The Yu Feng Studio was situated in a corner on Changhe Street in Jushi City.
This location was indeed too remote; even Wu Ming spent a long time finding his way there.
“Is anyone here?”
Wu Ming entered the door and saw a thick layer of dust on the counter; his eyebrows immediately furrowed.
“Yes! What does the guest want to purchase?”
The shopkeeper, who had been dozing behind the counter, raised his head: “If you want to purchase spirit beasts, I recommend the Bai Ling Garden on the street. For battle techniques, it’s best to go to the He Jia Old Shop…”
Wu Ming was quite speechless, looking at the surroundings’ extremely simple, even shabby decorations, and the sparse goods, he couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly: “I’m looking for someone! Where is Dongfang Lüye?”
He tossed out a token, and upon seeing it, the shopkeeper’s face immediately showed surprise: “So you are the new studio master! Please wait a moment; I will go and invite Master Lüye immediately!”
He hurried to the backyard, and soon, an old man with a red, pockmarked nose walked out.
“Are you Dongfang Lüye?”
Wu Ming frowned: “I am Dongfang Shuoming, the new master of Yu Feng Studio. Here is the official order!”
“Huh?!”
Dongfang Lüye, who originally had a tipsy air, immediately became alert upon hearing this: “Oh, Master Dongfang Shuoming! It’s such an honor that you have come! I’ll immediately hand over the account books and keys…”
Looking at his manner, he clearly couldn’t wait to leave.
Moments later, after seeing Dongfang Lüye leave without even looking back, Wu Ming was even more speechless: “Is he relieved to finally get rid of this burden?”
“Greetings, Master!”
All the servants and attendants in Yu Feng Studio, led by the shopkeeper Dong Men Fu, paid homage to the new master, their hearts filled with anxiety.
After all, an independently managed studio master had considerable authority; at the very least, dismissing them was just a matter of a single word.
Shua! Shua!
The entire Yu Feng Studio was deathly silent, the only sound being the rustling of pages as Wu Ming flipped through the account books.
“A complete mess…”
After a long while, Wu Ming closed the account books, stood up, and said: “I’ll go check the warehouse!”
The thick brass key was inserted into the lock, producing a dull clunking sound.
With a loud creak, the massive iron door opened, revealing rows of shelves filled with a dazzling array of fantasy spirit eggs.
“Hmm?”
The floor was clean and tidy, and the goods on the shelves were neatly categorized. This situation somewhat exceeded Wu Ming’s expectations.
“Such a large number of fantasy spirit eggs, and none of them are labeled… Could it be that…”
His heart stirred, and he directly asked: “Who is in charge of the warehouse?”
“Reporting to the Master, I am Xi Men Qin, and I have been responsible for the warehouse before!” From the group following behind, one person stepped forward and calmly replied.
“Oh!”
Wu Ming looked at this fellow with a sharp expression, wondering whether he was as skilled in dealing with things as Xi Men Qing. The key point was, if he had even a fraction of Xi Men Qing’s ability to get things done, he would be a real talent.
“Everyone… Yu Feng Studio has been suffering continuous losses. What do you think is the reason?”
He directly asked, his gaze fixed on Dong Men Fu.
“This… this…”
Sweat immediately rolled down Dong Men Fu’s fat face: “Because our studio is in a remote location, not well-known, and competing with Bai Ling Garden and He Jia Old Shop…”
“These are things that cannot be changed, so there’s no need to mention them again!”
Wu Ming waved his hand: “Xi Men Qin, what do you think?”
“In my humble opinion, the reason Yu Feng Studio has been poorly managed for years is the lack of talent!”
Xi Men Qin spoke eloquently.
“Lack of talent? So you’re saying the previous masters were all mediocrities…”
Wu Ming smiled coldly, his eyes carrying a chill.
All the previous masters were naturally experts in spirit beasts, but their combat skills didn’t necessarily align with their management abilities… Take the former master Lüye, for example—he spent his days drinking to cultivate the Drunken Monkey, and credulously bought a large batch of defective and chaotic fantasy spirit eggs based on rumors, depleting the studio’s last remaining circulating spirit coins…
Xi Men Qin said calmly.
“So these fantasy spirit eggs came from that…”
The identification of fantasy spirit eggs is naturally very important; otherwise, if you randomly choose one and make a pact, you might end up with a gray wolf, experiencing the same tragedy as Dongfang Shuoming, or even something worse. Making a pact with a useless harmless fantasy spirit would ruin half your life.
Fantasy spirit eggs that have been specially identified and categorized are sold at a very high price.
On the other hand, some unscrupulous channel merchants will mix a large number of defective fantasy spirit eggs, or even ones that haven’t been identified at all, into ordinary fantasy spirit eggs and sell them all together.
“Therefore, the key is still talent!”
Xi Men Qin continued: “If the clan had skilled egg identifiers, we could identify all these fantasy spirit eggs. At the very least, we could recover some losses. If we had skilled inscription masters, we could also sell advanced battle techniques and attract customers… Even alchemists would be quite good. As long as we establish a brand and reputation, why worry about profitability?”
He sighed: “Unfortunately… the Dongfang family lacks professional talents. The second elder’s branch, which manages commerce, focuses mainly on guarding shops and escorting goods, thus missing out on a lot of profit opportunities!”
“Your insight is not bad!”
Wu Ming smiled slightly: “I’m promoting you to deputy manager, with double the monthly pay!”
“Thank you, Master!”
Seeing his speculation pay off, Xi Men Qin immediately knelt down and kowtowed, while Dong Men Fu’s expression became somewhat grim.
“Alright! Next, let’s talk about your matters!”
Wu Ming looked at this group, and the smile on his face made them feel a chill in their hearts: “I have just taken over Yu Feng Studio, so there’s no need to make major changes to the existing structure. Except for Xi Men Qin, you will all continue in your respective roles…”
“Thank you, Master!”
As Dong Men Fu and others just began to relax, they heard Wu Ming’s voice again: “From now on, your accounts will be separated, and the proceeds from operations will be listed separately. At the end of the month, there will be a unified assessment. Not only the clerks, but even the servants will have targets. Those who meet the targets will be rewarded, and those who don’t meet my expectations… hehe…”
“Understood!”
Not meeting expectations naturally meant being fired, ending up on the streets the next day.
Dong Men Fu and others felt a chill in their hearts and quickly agreed, feeling a sense of urgency.
Looking at their backs, Wu Ming’s eyes flashed with cold light.
He had just taken over and could make major changes, but if he fired all these people, who would replace them?
Therefore, he decided to introduce a competition mechanism, promote one person, establish authority, and create a catfish effect.
All these were just casual actions, done on a whim, so there was no need to worry too much.
After all, he was the one with the highest martial power. If the subordinates dared to rebel, would he dare to clean them out?
…
After dismissing everyone, Wu Ming walked alone in the warehouse with his hands behind his back, his eyes full of excitement.
The fantasy spirit eggs’ vitality was hidden inside, making it very difficult to distinguish them just by appearance.
In fact, some fantasy spirit eggs looked full of vitality, but the spirit inside had already died, making them a dud. Buying them would be a scam.
If it weren’t for this, how could the profession of egg identifiers emerge?
“This Dongfang Lüye is also an idiot… Even if he wanted to stock up, how could he buy all the fantasy spirit eggs from the Spirit Realm, and every single one of them was oviparous… At least mixing in some hatchlings and elemental spirits would’ve been better…”
Wu Ming was quite speechless.
Of course, he also knew that when it came to the popularity of spirit beasts, the Spirit Realm naturally dominated, with oviparous species constituting the majority. The major shops in the city also primarily sold spirit beast eggs.
Unfortunately, the previous master was greedy for cheap goods and was drunk, purchasing this kind of merchandise, which naturally couldn’t be sold.
After all, choosing a spirit beast was a very cautious matter. Those willing to gamble on their luck must be mad!
“However, for me… this is actually a huge treasure trove…”
Wu Ming casually picked up a spirit beast egg.
This egg was about the size of a goose egg, its surface white and smooth, not different from the others.
However, once he activated his Observation Eye, he could see a ring of orange light around the spirit beast egg:
[La Gu Beast]
[Racial Rank: Elite (Orange)]
[Attribute: Melee]
[Status: Embryo]
[Lifespan: Average]
…
Seeing this, the smile on his lips couldn’t help but widen: “With this ability… which appraiser can rival me?”
Appraisers rely on talent!
Moreover, the family school also taught content in this area. As long as Wu Ming insisted on his opinion, who could argue against him?
“Just…”
Wu Ming glanced at the tall shelves on both sides and the mountains of unappraised spirit beast eggs, then smiled again: “Identifying them all at once would be too shocking. One percent is a very reasonable number, enough to start building a reputation…”
Then, he sighed and began his hard labor:
“Wind Dragonfly? Not bad!”
“Damn it! Even the harmless Zhu Luo Beast dared to be brought in, passing off inferior goods as good ones!”
“Scabby Dog! Scabby Dog! Scabby Dog… Did I walk into a dog’s den? I remember dogs are viviparous… but after becoming a spirit beast, they even have oviparous eggs…”
Wu Ming was speechless among a pile of scabby dog eggs, grabbed a spirit beast egg, his eyes suddenly lit up, then dimmed again: “This one…”
[Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog]
[Racial Rank: Elite (Orange)]
[Attribute: Fire]
[Status: Embryo]
[Lifespan: Dead]
…
“It’s actually the famous Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog…”
The Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog appears with a probability of one in ten thousand among ordinary scabby dogs, with amazing talent. Moreover, it has another advantage: all Spirit Flame Two-headed Dogs are kings among scabby dogs.
In a wild group of hundreds of ordinary scabby dogs, they would directly submit to the Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog. Although scabby dogs have very weak combat power, they are numerous and are the most common type of spirit beast in the wild!
Therefore, this Two-headed Dog has become the favorite choice for group spirit beast tamers! Its evolution is also quite impressive, with the opportunity to become an outstanding Hell Three-headed Dog!
Unfortunately, the Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog’s spirit beast egg is no different from an ordinary scabby dog egg, so it was mixed in with the rest.
“Pity… it’s a dead egg!”
A living Spirit Flame Two-headed Dog, though not priceless, would at least be worth buying back ten piles of such dog eggs. Alas, a dead one… is worth nothing!
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