Birth Of The Crafts-God-Chapter 416: Hidden Mission
"You're famous now " Vienna commented as she looked at the vibrant atmosphere in the hall.
"I've always been famous." Lucas calmly replied.
"After this, you don't need to worry about money any more. Will you be quitting from the Versoa Team and relocating here?" Vienna stared at Lucas with an inquisitive look on her face.
There wasn't any emotion in her voice as she asked the question, but Lucas could feel that there was something weird.
Without hesitating, he shook his head.
"I've exceeded the limit of Baylands city-state. There's nothing left for me to gain or achieve here."
Lucas' overall skill was roughly on par with a Tier 1 Grandmaster or even better. However, he was limited by his lack of stellar energy. With Melissa now at the fourth level, Lucas could easily create Grade 4 vestiges, putting him at the peak of the Tier 1 Master rank. There were no peak Tier 1 Masters in all of Baylands city-state, so that made Lucas unarguably the best vestige-smith in the region.
If he wanted to improve, Lucas would have to move to a higher level. He also believed that doing so would make it easier for him to receive missions from the system, as for a while now, he had yet to receive any.
Vienna didn't say anything, but her eyes seemed to be a little relieved. However, Lucas wasn't paying attention and didn't notice that.
"When will you be returning?" Vienna asked.
"Maybe in a month's time or two. I need to stabilize the operations of the dealership first and support the Silverine Factory with their development. The new factory would depend on fabrication equipment modified by me after all."
The Silverine Factory used an All-purpose Fabrication Stellar Device, or AFSD for short, to manufacture their stellar processors. The equipment was much larger than typical lithography equipment used for regular processor development, and it was also costlier. However, it performed multiple functions including but not limited to photolithography, etching, inscriptions and more, all with high efficiency. The Silverine Factory's AFSD model was a 13th gen equipment designed in the Black Kiln architecture —a popular ISA (Instruction-Set Architecture).
Despite the AFSD model being impressive and relatively advanced, it wasn't able to satisfy the manufacturing requirements for the Qin chip. As such, Lucas had to modify the AFSD to be able to do so.
Since the new factory would be focused on manufacturing the Rain Dragon Z1, Springfield and Qin stellar processors, there was a need for Lucas' aid especially in modifying the AFSDs. Until that was done, leaving for Belfargos territory would be delayed, even though Lucas could easily travel between the two regions using the system functions in the store.
The two engaged in a bit of small talk, but there was the occasional appearance of a CEO or prestigious individual who wanted to socialise with Lucas. Lucas didn't like talking to many of them, however, some wanted to discuss the possibility of collaboration. For those under this group, Lucas entertained the discussion
One might wonder why Lucas decided to be more open for collaborations and the reason was simple. Although the Mertens family could help fund any of his future plans and ideas, there was a limit to what they could do.
For instance, if it weren't from the Ross family's Silverine Factory, it would have been impossible or very difficult for Lucas to enter the processor industry.
Even though he wasn't a good businessman, Lucas had plans to expand the influence and reach of the Seven Stars Springs Dealership. With his prior experience in Belfargos territory as well as the stellar processors to support, he wanted to venture into the hover car and spacecraft industry. However, neither the Mertens family's Dawn-Spring Arrow Company (DSAC) or the Ross' Silverine Factory had any experience in this area.
If Lucas were to start from the ground-up, the funding needed would be massive, and it would take some time until they could grow to a proportionate scale.
On the other hand, if he partnered up with an existing company in the industry, it would be easy to make his mark.
The hovercar industry was just one, and Lucas planned to conquer many other industries.
Another reason for the sudden interest in collaborations was because of the lawsuit brought up by the members of the coalition —the Oder family, Versailles Group, Arkhen Corporation and others.
The lawsuit claimed that the DSAC was pushing for a monopoly of the Seven Sparks Forge's talent and expertise by forming the Seven Stars Springs Dealership. Considering the exquisite craftsmanship of the Seven Sparks Forge, the new dealership would be a behemoth that would exert a dominant control over the vestige-smith industry; in other words, a monopoly.
Although the lawsuit sounded silly, after the first hearing around three weeks ago, Lucas realized that he had underestimated the legal team of the Prestige Star Ltd, who were the plaintiff in this case. While it was still impossible for them to win, the possibility for them getting the court to martial a restriction order on the Seven Stars Springs Dealership's operations was likely. And that was their plan from the very beginning.
To counter that, Lucas decided that he needed to prove that the Seven Stars Springs Dealership would not operate as a monopoly. This could be achieved by working with various other businesses rather than taking the lead in the industries. Hence why he decided to cooperate with others.
Nonetheless, these collaboration discussions weren't Lucas' forte. However, he still needed to meet with the various possible partners himself.
"It's been a while."
A soft feminine voice sounded while Lucas was talking to a middle-aged man.
With a layer of red lipstick on her luscious soft lips, brown hair and blue eyes and an enchanting smile, an astonishing beauty made her way towards Lucas.
The middle-aged man noticed the newcomer and smirked knowingly at Lucas before excusing himself. On the other hand, Vienna had a slight frown on her face.
"Giselle, was it?" Lucas asked.
"It's Miss, but you can make it Mrs if you want to." Giselle smiled enticingly at him.
She was the daughter of the current chairman of New Rovers; a famous company in the sare shuttle industry.
From what Lucas could recall, the company was also a rival to the Oder family's Prestige Star Ltd. Since the Oder family was also an enemy of his, New Rovers was a good choice to work with.
"Are you planning on discussing a collaboration?" Lucas ignored her blatant flirting and got straight to the point.
"Indeed." Seemingly not offended, Giselle maintained her smile and nodded.
"You mentioned earlier that you would plan on delving into the spacecrafts industry and would require the aid of a sare shuttle company. I don't think there's anyone better than New Rovers in the industry."
To be able to compete with a behemoth like the Prestige Star Ltd, New Rovers was definitely not a small company. Unlike the stellar processor industry, there were at least thirteen hover car companies located across Baylands city-state. The companies in the parts and supply section of the market were even more.
New Rovers was ranked in the top three of hover car companies, and unlike the majority, they handled the production of almost every single part of their hover cars. They were indeed the best option for partnership.
"You do have a point." Lucas nodded without showing any emotion.
For someone of his expertise, it didn't matter whether the company he was partnering with was the best or not because Lucas could prop them up. The Silverine Factory was a good example. As such, Lucas wouldn't show eagerness towards any company. Doing so would make them have the upper hand, when they were the ones who needed the collaboration more than Lucas did.
Seeing his silent face, Giselle wasn't surprised, but she didn't relent.
"Why don't we make some time out to talk more about this. What do you say to a coffee break in two days time?" Giselle proposed.
"That's fine by me." Lucas nodded.
"Great." Giselle smirked. "For now, why don't I introduce you to other major players in the industry? They'll be very helpful towards our future collaboration, and some of them might suit your needs." Giselle suddenly appeared by his side and clung herself tightly towards one of Lucas' arms.
It was somewhat surprising that a lady of class was this open-minded, but that was exactly Giselle's personality.
While Lucas didn't like it, he wasn't exactly bothered. However, someone else was.
'First was that blue witch and now there's this brown-headed vixen.'
Vienna stared at the arm that Giselle held with a slight frown. She then approached Lucas and tugged his other arm.
"He's coming with me." Vienna said without offering any explanation.
"Oh, don't be like that. You've had him all to yourself for most of the event. That's no good. He needs to be socialising with others if he wants to do well in the industry." Giselle lightly chuckled. She didn't seem to care that Vienna didn't have a good opinion of her.
"There's no need for you to worry about that. We'll do just fine on our own." Vienna retorted.
Seeing that there was another fight about to erupt, Lucas sighed and interrupted the duo.
"That's enough."
Vienna and Giselle paused before staring at Lucas.
Just as he was about to declare his decision, Lucas froze. This wasn't due to fear, confusion or any emotion like that. Rather, he had just received a notification from the system.
[[ Congratulations on completing the hidden mission:, Technology Maestro.
Mission details: Conquer an analytical technology industry and make one thousand sales of your masterpiece.
Rewards: Special Ability Card, Bronze Grade Card. ]]
[[ Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system (now level 5). One new system ability granted.
Rewarding ten system coins, one drop of Jörmungandr's blood. ]]
[[Jörmungandr's blood: a unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, to grant one superpower or a potion to change one's physique condition. Consuming it in its raw form can modify one's physical constitution to varying degrees, with the maximum efficiency achieved with the right conditions. It can also be used to gain poison-related or physical abilities. ]]
[[Congratulations on completing the tutorial phase. The full version of the system has now been unlocked.
Rewarding twenty system coins, Silver grade card, Svarog's Forge, Lucky Box. ]]
