The news spread like wildfire that the Candelabrum Trading Company was recruiting life-skill players in large numbers.
It didn't just circulate throughout White River City — the entire Star Moon Kingdom was buzzing with it, and the official forums were in an uproar.
"This can't be real, right? The Candelabrum Trading Company is recruiting without any real requirements?"
"I heard they're looking to hire a ton of people this time. I wonder if someone like me, an intermediate apprentice, has a chance."
"I remember when the Heaven's Burial Guild recruited life-skill players a while back, they didn't even have a two-star shop yet, and the minimum requirement was advanced apprentice rank with a crafting success rate of at least 65%. I'd guess the Candelabrum Trading Company's standards are even higher."
Life-skill players were growing increasingly important day by day, but the gap between them was enormous. Getting ahead required resources that individual players simply couldn't provide on their own. The more important the class, the more resources it demanded — and the further you progressed, the rarer and costlier those resources became.
Without joining a guild, it was nearly impossible to grow.
As time passed, thousands of life-skill players had already lined up in front of the Candelabrum Trading Company's entrance, with more streaming in by the minute.
Melancholy Smile had arranged for people to evaluate each life-skill player one by one.
The evaluation was straightforward: based on each player's skill level, they would craft a corresponding item, and anything above a 60% success rate would pass.
"What the hell is the Zero Wing Guild trying to do?" When the major guilds received this news, their first reaction was that Zero Wing had gone mad.
Sure, life-skill players were important, but cultivating an outstanding one required an enormous investment. In the early stages, they were money-losing liabilities, which was why guilds usually set high recruitment standards — otherwise, the guild itself couldn't absorb the costs.
But now Zero Wing was taking everyone regardless of skill level, and they'd even lowered the evaluation difficulty significantly. In the past, Zero Wing required at least a 70% success rate just to get in.
In barely half an hour, the Zero Wing Guild had already recruited over 30 life-skill players. Among them, fewer than 7 were advanced apprentices — the rest were all below that rank. The players still in line grew anxious, worried that the Candelabrum Trading Company would stop accepting people before it was their turn.
But as one player after another passed the evaluation, the number quickly surpassed a hundred — and the Candelabrum Trading Company showed no signs of stopping…
The major guilds' spies all rushed to report back to their respective guilds.
"They've already hired over a hundred apprentices in that short a time? Have the higher-ups at Zero Wing completely lost their minds?"
"Could it really be that a three-star shop is that powerful?"
The major guilds were stunned when they got the news. Usually, even if they had an extra one-star shop, they'd recruit a maximum of forty people. More than that and, setting aside the lack of workshop space, raw materials became the biggest bottleneck.
Now the Candelabrum Trading Company had only just upgraded to a three-star establishment, gaining two extra floors. By all logic, two hundred recruits should have been the absolute ceiling.
"Sister Melancholy, shouldn't we raise the evaluation difficulty a bit? If this keeps going, the extra workshops will be full before we know it. If we miss out on some talented newcomers later, it'll be such a shame." Shuang Keke looked at the queue of several thousand still stretching out the front gate and couldn't help but voice her concern.
"Don't worry — I'm actually worried there won't be enough of them," Melancholy Smile said with a bitter smile.
"Worried about not having enough? How is that possible? There are thousands of players lined up right now. Even at just a 60% success rate, at least four or five hundred should pass. How could we possibly run short?" Shuang Keke was no longer a clueless newbie. She knew full well what proportion of life-skill players could achieve a 60% success rate. They might be rare, but with a pool this large, the number who'd pass would still be staggering.
Four or five hundred life-skill players was no small number. Even a typical second-rate guild couldn't support that many.
And the Candelabrum Trading Company's life-skill workforce had been maxed out long ago.