Chu Tian and Qi Xi entered the council hall.
"Recently, the guild's funds seem to be all spent on acquiring herbs, ores, and timber. Are we preparing for the Fortress Conquest expansion pack?" Chu Tian asked as they walked.
"Mm, Gao Kai and the others managed to get a blueprint from the Crimson Armory a while ago..." Qi Xi began.
Chu Tian's brows furrowed. He interjected, "An engineering blueprint? The Flame Cannon?"
Hearing Chu Tian's words, Qi Xi was taken aback, then nodded. "Yes... how did you know?"
"Kai Ge and the others are amazing! They cleared the Armory on Expert difficulty and got this thing!" The moment Qi Xi mentioned the Crimson Armory, Chu Tian knew what they had acquired. The blueprint for the Flame Cannon only dropped from the final boss of the Armory. The drop rate wasn't particularly low, and it was the first engineering device produced in the early stages of the Heavenly Dao world. However, its power... Chu Tian pursed his lips.
"How many have been manufactured so far?" Chu Tian inquired.
"We have the materials for about thirty cannons, but they haven't been assembled yet! It requires too much ore. I estimate we can only make around a hundred at most!" Qi Xi said, wincing at the cost.
"Tell the engineers to stop production. That piece of junk isn't worth a hundred, not even a thousand cannons are just scrap metal." Chu Tian also frowned. Thirty pieces of scrap metal pained him. Fortunately, from Qi Xi's words, most of the materials were still left.
"Ah?" Qi Xi was stunned.
"Sister Xi Xi, don't 'ah'. Listen to me, tell them to stop production immediately and don't assemble them. Have the blacksmiths melt down all the parts and convert them into materials. We'll recover as much as we can, and I'll handle the rest." Seeing Qi Xi's stunned expression, Chu Tian urged her.
"Okay." Qi Xi responded and quickly sent out a message.
However, not long after sending the message, Chu Tian saw Qi Xi's expression change.
"What's wrong, Sister Xi Xi?" Chu Tian asked.
Qi Xi looked up and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could utter a sound, they heard many voices from outside. One voice was particularly loud.
"Why should we stop working? All the parts are finished, only assembly is left!"
Hearing the commotion, Chu Tian frowned. Qi Xi's face paled dramatically. She knew exactly who was here.
"Sister Xi Xi, who is this?" Chu Tian was surprised. This person was quite audacious, defying the Guild Leader's orders and coming here to question her, apparently with a group of people. Interesting...
Qi Xi understood Chu Tian's implied question and explained with a troubled expression. "These engineers and blacksmiths are not from our guild. That blueprint requires an Expert Engineer and an Expert Blacksmith to complete. So... we outsourced from the Haotian Merchant Guild. Their establishment has one Expert-level engineer and one Expert-level blacksmith."
Chu Tian tilted his head slightly after hearing this. Haotian Merchant Guild... The name flashed through Chu Tian's mind. In his previous life, it was the largest merchant guild in the Northern War Zone, and later, it ranked among the top three merchant guilds in the survivor faction. A large portion of the golden land plots Chu Tian held in his previous life were in the hands of the Haotian Merchant Guild. Their specialties were engineering and forging. They built their empire on these two crafts. As they grew, they also ventured into the pharmacy business. Although they didn't directly engage in auctions, they were the biggest patrons of auction houses. They would often bring some remarkable items to auction houses periodically. The auctions here were not simply listed in the auction house but were held by the auction house itself.
Furthermore, Chu Tian knew very well that once a life skill level reached Advanced, the difficulty of progression increased significantly. It wasn't just about continuously crafting to accumulate proficiency. Advancing to Expert level required research and a formal assessment. Only when you create something original that the system certifies as reaching expert standards could you advance to the Expert rank. Chu Tian was also very clear about the levels of life skills: from the lowest Apprentice, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Saint, Pseudo-God, to God-tier. Each advancement was progressively more difficult. To advance from Expert to Master, one needed to undertake a system challenge quest. There were ten chances for the challenge. Failure meant permanent inability to advance. Therefore, Chu Tian knew that not every player with a life skill could become wealthy. It was similar to ordinary combat players advancing to Elite players, then to Professional players, and then to God-tier players. One's intellect, micro-operations... all needed to reach a certain level.
"Let's go! Let's go out and see!" Chu Tian heard the noisy voices outside. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. He thought to himself: Haotian Merchant Guild, hehe, let's see how much you can stir up today. As he was thinking, he even checked his contract system. His expression turned into a cold sneer.
"Xiao Tian, I can handle this!" Qi Xi knew Chu Tian's temper and feared he would escalate the situation, making it difficult to resolve. After all, the Haotian Merchant Guild had considerable influence in Shengjing City. Moreover, many guilds collaborated with them. If they offended the Haotian Merchant Guild, and the guild held a grudge, they might offer benefits to other guilds to obstruct the Reverse God Alliance, which would ultimately put them at a disadvantage. These people from merchant guilds rarely left the city. Combat guilds like theirs had no way to deal with them. That's why these people were so arrogant, looking down on everyone. Even she, the acting guild leader, was not highly regarded by them. Although the Reverse God Alliance was renowned and the highest-ranked, number one guild in Shengjing City, these high-level life skill players simply didn't care.
"Uh... alright!" Chu Tian pondered for a moment and shrugged. Qi Xi gave him a deep look, still feeling uneasy. She opened her mouth to speak but ultimately remained silent. Turning around, she walked towards the door. Chu Tian pulled up his hood, covering his head. Casually, he opened his friend system and sent a group message to a few people. Then, following Qi Xi, he walked out of the council hall.
"Lei Qing Cheng, what do you mean? Why did you suddenly tell us to stop working?" As soon as Chu Tian and Qi Xi emerged, they saw a group of people standing at the entrance of the council hall. One of them, holding a hammer, directly called out Qi Xi's character name and rudely pointed the hammer at Qi Xi, questioning her.
"Stop working, does it affect you?" Qi Xi frowned and retorted. Indeed, she also didn't understand why they had just announced the suspension of work and asked them to remelt the parts into materials. This order seemed to have no issues, as the Reverse God Alliance hired people from the Haotian Merchant Guild to do the work, and they were compensated based on the workload. Whether the work was stopped or not should have no bearing on them whatsoever.