Integrating Resources

"Heaven Dou—?"

Qingqiu Li's expression was not good, and he squeezed out these two words through clenched teeth.

Beside him, Long Ang also turned cold and remained silent.

If it were any faction within the [Water Wood Duchy], even if it were Grand Duke Mu Feng or several marquises, they would dare to covet a small piece of that cake.

but...

[The Heaven Dou Empire] Ah, that's a suzerain state. Who knows, a powerful and influential Soul Master family might suddenly appear and wipe them out.

In the small territory of the Water Wood Duchy, people can always maintain a certain level of goodwill through various connections.

However, these things are not so useful between the suzerain state and the vassal state.

The saying "a weak nation has no diplomacy" is one of the universal truths.

Not to mention that these blacksmiths don't represent the entire [Water Wood Duchy]; they are merely lower-middle-class members within the principality.

In this world, small countries always look up to large countries, and the people of small countries always revere the people of large countries. How could there be people from large countries groveling before the inferior people of small countries?

Wouldn't that make someone a born traitor who forgets their roots?

"Hehe--"

Seeing the two strongest blacksmiths in the [Water Wood Duchy] looking like this, Ling Yi chuckled twice.

If we don't first present such an insurmountable obstacle, how can we expect these two troublemakers to truly humble themselves and cooperate with us?

Even though Fu Shan has the military backing of the [Water Wood Duchy] and Li Qiang has the court led by Grand Duke Mu Feng behind him, neither of them are the kind of identities that can make people of the same level truly admire them.

Ultimately, Fu Shan and Li Qiang were just two high-level employees, only their employers were the chairman and general manager, respectively, within the small conglomerate of "Water Wood Duchy".

Lower-level workers may respect these two individuals, but lower- and middle-level employees, due to their own abilities, have the option to switch jobs at any time. They only need to maintain sufficient respect for their superiors, and that is enough.

Therefore, unable to use someone else's name to intimidate others, Ling Yi could only exaggerate the external circumstances, such as rough seas and small boats, so that the sailors who wanted to cross the sea together could safely contribute their share of strength, and that everyone would have gold and silver treasures after arriving in the New World.

Of course, the degree of this rendering must be well controlled, lest it scare people away. These days, it's not easy to recruit good sailors, let alone veterans who are capable of serving in important positions such as boatswain or combat captain.

Ling Yi waited for Qingqiu Li and Long Ang to calm down a bit, he continued with a smile, "Seniors, there's no need to worry. The Heaven Dou Empire didn't come to our Water Wood Duchy to do business on their own initiative..."

After a pause, and as the two came to their senses and looked at him, Ling Yi continued, "According to my conversations with the Blacksmith from various regions, the nearly 800,000 Gold Soul Coin in ironware transactions were actually purchased by Soul Master families from all over our [Water Wood Duchy] from the [Heaven Dou Empire], which is the closest tributary to the principality..."

"Initiative?"

"Buy?"

Qingqiu Li and Long Ang frowned in unison, but a look of sudden realization flashed in their eyes.

I was so caught up in the shock that foreign forces from the Heaven Dou Empire might be interfering in the ironware market within the duchy that I forgot that because all kinds of ironware need to be forged by blacksmiths hammer by hammer, some high-end blacksmith shops throughout the duchy are often saturated with orders, and sometimes even have long waiting lists.

Because the skill level of each craftsman varies, people often subconsciously seek out master craftsmen to forge the tools they want, rather than going to ordinary blacksmith shops run by junior or intermediate blacksmiths.

Ling Yi had witnessed this situation many times in the past few years at his fifth senior brother Wang Meng's blacksmith shop.

This phenomenon will not only make the blacksmith shops of high-level blacksmiths overcrowded, but will also make the businesses of low- and mid-level blacksmith shops extremely poor.

Unless, like in North Mouth River Town, where people have no choice due to its rural location, then Master Jiang, who is also a mid-level blacksmith, has always had a pretty good business.

Besides the complex love triangle between the buyers and sellers of ironware, which leads to the introduction of outside "parachuted-in" personnel and disrupts the local market, there is another drawback for the blacksmith profession.

Blacksmithing is a skilled trade.

Aside from innate technical talent and strength, another factor influencing the growth of forging skills is the number of times one can attempt forging.

Just as sharpshooters are often made by being fed bullets, even someone as talented as Ling Yi, the "Copy Soul Master," cannot achieve the astonishing feat of becoming Blacksmith at the age of fourteen without enough iron to work with.

It's quite astonishing. Even Lou Gao, the future Divine Craftsman, with the guidance of the Divine Craftsman Tie Futu above and unlimited materials provided by the Blacksmith Association below, only became Blacksmith in his early twenties.

Getting back to the improvement of blacksmithing skills, a sufficient amount of materials and a sufficient number of forging attempts are needed to ensure that a blacksmithing apprentice can steadily improve under the guidance of his master until he hits a bottleneck before reaching his own talent limit or his master's highest level.

But just like Ling Yi's fifth senior brother Wang Meng, who is capable of forging top-quality weapons of eight hundred forgings, he often takes orders for weapons of around Five Hundred Refinement.

Over time, it's already considered good that Wang Meng's skills haven't declined.

It wasn't that Wang Meng didn't want to keep forging weapons with a forging value of over 800 times, but the cost of materials was just too high!

Only when Soul Master customer places an order can Wang Meng fully display his skills and unleash his superb abilities.

The materials required to forge one 800-forged battle sword can often be used to forge four or five more Five Hundred Refinement battle swords!

This is the ratio of metal material consumption for Wang Meng. Blacksmith Old Master Jin Fu Shan and Li Qiang, can control it to a ratio of about one to two to one to three.

Ling Yi, having received Lou Gao's instruction, is able to achieve the same 1.8 ratio as Lou Gao!

The further you go, the more difficult it becomes to climb each 0.1 value.

He explained the situation of the ironware market and blacksmiths in the Water Wood Duchy to Qingqiu Li and Long Ang in a straightforward manner, laying out the reasons and potential consequences in plain terms.

Ling Yi glanced at his three Blacksmith, Old Master Jin, Fu Shan, and Li Qiang, and under their approving gazes, Ling Yi solemnly addressed the two leaders from ' Cold Wind City ' and ' Azure City ', extending an invitation:

"Senior Long, Senior Qingqiu, I humbly invite you both to join us in establishing the [Blacksmith Association - Water Wood Duchy Branch]. This association will integrate all the blacksmiths in the entire principality and allocate all ironware orders to suitable Blacksmith based on the supply and demand situation, ensuring that junior and intermediate blacksmiths have sufficient orders and business to do..."

This also gives skilled Blacksmith more opportunities to take on orders that match their skill level, giving them the hope of further improving their skills...

"As for the profits, to be honest, a weapon Five Hundred Refinement is more profitable than ten weapons of the same specification that have just reached Hundred Refinement forging!"

"Those who can place orders for weapons for over Five Hundred Refinement forgings are basically at least Two-Ring Grand Soul Master. We're all Soul Master, so naturally we all know that compared to ordinary people, Soul Master have more Gold Soul Coin and are more likely to spend them wisely!"

"How much can you earn by just earning the Silver Soul Coin and Copper Soul Coin that ordinary people earn?"

If you're going to make money, make it from Soul Master ' Gold Soul Coin!