Chapter 79: Settling into the Artisans’ Association |
As soon as Mario stepped through the door, his gaze was instantly drawn to the tall, upright man standing by the window.
O’Brien turned at the sound. Sunlight traced a soft halo behind him, casting a golden sheen over his brown hair streaked with a few strands of silver.
His gray-blue eyes resembled the calm deep sea after a storm—quiet and profound.
A neatly trimmed short beard rested on his weathered face, and though he wore simple, unadorned clothing, it could not conceal his steady and composed bearing.
Simply standing there, he naturally exuded the presence of a Grandmaster that commanded admiration.
“No matter.”
O’Brien’s voice was calm, without the slightest hint of displeasure from the wait.
The two sat facing each other, while Dean, Molly, and Fuke quietly remained seated in the corner, listening to their conversation.
“I wonder what brings Master Ryan to our Artisans’ Association? Is there anything you require us to do?”
“I want to join the Artisans’ Association.”
O’Brien remained as direct as ever.
“W-what?”
Mario could hardly believe his ears. Molly and Fuke also revealed expressions of disbelief.
“Y-you just said… you want to join the Artisans’ Association?”
His voice trembled as he repeated the question, afraid he had misheard.
“Yes.”
At O’Brien’s confirmation, a surge of overwhelming joy rushed into Mario’s heart—but it was immediately followed by deeper suspicion and a strong sense of unreality.
“My apologies, Master Ryan, please forgive my boldness… I truly don’t understand. With your status and strength, why would you choose to join an organization like ours, composed mainly of low-tier professionals and commoners?”
Mario suppressed his emotions and asked slowly. He simply did not believe in such a windfall falling from the sky.
O’Brien looked at him with frank eyes. “To conduct an experiment.”
“An experiment?” Mario grew even more confused.
“I intend to establish within the association an academy for cultivating technical talents. To attempt to train various skilled professionals, especially Runemasters and Forgemasters.”
A thick stack of documents appeared in O’Brien’s hand and was directly handed to Mario.
These were materials he had compiled based on information given by Kyle, adjusted and revised according to the current situation.
Mario was startled by O’Brien’s action of producing items out of thin air.
A spatial storage item?!
It seemed this man’s background was even greater than he had imagined. Such treasures were extremely rare—he had only heard of them, never seen one.
He carefully accepted the documents. After merely glancing at the beginning, he broke out in a cold sweat.
“M-Master Ryan, doing this will likely provoke resistance from all nobles, merchants, and even other masters!”
The inheritance of knowledge and craftsmanship had always been the core interests of major forces, and master-apprentice transmission was especially secretive.
But this proposal essentially meant making most knowledge and skills public! That would immediately trigger intense conflict.
Their small Artisans’ Association could not withstand such a storm.
In the corner, Molly and Fuke could not see the contents of the document, but from the president’s reaction, they could tell it was something extraordinary. They grew even more nervous, almost holding their breath.
“I am aware of that. What you saw in the introduction is my ultimate goal, but it does not mean it will be achieved all at once.”
O’Brien flipped a page of the document in front of Mario and pointed at its contents.
“The first step is to form a teaching team within the association under my personal name. All recruited students will nominally be my students—just on a larger scale.”
“Those with outstanding performance may become my registered disciples; those with both talent and character, I will not hesitate to accept as personal disciples.”
“You only need to announce externally that this is my personal recruitment of disciples. As for any criticism or trouble that arises, let them come to me.”
O’Brien decisively took full responsibility.
“What you need to do is provide me with enough students.”
Mario was left speechless by the series of firm declarations. His mind almost stopped working.
Was this man planning to take on everyone alone?!
He suspected he hadn’t woken up—or had fallen into an illusion. He pinched his thigh hard.
The sharp pain nearly made him cry out, but he forcibly held it back.
“Phew…”
Mario let out a long breath, calming himself. After carefully reviewing the document again, he said:
“Master Ryan, with your reputation, if you were to reveal even the slightest intention of taking disciples, countless people would come knocking…”
O’Brien interrupted him.
“I only accept commoners.”
Mario froze again, mouth agape, unable to respond.
“The students I accept must be selected from commoners. That is the bottom line and also the original purpose of establishing this academy.”
“If I release news of accepting disciples, those who come will not be commoners, but the descendants of nobles and merchants. That would go against my intentions.”
“But commoners’ children cannot afford—”
“I will not charge tuition. Any commoner’s child may come to study. As long as they achieve results, I will even provide scholarships. All scholarship and operational funding will be borne by me.”
Mario felt that either he had gone mad, or the Master Ryan before him had.
He had never heard of such a thing—never even imagined it. The man before him seemed even more radiant than a holy paladin!
The air seemed to fall into silence.
Seeing that Mario remained silent for a long time, O’Brien frowned slightly.
“Are there any other concerns or difficulties?”
Mario snapped out of his shock, a trace of bitterness appearing on his face as he voiced the greatest long-standing problem of the Artisans’ Association:
“Those nobles and merchants whose interests are harmed may not dare act against you openly, but they will very likely harass, threaten, or even harm those commoner students and their families in secret…”
This had always been a problem the Artisans’ Association faced. Even in traditional master-apprentice transmission, they would encounter interference from time to time.
A large part of the reason Adrian was assassinated was because he had trained many talents.
It could be said to be the association’s greatest pain.
O’Brien’s gaze turned cold. An invisible pressure spread naturally from him, as if lowering the temperature in the room. He said in a deep voice:
“If anyone obstructs the normal transmission of the Artisans’ Association in the future, or threatens the safety of students, no matter who stands behind them, you only need to inform me. I will personally go and ‘have a talk’ with them.”
Although O’Brien would not kill lightly, he could certainly deal harshly with scum.
Moreover, the major forces in Coral Thorn City had likely already been frightened out of their wits by Kyle.
The Shadow Guild had been completely wiped out, and as long as the others still had sense, they would not do something as foolish as assassination again.
Even so, he had nothing to fear.