Chapter 745: Minimize [Top 5 in Golden Tickets Bonus]
[Special Talent: Maximize]
[Sacrifice 50% Durability to raise level of treasure to its maximum potential]
[Special Talent: Minimize]
[Durability Points are worth double that of usual]
Maya gained a new ability that synergized with her first one. Together, they allowed her to raise the standard of a Treasure while not sacrificing much of anything.
But more importantly than that...
The seamstress shop began to glow as well.
Cassarae was inwardly taken aback, but she was smart enough to keep a composed expression. Although this was mostly Sylas' doing, for things to work she had to be the one to take the credit or at least pretend as though she was the one directing things.
She had learned during her time shepherding this village that oftentimes perception was all that truly mattered.
She didn't like it because that meant she had to rein in her temper a lot of the time... but it was a necessary evil.
Still, her shock was causing waves in her heart.
The seamstress shop upgrading was huge, so much so that between its waves of shock, her heart was also doing cartwheels of happiness.
Specialty shops like this one were the toughest to upgrade because they not only required the city to reach a certain level, but they also needed spawns or Professionals that had reached appropriate levels as well.
The military encampment building, for example, was useless unless she had powerful enough officials, which was why Veron wielded so much authority in her city. By extension, this was also why Mathilda's role as an alchemist was so important as well.
But as difficult as it was maintaining the encampment and the alchemy shop, the seamstress shop was especially difficult because it was a unique Profession.
Every village had an encampment, and quite a number had alchemy shops by now even if they were inferior to Mathilda's. But seamstresses were often blacksmiths instead and it was much
rarer.
As time passed, Cassarae realized that she had actually understated just how lucky she was to spawn Maya. She thought that the great thing was that she was an FF+ Professional, not realizing that the value of this seamstress would present itself very evidently.
To understand why, one only needed to acknowledge one thing and ask oneself a single question...
How much easier was it to gather beast pelts than mine for ores?
Now, this trump card of Casstle Main was about to display itself in the truest sense.
...
The upgrade of a building was sensed by everyone. Although there were options to hide it for
a price, Cassarae understood that Sylas had come here so openly on purpose.
He wanted everyone to see it.
WHOOSH!
The pillar of light shot to the skies, reaching a peak before it began to slowly shrink into a broken line of Aether that blinked out.
When everyone's vision cleared, the seamstress shop had doubled in size, and the number of spawned workers had also seamlessly increased.
But it wasn't just this.
Maya stood in a daze for a while as though she was integrating with her new insights. When she finally regained some focus, in true Maya fashion, she immediately began to bark out orders.
"What are you all standing around for?! This granny's fingers are itching, line up! Everyone to a station! CHOP! CHOP!"
Sylas and Cassarae watched in silence as the repairing speed accelerated.
If before there was basically no chance at getting everything done, now they would finish with time to spare.
On top of that, the impact to the psyches of the villagers couldn't be understated.
As important as Mathilda was, Maya had been around for the longest. She was known for her fiery temper, but she was also the type of true in mind and spirit that small-town folk could ingratiate themselves with.
By comparison, Mathilda gave off an air of superiority that was rooted in a very different way. It made many feel uncomfortable.
Thanks to that, even though an alchemy shop upgrade would probably enhance their lives more, the villagers felt more genuine happiness seeing Maya progress.
When Cassarae finally stepped out of the shop, she noticed this as well. The air in the city seemed to have returned to a calm.
The timing couldn't have been better. The anxiety of the people had been soothed...
For now.
...
"Is there anything else you want to prepare?" Sylas asked.
Cassarae shook her head. "No. I haven't even been able to burn through the money you sent me last time. I didn't expect that having too much money would be a problem too."
In truth, she felt disappointed in herself. Having excess money sounded good, but in reality, that was proof that her management skills weren't good enough.
The worst thing an investor could do was leave their money sitting in a pile of nothing. Like this, the money would only suffer from inflation and endlessly lose value.
A billion coins would never be worth more than it was right now, but it was hard to find
methods of using it that didn't also feel wasteful.
Unless, of course... they went as far as to displace the city like some had suggested.
"Do you know the main problem you're facing right now?" Sylas asked.
Cassarae looked off into the distance, half feeling apprehensive, but half feeling some sense of security with Sylas by her side.
"... This land has no potential and it's only being suffocated more. Even if we can survive this, the salt water has really fucked everything up. Expanding from this point feels impossible."
Sylas nodded. "Displacement doesn't seem like it can be avoided. It's just that we have to do it
the smart way."
Cassarae sighed, but Sylas shook his head.
"Why are you sighing? What damage can your City Stele take that a System City's Stele
wouldn't shore up and then some?"
Cassarae looked over to Sylas. She reached up, placing a palm on his forehead.
"Do you have a fever? I feel like you're going crazy."
Sylas' reply, though... was very straightforward.
"Set Guiz City as your next Cult. I'll help you destroy them within three days."
Cassarae's heart shot, her eyes locked onto Sylas' side profile.
Sylas was never the type to brag. But what he was saying was too crazy.
The top figures of the Leaderboards were already approaching Level 40. That meant that City Lord Guiz was approaching Level 50. This didn't even include the fact that he was near invincible within city limits, or the fact he had a cohort of thousands that were deep into the
40s in Level as well.
None of this considered the involvement of the government or the appearance of a Warlord
either.
To say that he would destroy them in three days...
Sylas didn't seem to see Cassarae's shocked gaze at all. Instead, he was focused on a stirring
within himself.
Nosphaleen was about to awaken.