MMORPG: Birth of the World's Luckiest Player

Chapter 500: A Hidden Talent

Marcus ended the call, slipping his phone back into his pocket with a satisfied nod. The branch manager had been efficient and meticulous, exactly the kind of man he wanted handling something this sensitive.

Sure, online banking made transfers painless these days, and Dominion even had a built-in currency exchange system that worked seamlessly. But all of that convenience came with limits. Anything over fifty thousand required a corporate account or a V&P level account, and trying to move hundreds of millions in one shot would not just freeze the system, it would attract the attention of regulators and government auditors alike. Once that happened, his anonymity would be gone for good.

That was why he needed to visit the bank in person and set things up properly.

Through Kingston’s connections, he was aiming straight for the bank’s top-tier Diamond V&P account. With that level of clearance, he could exchange up to a billion dollars online without raising a single eyebrow. More importantly, he wanted to see whether Mr. Zahir could limit the number of people overseeing his account, keeping his transactions visible to as few eyes as possible.

Unfortunately, the manager would not be back for another two hours.

Marcus checked the time. Plenty of room to spare.

He swung onto his Steel-Horse and headed in the direction of the bank, then casually took a detour. On the way, he passed through the city’s largest antique, jade, opals and jewelry district, a sprawling maze of shops where the best goldsmiths and gem dealers in the region were concentrated.

’Perfect.’

He could pick up a few gifts for his women.

It was not as if any of them lacked jewelry. Someone like Anya, an heiress by birth, had probably seen more rare pieces than most collectors ever would. But gifts were not about need. Women liked presents, especially when they came from someone they cared about. And the image of fastening jade ornaments against smooth porcelain skin, watching the stones accent graceful figures and angelic faces, was enough to make him smile to himself.

Besides, he had time. And he was already here.

"Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?"

A salesgirl greeted him warmly as he stepped into one of the district’s most prestigious jade houses. With practiced ease, she laid out several pieces, each elegantly designed, each clearly expensive.

"Not bad," Marcus said, lifting a pendant and turning it in his hand. The craftsmanship was fine, the color rich and even. At a glance, it looked authentic.

The problem was that he had no real idea what he was looking at.

Natural jade or lab-grown. Purity level. Internal flaws. He was completely out of his depth.

Out of curiosity, he sent a thin thread of his Human Rock inner energy into the pendant resting in his palm.

Something answered.

The energy flowed through the jade, smooth and distinct, and in that instant he sensed its texture, its density, its underlying quality with startling clarity.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The realization hit him like a rush. "Miss, could I see that necklace over there? And the tiger-shaped pendant as well."

He appeared to study each piece seriously while the salesgirl enthusiastically explained their origins and craftsmanship. In truth, he was testing them, running his inner energy through every item she handed him, comparing the sensations, quietly taking notes in his mind.

By the third or fourth piece, the pattern became obvious.

High-quality, pure jade allowed his energy to pass through effortlessly, without resistance. His Human Rock inner energy was sensitive to an absurd degree. Even the slightest impurity caused a subtle hitch, a faint disturbance he could not miss. And jade that was more than five hundred years old carried something else entirely, faint traces of natural energy, echoes of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. His energy resonated with those ancient remnants as if answering a distant call.

Marcus grinned.

Normally, appraising jade took years of study, trained eyes, cultural knowledge, and endless experience. He had none of that. But his inner energy gave him a shortcut so unfair it felt like cheating. Genuine or fake. Old or new. High grade or trash. He could tell instantly.

If it was stupid but it worked, then it was not stupid.

With his new discovery firmly in hand, Marcus left the upscale shop and slipped into a narrow side alley. Here, tucked among preserved old style buildings were clusters of private antique and jade dealers. Small, dimly lit shops where the real treasures sometimes surfaced.

This was where grave robbers, petty thieves, and black-market middlemen quietly unloaded their finds. Fakes were everywhere. Only seasoned experts dared shop here. Everyone else was asking to be robbed blind.

Marcus felt no such concern.

With his inner energy guiding him, he knew he would not get burned. And who knew, maybe he would stumble onto something truly special.

Half an hour later, he had already picked up several high-grade gems that the shop owners had dismissed as worthless. Even the best appraisers made mistakes. It was unavoidable.

Still, something nagged at him.

The stones were good, undeniably so, but they were not right. None of them carried the feeling he was searching for, that subtle spark, that quiet song beneath the surface. And despite the quality, he had not found anything genuinely rare.

He stepped into a shop called Jade Spring.

An old man sat inside, dozing peacefully in a wooden chair, looking entirely content.

"Excuse me, sir," Marcus said politely. "Are you resting?"

One eye cracked open, then the other. The old man studied him for a moment before recognition slowly dawned.

"Ah. Yes, yes, I remember you," he said, straightening abruptly as he took in Marcus’s height and build. "I did not expect to see you again, and you have grown so tall and strong."

He gestured eagerly toward a chair. "Sit, sit. You are Marcus, correct?"

The old man’s eyes were sharp despite his age. That was no surprise. He was the most renowned appraiser in the entire district, a man whose judgment carried weight across the country. And even after five years, he had not forgotten.

Then again, how could he?

Marcus’s Purple Dragon Jade pendant had left an impression no one easily forgot.

"So," the old man asked, leaning forward with unmistakable interest, "did you ever have that pendant properly appraised?"

He shook his head, a hint of bitterness crossing his face. "I searched every record, every book I could get my hands on. I never discovered what kind of stone it was. There were no historical records at all. Even now, I feel ashamed of that failure."

Years ago, Marcus’s parents had brought him here in hopes of uncovering clues about his identity. The pendant was the only thing they had to go on, the lone thread tying him to an unknown past. They had placed their hopes in this old master, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on ancient artifacts.

He had not been able to help.

And that failure had clearly stayed with him all these years. No wonder he remembered Marcus so vividly.