Child of Destiny

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Shin shook his head as he walked toward the main headquarters of the Hand of Midas.

It was one of the tallest buildings in the entire city, standing at twenty floors.

Most establishments throughout the Golden City were either six- or seven-star facilities, with only a handful reaching eight stars. Even those were generally limited to seven or ten floors.

Compared to the Hand of Midas Headquarters, however, none of them could truly compare.

After all, it was one of the three Twelve-Star Establishments in the entire city, alongside the Battle Arena and the Teleportation Hall.

There had originally been four. The fourth had been the Mayor’s Residence.

However, Shiella had eventually found it troublesome to constantly travel between the residence and her office within the Hand of Midas.

So, she simply dismantled the residence and replaced it with another commercial establishment.

Shin could only shake his head when he remembered that decision. ’Big Sister really does put making money above everything else.’

The moment he stepped inside the headquarters, he was immediately greeted by an extraordinarily busy lobby.

The entire first floor was dedicated to accepting and issuing commissions.

Numerous reception counters were scattered throughout the spacious hall, with players constantly coming and going as they submitted requests, asked for information, or commissioned the guild’s craftsmen to produce specific items and equipment.

One entire wall was also dedicated to free commissions.

These were requests posted directly by the guild’s production players for rare or specialized materials they needed for their current projects.

Rather than paying someone to gather them, they could simply post the requirements and allow other players to accept the commissions.

It was a simple system, yet judging from the number of requests already being claimed, it was clearly working exceptionally well.

Shin glanced around for a moment before heading toward the stairs.

The second through fourth floors were dedicated entirely to products produced by the Hand of Midas.

Three entire floors, each spanning more than two hundred square meters, were filled with the guild’s signature products.

The second floor was dedicated to weapons and equipment produced by the guild’s blacksmiths.

Rows upon rows of weapons, armor, accessories, and other equipment filled the shelves. There were even specialized tools and various hidden weapons available for players who knew what to look for.

The third floor belonged to the guild’s alchemists and apothecaries.

Shelves were packed with potions and pills of countless varieties, ranging from ordinary consumables to specialized products designed for particular situations.

There were buff potions, invisibility concoctions, sticky substances, recovery medicines, and countless other strange products that Shin couldn’t even immediately identify.

Some of them were unique creations developed by the Hand of Midas’ own production specialists, making them products that could not easily be found anywhere else.

The fourth floor, meanwhile, was dedicated to the inventions of the guild’s engineers.

Unlike the previous two floors, this place was filled with all kinds of mechanical and magical gadgets.

There were firearms, gliders, climbing equipment, portable turrets, miniature mechanical robots, and even specialized scouting tools designed to help players explore dangerous or difficult terrain.

Some of the mechanical devices were small enough to fit into a player’s hand, while others were large enough to require several players to operate.

Shin slowly looked around the floor and couldn’t help but smile beneath his mask.

This wasn’t merely a trading firm anymore.

The Hand of Midas had effectively become a massive production empire.

And this was only the part of the organization that they openly showed to ordinary players.

The next three floors were dedicated to the auction auditorium, where the Hand of Midas conducted their own auctions of special products and unique treasures separate from the ones they conducted with their partnered Auction Houses outside.

This auction auditorium was only available for VIPs or partnered guilds and organizations that the Hand of Midas had, particularly the ones who joined their own Chamber of Commerce—known as the Midas Chamber of Commerce.

The eighth floor was a special lobby for VIPs as well, while the ninth floor was a consultation lobby meant for the guild’s architects, who specialized in building special establishments or even a town or a city itself.

The next five floors were where the blacksmith workshops, alchemy rooms, and the engineering testing laboratories were located.

The fifteenth to eighteenth floors were where the main guild administration was located, while the last two floors were where the extremely rare and special materials, which were too important to store in their warehouse, were located.

Shin was extremely familiar with the infrastructure of the headquarters since he had already heard about it from the others when they visited as well.

Not long after, Shin finally reached the eighteenth floor, where Shiella’s office was located.

The next three floors were dedicated to the auction auditoriums.

The Hand of Midas used these floors to conduct its own auctions, where it sold special products and unique treasures separately from the auctions it held through its partnered Auction Houses throughout the game.

Unlike the public auctions, however, these auditoriums were not open to ordinary players.

Access was restricted to VIPs, partnered guilds, and organizations that maintained close business relationships with the Hand of Midas—particularly those that had joined its own Chamber of Commerce, known as the Midas Chamber of Commerce.

The eighth floor served as another special lobby reserved for VIPs.

The ninth floor, on the other hand, was dedicated to consultation.

This was where the Hand of Midas’ architects received clients and discussed plans for constructing specialized establishments, towns, and even entire cities.

Whether a guild wanted to establish a specialized production facility, a powerful organization wanted to construct its headquarters, or a wealthy player wanted to develop their own territory, the guild’s architects could provide the necessary designs and expertise.

The next five floors housed the true production facilities of the Hand of Midas, such as the blacksmith workshops, the alchemy rooms, and the engineering laboratories.

Unlike the commercial floors below, these areas were not open to ordinary customers. They served as the actual production centers where the guild’s specialists created, tested, and refined their various products.

The fifteenth through eighteenth floors were occupied by the guild’s main administrative offices.

This was where the various departments of the Hand of Midas managed the countless businesses, production facilities, territories, partnerships, and other operations under the guild’s control.

Finally, the nineteenth and twentieth floors were reserved for something far more valuable.

They served as secure storage facilities for the Hand of Midas’ rarest and most important materials—resources considered too precious to be kept in their ordinary warehouses.

Given the value of the materials stored there, these two floors naturally had the highest level of security within the entire headquarters.

Shin was already quite familiar with the headquarters’ overall structure.

He had heard about most of it from the others who had visited the place before him, so there was little need for him to stop and inspect every floor himself.

He could have simply taken one of the elevators and gone directly to the eighteenth floor if he wanted to.

However, he deliberately chose to take the stairs instead.

After all, it had been quite some time since he last visited the headquarters, and he wanted to see how much the Hand of Midas had developed with his own eyes.

Rather than simply hearing about the various facilities from the others, he figured that seeing them for himself would be more interesting.

So, he slowly made his way upward, taking the opportunity to observe the different floors as he passed them.

Not long after, Shin finally reached the eighteenth floor. This was where Shiella’s office was located.

It was also where many of the guild’s most important personnel had their offices, including the branch managers whenever they returned to report to their Guild Leader personally, as well as other high-ranking figures within the organization.

Shin walked through the corridor without paying much attention to the curious looks he received from the people around him.

Although most of them were unfamiliar with him, none dared to block his path.

They all understood that anyone who could freely walk through this floor had to be an extremely important figure.

After all, every floor of the headquarters had its own access restrictions, with only authorized personnel allowed to enter.

The fact that Shin had been able to reach the eighteenth floor without being stopped by the system could only mean one thing.

He possessed an extremely high level of authority within the guild.

With that realization, the people along the corridor could only watch him pass by in silence.

Not long after, Shin finally arrived at the door of the Guild Leader’s office.

Knock! Knock!

Shin gently knocked on the door a couple of times before waiting for Shiella’s response.

It did not take long before a familiar, mesmerizing voice came from inside the room.

"Enter."

Shin smirked before stepping inside.

The moment he entered, he immediately saw his Big Sister sitting behind her desk, busily working through multiple translucent screens floating around her.

Her brows occasionally furrowed as she shifted between different documents and reports, clearly immersed in her work.

She did not even bother looking at him at first.

Shin simply waited patiently in front of her desk.

It wasn’t until several moments later that Shiella finally noticed his presence.

The woman known as the Frost Goddess Snow White within the game glanced at him before a knowing smirk appeared on her face. "What a rare visitor."

She leaned back slightly in her chair. "What are you doing here?"

Her smile widened. "I am far too busy to deal with you right now. I’m afraid I don’t have time to entertain whatever trouble you’ve brought this time."

Shin could only smile awkwardly beneath his mask.

After all, this guy was responsible for a considerable portion of her workload.

He always brought her extraordinary opportunities—ones capable of generating enormous profits for the Hand of Midas.

Unfortunately, almost every opportunity he brought with him came with an equally enormous amount of trouble.

Take the Deicide project, for example.

The idea had originally come from Shin.

It had proven to be highly effective, especially since Shiella no longer needed to worry as much about assigning large escort groups to their caravans—products that couldn’t simply be stored inside a player’s inventory.

The members of the Hand of Midas’ escort forces were also highly elite, making them feared throughout the game.

Still, having a hidden blade capable of dealing with troublesome situations was incredibly convenient.

Unfortunately, maintaining another guild filled with elite players also required an enormous amount of money.

Deicide might have been highly effective, but it was also another expense that Shiella had to manage.

Even so, the benefits clearly outweighed the costs.

It was worth it.

Then there was the specialized intelligence network that Shin had suggested.

It was currently led by Mister Jiang, Leonard’s old friend who specialized in intelligence gathering, and Miss Bunny, who had previously worked as an information merchant before taking on her current position.

Their networks and contacts had been combined with the information network that the Hand of Midas had naturally developed over the years.

The result was another powerful intelligence organization—one capable of rivaling some of the biggest names in the field, such as the Assassin Union and Secret Recipe.

In fact, their intelligence network had already surpassed those of most other powerhouse guilds.

But once again, success came with a price.

Managing yet another organization required money—a lot of money.

Shiella was beginning to feel genuinely wary whenever Shin came to visit.

He always brought her amazing projects, lucrative business opportunities, and things that could potentially make the Hand of Midas even more powerful.

But somehow, they always ended up costing her a fortune first.

Seeing her little brother standing before her, Shiella couldn’t help but narrow her eyes suspiciously.

She already had a bad feeling about this. ’How much money is he planning to burn this time?’

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