“Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bennett, the bald uncle from the clock shop wants you to go over and fix his clock for him.” A little kid of about thirteen or fourteen came running from the town, his light golden curls making him look quite handsome. He wore a piece of leather armor that was too big for him, making him look bulky and rather ridiculous.

Ryan Bennett let out a sigh. He, the future epic hero of the continent of Enzes, had fallen so low as to be fixing clocks for the clock shop.

With no other choice, Ryan Bennett followed behind the little kid toward the center of town. This was a job opportunity Ryan Bennett had managed to secure with great difficulty: repairing clocks for the shop for free. At the same time, Ryan Bennett could use this chance to practice and improve his engineering skills for free.

Whenever Ryan Bennett thought of that stingy bald old man, he couldn’t help but curse. When he first looked for this job, he’d been given a hard time, and in the end, the old man wouldn’t even pay him a single coin.

The little kid chattered nonstop, getting excited about every little thing that happened in Viking Town. “Uncle Locke killed a spotted leopard in the Skeleton Forest, so we’ll have meat to eat again tonight. Uncle Locke also defeated a limping skeleton soldier in the Skeleton Forest… Mr. Bennett, can you beat a skeleton soldier?” After saying this, the kid looked at Ryan Bennett with wide, innocent eyes.

Ryan Bennett blushed and quickly replied, “Of course.”

“Then why have I never seen you go to the Skeleton Forest to kill skeleton soldiers?” the kid asked curiously.

Ryan Bennett felt his scalp tingle. “That’s just because I’m too lazy to go. The bald uncle’s shop is just ahead, let’s hurry up.” Ryan Bennett quickly changed the subject.

“Okay.” The little kid nodded vigorously and ran ahead. “Bald uncle, Mr. Bennett is here! You said you’d give me a silver coin—what, you don’t have one again?”

The so-called clock shop was really just a short, shabby wooden hut, which gave off a musty, damp smell. If it were windy or rainy, Ryan Bennett honestly thought the hut might collapse.

“Hello, may I help you with something?” The stingy bald old man from the clock shop was bowing and scraping, fawning over a player as he tried to sell him a clock. His robe, unwashed for days, had turned black and reeked of copper coins. Drool hung from his mouth as he pointed at a gold pocket watch hanging on the wall. “This pocket watch is the masterpiece of the greatest mechanical alchemist in history, Vieri. Clocks are the greatest creation of mechanical alchemists—they record every day, dividing each day into twenty-four hours. This great work will surely be remembered by history. Mechanical alchemists are truly the greatest profession in this world.” The bald old man spared no praise. Ryan Bennett remembered that last time, when a fire mage came to buy something, the bald old man had claimed mages were the greatest profession in the world.

Ryan Bennett sized up the player who had come in. He was a handsome young man with short black hair and deep eyes. His good looks even made Ryan Bennett a little jealous, but the arrogance on his face was off-putting. He wore a luxurious white mage robe inscribed with all sorts of ancient runes, just like the patterns on the walls of the mechanical alchemy class-change chapel.

Ryan Bennett was a bit surprised—this guy was actually a mechanical alchemist. Mechanical alchemists were rare; among thousands of players, you might not find even one.

Thanks to the sharp eye he’d developed working in the clock shop, Ryan Bennett could tell that at least two pieces of the young man’s equipment were purple-grade, and the rest were blue-grade. All of them were high-level.

Equipment was divided into white, green, blue, purple, legendary, epic, and artifact grades. White, green, blue, and purple were relatively common, and the attributes and level requirements of equipment varied greatly. A level 50 ordinary white item could be better than a level 10 purple item. The higher the level, the rarer the equipment, and blue and purple items became even less common.

A good blue or purple item at level forty or above could sell for thousands of gold coins.

The bald old man kept chattering away, glancing from time to time at the player’s side.

Following the bald old man’s gaze, Ryan Bennett saw that beside the handsome young man was a short little figure bouncing restlessly. Less than a meter tall, its whole body was made of silvery metal, with a delicate structure covered in mechanical alchemy runes. Its goblin face wasn’t scary at all—on the contrary, it was rather cute, making odd little goblin noises.

Mechanical puppets were truly the greatest masterpieces of mechanical alchemists! Compared to them, clocks were just junk.

Looking at this little goblin, Ryan Bennett couldn’t tell what metal it was made of, but just from its appearance, he knew it was at least tier three.

A tier-three mechanical goblin cost about fifty or sixty thousand gold coins.

A tier-three mechanical goblin’s fireball spell damage was already over 1500. If this young man’s spell damage was around 1500 as well, the two combined would have a burst power not inferior to a fire mage.

Ryan Bennett felt secretly frustrated. Why was it that, even though they were both mechanical alchemists, the difference between people could be so huge?