visiting the workshops

Qianyu talked to the other side for five minutes before he put away the communication tool, smiling. "Big brother, it was just like you said, they tried to deny till I told them that we could also just leave, and then they accepted our request. They will deliver introductory books up to the Essence Awakening Stage and some blueprints for complex war machines. I am not sure what they are for, but the other side said that they somehow ended up in our hands and are of dwarf origin. We couldn't find any use for it, and all dwarf eunuchs weren't interested in them after checking them out. I am not sure if they just send us trash, but they send the notes of the dwarf eunuch that read them."

"Hmm, well that's fine. We can just use the books for the competition… and I'll see what to do with the blueprints. They might be useful for something; at most we will just gift them to Rong Xi and he'll be able to do something with it." Ji Li commented as he nodded and thought of what to do for the next few hours till it was time for food once again.

"Let us still go out and explore a few of the promising workshops. There is no need to hurry, the books will probably arrive only tomorrow, those from the Mission Hall won't be too nice after we threatened them. Which ones were the top 5 workshops? We should have enough time to visit them all and then come back for dinner, right?"

Shixuan looked at the map and the list as he thought and said "Based on their seniority, their position and the size of the workshop, we concluded that the five top workshops are…

- Rong Quan's 'Crimson' Workshop – category Weapons, specialised in Sabers. Their sabres are known to be very brutal and only aim killing potential.

- Rong Yua's 'Flying Sword' Workshop – category Weapons, specialised in Swords. They mainly build flying swords, light swords flying in the air with the help of Essence.

- Rong Luo's 'Piercer' Workshop – category Weapons, specialised in Spears and Rapiers. They focus on the piercing ability of each of their weapons, they are also proficient in other spike-type weapons.

- Rong Xua's 'Rapid Bow' Workshop – category Weapons, specialised in Bows. The bows they build are very technical and efficient while having a mid-wide range, and their arrows are very light.

- Rong Hu's 'Iron Gem' Workshop – category Jewellery, specialised in Brooches. Their brooches are enhancer accessories and have widely been praised for their stern and militaristic designs.

Big brother, we can visit them all today because all of them have their core workshops at the Central Workshop district, a kilometre deep into the workshop district, parallel to the Town Hall, where the meeting for the town is held, where I was yesterday."

"Good job you both, let's set out right away, I'm too bored staying in this room right now. Qianyu, go and tell the steward to prepare the carriage, and let him play the carriage driver today. It's more of a picture if there are three Essence Awakening Stage cultivators are guarding us the whole time."

…

Shortly after, the trio was once again in the carriage looking out the window and admire the city while they had a very strong escort group, surprising the residents and pedestrians, as they aren't used to such high-key behaviour from their own higher ups. Still they avoided them out of fear, who knew which noble decided to visit their little town?

The carriage soon came in front of a large gate, just a few metres behind the Town Hall, still in the open space. They drove to the front of the gate before waiting, and just like they expected, Rong Xi came running on a horse, sweating once again as he worried about why the eunuch that just made him spend a full hour to get out the laxatives from his system, came to the gate to the workshops. If he could, he'd just let them in and ignore them, but he couldn't risk letting one of his clan members taste that disgusting tea!

He approached the carriage's window, seeing that he wasn't stopped, he just bowed while being on the horse and cupped his hands "Intermediate Eunuch Li, how may I serve you?" He nearly stuttered when he said this, but he was still over a hundred-year-old and a town chief at that! He couldn't be too much of a failure, especially not in front of the gate guards, who were surprised to see their town chief who was always so stern yet friendly, turn so obedient!

Ji Li looked at Shixuan, who understood and opened the carriage door without saying anything. They really got the hang of this silent attitude! Seeing them being like that, Rong Xi could only smile wryly as he jumped down and then went up the relatively large carriage, considering his build.

As he saw Rong Xi enter, Qianyu understood and knocked at the wall behind him. The steward learned how to control his attitude and act when around Ji Li, so he just swung the reins and went ahead to the gate. Rong Xi was shaken as he hadn't even sat down, but he didn't say anything and waited till he was asked something. The guards, although confused, let in the carriage as their chief was in there, and no one would dare stop the carriage in which was the chief.

Qianyu looked satisfied at Rong Xi as he said "We will be visiting a few workshops; you may follow us. The carriage kept going for a few minutes. It soon arrived at a plaza which was exceptionally clean and one could hear clinging sounds from all sides, it felt like one was inside of a sanctuary and the hammering drove away and destroyed all of their impure thoughts. 

The steward stopped the carriage just a few steps next to the main road and went down as he opened the door. Qianyu and Shixuan were the first to step out, before Rong Xi reluctantly did too, until finally Ji Li came out as the last. The manner and sequence in which someone exited the carriage signified the hierarchy of all passengers.

Ji Li looked around as he thought to himself 'Damn what kinda religious place is this? Is this what they call the holy grounds of smithing? No wonder the dwarfs are treated like the sovereigns of iron, the whole plaza is literally made of iron and stone! The cost of such a large usage of iron, and it's not just standard but 10 times refined one! Even an earthquake couldn't destroy the foundation of the whole cit- no town! Hah, I am sure he is desperate for this town to become a city. Unfortunately, it wasn't only a matter of cultivation stage, or else this town would've long become a city in the hands of his more cultivational talented ancestors! Well, he's pretty good at management, seeing that there was such a large influx of people the past few decades. I might take advantage of that… no I will!'

While Ji Li looked around the large plaza, he spotted the entrance of a workshop with a plaque on the open arch. The arch looked very good and the building behind was in the shape of a large smelting oven. Not only did it have many openings where smoke came out, at the top there was a large open space with glass, looking a bit like a telescope, but upon further consideration, it seemed more like an enhancing glass to use the natural heat and light of the sun to melt! What a truly wonderous usage of natural light, especially since the Essence capacity of the tool would be higher if it was melted with natural energy instead of fire that is created artificially.

On the plaque, there stood 'Flying Sword', the workshop they discovered before. It was operated by Rong Yua, and the store produced flying swords at a very high quality. Seeing the workshop directly explained the weird shape they saw on the map, it also made sense as flying swords were weapons that needed a lot of Essence for operation, and the construction helps with making the molten steel more accepting towards Essence.

Ji Li just went ahead and welcomed himself as he stepped past the arch and saw a field of Essence rich greenery in the garden on the sides of the road that led towards the building. It appeared that the owner really tried a lot to enhance the density of Essence inside of the building, and since nothing spread outside, it meant that the archway wasn't to keep out randoms but to keep in the essence. There were no guards till they were at the gate, and naturally they had no grounds that justified rejecting the guests which was followed and 'guided' by the town chief, that somehow naturally positioned himself next to the steward behind the two junior eunuchs.