Mr. Zhou patted his own breastbone: "What kind of talk is that? I'm naturally gifted with the gift of gab, haha."

"Don't worry, honesty is the foundation. Go ask other players if our crafted armor and weapons fit well? Are they aesthetically pleasing? Are they tough? Do they make monster-slaying a joy?"

Mr. Zhou gave a thumbs up: "They'll definitely say just that!"

Lord Xu nodded slightly: "After finishing this task, I'll definitely support you."

Mr. Zhou smiled and patted Lord Xu's shoulder: "Hehe, you'll be satisfied by then."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Zhou stopped bothering Lord Xu with his work and led Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching away.

Reaching a secluded spot, Mr. Zhou glanced around before slowly speaking: "Mr. Qian, with more players arriving, there's bound to be competition. Since that's the case..."

"I think we should take the initiative and grab some profits?"

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching looked at Mr. Zhou with some surprise: "Grab some profits? How so? Tell me, Xiao Zhou."

Mr. Zhou gave a sly smile: "While the newbie players are busy with team tasks and can't spare time for forging, let's give up on the low-end route and focus on high-end branding, taking one last profit from the low-end route."

"My idea is simple: charge other players for teaching them the skills to make standardized armor and weapons, let them grasp low-end armor and weapon crafting, and let them compete internally."

"And we, we'll abandon this low-end market and focus only on high-end customization, with exquisite design as our flagship brand."

"Who the heck would want to wear featureless, identical armor as everyone else, or wield the same ugly weapons as others, when they can afford otherwise?"

"Why are there paid players? Aside from a sense of superiority in strength, there's the superiority in appearance!"

"We've already established a good reputation and have a basic foundation; transitioning to a high-end route is only logical now."

After hearing Mr. Zhou's words, Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching gave a thumbs up: "Xiao Zhou, you're quite something, were you a sales champion before?"

Mr. Zhou shrugged: "You see, that's just prejudice; I only slightly have the gift of gab and spent a tiny bit of time studying a little non-professional knowledge."

"By the way, I want to add another person to our team."

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching was momentarily surprised: "Add someone? Who?"

Mr. Zhou looked towards a certain place.

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching followed Mr. Zhou's gaze: "Fatty Orange?"

The player Mr. Zhou was looking at was indeed the Chubby Orange Cat.

At this moment, the Chubby Orange Cat was selling some wooden carvings and intricate engravings on stones to newbie players, quite lifelike.

Mr. Zhou grinned: "That's right, this guy's craftsmanship is simply divine. The relief on my second-floor building was done by him for a fee."

"Passing by, you find it quite pleasing, don't you?"

"If we apply his skills to our armor and weapons... they'll be far more beautiful than the decorative patterns we've been making."

"I've actually had this idea for a while, but at the time, Fatty Orange showed no interest in blacksmithing, and wouldn't steal our business. We were monopolizing the whole blacksmith business, and I didn't want to bring someone in to split the profits..."

"But now things are different; we've decided to abandon the low-end route altogether and go all-out high-end, so it's necessary to recruit talent like Fatty Orange into our small team."

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching pondered for a moment and then nodded: "Hmm, I agree. How much do you plan to give him?"

Mr. Zhou held up two fingers: "I suggest that you and I each give him a 10% share."

Currently, their forging income split is 60% for Mr. Zhou and 40% for Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching. If they each give 10% to the Chubby Orange Cat...

It would become 50% for Mr. Zhou, 30% for Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching, and 20% for the Chubby Orange Cat.

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching thought for a while, then nodded: "I think it's doable, but I'm not sure if Fatty Orange will agree."

Mr. Zhou grinned: "Time to use my gift of gab, Qian, wait here. I'll go persuade him."

With that, Mr. Zhou walked towards the Chubby Orange Cat.

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching didn't know what exactly they talked about, but after a while, the Chubby Orange Cat happily came over with Mr. Zhou, announcing he'd join their blacksmithing team.

The Chubby Orange Cat suggested that their brand should have a brand-like presence, and they should leave their signature brand mark on their custom-made armor and weapons.

It could be a special design, or a distinct name.

After some discussion, the three unanimously agreed that a design would be better as it's more aesthetically pleasing and upscale.

Finally, the design was decided— a skull wearing a crown, with three protrusions on the crown. Each side had a pentagonal gem, and the middle had a triangular gem.

The corners of the gems represent the number of characters in their nicknames.

According to Mr. Zhou's suggestion, they could use Fire Crystals to make these three small gems and embed them.

This would make it more visually appealing and recognizable.

In the end, this matter was settled.

Then the three went to use the pitch Mr. Zhou thought of, to promote their service to other newbie players, teaching forging skills for a fee.

Many newbie players were instantly intrigued.

After these first batch veteran players finished promoting themselves to the newbies, they set off again, heading towards the Gana Forbidden Domain.

These new players had large team tasks that would take quite some time to complete.

And before completion, they had no purchasing power.

So, after promoting to plan for the future, there was no point in wasting time here—not when they could head to the Gana Forbidden Domain to hunt walking cash cows instead.

That's a stable source of income.

After the first wave of veteran players left, the newbie players at the scene felt even more motivated, after all, the things these veteran players promoted were extremely enticing to them.

They couldn't wait to give it a try.

On the following midday, Fang Ka made his routine visit to the Underground Library, changing the temporary entrance to the Gana Forbidden Domain to a two-way, and then waited for players to bring in corpses.

Soon, players delivered the corpses, and Fang Ka let the Merfolk calculate rewards based on the count as usual.

He then had the Merfolk proceed with transporting and processing the corpses, while he went to the second-floor window of the Ancient Castle, gazing towards the Sacrificial Altar area to check on the progress.

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