Reed leaned against the wall, cradling a tiny pipe in his claw, puffing out clouds of smoke and squinting his eyes as he watched the smoke form into shapes of mountains, birds, and various figures. The Papalarians looked up at the notice boards plastered with thick layers of paper, mostly commissions for manufacturing tasks, requests for joining craftsmen teams, and even technology support for factories—with the odd personal ad or marriage proposal mixed in—perhaps a prank from some Invoker.

Parker curiously read one of the listings aloud, "Humble man, Big Onion, aged thirty-eight, of Swordsman descent, with good conduct, grand appearance, and yet to be wed..."

Not far away, a Catfolk stood up from a chair, casting a disdainful glance at him, then hopped off with a flick of the tail and left.

"Alright," Fang Hong straightened his back amidst the circle of Dwarfs guarding him, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Alright?" The Dwarfs blinked their small eyes, looking at each other in disbelief. Especially the white-bearded Dwarf, who had used Fang Hong to challenge a rival but had not expected this young lad to actually fix the thing.

"It's fixed," Fang Hong affirmed, patting the Projection Crystal as if sizing up his own work.

Aquitez Greybeard darted over, his stout body leaning on the crystal, scrutinizing it from top to bottom. He gasped sharply, his eyes as wide as brass bells, trembling as he stammered, "This... this is..."

"Really fixed?" the other Dwarfs were even more incredulous, bombarding Fang Hong with questions.

Fang Hong was exasperated; if they didn't believe he could fix it, why did they let him try in the first place, to be a laughing stock?

Carefully turning back, Aquitez gave Fang Hong a weird look. Amidst everyone's gaze, he trotted to a cabinet, crouching his round body to grab two Magic Storage Crystals.

Returning, he inserted the crystals into the base of the projector. The slender Projection Crystal inside lit up faintly, glowing with a Zhan Lan hue. The Dwarfs cheered in unison, "By Rotas above, it's really fixed!"

Parker, hearing the noise, turned around and could only stick his tuft of hair over the counter by standing on tiptoes. The little fellow cried out anxiously, "What's going on, what's happened? Big Cat, lift me up!"

Reed watched the scene from the outside of the counter, merely tapping his pipe against the wall with his claw.

Aquitez caressed the Projection Crystal as if touching a lover, then turned back with a quiver in his voice, asking Fang Hong, "You, you have a new idea... no, a new configuration? Is this your invention?"

Fang Hong was quite surprised by the Dwarf Alchemist's remark.

Actually, repairing the crystal wasn't difficult for him at all; it was just that traditional approaches easily led to a dead end. But Hain Famm's ideas on the Type-One Crystal regarding the efficiency of magic power conversion were just the solution he needed.

He had simply applied these ideas to the repair of the projector, which was also a way to practice what he had learned. He hadn't expected that the old Dwarf would recognize it.

A new configuration—

Hearing Aquitez's words, the other Dwarfs gasped in shock. In this era of rapidly evolving Alchemy, new Magic Guided Configurations emerged continuously. Yet for Crystal Frameworks, the situation was quite the opposite; the Empire dominated the field, and the major Alchemy Workshops of Colin Ishurian had not designed any effective new configurations in years.

Even the Emerald Bird Workshop, which specialized in the design of Magic Guided Reactors and Crystal Frameworks, had done little more than make repeated repairs to the Emerald Bird Configuration over the years.

"Aquitez, what nonsense are you speaking of, a new configuration?" The white-bearded Dwarf was even more anxious; he and Aquitez were both Alchemists of the Elpaxin Artisan Association, and both had a hand in Crystal Frameworks. "What on earth is going on?"

But Aquitez ignored him, stood straight, adjusted his robe and beard, and then extended his right hand to Fang Hong, "Let's reintroduce ourselves, lad. I am Aquitez Greybeard, a Level Four Craftsman, Vice Chairman of the Elpaxin Artisan Association, head of the Crystal Division."

Fang Hong was taken aback, not expecting this short and pudgy, seemingly ordinary-looking old Dwarf to be the Vice Chairman of one of the three main departments of the Artisan Association.

The Artisan Association's Alchemists were divided into several departments according to their specialization, but only three of those departments were considered the most powerful—the traditional Magic Guided Department, the Flexible Construct Department which managed Combat Artisans, and the Crystal Division responsible for the design of Crystal Frameworks. These three were either the most populated, the strongest, or the most essential, consistently at the top of all departments.

If one had to rank them, the Magic Guided Department was the traditionally dominant one, simply due to its number of practitioners. However, the Flexible Construct Department, responsible for managing Combat Artisans, also had to yield to the Crystal Division—despite the former's strength, they were sparse in numbers, only slightly more populated than the fairly small Fairy Division that was known for only having a few Big and Small Cat People.

The Crystal Division was in charge of the most core aspect of Magic Guided Conductors—the Crystal Frameworks, which could be considered the foundation of the era's Alchemy. Countless Alchemists showcased their skills in this field, and if not for the high barriers to entry compared to other Magic Guided Conductor production, maybe the Magic Guided Department wouldn't always hold the top spot.

The former represented mass appeal, while the latter was a core domain.

In fact, except for a few regions, this was the structure of the Artisan Association and its members in any country of Eteliria.

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