Chapter 3

The village chief was very grateful to Chang Ming. He was well aware that if it weren't for Chang Ming, the people of the Qi family would have really asked about the broken gold thread, and Jinzhu Village would indeed have had a hard time explaining. Trade was supposed to be a mutual agreement, but when one party was powerful, forced buying and selling could happen at any time.

Fortunately, Chang Ming had scared them away, allowing the village to make some arrangements during the respite. The village chief heaved a sigh of relief. Watching the mechanical vehicle with its long legs stride away, the village chief asked, "Why don't you come to my place and apply some medicine?"

The two men exchanged a glance, knowing they both had questions to ask each other. Chang Ming sat down at the village chief's house, and after a moment, a middle-aged man silently walked over and handed him a small bamboo tube.

Chang Ming took it. The bamboo tube was very exquisite. When he unscrewed it, a translucent ointment with a faint fragrance was revealed. Applying it to his face, he instantly felt a cool sensation that refreshed his mind. After a moment, the swelling on his face had reduced by half.

Chang Ming exclaimed, "What a good medicine!"

The middle-aged man, Lao Ping, said succinctly, "Keep it."

Chang Ming knew this was a life-saving item. He nodded gratefully to the man and carefully put it away. After applying the medicine and the pain subsided, the village chief dismissed the villagers who were watching and, when only the two of them were left, asked solemnly, "Young man, are you really...?"

Following the village chief's gaze to the wrench in his hand, Chang Ming shook his head and said, "Uncle Chief, to be honest, I'm not. This is a relic left by my grandfather. He was a remarkable person, but he has passed away and didn't pass his skills on to me."

"Passed away, huh..." the village chief said seriously, "In that case, you're in danger! The Qi family has always been arrogant. This time, they were scared by you, but they will surely try to find out more about you. Once they discover that you don't have a high-level mechanical engineer with you, they will definitely take action against you."

Chang Ming smiled bitterly, "The situation was urgent, and I had no choice but to do that."

The village chief pondered and said, "Indeed... However, the Qi family is powerful, but they haven't reached the point of controlling everything in Zihua City. In a couple of days, the Lian family will come to collect this month's goods. I'll mention this matter to them. I hope the Lian family can take action to suppress the Qi family..."

He looked up and asked, "Young man, what are your plans next?"

Chang Ming thought for a moment and said frankly, "Uncle Chief, I want to become a mechanical engineer!"

The village chief was not surprised at all and nodded as if it were the most natural thing. In his view, Chang Ming's grandfather, who had such a wrench, must have been a high-level mechanical engineer. Although he didn't know why he didn't pass his skills to his grandson, it wasn't strange for the grandson of a high-level mechanical engineer to want to become one.

He asked, "Young man, was your grandfather a reclusive mechanical engineer?"

Mechanical engineers held a unique position in this world. Some high-level mechanical engineers either sought rare materials or didn't want to deal with the outside world, so they lived in seclusion in the mountains. Chang Ming seemed very clever but a bit "ignorant," which must be due to his reclusive life.

Chang Ming didn't realize that he was seen as someone who had never seen the world. Hearing this, he was taken aback. However, this was advantageous for him, so he decided to go along with it, "Yes, the place I lived in is completely different from here. I haven't seen many things and don't know much about many things."

The village chief said, "Then, young man, would you like to stay here for a while? In my youth, I traveled extensively. I can take this time to teach you some basics, as a way to repay your kindness to Jinzhu Village!"

Chang Ming was delighted and said with a smile, "That would be perfect!"

He grinned and said, "Uncle Chief, could you tell me what a mechanical engineer is like? What do I need to do to become one?"

The village chief said firmly, "Money! To become a mechanical engineer, you need a lot of money!"

"Ah?"

Chang Ming didn't expect this answer and was stunned with his mouth wide open.

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Can you become a mechanical engineer just with money?

Of course not.

But to become a mechanical engineer, you do need a lot of money.

The lowest rank of a mechanical engineer is an apprentice. All you need is dexterity and some basic skills. The best path for such a person is to work in a factory, using their skills to earn money.

Chang Ming asked curiously, "Are there factories? I thought I heard that mechanisms can only be made by hand?"

The village chief, who had broad knowledge, nodded and then shook his head, "Making a mechanism requires a lot of parts. Do you think every part has to be made by a high-level mechanical engineer? The work of an apprentice mainly involves making these simple parts. There are also some basic mechanisms that are used a lot in daily life and don't require special skills, so they are made in factories and sold."

Chang Ming asked, "Are these all handmade?"

The village chief nodded, "Of course."

This wasn't a factory at all; it was more like a workshop. There were no lathes, no standardized production. Although mechanisms were widespread here, they were still very primitive compared to modern machinery. It was strange, though, why couldn't they use tools like lathes? Even if they weren't CNC, ordinary lathes would be much more convenient.

Was it because they were too backward, or for some other reason?

However, the village chief only knew this from hearsay and didn't know the details. Chang Ming's follow-up questions, however, were very professional, which made the village chief even more confident about his identity.

Chang Ming thought for a moment and said, "It sounds like an apprentice only needs skills and doesn't need much money."

The village chief shook his head, "Where do the skills come from? You have to learn from a higher-level mechanical engineer. Learning costs money, right? Moreover, an apprentice isn't a real mechanical engineer. A real mechanical engineer needs to constantly make a lot of mechanisms to hone their skills. Where do the materials come from? You can collect some yourself, but most of them have to be bought. Not to mention the energy core, which is notoriously expensive..."

Energy core?

I knew it, without a power source, how could mechanisms move?

Indeed, mechanisms still need an energy source, whether it's a battery or something else!

However, the village chief only knew that the energy core was expensive but couldn't explain what it was.

The village chief concluded, "All mechanical engineers start as apprentices. To become an apprentice, you need to spend money to learn the skills. Once you become an apprentice, you need to continue learning and spend money to buy materials to make mechanisms. The higher the quality of the materials, the more expensive they are; the higher the quality of the energy core, the more exorbitant the price. Why are there so few mechanical engineers? Because there are very few people who can afford to spend so much money..."

He seemed afraid of saying too much and patted Chang Ming's shoulder, "But there are geniuses in this world. Lian Zhaohui, the second daughter of the Lian family in Zihua City, became a mid-level mechanical engineer at the age of sixteen and is now trying to become a high-level mechanical engineer. Once she reaches the high level, the mechanisms she makes can be sold at high prices, and her family won't need to supply materials indefinitely."

Earlier, the village chief had told him that the lowest rank of a mechanical engineer was an apprentice. After an apprentice advances, they become a junior mechanical engineer. Above that are mid-level, high-level, and grandmaster mechanical engineers. Beyond that, there were said to be even higher ranks, but the village chief had never encountered them and rarely heard about them.

The village chief sighed, "When I was young and traveled, I once saw a high-level mechanical engineer. He was incredibly skilled. A very complex mechanical beast had a problem, and he found it and fixed it in just five minutes."

Uh... five minutes to find the problem? That doesn't seem so impressive?

Chang Ming's grandfather wasn't just good at fixing record players by listening; he could also instantly diagnose problems with large machinery in factories, and he never made a mistake.

Chang Ming didn't have such low emotional intelligence as to contradict the village chief directly, so he listened to him continue.

Each level of a mechanical engineer needs to be registered with the Mechanical Engineers' Guild to be certified. There is a Mechanical Engineers' Guild in Zihua City, and even powerful families like the Lian and Qi families dare not offend it easily.

The village chief outlined a path for Chang Ming to become a mechanical engineer. Although he emphasized how difficult and costly the path was, Chang Ming was not deterred.

A lot of money? High-quality materials?

These—were secondary!

He deeply remembered what his grandfather had once told him.

Repeating an action hundreds of thousands of times turns it into a skill; repeating a skill hundreds of thousands of times turns it into a technique.

Did his grandfather become an eighth-level technician by using high-quality materials and spending a lot of money? No, he didn't. He just kept repeating and practicing the basics. Would his grandfather's skills ever be inferior to those of a high-level mechanical engineer? Absolutely not.

So, as long as he was willing to work hard, he could certainly create a sky of his own with his skills!

He touched his pocket. According to the village chief, fifty silver coins were enough to start learning. This kind of thing should not be delayed; the sooner, the better.

He looked up, ready to take his leave, when the old man suddenly slapped his head and said, "Speaking of apprentices, I suddenly remember something!"

A child from a neighboring village once went to take the apprentice exam but didn't pass. When he returned, his father said dejectedly, "We should have come to Jinzhu Village to learn the skill of slicing bamboo."

He said that although money was important, it wasn't guaranteed that a master would take on a disciple just because they had money. Before that, the master would test the disciple's basic abilities. The test might not be slicing bamboo, but such a task could fully train a person's basic skills. Basically, a good bamboo slicer was already half a good apprentice!

Slicing broken gold thread?

Chang Ming scratched his head and thought about it.

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