Survival at Sea: I Became Number One by Growing Mushrooms

"Don't worry about it, I came early to wait for you." The guild leader had a warm smile on his face, then instructed, "Pharmacist Xu, don't easily reveal your fire spirit here. It wouldn't be good if someone had their eye on you, and many people would cause you trouble."

Xu Jiawei nodded and looked at the crowd around her. Her attire was quite appropriate. She had put away her invisibility cloak before coming, since it was quite conspicuous with several holes in it.

Xu Jiawei's epic robe did not look shabby in the crowd; the president had specifically instructed her to take off her cloak.

She is very obedient and cannot bring shame to the pharmacists' association.

After having their tickets checked, the two went inside. Inside was a huge auditorium, where countless people were clinking glasses, exchanging elegant conversations in hushed tones.

Xu Jiawei had never been to such an occasion before. She felt as if she had accidentally wandered into the imperial palace, or like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden, having never seen anything like it before.

She simply followed behind the president as his shadow; as expected, a boorish person like her couldn't adapt to this kind of occasion.

The president walked ahead, looking at Xu Jiawei cowering behind him, unsure how to react. Geniuses are usually proud, arrogant, and bad-tempered, but this was the first time he had seen someone with this kind of personality. How could the word "coward" appear on a peerless genius?

Yes, Xu Jiawei was a bit scared. She would rather fight the boss than go into this kind of situation.

The president pushed Xu Jiawei forward and beckoned to the people in front of her: "Hey, long time no see, president of the Blacksmith Association. Look, this is our association's genius. Let's broaden her horizons today."

Before Xu Jiawei could react, she could only force a smile and greet them, "Hello, I'm Xu Jiawei."

"Tsk, your association's genius is a bit aloof. My association also has geniuses, Xiaobai, quickly greet the president of the Pharmacist Association."

Xu Jiawei looked at the people walking out from behind the president of the Blacksmiths Association and exclaimed in surprise, "Bai Yu, what are you doing here!"

Bai Yu recognized Xu Jiawei as soon as he heard her voice, and scratched his head: "Jiawei, I didn't expect to see you here. This is my master whom I met a couple of days ago. She brought me here to broaden my horizons today."

Xu Jiawei was not surprised that Bai Yu was accepted as a disciple, given her talent in forging. After all, Bai Yu's talent was forging, which, in other people's eyes, was nothing short of a divine body of an innate forging master.

"Oh, it seems you two know each other. In that case, let the young people talk it out. We'll just wander around." The president smiled and left the two of them alone.

Watching the two guild leaders walk away, Xu Jiawei patted Bai Yu on the shoulder: "Wow, you've become a professional blacksmith so quickly." Xu Jiawei said, looking at the badge on Bai Yu's chest.

"Yeah, I just took the exam yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to tell you yet." Bai Yu pulled Xu Jiawei to sit in a corner, and the two of them drank juice and observed the crowd around them.

"This person is also a player," Xu Jiawei said, pointing to a young man. "Looks like there are quite a few players here."

"Yeah, there are so many players, there are bound to be some who are about the same level as us, and maybe some who are even stronger than us," Bai Yu chimed in.

Xu Jiawei nodded in agreement.

In just a short while, she saw several players.

Through their observation, they found that many of these players were not Chinese, including foreign players with blond hair and blue eyes, as well as players whose lifestyles were clearly different from theirs.

Then, bells rang in the auditorium, and an exceptionally beautiful woman walked onto the platform and said, "Gentlemen, this meeting is for the test of these outsiders tomorrow. So, do you have any opinions?"

She paused for a moment and continued, "There are quite a few outsiders here at this gathering as well. Whether they are from the mainland or from elsewhere, they are welcome to offer their opinions."

At this point, someone raised their hand: "I think this selection is unfair. It's just based on combat power ranking, which makes it easy to miss out on good talents in life professions."

"That's right, I support it."

"Gentlemen, I understand your needs, but our venue is small, and we don't have much choice but to rank them by combat strength," the woman on the stage replied.

Many people nodded in agreement.

"If the test for outsiders is ranked this way, most people will choose combat professions, and it will be difficult to recruit students for support professions like ours." There are also many people who hold opposing opinions.

The president approached Xu Jiawei and asked in a low voice, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

"President, I think it would be better to assign professions based on talent after the competition. Letting people choose for themselves might result in choices that are not suitable for them," Xu Jiawei replied softly.

"Well said, that's a good idea. I'll discuss it with them myself later." After saying that, the chairman continued to watch the people arguing, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Seeing the president's mannerisms, Xu Jiawei followed suit and sat down to eat. Watching people argue was really interesting.

After arguing for a long time without any result, many people turned red in the face and started cursing in anger.

Arguing is very physically demanding, so they took a break to eat. At this point, the president left his seat and went directly to the woman on stage.

Xu Jiawei felt like she was just there to observe, as if the meeting had nothing to do with her. What was she there for? Was she just there to watch others discuss how to deal with them?

It wasn't until the afternoon that a specific plan was agreed upon, which was to follow Xu Jiawei's method, and outstanding young people from mainland China would also participate in the testing with the players.

So tomorrow will not only be a battle between players, but also a battle between players and NPCs. The purpose of this test is for the association to recruit members and train outsiders to fight against the dark creatures.

They were just tools, and even set up many traps, just to stimulate the potential of these outsiders. Xu Jiawei and the other players in the hall were speechless. Was it appropriate for them to hear such words?

Listening to these people trying to trick her, and seeing how determined they were, made Xu Jiawei feel uncomfortable. In their eyes, they were just tools that could be discarded at any time.

"Outsiders are also human beings. It's wrong for us to do this. After all, the system is for us to guide them and help them, not to treat them as tools."

"But they're from another planet! They're not like us."

"We signed a contract with the system to guide humanity. Do you people want to ruin this planet?"

The person on the stage stopped the argument: "Alright, now that they've come into this world, they're people of this world. Treat them as normal geniuses."

In the end, this matter was decided in front of these players. They gave the plan to the system, and Xu Jiawei instantly received a system announcement.

System Announcement:

1. Launch the competitive event, where nations compete against each other, and the residents of the winning nation will receive attribute boosts.

2. Individual rankings will earn you guild building tokens and rewards for joining an association.

3. Players who have obtained a professional certificate can join either the NPC faction or the nation's faction and receive double rewards. (Players who have obtained a professional certificate will not receive the association joining rewards based on their ranking.)

4. The event lasts for 7 days, and the top ten players in each server region will qualify to participate.