The next move was to go shopping! The easiest and most painful for Ian. He knew what he was looking for, and his Faction, whose forte was the metalworking industry, could provide almost anything. Equipment for mixing alchemical solutions on a scale, refiners, cauldrons, furnaces, etc.
Although he had the cash on hand, 90% of the reserves would be gone, and there were other charges, from workers to some custom-ordered capital goods. Thus, buying for the Reds, the discounted option was chosen, with 12 installments, so the points that before would have added up to 500 of contribution, went down to 250.
In the Factions, one way to earn contribution points was by buying from fellow members, but if you wanted better payment terms and prices, the value would decrease according to the advantages received.
In the end, the debt increased by 25,000 C.
After overseeing the installation of the devices, Ian met with the, now reserved, Secretary-Guide and left for the southern part of Gnel. Shortyty was still upset with his boss, the Gnomes rarely displayed attitudes like that at the Reds membership meeting.
Noticing the tense atmosphere, Ian couldn't help but shake his head.
"Shortyty, where I come from, my performance, although unconventional, would be admired when exposed to others. So, I apologize for that; our cultures are different. However, I wouldn't change anything if I had the opportunity to go back in time. That requirement is of utmost importance for the development of F11 and my clan. You will eventually understand over the next few months, and if smart, you'll take the knowledge learned here. As for the girl you had eye on, she will surely grant you a chance for at least one date, given our progress in the near future."
Shortyty mumbled inaudible words but softened his expression and eventually became more communicative. He was young, and beauty still moved him, no matter how talented he was. Although our MC (main character) had a physical age of almost 22, the reality was that his soul was over 1000 years old. It is not possible to compare the two.
The Guilds of Crafts had some similarities to the Factions, such as the contribution system, hierarchy, and organization. What set them apart was that while the Factions were clubs of entrepreneurs aiming for a monopoly or oligopoly for their members, the Guilds functioned more like powerful workers' unions, with their own educational and regulatory structures. The former was for companies, the latter for employees. While the Factions fought among themselves, the Guilds would usually not pay much attention to each other, and when they did, it was mostly in support.
Not every profession had a syndicate and not every syndicate could be considered a Guild. The Guilds numbered four and they covered 3-5 different professions, they were: The Flowers, with medicine, alchemy, botany; Strong Hammer, with metallurgy, matrices, mechanisms; Rosary, with painting, sculpture, illusion, mime, hypnosis; Provident Flame, with memory, calculation, fate. The first two were considered the physical and most popular, the last one the darling of the Royals, and the penultimate one the most eccentric and closed.
The headquarters of Strong Hammer, the duo's course, consisted of five city blocks with constructions interconnected by suspension bridges that spanned the streets. The smallest was five stories high and the largest 12, more than 20 buildings in all.
Hordes of gnomes walked hurriedly with briefcases and tools, some wearing two-pointed hats, others wearing single-pointed ones, but most of them had little hammer prints in hat. As you observed, gnomes placed great emphasis on their head coverings, from the color, stamp, or number of tips ends to the runes—they all held important social meanings.
The color reveals the faction to which an individual was affiliated, the mark symbolizes the guild, and the runes indicated the level of authority. As for the tips, they represented the number of groups the individual belonged to. In the case that the citizen participated in 1 group, the correct is a hat with one tip, if it is a Faction, it will have the color of that, in the case of the Guild, black color and its official mark. If they belonged to two groups, their hat would combine the faction color and the guild mark. And three black tips were for Royalty, signifying both totality and neutrality.
The two of them went straight to the most magnificent tower, the Administrative Center, and requested to speak with the high-ranking contact from the Reds. Naturally, they presented an official document with the Faction's request. In the time it took to boil five teapots, a particularly short and young Gnome, guided them to the sixth floor, at the thirteenth door on the right corridor.
"You must be the representatives of F11, correct?" Asked an old gnome with a beard tied up in a bun, just like his hair, both as white as snow.
"Yes, and the senior, Grandmaster Kutty, of the Reds?" Dear reader, get used to the names of the Gnomes. They are... Exotic.
"Uhum, hurry up and show me what you have. I am very curious to see what special things you have that would allow a newcomer to contact me, moreover, without charging contribution points." The Grandmaster's eyes, two deep emeralds, focused on Ian, releasing the pressure of a Fantasy Realm.
"Direct and curious. Really, looks like I'll get along better with you Guilds guys ehehe." Spoken excitedly Ian, to the surprise of Shortyty and Kutty. The former thought that his boss would put on a show of mischief like last time, and the latter, for the other totally ignoring the effects of the difference in Realms, since he didn't even have the full Consolidated Realm.
"Grand Master, please review these draft project sketches and let me know what you think..." Ian quickly took out some scribbled papers filled with details, annotations, descriptions, and questions. At first, the elder gnome was mildly interested, but as he read and listened to the explanations, his enthusiasm grew.
"Very audacious and interesting, yes, yes I think it's possible, but if we put a transmission array here, adapt the exhaust mechanism... I need a team from the other sectors... Psh, come back in two days and I'll have it, same time as today, you can go back to your residences for now!" Kutty shooed them out the door and hurried to the stairs, where he went up, while Ian and Shortyty went down.
"Boss, about your behavior today..."
"As I mentioned before, I adapt to the situation. Without the need, I can be friendly and amiable. I'm not a monstrous seven-headed creature, my little one." Shortyty nodded and seemed embarrassed, realizing that he had misjudged his master.
Over the next two days, Ian didn't have much to attend to regarding F11, so he trained, relaxed, and read the legacies, whose progress had been stagnant since they officially moved to Gnel. At the end of the period, he finally broke through to Muscle Strengthening, much to Etri's delight. To celebrate, she took him for... an extra TRAINING session!
Back in Kutty's office, four other elderly gnomes were present, two of them wearing two-pointed red hats, and the other two wearing single-pointed black ones.
"They finally arrived, it was about time!"
"These young people nowadays only know how to procrastinate!"
"Humpf, in my golden age, woe is me if I wasn't a day early!"
...
Ian and Shortyty's jaw dropped, and both exchanged looks of perplexity; they were up to two hours early, but the masters treating them as irresponsible. After all, it was Kutty who chose the meeting time, and he was participating in the sermons as if had forgotten his own words from two days ago.
"Anyway, let's forget about that. Now that the junior has arrived, we can begin. First, these four are my closest friends: Stump, Jujub, Gerto, and Caramel. The first two are Grand Masters in Matrices and Mechanisms, respectively, and the latter two are Masters in Matrices and Mechanisms."
"Ian Haller, from F11, thanks all of you for your attention!"
"At least he seems polite!"
"The bare minimum!"
"Humpf, in my golden days, I wouldn't dare show up without bringing a gift for each of my superiors for my shortcomings."
...
After the lively group of seniors vented their complaints and with Ian providing a few well-crafted excuses, they began presenting their ideas while jotting down notes and making markings on the projects spread across the table.
"As you can see, with these two-line connection matrices, the rotational mechanisms can increase energy efficiency, saving many crystals throughout the year." Kutty said, officially starting the meeting.
"What if we add teeth to the circular mechanisms and connect them directly, without intermediate matrices?" Ian interjected, thinking of Earth's gear systems.
"In my golden days, I wouldn't dare interrupt the conversation... Wait a minute! What the brat said makes sense!"
"But without the matrices, the energy won't be distributed to all these components..."
"Don't be narrow-minded, Caramel. It's enough for the matrice to move the first element, which will end up pushing the second, third... It saves materials, energy, and assembly time."
"However, the metal will wear out very quickly..."
"Elders, in my homeland, these items are called gears, and the wear problem can be largely mitigated by using specific oils..."
They all chatted animatedly, without realizing it, accepting Ian as an equal. By the end of the day, they were playing with each other and finished their projects.
The six of them registered a shared patent with the ideas and technologies, so that they could use the innovations in other projects without the permission of the parties involved.
"When will the seniors get an estimated budget for the equipment?" Ian asked with concern when realized that he might have gone a little too far and planned too many machines, anticipating future developments.
"Ian, first of all, get rid of this false modesty and stop calling us "senior this, senior that", we are the same, the first name is enough! As for the costs, you've inspired these old folks and broadened our horizons with your inventions. We'll cover everything!"
"That's right!"
"In my golden days, I wouldn't dare refuse the goodwill of good friends!"
...
Again perplexed, the pair can only laugh and accept the situation. Geniuses in their Daos, but contradictory and comic in their behavior.
Finally, the foundation was consolidated, now all that remained was to hire some workers and get down to business!