Chapter 7

"Thousand units?" Heinze's voice faltered, and he looked at Reeves in surprise. He had never expected this guy to blurt out such a large number all at once.

Reeves smiled lightly, "What? Can't do it?"

"Of course I can..." Heinze was about to agree when he suddenly remembered that he had no authority to make such a decision. He quickly turned his gaze to Xu Yi and gave him a series of meaningful glances, hoping he would agree as soon as possible.

Joking! A thousand magic fans, if sold at two gold coins each, would amount to two thousand gold coins!

With a ten percent commission, he could earn two hundred gold coins just from this batch of business!

But then Heinze thought, if Reeves placed the order directly with Xu Yi, he would have nothing to do with it, and thus wouldn't get any commission.

Thinking of this, Heinze couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.

Seeing Heinze's reaction, Reeves instantly understood that the decision-making power must lie with this unassuming young man with black hair. He turned his gaze to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi, however, was thinking about something else. He frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head under Heinze's expectant gaze.

"I'm sorry, but I can't take on this order."

Reeves and Heinze were both taken aback. Reeves frowned and asked, "Why? Do you doubt my ability to pay? If that's the case, I can put down a deposit right now." He then pulled out a light golden, seemingly special piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over. "This is a Chimera Chamber of Commerce gold note, valid throughout the Sains continent, with a face value of one thousand gold coins. You can check it."

"Chimera Chamber of Commerce gold note!" Heinze couldn't help but exclaim.

The Chimera Chamber of Commerce was the largest chamber of commerce on the Sains continent, reportedly backed by the royal family of the Candela Empire, one of the two major empires on the Sains continent. Their gold notes were universally accepted.

This middle-aged man could casually produce a one-thousand-gold-coin Chimera Chamber of Commerce gold note, indicating that his wealth was substantial, far surpassing Heinze, a mere杂货店老板.

"It's not about that," Xu Yi remained unmoved. "The main reason I can't take on this order is on my side. I can't guarantee that I can produce a thousand magic fans in a short time, and even if I manage to, I can't ensure the quality."

"Quality?" Reeves looked at Xu Yi with some surprise, as if he had found something interesting, and a smile crept onto his lips. "Mr. Xu Yi, what if I raise the price? Two gold coins and ten silver coins per magic fan, how about that?"

Heinze's heart skipped a beat.

Adding ten silver coins to each magic fan might not seem significant, but multiplied by a thousand, it would amount to a hundred gold coins!

Moreover, according to general business rules, for such a large order, the seller would usually lower the price. The fact that Reeves was willing to raise the price showed his sincerity.

However, Xu Yi still shook his head firmly. "I'm sorry, it's not about the price. The quality of mechanical products is crucial. If I can't guarantee it, it could lead to a disaster, which I don't want to see."

"Disaster?" Reeves frowned, seemingly not understanding Xu Yi's point.

Xu Yi smiled but didn't intend to explain.

On Earth, accidents caused by quality issues were common, and he didn't want to see similar problems on the Sains continent.

Perhaps he couldn't prevent all problems, but he would do his best.

This was a basic principle for a mechanical engineer.

Seeing Xu Yi's firm stance, Reeves sighed, took back the gold note, and then pulled out another piece of paper, a different color but equally special, and handed it to Xu Yi.

"Mr. Xu Yi, it's a pleasure to meet you. This is my name card, please keep it."

Xu Yi took the name card, glanced at it, and found only a name and a simple address, with no other information.

The address was in Anweimar, the capital of the Lampari Kingdom, but Xu Yi didn't know the specific location.

Although he had lived in Lampari for more than three years, he had never been to Anweimar.

"If you change your mind, you can find me at this address, or if you have any new inventions like the magic fan in the future, I hope you will think of me first. I believe we will have the opportunity to cooperate."

Although Reeves exuded shrewdness, which Xu Yi didn't particularly like, his manners were impeccable, and he wasn't unpleasant. Xu Yi nodded in understanding.

After Reeves left, Heinze took the name card from Xu Yi, glanced at it, and immediately exclaimed, "Sloan Street! My God! He must be a big shot!"

"Oh?" Xu Yi looked at Heinze curiously.

"You don't know?" Heinze seemed surprised that Xu Yi didn't know about Sloan Street. "Sloan Street is where the major nobles in Anweimar live. If Reeves can have you contact him there, he must be a big shot too!"

Xu Yi smiled, not caring. Whether Reeves was a big shot or not didn't matter to him now.

At this stage, he had more pressing concerns. Although the sale of the first batch of magic fans brought in over four hundred gold coins in pure profit, it was just the first step. To achieve sustained income, he had a lot more to do.

The reason he didn't agree to Reeves' order, as he said, was that he couldn't guarantee the production of the magic fans.

Currently, the entire production process of the magic fans was carried out by him in collaboration with the blacksmith shop and his colleagues, which was a very informal production system, prone to disruptions.

The biggest issue was the ten colleagues responsible for drawing the magic arrays, the core part of the magic fans.

Working with Xu Yi for a week had been profitable for these ten colleagues, and Xu Yi was confident that they would be willing to continue assisting him if he kept paying them. However, this partnership was unstable and could be disrupted by various unforeseen events.

When Xu Yi presented them with employment contracts, all ten colleagues refused without exception.

Although they didn't say it outright, Xu Yi knew that their refusal was due to their pride and dignity as mages.

Assisting Xu Yi in drawing the magic arrays was fine, as it was a side job during their free time.

But signing a contract would make them Xu Yi's employees, which was unacceptable to these proud mages.

Although the magic fans had the word "magic" in their name and were related to magic, on the Sains continent, where the application of magic was not highly valued, they were not much different from ordinary crafts and were not taken seriously by mages.

Additionally, Xu Yi was not entirely confident about the blacksmith shop.

Despite providing detailed drawings and precise specifications for each part of the magic fan's casing, a significant portion of the final products still did not meet his requirements.

If the craftsmanship requirements were not relatively lenient, Xu Yi would have rejected all the substandard products and asked them to remake them.

Of course, Xu Yi knew he was being too demanding.

As a senior mechanical engineer from Earth, he was used to the precision of Earth's mechanical parts, which were never off by even a millimeter. However, this was the Sains continent, a world with almost no mechanical industry foundation. Expecting them to match Earth's manufacturing standards was unrealistic.

"Sigh, a long and arduous road lies ahead." Thinking about the challenges he faced, Xu Yi couldn't help but sigh.

The next day, Xu Yi went to work at the magic tower as usual.

Xu Yi's status in the laboratory had changed significantly. Although his magical abilities had not improved much, at least ten colleagues had worked with him and received substantial compensation, so their attitude towards him was much warmer than before.

As soon as he entered the laboratory, many people greeted him.

Xu Yi smiled and responded, and just as he sat down at his desk, Wina suddenly appeared and slapped a magic array drawing in front of him.

"Xu Yi, I've studied your magic array thoroughly!"

Xu Yi looked up in surprise and saw a proud expression on Wina's face. He then looked at the magic array drawing on the table, which was the core of the magic fan—the Wind Vortex Array.

However, Wina had made very detailed annotations on the drawing, explaining almost every node.

As Wina claimed, the drawing showed that she had indeed studied the magic array thoroughly. Each annotation was detailed, complete, and easy to understand.

Even someone new to magic would understand the Wind Vortex Array after seeing this drawing.

Xu Yi scanned the drawing and felt his eyes widen. He looked up at Wina, "Hey, Wina, you're amazing!"

Wina huffed lightly, clearly pleased.

"It's just a low-level array, not hard to figure out."

Xu Yi chuckled, not caring about the obvious loophole in Wina's words. He picked up the drawing and waved it, "Can I buy this drawing?"

Wina was taken aback, "Why would you buy it? Didn't you create the array yourself?"

Xu Yi shrugged, "I'm just honored that someone has made such detailed annotations on this array, so I want to keep the drawing. How about it? Sell it to me? Name your price."

Wina looked at Xu Yi with some surprise, then waved her hand, "You have good taste. Forget it, I'm not as money-grubbing as you, selling a broken fan for two gold coins. This drawing isn't worth much, I'll give it to you."

Xu Yi laughed, "Thanks a lot."

He then folded the drawing and put it in his pocket without hesitation.

He really needed to thank Wina. With this drawing, he had solved a big problem.

In the future, when he wanted to teach others how to draw this magic array, he wouldn't need to provide detailed, step-by-step instructions. They could just look at the drawing and understand most of it, saving him a lot of effort.

Just as he was about to start working, the laboratory door was pushed open, and Steil walked in quickly. His gaze swept the room and finally settled on Xu Yi.

"Xu Yi, come with me, Grandfather wants to see you."

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(End of the page)