained marbles.

Jake felt a little jealous for a quick moment. He would like some nice equipment too. However, unranked-tier equipment would be just decorations on him. As an iron-tier, these weak equipment had basically ignorable effects on him.

In order to craft iron-tier equipment, yellow-tier blueprints and materials would be needed.

'I'm a certified artisan now. The Artisan Guild would have plenty of these right?' Jake raised his brows.

While Jake stood there thinking, his bodyguards had finally finished equipping themselves.

The group did one last check on their equipment and their resources.

Then they closed their eyes. Did one last check on their physical and mental conditions.

An exchange of 'ready to go' gazes and nodes.

Lock the car.

Wearing proud and aloof expressions, this group walked right past the line up. None of the explorers dared to complain. This was a privilege of being in an iron-tier guild.

Some shot gazes of jealous at the group. Some gazes of longing and awe. Some tightened their fists and looked at Jake's group with determination.

Jake glanced at these explorers as he walked past by. As an artisan, it's rather easy to recognize the tiers of equipment.

To be honest, in comparison to Jake's bodyguards, these guys still looked like beggars.

What could Jake say.

Tsk. Filthy rich iron-tier guilds...

Presenting his newly gained explorer license.

Passing through the station.

Jake's group entered a familiar looking courtyard. There was a row of red electric timers on the walls.

[ 1:00 ]

[ 0:59 ]

One final check on equipment.

Jake's group stepped into that pillar of light. As usual, it's like stepping through a curtain of light.

Looking down, it's a yellow disk this time.

Looking around, the expressions on bodyguards still looked serious.

As expected, it's a familiar ascension feeling.

Airhorn readied his kite shield and his sword. The other three readied their staffs. Gradually, the mana armor on these guys thickened.

To not ruin the serious atmosphere, Jake decided not to sip on his coffee.

...

Realm Name: Desolate Plains

Difficulty: 2.41 / 10 stars

Main enemies: Bandits. Wolves. Eagles. Black-horned stags (male deer)

On a vast dry grass plains, five pillars of white lights suddenly erupted from the ground. In a second, the light dwindled, revealing the five explorers entering this realm.

Taking a quick look around. Dry cracked light-brown ground. Withered yellow grass and bushes. A patch of cactus here and there.

Looking up, it's a cloudless sky. The sun was gradually climbing over the horizon. Yet, it's getting warm already. A windless atmosphere. The air felt dusty and dry.

Looking around, no monsters were in sight. Since it's the magical realms, there were no critters around.

So no concerns for poisonous snakes, lizards, spiders, and scorpions.

Nevertheless, Jake's bodyguards still maintained their battle stance, being alert of the surroundings.

Ding!

[ Solo Boss Quest Triggered! ]

[ Quest Description: As a melee hero, you have to press through difficulties! You will grow stronger fast through uphill battles! Wits can make up for strength. Defeat the evil monster in this realm. Believe in yourself! You can win! Believe it! ]

[ Singlehandedly defeat the boss of this realm! ]

[ Quest ends in: 89 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 58 Seconds ]

[ Reward: ]

[ - 3,000 Click Points ]

[ - 3 * Offerings for wisdom ]

[ Quest Failure Punishment: Host is hexed into a music player for 7 days. Motivational Music will be cycled until punishment is over ]

The edge of Jake's mouth twitched seeing this. Another boss quest? Seriously? he hadn't even completed the green-tier boss quest yet. Now a yellow-tier quest?

Jake sighed. 'Is it because of my recent upgrade?'

'Or do I get a boss quest every time I enter a new realm?'

'What if I entered an orange-tier realm? I'd be expected to solo that silver-tier boss?'

Jake had no many points to rant about, he didn't know where to start.

'How troublesome...'

Nodding at himself, Jake accepted the situation. Ranting won't change the situation anyways.

Not gonna rant about the punishment. Motivational Music? not motivational songs? A single song cycled for 7 days none-stop?

No thanks. Not happening.

Looking through the quest description again, Jake squinted in thought. There's plenty of hints dropped right there.

'So at my current strength, it will be a hard battle for me?'

'In this case, I'll level up first then. No reason to take unnecessary risks. Got 90 days anyways.'

Jake pulled out his green-tier boss quest. 'In other words, the system thinks that this quest will be easy for me, even when my body was still unranked level.'

'Easy quest, shorter quest time? Or green-tier, so shorter quest time...'

'Yellow-tier, more rewards? Or harder battle, more rewards?'

'Green-tier, monsters... Looks like there will be more than one boss monster in that boss room.'

'Yellow-tier, only one boss.'

After a moment of observation...

"Safe." Airhorn dropped his backpack onto the ground.