Stacking My Abilities

"3,000 for literacy training." The dude looked at Jeff with an impatient gaze. "5,000 for administration fees and customer insurance in case you mess up. You got the Blings?"

"... I can read and write." Jeff\'s cheek twitched a little. 

"Alright. Don\'t complain and regret it later then." The dude shrugged. "You won\'t have the beginner\'s discount anymore."

The screen before Jeff refreshed. 

[ Trade Offer ]

[ You Receive: 1 * Adventurer\'s Tag || 1 * Adventurer\'s Card ]

[ Vendor Receives: 5,500 Blings ]

[ Confirm ] / [ Cancel ]

\'Con-Confirm...\' 

"Tss..." Looking at his remaining savings of 728 Blings, Jeff felt that his heart had stopped a beat. 

"Alright. You are 01-074-15845. Here\'s your card. Keep it well." The dude lazily put a card and a dog tag onto the counter. 

"10% taxes... That\'s quite a lot in big purchases huh..." Jeff grabbed his identification items. 

  "Tsk." The dude licked his teeth. "Yeah. Sure. For a poor wretch like you, it\'s a lot, I guess."

Jeff\'s cheek twitched a little. "Yeah? By this tomorrow, I\'m gonna be a rich rich man." 

"Moonshine Fruit Collection quest?" The dude lazily asked. 

"Yeah."

"At the backyard."

"Th-Thanks." Jeff nodded. 

"Sure." The dude shrugged. Then he was back to eating his sandwich and reading his newspaper. 

Slowly nodding, Jeff left this counter. \'Something is definitely off with this fantasy world.\'

Lightly shaking his head, Jeff shook those thoughts out of his head. \'Nevertheless, first quest, here I come!\'

Of course Jeff didn\'t just join the adventurer\'s guild on a whim. It\'s a serious career choice after all! 

This was not just a random day either. Today, Moonshine fruits become ripe! 

For today only, there\'s a large quest event for all adventurers. It\'s time to head out the city and collect the abundant number of Moonshine fruits! 

This event had a high safety rating, even towards early-tiers! 

Considering how much fruits were out there, it\'s almost impossible to have a full harvest. Almost half of the fruits would fall and rot. So there\'s always a shortage on labour.

Low risk. Low competition. High rewards. Quests couldn\'t get much better than this. 

\'If things run smoothly, I should be able to collect about 300 Moonshine fruits." Jeff smiled as he walked towards the backyard. \'The prices range from 35.7 per fruit to 90.0 per fruit.\'

\'Let\'s say I get a bad region, and it\'s all lower quality fruits there, I should still be able to earn 12 000 Blings in just one event. I\'ll be filthy rich by this time tomorrow!\' Jeff laughed in his mind. 

\'Finally! My first bucket of gold!\' Jeff smiled as he quickly walked past the hall. \'Tsk. Noice.\'

What could one buy with 12 000 Blings in this world? 

Answer: 120 000 buns. 

Erhm. Why would anyone buy that many buns. 

12 000 Blings. That\'s enough for the down payment for an average apartment suite. Or, it\'s enough for a good supernatural equipment (Down payment as well of course). 

12 000 Blings. Jeff could live lavishly for a couple of months with this money. And this was easy money earned over only one day. 

Even though Jeff\'s anticipation for adventurers had been broken, Jeff was still looking forward to the today\'s work. 

\'This is just a start.\' Jeff\'s gaze became hopeful. \'If I complete quests at a high frequency, completing a set of supernatural equipment, and buying active skills is only months away!\'

Crossing the hall of offices, Jeff had finally reached the back exit. Crossing the open backdoors, Jeff had reached the backyard. 

Walking outside, Jeff squinted a little at the brightness. The air was cool and fresh. Feeling the soft breeze brushing against his face, Jeff took in a deep breath. It\'s quite comfortable actually. 

Looking around this backyard, it\'s more like a garden here to be honest. Flower patches. Fountains. Well maintained bushes. Pebble-paved roads. Paintings on tall walls. 

Unlike the indoors of the Adventurer\'s Hall, it\'s much more crowded out here. By the exit, four people were brushing glue onto the wall there. 

Also, over there, about fifty adventurers were gathered on the grass field. 

Beastmen. Elves. Humans. Dwarves... Tall or short, some by themselves, some chatting in groups, they were all waiting for the set up there. 

Some noticed Jeff\'s arrival. But they just went back to chatting or waiting. Others ignored Jeff\'s presence all together. That cloaked girl noticed Jeff as well. However, standing by herself, she didn\'t look interested in having a chat. 

Walking towards the gathering, Jeff briefly sensed around. 

There were only elite adventurers here. A few peak-tiers. Most were late-tiers. The mid-tiers here were close to late-tiers as well. 

Nevertheless, despite their differences in appearances, species, and classes, all of them had high-level equipments. Standing in clusters here, it\'s almost like a light show. 

Armors, melee weapons, pendants, rings, necklaces. These metallic articles freely reflected off the sunlight. 

Even the cloaks and the staffs emitted subtle yet colorful glows by themselves. 

Jeff looked down at his plain outfit. For some reason, Jeff felt like he\'d arrived the wrong gathering. 

Remembering something, Jeff took a look at the cloaked girl again. 

On the surface of her cloak, golden runic circuits could be seen. Before her chest, an amber pendant emitted a soft yet eye-catching glow. 

\'Well. Guess I\'m the odd one out huh...\' Jeff ticked his tongue. 

Looking around while waiting, Jeff noticed something else. Some of the adventurers here had logos on their outfits. 

Others, like Jeff himself, had nothing printed on their outfits. \'Around 10 lone wolves around here I see.\'

Over time, more adventurers streamed in by themselves or in groups. Taking a quick sense, those guys were mid-tiers as well. 

After some time of waiting, the four workers lifted up a roll of paper off the ground. That roll had to be at least 2 meters (6 feet) tall! 

Together, they rolled the wallpaper onto the wall. Wallpaper? Not wallpaper. It\'s a map! 

Gradually, the full map could be seen. It\'s a long horizontal map having Bourland city at the center. Taking a closer look, there were boxed off areas on the map along the river. Each boxed off area had a number and a color assigned to it. 

Having completed this task, the four workers raised a hand at the map. After a moment of silent chanting, one after another, four yellow magic circles formed before their hands. 

With a push, those magic formations sank into the map.