"The Golden Triad is..." Hearing Aldrich’s words, Dorothy tilted her head slightly with a hint of confusion and asked. Aldrich immediately provided an explanation. "It’s the highest leadership of the White Craftsmen’s Guild. Although the White Craftsmen’s Guild is a relatively loose association, it is vast enough to require a strong leadership group to ensure the basic functioning of the organization and prevent fragmentation. This leadership group is the Golden Triad, composed of three Gold-rank Beyonders, usually from the Stone path. Occasionally, there are vacancies, and when that happens, a candidate is selected from among the Red-rank Beyonders in the guild. The guild then pours resources into helping them advance to Gold-rank and join the Triad." "Wow, three Gold-rank Beyonders as the highest leadership. No wonder it’s a world-class association, far stronger than small local groups like the Holy Banquet." "So, the Golden Triad had a vacancy two hundred years ago, and you and Deer Skull, both outstanding Red-rank members of the guild, competed for the seat, which led to a feud?" Dorothy continued to press, and Aldrich nodded in response. "Correct... The competition was the beginning of the feud, but competition alone wasn’t enough to escalate to the life-and-death situation we have today. The feud deepened during the process of competition." "During the competition? How did you compete?" "Naturally, craftsmen compete in the way of craftsmen. Creating works and competing in skill—this is the only way for Stone path Beyonders to compete without resorting to direct conflict. At the time, we were both members of the same guild, so it wasn’t appropriate for us to fight directly. Thus, we used our creations as the means of competition. "Under the witness of the entire upper echelon of the guild, we agreed to create powerful, exquisite, and artistic works within a set time frame. These works would not only serve as a testament to the gap in our skills but would also be key to our future Gold-rank advancement rituals." "The key to your Gold-rank advancement rituals? Do your Gold-rank advancement rituals require the use of works you’ve created?" Dorothy asked curiously, and Aldrich nodded again. "Yes, many branches of the Stone path require the creation of an epic, extraordinary work that embodies the characteristics of their branch when advancing to Gold-rank. In fact, the process of creating this work is a crucial part of the advancement ritual, and the quality of the final work also affects the success rate of the ritual." After saying this, Aldrich slowly took a sip of tea, while Dorothy, having absorbed this information, felt a sense of realization. "The Stone path truly lives up to its reputation as the path of craftsmen. It seems that each branch represents a different kind of craftsman. Even their Gold-rank advancement rituals involve pouring their full effort into creating an epic work... I imagine that the vast majority of mystical items in the hidden world are produced by these craftsmen. I wonder how powerful the items created by those who successfully advance to Gold-rank must be." After finishing her thoughts, Dorothy noticed that Aldrich had finished his tea and was ready to continue. "The time frame we agreed upon was thirty years. Within thirty years, we were to create our most outstanding works, which would then be evaluated by the Golden Triad. The winner would receive the guild’s support to advance to Gold-rank. However, the problem arose during this thirty-year creation process." "What problem?" Dorothy continued to ask, and Aldrich responded in a serious tone. "As I mentioned before, the Bonesmith branch requires the use of living humans as materials—extracting bones and souls. Normally, his small-scale actions wouldn’t be an issue, but this time, in his eagerness to win, he crossed a serious line." "Wait... You said his small-scale actions weren’t an issue. Are you saying that the guild doesn’t care about his murderous practices, similar to the Eucharist!?" Dorothy exclaimed in shock, but Aldrich responded calmly. "Why should we care? As I mentioned earlier, the White Craftsmen’s Guild is a relatively loose organization. As long as you don’t violate the guild’s basic principles, no one cares what you do. "The principles of the White Craftsmen’s Guild are neutrality, contracts, transactions, and fairness... There is no room for morality or compassion. We are not required to show love or sympathy for ordinary people. What Deer Skull does to them is his own business, and no one can interfere. In fact, there are quite a few people like him in the guild. We are craftsmen, merchants, inventors... not champions of justice. Please understand this, Miss Mayschoss." Aldrich spoke with a serious and earnest expression, while Dorothy frowned and asked in return. "Then... what exactly do you mean by ’crossing the line’? If you don’t care about indiscriminate killing, what boundary did Deer Skull cross?" "Heh... We don’t care about indiscriminate killing, but other organizations do. Deer Skull went too far in his desire to win me, which drew the ire of other organizations.” "The constructs of a Bonesmith are created by combining necromancy and bones. Deer Skull’s work was a bone artifact that bound countless ancient, powerful evil spirits. These spirits were obtained from the ruins of ancient cities and were said to be the souls of seven exceptionally wicked Beyonders. He spent all his resources to create a powerful bone artifact to restrain and control these ancient spirits, then allowed them to grow stronger by devouring the souls of ordinary people.” "If Deer Skull had kept his actions small-scale, secretly capturing a few people to refine souls and covering his tracks, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But his appetite grew. In his quest to create an even more powerful work, he began to recklessly allowing the evil spirits to devour the souls of ordinary people to enhance the quality of his bone artifact.” "At first, it was a few settlements, then a few villages, and then a few towns. But even that wasn’t enough to make him feel confident of winning against me. So... he set his sights on a city." Sitting in his chair, Aldrich reminisced as he spoke. Hearing this, Dorothy was stunned. "What? Are you saying that, to win the competition, he allowed evil spirits to devour an entire city!?" Dorothy exclaimed in shock. Cities in this era could have populations ranging from tens of thousands to millions. Did this guy really plan to swallow an entire city just to win a competition and advance? "Heh... He planned to do it, but he didn’t succeed. The reason was that his actions had become too conspicuous, and he was targeted by the covert agents of the nation where he operated, as well as the Radiance Church. Such a serious mystical event, threatening the lives of an entire city, was something they couldn’t ignore." "So... it was the nation’s covert agents and the Radiance Church who stopped Deer Skull?" Dorothy asked curiously, but Aldrich shook his head. "No, it was the guild." "What? Didn’t you say the guild wouldn’t interfere with Deer Skull’s killings?" "Earlier, I told you that the guild wouldn’t interfere with what its members did as long as they didn’t violate the guild’s principles. Deer Skull’s killings were fine, but the scale of his actions provoked hostility from other major organizations, which became a serious problem.” "I mentioned that one of the guild’s key principles is neutrality. Deer Skull’s actions were tantamount to declaring war on a nation and slapping the Radiance Church in the face. This severely violated the guild’s principle of neutrality. Therefore, after the covert agents and the Radiance Church brought the issue to the guild’s attention, the Golden Triad investigated and determined that Deer Skull had seriously violated the rules. After stopping his actions, they expelled him from the guild." "So it was because he provoked other organizations, and the guild had to maintain its neutrality, that they took action... This White Craftsmen’s Guild is really something..." Dorothy thought to herself, then after a moment, she spoke to Aldrich again. "Deer Skull was expelled from the White Craftsmen’s Guild, so he lost his eligibility to compete. That’s why he resented you, his rival, right?" "Of course, it wasn’t just that. Deer Skull also suspected that I had uncovered his plans and reported them to the Radiance Church and the covert agents, ruining all his carefully laid plans." "And was that true?" "Yes, it was." Aldrich waved his hand and raised an eyebrow as he spoke. Hearing this, Dorothy’s mouth twitched. "Well, well, so you were the one who reported him."