Xu Yi had not been deliberately avoiding Great Mage Ferguson, as the latter imagined. He genuinely had something to attend to.
After more than half a year of preparations, construction had officially begun on the Xinfei Merchant Guild's first offshore base.
Xu Yi attached great importance to this overseas base, so he had made a point of coming in person to show everyone how seriously he took it.
This first overseas base lay where the Southern Waters of the Stantin Duchy met those of the Rulson Kingdom, more than two hundred kilometers from the nearest coast and just over thirty kilometers south of the shipping route the Xinfei Merchant Guild had previously planned.
Once completed, this base would give the Xinfei Merchant Guild a true foothold in the Southern Waters of the Endless Sea.
Any Xinfei Merchant Guild fleet or personnel could come to the base for ample supplies and shelter, but this was restricted to the guild's own personnel and vessels. It would not be open to outsiders.
Simply put, this would be an extension of the Xinfei Merchant Guild on the Endless Sea. Unlike the small supply bases the guild had previously established on several islands, it would do more than provide basic supplies. It would be a military base permanently garrisoned by two Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards Fleets and two thousand members of the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps.
Beyond these mobile military forces, the base, built on Giant Deer Island, the largest island in the Rulson Kingdom's Southern Waters, would gradually be equipped with as many as one hundred and fifty Mana Cannons and five hundred Magic-Powered Stone Throwers. Combined with the tremendous firepower of the powerful Military Magic Machinery carried by the two thousand guards, as well as the two Guard Fleets' overwhelming control of