Melancholy Smile's eyes went wide in the meeting room. She rubbed her eyes, staring incredulously at the blueprint laid out on the table.
An auction house blueprint was something every major guild currently coveted. Just looking at the present state of Red Iron Town was proof enough of how much an auction house could boost a town's development.
Quite a few superpowers had even offered astronomical sums to purchase an auction house blueprint, since obtaining one wasn't simply a matter of strength — it also required luck.
But up until now, not a single rumor about an auction house blueprint had surfaced.
"Guild Master, are you a treasure chest or something? You can even produce an auction house blueprint. If Heaven's Burial found out about this, they'd probably cough up blood from rage." Melancholy Smile couldn't help but stare at Shi Feng in excitement, her heart full of astonishment.
Previously, every major power in the Star Moon Kingdom — guilds and players alike — had been very optimistic about Heaven's Burial's Red Iron Town, believing it was only a matter of time before it surpassed Stone Forest Town. The reason was the existence of the auction house. Now that Zero Wing also had an auction house blueprint, if Heaven's Burial got word, the expressions on their upper echelons' faces would certainly be quite the sight.
Only now did Melancholy Smile suddenly understand why Shi Feng had said it was time for Heaven's Burial to wake up.
Once this auction house came into play, Red Iron Town overtaking Stone Forest Town would be nothing short of a pipe dream. After all, when it came to rare guild resources, Zero Wing held an absolutely dominant advantage — one that Heaven's Burial couldn't hope to match even at a full sprint.
Shi Feng simply smiled and began arranging for everyone to start constructing the advanced auction house.
Once the advanced auction house was built, forget about Red Iron Town's auction house — even the auction house in the Star Moon Royal City would probably be unable to compete.
However, constructing an advanced auction house was no simple task. The rare materials alone required were numerous, not to mention the other materials. The construction cost came to five thousand gold, and the building process was extremely complex, requiring certain secret runes to complete. That was why the blueprint contained a complete set of foundational secret runes for players to learn. This technique could only be passed on once, to a maximum of one hundred players at a time. For builders, this was an enormous opportunity — how much each player could absorb depended on their individual skill. Even mastering just half of it would significantly increase their chances of reaching Master rank in the future.
If someone could master everything, becoming a Master Builder would present no difficulty at all.
Operating on the principle of not wasting anything, he had instructed Melancholy Smile to summon one hundred people and have them sign contracts.
Although he didn't know how much these hundred people would manage to learn, it at least increased the probability of producing a Master Builder. Even if only one out of the hundred became a Master Builder as a result, that would still be a good thing.
Builders weren't particularly valued in the current Divine Realm, but as the Divine Realm developed and guild towns continued to multiply — especially with the emergence of guild cities — the status of builders would skyrocket. Master Builders, in particular, would hold a position within guilds no inferior to that of Master Blacksmiths, Master Alchemists, or Master Engineers.
After all, advanced construction blueprints were exceedingly rare, but a Master Builder could potentially draft advanced construction blueprints on their own.
Any advanced construction blueprint was worth far more than advanced blueprints from the three major professions — alchemy, forging, and engineering — because each advanced construction blueprint represented a building with a unique function.
The advanced auction house was a perfect example.
A normal auction house merely allowed players to consign items and purchase items within it, no different from an NPC auction house. But the advanced auction house was different — it offered two additional functions.
The first was a barter function.
This required no player intervention; the system would automatically complete barter trades, greatly convenienceing both free players and adventuring parties. After all, the combined population of free players and adventuring parties in the Divine Realm was enormous. There would always be someone lucky enough to obtain something that even major guilds couldn't get.
This alone was enough to leave normal auction houses and NPC auction houses far behind.