White River City, inside the Candlelight Trading Company's Forging Room.
At that moment, Melancholy Smile was busy crafting Beginner Reinforced Armor Plates.
With so many players flooding White River City, the three of them couldn't possibly keep up with demand for the Beginner Reinforced Armor Plates — if they hadn't stockpiled a massive quantity earlier, they'd have been swamped long ago.
"Sister Smile, two people came to the first floor. They say they want to discuss a cooperation."
"Got it. Same as the others — have them wait in the reception room. I'll go when I'm done."
"But they said it's the guild leader of One Smile City."
"The guild leader of One Smile City?"
Melancholy Smile couldn't help but stop what she was doing.
One Smile City was one of the most powerful guilds in White River City, far beyond what other major guilds could compare with. Their financial resources and membership numbers were plain for all to see.
As a life-skill guild, their development path was completely different from combat guilds, with virtually no overlap between the two.
But life-skill guilds lacked combat ability, and crafting certain items required rare materials that mostly came from dungeons. For that reason, life-skill guilds generally cooperated with combat guilds.
Combat guilds supplied rare materials; life-skill guilds offered discounts and priority access to certain items for their partner guilds.
"Hahaha, right on time." Melancholy Smile gave her orders. "I'll head down now."
With that, she tidied up the materials on her worktable and headed downstairs.
In the reception room on the first floor, representatives from many of White River City's major guilds had gathered to discuss cooperation. But the moment a man and a woman walked in, the entire atmosphere in the room grew heavy.
Everyone stared intently at the pair. In particular, the ethereal beauty who strode in — her grace like that of a secluded orchid — was virtually known to every major guild in White River City.
This woman was none other than You Lan, the White River City branch leader of One Smile City.
"Candlelight Trading Company really knows how to host guests, doesn't it? Making us wait here alongside all the other guilds." Feng Xuanyang glanced around the reception room and frowned slightly, clearly displeased with Candlelight's arrangements.
But You Lan said nothing about it. She simply sat down quietly to wait.
One Smile City may have been a powerful guild with deep pockets, but Candlelight Trading Company was no pushover either — to have secured two prime plots of land in White River City in such a short time, the forces backing them had to be substantial.
Before long, Melancholy Smile walked into the reception room, and the atmosphere immediately lightened. Everyone rose to their feet to greet her, beaming with smiles.
"Please, everyone sit down." Melancholy Smile surveyed the room and spoke.
Everyone present was a top-tier figure in White River City. Melancholy Smile had never imagined she would one day become the most sought-after person in the city. Before all this, she'd been nothing more than a blacksmith apprentice routinely kicked out by major guilds, just trying to earn a living through her craft.
These senior members of the major guilds were once people she could only look up to.
And now they were all greeting her with bright smiles — a world entirely different from her former life.