Chapter 10

A carriage slowly drove out of the west gate of Bonta City, gradually accelerating as it sped towards the western suburbs of Bonta City.

Inside the carriage, Xu Yi and Heinze sat facing each other. Heinze held a rough map of Bonta City in his hands, explaining something to Xu Yi.

"Look, this large area is all within the territory of Viscount Leslie, totaling nearly a thousand hectares. More than half of it is uncultivated wasteland. Viscount Leslie has promised us that we can choose any piece of land to rent from this wasteland."

Xu Yi glanced at the map and pointed to a spot with his finger: "No need to choose, it's here."

"Here?" Heinze observed the spot Xu Yi pointed to, thought for a moment, and frowned: "This place isn't the closest to Bonta City, and there's nothing around. It might be quite inconvenient for daily life."

Xu Yi shrugged and smiled lightly: "The lack of anything around is actually better, making it easier for us to plan. You know, drawing on a blank sheet of paper is much simpler than drawing on a sheet already filled with patterns."

"But this way, the cost will probably be higher than expected," Heinze still frowned.

"Initial investment is necessary," Xu Yi nodded and drew a circle on the map. "Actually, if possible, I would even want to rent all of this large area of wasteland."

"All of this large area?" Heinze was taken aback. "That's impossible. Just renting one hectare of land costs us 100 gold coins per year to Viscount Leslie. If we rent such a large area... even if not tens of thousands of gold coins, it would still be several thousand. Besides, we only need a small workshop right now. Why would we need so much land?"

Xu Yi smiled slightly: "Heinze, are you content with just running this small magic fan factory?"

Heinze looked at Xu Yi in surprise. Could it be that this guy has even greater ambitions?

Just yesterday, Xu Yi found Heinze and told him not to bother looking for a suitable location to rent within Bonta City anymore. Instead, Xu Yi had his eye on a piece of vacant land outside the city and planned to build a factory directly on this land to produce magic fans.

During this period, Xu Yi had Heinze's nephew Alex assist him in conducting a small market survey. Based on the survey results, Xu Yi initially estimated that the demand for magic fans in Bonta City should be between 3,000 and 5,000 units. Currently, only about 500 units had been sold, meaning there was still a huge market of several thousand units.

And this number was only limited to Bonta City. The rural areas outside Bonta City, although not as well-off as the city, would also have a certain demand for magic fans.

If the entire area influenced by Bonta City were considered, Xu Yi boldly estimated that the demand for magic fans could exceed 10,000 units!

It was this number that made Xu Yi decide to expand production.

To significantly increase production, renting a warehouse within Bonta City was clearly too limiting. Therefore, Xu Yi directly set his sights on the outskirts of the city, planning to build a magic fan factory there.

After research, he ultimately chose this area within the territory of Viscount Leslie in Bonta City.

Of course, to expand production, the most important thing besides the location was the people.

Xu Yi looked down at a stack of documents in his hand, a smile appearing on his lips.

Half of the stack was thirty personal profiles, and the other half was thirty contracts.

These were the results of his trip to Baron Rector's Magic Academy.

After his efforts to persuade, Director Hille finally allowed Xu Yi to recruit students from Baron Rector's Magic Academy to work for him, though he made it clear that he would not publicly support it, only not oppose it.

Then, after some effort, Xu Yi successfully recruited thirty students who met the requirements.

These students' magic levels were not particularly high, and none of them could match Xu Yi.

However, as students of Baron Rector's Magic Academy, they had a solid foundation in the basics of magic arrays and had some experience in drawing them.

The wind vortex magic array inside the magic fan, although specially modified by Xu Yi and somewhat complex, was ultimately just a low-level wind magic array, not particularly difficult to draw.

Xu Yi recruited these students to complete the task of drawing the magic arrays.

Although this was a simple and tedious job, it required a certain level of magical ability.

When making the first 500 magic fans, Xu Yi had his colleagues from the research lab assist him. However, to produce nearly 10,000 magic fans, relying solely on ten colleagues was clearly impossible.

In comparison, hiring these thirty students was far more suitable than finding those ten colleagues.

Firstly, these thirty students did not have the same pride as the ten colleagues and did not hesitate to sign contracts with Xu Yi, establishing a clear employment relationship, which allowed Xu Yi to not worry too much about production being affected.

Secondly, after completing the 500 magic fans, Xu Yi paid each of the ten colleagues five gold coins and one magic fan as compensation. However, he negotiated with the thirty students and agreed to pay each of them two silver coins for completing the magic array for one magic fan, significantly reducing costs.

In fact, when Xu Yi offered this compensation, he was somewhat worried that the students might find it too low. However, to his surprise, the students were all very excited and even praised Xu Yi for his generosity.

Finally, and most importantly, compared to the colleagues in the research lab, these students who were still studying at the magic academy had not yet formed fixed mindsets and had fewer prejudices about the application of magic.

Xu Yi could freely impart his mechanical engineering knowledge from Earth to them, allowing them to start learning from scratch.

If a few students with a talent for magic mechanical theory emerged, it would be a valuable asset.

If more such mages appeared in the future, then Xu Yi's vision of establishing a complete industrial system on the Sains continent would no longer be just a dream...

The carriage suddenly jolted, jolting Xu Yi out of his seat and interrupting his daydreams about the future.

"We're almost there," Heinze reminded him from the side.

Xu Yi pulled back the curtain and looked out, discovering that the carriage had left the main road extending west from Bonta City and was now on a bumpy, uneven country dirt road.

Feeling the intense shaking of the carriage, Xu Yi couldn't help but frown.

"The road conditions are really bad."

Heinze smiled bitterly: "Of course, this is an uncultivated wasteland. It's already quite good to have a road that can accommodate a carriage."

"This won't do. Heinze, if I were to build a flat road from the area we've chosen to the main road, how much would it cost?"

"Build a road?" Heinze was taken aback, looked down at the map, and smiled bitterly. "That won't be cheap. Even just leveling the road would probably cost several hundred gold coins." He paused and added, "Actually, although the road is bumpy, it's passable for carriages. We don't need to spend money to rebuild it, right?"

Xu Yi shook his head: "No, the road must be built. The manufacturing process of the magic fan itself is not complex, and the transportation requirements are not high. However, our future products will become increasingly precise. With such poor road conditions, it's easy for problems to occur during transportation."

Heinze pursed his lips, realizing he didn't understand what Xu Yi meant by "manufacturing process," "future products," and "precision," and couldn't continue to persuade him.

However, since these matters were led by Xu Yi, and he had no decision-making power, he thought for a moment and gave up on persuading him.

The carriage continued to bump along the road for a while and then slowly came to a stop.

Xu Yi and Heinze jumped off the carriage and looked around, discovering that the area was indeed desolate, with nothing but patches of weeds on the surrounding land.

Seeing this desolate scene, Heinze couldn't help but feel disappointed, but Xu Yi was not surprised at all.

On Earth, he had visited countless undeveloped industrial zones, some of which were even several times more desolate than this. Once development began, it didn't take long for them to become bustling areas.

Although this place was currently desolate, he believed that with continuous development and investment, it would eventually become prosperous.

"Are you Mr. Xu Yi and Mr. Heinze?" A thin, old man suddenly appeared.

"Hello, Butler Wenlei. I'm Heinze, and this is my partner, Xu Yi." Heinze quickly approached. "Xu Yi, this is Butler Wenlei of Viscount Leslie."

Xu Yi sized up the unremarkable old man and bowed to him.

Wenlei rolled his eyes, which were mostly white, and sized up Xu Yi for a while before nodding: "Alright, since you're here, take a good look. The viscount said that although he doesn't plan to cultivate this land, since it's his territory, you can't just use it without permission. Whatever you plan to do on this land, you must inform the viscount first, understood?"

Seeing Wenlei's haughty demeanor, Xu Yi felt both amused and irritated.

If this were on Earth, the landowner would be overjoyed to have a developer willing to rent this wasteland.

On the Sains continent, Viscount Leslie had already taken the money, yet Butler Wenlei still acted so arrogantly, as if the land was a gift from Viscount Leslie rather than something Xu Yi had paid to rent.

Xu Yi kept his expression neutral, nodded to show he understood, and then began to examine the area on his own.

The examination results were very satisfactory. The geological conditions of this land were good, and the terrain was extremely flat, making it very suitable for building a factory.

More importantly, there was a river about ten meters wide next to the land, and a small forest on the opposite bank, making it very convenient for sourcing materials and water.

The only drawback was the poor transportation, but this was something Xu Yi had already considered.

Improving the road to ensure transportation was a fundamental requirement for establishing a factory or mine.