Astral Apostle
chapter-231

Roman put down his cutlery in curiosity, “What are you suggesting?”

Zhou Jing leaned close to Roman’s ear and covered his mouth with his hand.

“The hunters need the technical support of the craftsmen, but the Empire and the various tribes don’t have the time to care about it for the time being. Because we don’t interfere in the confrontation between the Empire and the tribes, so there’s no need to compete for arms, and we have the manpower. Perhaps this is an opportunity.

For example, as a neutral party, we can nurture or absorb some craftsmen. We can focus on providing resource points similar to workshops for hunters and obtain a certain amount of benefits. We can also rope in some hunters… Perhaps we can strengthen our forces?”

Roman looked at Zhou Jing in surprise, not expecting him to say this.

There were too many people here. Roman called Zhou Jing to leave the hotel and go across the street before continuing the topic.

“This is indeed a way to expand our forces, but the flaw is that it’s too eye-catching and doesn’t meet my expectations. Moreover, even if we can organize craftsmen and establish a neutral workshop, the Empire and the tribes will try to recruit them. They might even directly capture the craftsmen to work for them.”

Zhou Jing thought about his points for a while before replying,

“Well, in such a stalemate where the workshops are closed, the neutral workshop might be able to gather a group of hunters and let them spontaneously protect the workshop.

As long as this process can be maintained, it will gradually spread. Although it might not be able to replace the Empire Workshop, it would slowly form a neutral force that operated on its own, right?

We don’t have to reveal our origins. We might be able to make use of them to make others think that we’re just a neutral volunteer organization formed by the masses.”

He stared at Roman’s face as he spoke.

It was both a ploy and a roundabout way of trying to find out Roman’s plans.

......

This person led the tribe to independence and provoked a confrontation between the Empire and the tribes. However, at this moment, he no longer helped the tribes and instead kept a low profile. What benefits was he plotting to obtain?

His purpose could not be just to stir up trouble, right?

Zhou Jing thought about it and came up with a more reliable guess. The most plausible reason was that he was taking the opportunity of the war to expand his forces.

“Create a neutral organization through another organization?”

Roman’s eyes flickered as he shook his head.

“It’s feasible, but the risk and cost are far higher than the benefits. Even if we can rope in a group of hunters to protect us, it’s difficult for us to control the hunters. We’re not an Empire with authority. Most of the hunters are just external forces that we can’t command.

Besides, the Empire and the tribes won’t fight. The confrontation won’t last long. This bit of time isn’t enough to do anything… It’s enough to hide like I said. Don’t do anything else.”

Zhou Jing pretended to be puzzled, “Then apart from spreading the new blood potion, you’re not going to do anything else? I thought you wanted to seize the opportunity of the confrontation to expand your forces.”

Roman casually explained,

“Your proposal requires too many prerequisites, such as enough craftsmen, huge resources, a stable transportation route, a long-term workshop shutdown period, the fact that the Empire and the tribes are too busy to manage…

Even if it can be barely established, once the confrontation ends and the official workshop resumes production, the neutral workshop would lose its effect. In the end, it would still be divided between the Empire and the tribes. After all, they’ll be unwilling to see an unknown new force absorb a large number of hunters…”

Zhou Jing interrupted, “Unless this neutral faction is mainly made up of hunters and was formed spontaneously.”

Roman raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.

Seeing this, Zhou Jing continued, “Be it the Empire or the tribe, they need more hunters to deal with the threat of the mutant beasts. Imagine a scenario where the hunters spontaneously form a neutral organization to deal with the mutant beasts, where they themselves are in charge of the operation and expansion of the organization to provide themselves with the convenience of hunting. Moreover, most of the hunters will acknowledge the existence of this neutral organization. This way, they shouldn’t be targeted, right?”

Roman thought for a moment, then shook his head and spoke slowly.

“The situation you mentioned might indeed exist. If it’s a hunter organization that is recognized by most hunters, the Empire and the tribes will probably not care.

However, the problem is that the Empire Workshop was established for this goal. It has been operating for many years and has long become the first choice for hunters to rely on. The Empire and the tribes were only facing each other for the first time and there was no real war. In the eyes of most people, the official workshop will still be restored, so there’s no need for hunters to waste their energy to form their own workshop.

In addition, it’s difficult for hunters from all over the world to contact each other, so there’s no way to unify their opinions. Without the help of the ruler, it would be difficult to establish exclusive workshops everywhere. Therefore, what you proposed was only an almost impossible assumption… The problem of actually doing things is much more troublesome than just a beautiful plan.

Besides, we don’t have a reason to do so. A group of hunters doesn’t mean that they listen to orders. Even if we’re just borrowing a shell, we won’t be able to command the hunters. This isn’t something we can do. If we establish it purely for the sake of establishing it, it won’t be of any benefit to me.”

Roman was just short of saying that Zhou Jing was just talking fantasizing and only talking about things theoretically. He was still a little tactful.

“Alright, I was thinking too much… What exactly do you want to do?”

Zhou Jing pretended to sigh.

Even without him, Roman would still instigate the independence of the tribe. Therefore, publicizing the new blood potion was only the icing on the cake and not Roman’s core motive.

Although publicizing the potion formula was a way to benefit the public, and more people obtaining supernatural powers could further reduce the threat of mutant beasts… this was also a double-edged sword.

If a civil war really broke out one day, the destructive power of the war would increase due to the existence of a large number of Mutant Blood Warriors.

No one knew if it was good or bad.

Hearing the question, Roman smiled without saying anything. He still had no intention of answering.

He only looked at Zhou Jing with a gratified expression.

Although Bill’s suggestion did not sound very reliable to Roman, his serious attitude of advising the faction made Roman quite happy.

This meant that the two of them had common interests. Bill treated his faction as his own, which was why he made plans for the development of the faction and treated it as his “family”.

As far as he was concerned, this was the signal that Bill was devoted.

He had finally obtained the loyalty of this potion master!

Roman was secretly gratified. The bait of teaching him sorcery was not in vain.

Ignoring the touched Roman, Zhou Jing was still considering the plan to establish a neutral hunter organization. He felt that it was feasible.

Firstly, he had to be able to summon a large number of hunters and encourage them to form groups. Secondly, he had to be able to provide stable technical support. Then, he had to not be targeted…

According to Roman, ordinary people could not do this, but it was not impossible for him to get two Astral Apostles to cooperate.

Zhou Jing rolled his eyes and pondered.

After all, he was also a hunter. One reason for doing this was to help the hunters, and the other was to obtain more Information State Particles and open up new channels.

If Roman was willing to do it, he did not mind helping to test the feasibility. However, from the looks of it, Roman did not seem interested.

However, the time was indeed not ripe yet. He still needed to wait for an opportunity and wait for the two Astral Apostles to continue growing… In the future, he might be able to try to do it alone.

In the eyes of those who already had a faction, this kind of thing might not be very beneficial. Even if the Empire and the tribes were willing to do such a thing, it was for the interests of their own factions. Their motives were not pure, and they could not achieve true neutrality.

However, to someone who had no faction and no stance, it might be a good thing to create a neutral faction led by a hunter. It would be easier for others to admit its legitimacy…

Zhou Jing thought silently, temporarily suppressing this thought in his heart.

After ending the conversation, the two of them continued on their way.

Before leaving, Zhou Jing looked through the window at Barong.

Barong was chatting with his fellow hunters, as if he had let go of a knot in his heart.

“Looks like he’s doing well.”

Zhou Jing retracted his gaze, not planning to interact with Barong. He turned around and followed Roman.

In the hotel, Barong paused and subconsciously looked out the window at Bill’s back. He had a subtle feeling in his heart.

He had noticed it before. This stranger kept sizing him up, as though looking at something.

“Forget it. We don’t know each other. It doesn’t matter if he takes a look.”

Barong rubbed his bald head and pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

...

After leaving the village, Zhou Jing and Roman’s journey went smoothly. They returned to the base without any accidents.

After obtaining the sorcery, Zhou Jing also began to fulfill his duty. He picked up the potion technology again and improved and developed new potions in the base.

With the help of his Accelerated Learning, he would take a few hours every day to train his sorcery and quickly increase the development of his “Elemental Sorcery”.

He basically did not care about anything else and only focused on work and cultivation.

Roman followed his previous plan and spread the new blood potion formula to many tribes.

A month or two later, the new blood potions appeared in the town workshops controlled by the various tribes.

The new blood potion was once a special supply for the direct descendants of the Empire. Now that it was available everywhere, it immediately broke the monopoly of the royal family.

The various tribes also claimed that unlike the royal family who needed to join to obtain the new blood potion, they would provide it unconditionally like the original blood potion… It was just that the workshop’s production capacity was currently supplying the army, so they were temporarily out of stock.

Such an incident caused a huge commotion among the people.

Originally, a large number of civilians thought that they had to work for the royal family to obtain the low-risk, gentler mutant blood potion. They did not expect that a good thing would suddenly fall from the sky and they could buy it anywhere.

The confrontation between the Empire and the tribes had originally caused everyone to panic. However, once this matter was out, many people suddenly felt that the independence of the tribes might not be a completely bad thing, giving people more choices.

Coupled with the news a few months ago that the developer of the new blood potion, the Chief Pharmacist Bill, had fled, new rumors were born among the people. They believed that Bill had a noble heart and wanted more people to use the new potion. He was unwilling to let the royal family monopolize it. That was why he decided to escape and finally stood on the side of the various tribes.

As for King Becky, who was far away in the capital, he was stunned when he heard the news.

Those were all the results of the Empire’s research. How could they be grasped by the enemy just like that?

It was not just one or two, but all the enemies!

Bill, you’re so ruthless!

Once again, Becky was bedridden.