There would be many obstacles in his path to increase the Astral Artisans' reputation amongst several races.

It was an ambitious plan and Shane was fully aware of the difficulties. However, even if it wouldn't work out, he was sure that the ballistae Dyr and Han could produce would always stay in demand.

Had it not been the case, they wouldn't have been purchased for 4,000 gold coins within 5 minutes after he had exhibited them in his store!

Furthermore, Shane had yet to increase the number of races that were able to access his shop, because currently there were only four races that could purchase something within his shop!

Once Dyr and Han would be proficient enough to create an aesthetic-looking ballista as opposed to their first try that looked crude and hideous, Shane would enlarge his shop!

It was unknown if Dyr could share this blueprint with others because it was bound to him and Shane wanted to test if duplicating the blueprint was possible!

This was something they could do with a blueprint that hadn't been learned by someone which would mean that the blueprints hadn't vanished, or special blueprints like the unique ballistae.

They had to be learned manually and Shane wanted to search for an occupation that could perfectly duplicate this blueprint.

Dyr, or Maya could test this out, but there might be tiny flaws in the duplication process that would only change further, the more often such a blueprint was duplicated.

Furthermore, the occupations Shane was searching for were even able to visualize the blueprint they had drawn.

This meant that one could also take a look at the design and structure of the individual parts with which one might have problems.

Shane couldn't remember the name of the occupation he was looking for, because it was something he had heard only once when he was young.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a proper understanding of what his aunts and uncles had been talking about, otherwise, he would have remembered the name of the occupation he was looking for.

However, Shane knew that there was no need for this occupation to be of high quality and he would already be fine with an occupation that could copy blueprints without mistakes, even if it was just at the [Bronze] quality!

As such, Talia and the others, who heard how important it was to find such an occupation to mass-produce the unique ballistae that were worth a huge fortune, began to search for all kinds of clues when they had some spare time!

Meanwhile, Shane sent a price list and the number of goods he needed to Igra's resources department in order to request a trading agreement.

However, as Aunt Kia had predicted, his application was rejected.

But that was not as bad as Shane had thought it would be, because he was able to use the Elus-race to the fullest capabilities.

It felt weird to Shane that his own government had rejected him while the Elus-race supported him to a certain extent.

They, at least, told him that it was possible to use the same price list as quoted in the trading agreement the Elus race had with the human race!

Shane found it to be pretty useful and immediately got in touch with Firug, the Elementals merchant that was assigned to him. He informed Firug that his manager would now henceforth order the required goods per month or set up a monthly trading.

This made everything much easier for Shane, who wanted to leave Igra to travel back to Masua, because its mana density was just too beneficial for the Hidden Paradise.

At the same time, he could properly refine his body without being required to purchase mana stones, which decreased the fortune he had to pay in order to attain a perfect physique by almost three-quarters!

Shane was glad about the benefits he received from the Elus race, but he could also tell that the Old Emperor was called 'The wisest Elemental' for a good reason.

He was lured by them and was now tightly held in the Elus-race's grasp!

It was an undeniable fact that he was in their debt and he had to pay it back, by all means. Though he knew that his relationship with the Elus-race might not be directly affected, if he failed to pay back, it would show the Elementals that he didn't value their goodwill!

It would be annoying and Shane could tell that he wanted to prevent that from happening at all costs. He would never know when he might need the Elus-race again, while the same could apply for the other side as well.

It was possible that they might require his help too as it had already happened once when he had dominated the strongest, Low Expert stage Elementals with his strength to change their mindset about simple combat styles!

However, before he could procure elemental crystals, Shane had to become much stronger. His current strength was not enough to conquer an Elemental crystal cave alone, and, that was if his plan worked properly.

As such, he spent the next four months on Masua to focus on his cultivation and body refining.

Shane was not even required to absorb mana actively which allowed him to purify his mana right off the bat.

At the same time, it helped him in focusing on the refinement process of his perfect Apprentice physique!

Because of that, he was able to increase his strength manifold and Shane was sure that nobody so far had been able to increase their strength as he did.

Throughout the four months that had passed, he was forced to purchase nutrition solutions worth several thousand gold coins, but that was nothing in comparison to the benefits he received.

He attained a perfect Apprentice physique and received one Supreme ticket as a reward for this great achievement.

However, Shane was also aware that the number of Supreme tickets he had was too few to properly use, thus, they were worth nothing to him. For now, at least!

Other than refining his physique for more than 10 hours a day, Shane purified his mana for several hours a day.

This allowed him to reach a mana purity of 60%, and he was able to break into the 10th Expert stage!

Four months was a long time and almost everyone he knew had already reached a mana purity of 60% and attained a flawed physique at the 10th Expert stage. Though nobody could liquefy their mana with such a low mana purity.

One was eligible to liquefy one's mana with a purity of 60%, but nobody was doing so because the augmentation one would receive was negligible.

Even the closest circle within the Astral Artisans that consisted of Talia and the rest had already reached a mana purity of 60%, but they had yet to start a mission.

They were afraid that it would be dangerous and Shane could fully understand their worry because it was certainly risky to attempt a system mission!

One shouldn't take missions lightly and based on what Shane had perceived so far, Talia, the others, and most Artisans they had hired were not proficient in fighting and incapable of defeating beasts at their rank!

Shane had already been proud of his own achievements and the fact that he was able to store an extremely large amount of mana within the Hidden Paradise.

The stored amount of mana within the planet's core was huge, to put it simply and Shane was confident that he would be able to supply the Hidden Paradise with its current demand for several centuries!

That was great for him and Talia, with whom he planned everything around his small world.

However, they had yet to enlarge the Hidden Paradise in size and one could tell that it was necessary to do that as soon as possible!

From the initial 8 members of the Astral Artisan hall, their number had increased to 28 during the last four months.

There were two students with platinum quality occupations, 17 students with gold quality occupations, and one young youth that had not been accepted into any academy.

However, this youth's silver occupation made everything Shane and the others were hoping for possible!

His occupation was called Duplicato, and one could already tell from its name what exactly the main purpose of this occupation was; to duplicate things!

The main skill of the [Duplicato] occupation required huge amounts of mana, but one was able to duplicate items easily.

There was no restriction to what item one wanted to duplicate, but the quality and grade of the duplicated item would increase the required amount of mana to activate the duplication skill!

This was interesting but not further important for Shane and the others because the only items they wanted to have duplicated were rare blueprints.

In the end, the amount of mana required to duplicate those blueprints was enormous and worth more than three dozen years which the Hidden Paradise could sustain itself with and everything within!

However, it was definitely worth the effort and Shane began to wonder about how exactly Talia had found such a treasure!

He could tell that this occupation was extremely powerful and rare. As such, it was weird for Talia to find someone like this within four months.

Shane had already estimated that they would need a few years to find only one person who could duplicate blueprints. However, he was shocked to figure out that the duplication skill could only be used four times a year!

This was not really a major problem, because they were still able to increase the number of the unique ballistae blueprint to a total of 5!

With all 28 members of his Astral Artisan hall, Shane was confident in earning lots of funds in the future!

In order to motivate everyone, Talia shared how much their Artisan hall had earned during the last four months, which shocked most Artisans greatly.

182,440 gold coins!

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