The Yangtze River Delta was in chaos, and for a newly-emerging force like the Silver Hand, which didn't align with any side, survival was tough.
The weaker ones were either wiped out or couldn't withstand the pressure and had to submit to one of the powers.
DuPont sighed, "With this batch of equipment and weapons, not only can the Mercenary Corps improve their combat effectiveness by one or two notches, but we can also use this to attract more Awakeners to join us."
Shay glanced at the weapons in the hands of the Black Dog Knights. Most were made of Transcendent Minerals. They were fairly durable but far from sharp enough.
"Is rune weaponry scarce in the Yangtze River Delta? Does it mean that the rune technology here is very backward?"
"Not exactly," DuPont shook his head. "It's just that rune equipment here is controlled by major forces, and only occasionally will one or two pieces appear on the Black Market."
A dozen trucks followed behind, loaded with the majority of the goods being transported.
The team from Mali Country and some Air Soldiers remained on the Floating Airship, which activated its runes and turned invisible.
After a brief conversation, Shay gained a deeper understanding of the Yangtze River Delta.
He frowned, "The Octagonal Alliance is just an alliance of eight small sanctuaries. From what you're saying, it seems like they all have quite a few rune equipments?"
"The Octagonal Alliance certainly can't produce rune equipment, but this alliance is actually acting as pawns for the large sanctuaries like Dragon River City. Many powers in the Yangtze River Delta have more or less ties with several large sanctuaries. If it weren't for their tacit consent, there wouldn't be so many chaotic battles between the medium and small-sized sanctuaries."
DuPont chuckled, "But now, with the supplies you've delivered, digging tunnels... recruiting troops and buying horses isn't going to be difficult."
Upon arrival at their base, the Black Dog Knights were the first to receive their own rune equipment.
Unparalleled sharpness, unique effects, skills included... These grade C rune equipments nearly blinded them.
A few followers, aside from DuPont, stayed behind at the base.
The other two had secretly infiltrated some of the larger sanctuaries.
"And Greta?" asked Shay.
"He," DuPont looked up at the ceiling, "has reached Great Perfection and is touching that bottleneck, starting his breakthrough."
Shay's mouth slightly opened.
As followers, some had already broken through to Transcendence, some were on their way, yet he was still only eleventh layer in strength.
Even among followers, strength determined status. He was among the early ones contracted by the Lord, but now he found himself falling behind. Shay suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
Tang Yu opened his eyes, concluding the day's Cultivation.
From the contract information, he saw messages from Shay, DuPont, and others, confirming the successful delivery of supplies.
Given the environment of the Yangtze River Delta, direct trade was not suitable, yet the Silver Hand could use it to rapidly expand. Similarly, it could bring him a vast amount of minerals and Source Crystals. It was said that Shay and others had already scoped out a Source Crystal Mine, ready to implement the quickest way to wealth.
"I also wish to rob, but unfortunately, I can't bring myself to do it."
Tang Yu thought of the large sanctuaries around him, each wealthy beyond imagination, capable of handing out millions of Source Crystals without issue.
However, being a good youngster under the Red Flag, he had a bottom line. Apart from declared enemies, he was unwilling to attack others without cause.
Moreover, he got along quite well with the nearby sanctuaries.
"Forget it, let's consider it sustainable development. Anyway, the rune equipment produced by Green Shadow has already dominated most of the rune equipment market in Tiannan. The next goal is to take over the national market and promote the equipment grading standards I've set to the whole world."
He vaguely remembered a saying.
First-class enterprises set standards, second-class enterprises build brands, and third-class enterprises make products.
Not only setting standards for rune equipment, but Tang Yu also planned to establish standards for Potions, professions, Demonized Beast naming...
He thought too much for a moment. The road still had to be taken step by step.
The sky outside the window started to brighten.
Changing into a set of casual clothes, Tang Yu pushed open the door of the Cultivation Room.
He hadn't tasted Crystal Jade Rice for several days, and it seemed even his stomach was protesting with growls. Every morning when he met Nancy, he always saw her earnest eyes, asking 'when will we eat delicious rice again'.
Those unaware would think that Nancy was living a miserable life, unable to afford even white rice.
"However, the truth is not much different from not being able to afford food at all."
After a quick breakfast, he went to inspect the growth of the Source Plant in the Crystal Jade Rice plantation.
The first crop would take about a month to mature, not too slow, but Tang Yu was somewhat impatient.
he had formulated a strategic plan to take over Daxia Country with rune equipment.
In regions with better order, they could follow the Jing City model, show some muscle, then cooperate with local forces to minimize resistance and unnecessary trouble.
In chaotic regions, like the Yangtze River Delta, they could consider developing Direct Lineage forces, or funding one side to reap corresponding materials—limited manpower in the Territory meant they couldn't cover every region.
In areas greatly threatened by Demonized Beasts, they could afford to lower the sales price of the equipment—after all, he was someone who cared for all of humanity.
For districts set as Sub-territories, which were key areas, they would follow a model similar to Green Shadow, set up direct sale stores, selling equipment in tiers to members or through other formats, and establish Martial Arts Halls. While earning Source Crystals, they would select promising talents to nurture.
"However, I hadn't anticipated the availability of Floating Airships for transportation. We had stockpiled a lot of rune equipment which suddenly ran out. With the current production speed of the Equipment Department, how long will it take to distribute rune equipment across the whole Daxia Country?"
Despite orders to expand production lines, workers, especially those in the rune workshops, were extremely scarce.
With the current population in the Territory, it was difficult to find enough talent with rune aptitude—after all, most new survivors had undergone rune talent assessment, and it was rare for talents to be missed.
"Once the Source Power train's renovation is complete, even if we were to lure survivors from the various sanctuaries, how many could we actually lure? To then sift through them for talents with sufficient aptitude would be even harder... Wouldn't it be better to covertly select qualified talents at the major sanctuaries and then bring those with potential back to Green Shadow? After all, rune experts were different from conventional talents, and other sanctuaries wouldn't guard them as strictly."
Tang Yu found this feasible.
Many survivors with rune talents were still living a miserable life of hunger, so this was saving their bleak existence and guiding them in a new direction.
After some contemplation, the general direction of development had taken shape in his mind.
The first step was the renovation of the Source Power train.