Talent? What talent?

Feeling the tight grasp on his wrist, Nathaniel turned to the branch master. His gaze was a little dangerous. A little crazed.

His life was on the line after all.

If Badger got saved... the Rogers family would certainly see its end. Nobody in this family would survive. Including him. Nobody.

"Nathaniel Rogers. What are you doing?" The branch master casually asked. "Can I view your actions as crafting interference... towards a certified artisan?"

Hearing those words, Nathaniel quickly calmed down.

That's right.

The Rogers family was a top-tier family at Shine city. But on the scale of North America, they were just small fries.

With a casual word from the branch master, or even Jake now, the Rogers family would also see a tragic end.

If the artisan guild held a hostile attitude towards the Rogers family... How long would they last? One week? One day? Maybe just an hour?

And nobody could complain about it. It was him, Nathaniel, who stupidly offended the Artisan Guild in the first place.

The artisan guild didn't need to do much to retaliate. Just casually send in a bronze-tier. And all that explorer had to do was to leave a friendly heads-up: 'If you enter the realm, I'll snipe you.'

Something like that. Who would choose to stay in the Iron Sparrow Guild?

If a bronze-tier wouldn't cut it, the artisan guild could hire a silver-tier. To a monstrous organization like the artisan guild, this was just small money.

If a silver-tier wouldn't cut. Fine. They could hire one of the four gold-tiers in NA.

True. Only a handful of organizations in North America could afford this astronomical cost. But the Artisan Guild just happened to be one of them.

Realizing this, Nathaniel shivered a little, even though this hall was getting warm already. Clarity quickly returned in his eyes.

"I... I was just concerned for master Collins' safety." Nathaniel apologetically nodded... though nobody could see anything clearly in this bright room. So the branch master certainly couldn't see his reaction.

"Is that so..." The branch master asked back with a careless tone.

"I apologize for my rash behavior."

"Sure." The branch master didn't let go of his grasp though.

A burst of white light. Then a wave of heat. The light in this room quickly dimmed down.

The crowd looked around with squinting eyes first, gradually opening their eyes.

The room looked rather dim now.

Turning their gaze towards the crafting station...

Above the crafting burner, a scarlet-red chip hovered in air.

Jake casually put the casing material orb onto the burner.

With a flick of his pen, that scarlet-red chip was enveloped with an ivory-like material.

Level 1 Advanced Talisman - Agility completed!

Jake grabbed onto this falling talisman. Time to try it out.

A faint scarlet glow instantly covered Jake's body.

Jake felt as if his body just got lighter. Looking around, everything was moving rather slowly. It was like watching a video at 0.5x speed.

In slow motion, the branch master let go of Nathaniel. His displeased expression quickly turned into a bright smile.

Jake moved his hand around. He was moving in normal speed though.

Yep. Even if it's an unranked explorer, with the aid of this talisman, that explorer could move at iron-rank speed.

Jake put this scarlet-red talisman onto the crafting table. Everything returned to normal speed.

Jake focussed his mind, battle-level alertness. Everything moved at even slower. Maybe 0.25x speed.

Unfortunately, as expected, the talisman effects could not stack.

The crowd looked at this fragile branch master. Then they looked at Jake in disbelief. Look at the branch master. Look at Jake.

Wait. Wasn't this supposed to be impossible.

Nathaniel's face flushed red in anger and fluster. He felt as if he'd just got played.

Crafting was hard? Where's the struggles and difficulty in Jake's performance!

Less than 100 people in North America could accomplish this? What BS!

Or maybe it's Jake who's lying. Never seen this blueprint before? Really now. Really now!

Thinking of his future, Nathaniel's face quickly turned pale.

Some distance from Nathaniel, Nick's eyes widened up.

The young guildmaster just stared at the scarlet-red talisman on the table. It was as if he's mesmerized by the artifact, as if this was the most precious thing in the world.

Precious...

The red light reflected off Nick's eyes. In some sense, Nick looked like a desperate gambler. He was ready to throw his life onto the gambling table.

The young guildmaster blinked a few times. Taking a deep breath, biting his own lips, Nick Rogers made a decision.

"Ah. Master Collins. Ahem." The branch master cleared his throat. "I've never seen such talent before!"

"Congratulations!"

"I think we have just witnessed the rise of a legend!"

About half of the crowd numbly nodded, still unable to accept this reality.

The other half exploded with cheers and applause. Some even hugged each other in celebration.

There's hope after all!

Jake ignored the crowd. These outsiders of the trade wouldn't understand the meaning of this feat. They were probably celebrating for their guildmaster. Only one step away from success now.

Turning to the branch master, Jake raised his brows at the compliment. He couldn't honestly agree with that statement.

Talent? What talent?

Without levelling up, Jake doubted that he could accomplish this in 10 years.

However, Jake didn't feel like explaining either. Who'd believe there's supernatural forces like systems?

Too troublesome. No reward. No thanks.

"Thank you." Jake nodded.

"As promised, here are the blueprints of the next level as rewards." The branch master gave Jake the entire suitcase.

Nathaniel didn't interfere this time. It's pointless now.

"You can keep this suitcase." The fragile branch master winked.

"Thank you." Jake nodded.

"If possible, I'd like to do the level 3 certified artisan exam right now."

Make a cleanse talisman. Bargain a good deal. Finish the job. Perfect.

The branch master pointed at the suitcase. "You may want to take a look at the materials needed first."

Put the suitcase onto the crafting station. Cleanse materials.

Looking down the materials list, Jake's brows knitted.

Nick Rogers jogged over as well. Taking a look at the materials, the young guildmaster's eyes widened.

How troublesome...