Chapter 25?Experimental machine
In the blink of an eye, they entered August and the middle of summer.
The weather became even hotter and once the sun came out, the Magic Fan factory was the same as a steamer. After a while, every one of the thirty students were covered in sweat.
Even with a Magic Fan turning in every corner of the factory, it couldn’t let them cool down.
“Sir vice chairman, can you convince sir chairman to install a large scale Frost Array in this place.” Orin wiped his forehead covered in beads of sweat, as he couldn’t help complaining to Heinz beside him.
He came from a noble family and had a better family circumstance since he was young, so he had never suffered like this before.
“Orin, you really are a child of a noble family. Do you know how much a large scale Frost Array costs to install?” Without waiting for Heinz to respond, a student refuted him with a cold snort, “We only make a few gold coins each month and even if we add all thirty of us together, we can barely afford the consumption for a large scale Frost Array each month. Do you think sir chairman will install one for us?”
“I know that, but we still have to put up some resistance.” Orin didn’t care about the insulting tone of the student at all. Since he received a special reward from Xu Yi for modifying the Magic Array, Orin’s heart had been filled with joy the entire time and he became much more open.
“Ke, everyone does not need to worry, I’ll report this matter to the chairman when I get back and I will try my best to convince him to install a large scale Frost Array. I believe that chairman has seen everyone’s hard work and will definitely think of a way to solve this.” Seeing everyone’s back covered in sweat, Heinz quickly comforted them.
With how hot the Magic Fans were selling, the Magic Fan factory earned over a hundred gold coins each day. Like this, it wasn’t unacceptable for them to install a large scale Magic Array.
After all, these students were the core part of producing Magic Fans and now that it was too hot, it would greatly affect their productivity. As the manager of this factory, Heinz had no choice but to consider this problem.
The students didn’t reveal expressions that were too excited towards Heinz’s response, even Orin laughed while shaking his head, looking like he didn’t believe him.
The student said was right. Laying a large scale Frost Array costs too much and from the perspective of a merchant, they would not easily arrange this kind of thing for their workers.
At least they had never heard of a company that arranged such a luxurious thing for their factory.
Of course, they thought this, but when they saw Xu Yi appear in the factory, there was a bit of hope in those students.
But Xu Yi’s reply immediately shattered their hopes.
“Laying a large scale Frost Array? That isn’t possible, it costs too much. There is no need for that at all.” Xu Yi shook his head, answering in a very firm voice.
The students looked at each other and gave sighs before silently returning to their work.
“Sir chairman, I thought that you were different from other merchants, but now I can see that you are no different from them.” Orin was too disappointed and he couldn’t help complaining.
Xu Yi laughed while waving his hand and saying, “You don’t need to be in a rush to be disappointed. Although I said that a large scale Frost Array is too wasteful, that does not mean that I can’t solve your problems.”
The students curiously looked over at Xu Yi again. They thought that the weather is so hot, if you don’t lay down a large scale Frost Array, how could you solve the problem?
Xu Yi pointed at the rectangular iron box he just brought in and signaled for Heinz to install this box on the wall of the workshop with him. Then he casually threw a Magic Crystal into the hole on the side.
Seeing Xu Yi’s action, the eyes of the students lit up.
Could it be that Xu Yi made another new piece of magic machinery?
“Sir chairman, what is this thing?” Orin couldn’t help asking.
“Don’t rush, you’ll know in a bit.” Xu Yi finished his preparations before pressing the switch at the bottom of the strange box.
“Ding——”
With a soft sound, the iron box lit up with a faint cream coloured light before it released a faint blue glow along with that light, as wu, wu sounds came from the iron box.
There were several strange openings on the bottom of the box and outside it were strips of cloth. At first everyone couldn’t tell what it was, but after a while, everyone found that these strips of cloth were slightly moving, clearly being blown by wind coming out of the opening.
Seeing this scene, the students became disappointed again.
“Sir chairman, isn’t this just an altered Magic Fan? What use does it have?”
“That’s right, we have so many Magic Fans around us, but just blowing wind won’t cool us down that much.”
“That’s right, you should still lay a large scale Frost Array for us. Otherwise, we’ll die from the heat.”
…...
Xu Yi smiled without explaining anything.
After a while, Heinz and the other students suddenly realized something strange.
“Yi? This isn’t right, why is this wind so cold?”
“That’s right, it’s so strange. It’s clearly so hot, so why is the wind being blown out cold?”
“That’s true, it’s so cold! This is great! It’ll be much more comfortable later!”
“Ha, ha, so comfortable! This thing is almost comparable to a large scale Frost Array!”
…...
The students enjoyed the cool breeze coming from this strange iron box for a while before they couldn’t help curiously asking Xu Yi.
“Sir chairman, just what is this thing?”
“That’s right, why is the wind being blown out so cold?”
“It would be great if the Magic Fans were like this. Everyone wouldn’t need to install large scale Frost Arrays.”
“This thing…..” Xu Yi stretched out his words. He obtained the appetite of the students, but he kept them hanging, “I won’t tell you for now.”
“It can’t be, right? Sir chairman, you’re kidding with us, right?”
“That’s right, why do you need to intentionally keep us hungry? At least you can tell us what’s the name of this thing, right?”
“Hei, it isn’t that I’m not willing to tell you, rather this thing hasn’t been completed yet. I have only made an experimental model and I’m letting you use it first. One, I’m positively changing your work environment and two, I’m giving you all a task, which is to observe the running conditions off this magic machinery. No matter what problems or changes occur with it, you have to record it all. I need to collect some experimental data and then make some changes to it, do you understand?”
“It’s like this, we will definitely finish this task!”
“That’s right! Be assured sir chairman, since it has let me be much cooler, I will definitely treat it as a treasure!”
“No, no, no, I don’t want you to use it like a treasure, rather be rough with it. How rough you can be is how rough you should treat it. This is because I need to record its reactions to many different special circumstances to test its performance. The time, let’s just set it for three days for now. In three days, I’ll collect the data from you all. If everything goes smoothly, this thing will enter production. At that time, I’ll install a few of them here for you all and I promise you won’t feel the heat.”
“That’s great!”
“Sir chairman, you really are a good person!”
“No, a good boss!”
…...
Seeing the cheering of the students, Xu Yi revealed a smile. He turned to Heinz and said in a small voice, “Heinz, I’ll be heading out in the next few days. The matters on this side will depend on you.”
“Going out? Where?” Heinz asked in a surprised voice.
Xu Yi’s gaze drifted into the distance, “I’m going to the dwarven village Master Lanus came from. Master Lanus said that it would be fast, only taking a day, so I’m estimating it at three days. But if something happens to delay me, you are here to help me take care of things. Also I need you to take a trip to Great Magician Camilla’s Magic Tower for me and tell Great Magician Camila that I will be taking two days off.”
Heinz asked in a curious voice, “What are you doing suddenly going to the dwarven tribe?”
“Remember what I told you last time? I’ve always been dissatisfied with the works of the blacksmiths in Banta City and the only one qualified is Master Lanus. But Master Lanus is alone, so he can’t meet my needs at all. I’ve thought about it seriously and discussed this with Master Lanus, deciding to head to the dwarven tribe. If I can recruit a few dwarves to leave their tribes, it will be very helpful to my plan later on.”
“Although dwarven artisans are a bit better than human artisans, is there a need for this? Look at those Magic Fan outer casings made by human blacksmiths in the city, I don’t see any problem with them at all.”
“He, he, Heinz, this isn’t me being picky, rather your standards are too low. Can it be that you haven’t noticed that although the Magic Fan outer casings look pretty good, there are always small differences in its appearance? These differences can create large or small differences in the appearance of the Magic Fans we’ve produced. You shouldn’t look down on these small differences. You can’t see it now, but when our factory wants to start line work, these small differences could be fatal.”
“Line work?” Heinz couldn’t help being astonished by the several new words that came out of Xu Yi’s mouth as he became dazed again, “What is that?”
“I’ll explain this to you when the time is right, you just need to focus a bit more. This is the must standard for all products, it must be uniform and have no discrepancies at all.
Seeing how serious Xu Yi was, Heinz could only nod in agreement.
“Alright, I’m setting off. I hope that when I return, I’ll be able to bring back a group of dwarven artisans.”
Chapter 26: Steel alloy
If one directly calculated the distance, Master Lanus’ dwarven tribe was only less than two hundred kilometers away from Banta City.
But if one calculated based on travel distance, it was close to three hundred meters.
The over two hundred meters in the beginning could by traveled by sitting in a horse carriage, only at the mountain the dwarves lived on in the end, there were only twenty kilometers that needed to be traversed on foot.
To Master Lanus, this would only take a single day’s travel.
Xu Yi found after leaving Banta City in the morning that only when the sky turned dark could he see the dots of flames Master Lanus mentioned in front of them.
“Do you see it? Each flame is a forge, the fires in the forges of us dwarves are never extinguished!” When he said this, Master Lanus held his stomach that wasn’t that small and revealed a proud look.
It was a pity that Xu Yi already had no strength to talk to him after traveling for a day, but he also wasn’t interested in going along with him.
To Xu Yi’s sudden visit, the dwarves in the village were mostly surprised, but because Xu Yi came with Master Lanus, they were immediately welcomed. There was a grand welcoming feast held for them.
The dwarves loved wine, so naturally they used wine to greet guests.
Xu Yi couldn’t remember how many times his bowl had been filled and couldn’t remember at all how he passed out drunk, only when he opened his eyes after regaining consciousness, it was already bright out. It was already the morning of the next day.
Xu Yi shook his head and found that strangely it didn’t hurt, only he was a bit dizzy.
It seemed like the dwarves not only loved wine, they were very skilled in making wine. After drinking that much last night, he actually didn’t have a hangover the next day.
Of course, this was also thanks to Xu Yi’s tolerance being quite good.
On earth, as one of the best mechanical engineers of the country’s biggest mechanical engineering company, even if Xu Yi strictly controlled himself, he couldn’t avoid the various dinner appointments. His alcohol tolerance was also trained by this.
This wine fermenting technology of this world wasn’t as developed as on earth, so naturally the degree was far from being able to compare. This indirectly increased Xu Yi’s tolerance by a large amount.
“Hey, Xu Yi is it? Are you awake?” There was a thick voice that came from beside him.
Xu Yi turned over and saw a male dwarf with a rather large nose.
“You are……” Xu Yi scratched his head. He had an impression of this male dwarf, but he couldn’t think of his name.
“Ha, ha, just call me Camby.” The dwarf strongly slapped Xu Yi’s shoulder as he burst with laughter, “I thought that all humans couldn’t drink that much, but I never thought that you really could drink. You actually drank out two people before you collapse, not bad, not bad!”
Xu Yi laughed. The dwarves loved wine, so any man who could drink wine was a good person. The alcohol tolerance he displayed last night at the feast was a great stepping stone for me.
“Where’s Master Lanus? Why don’t I see him?” Xu Yi asked.
“That brat Lanus has gone to see the head, he said that he had something to discuss. That’s right, I almost forgot, he said that you could go see the head after you woke up. How about it? Are you going now? But you just woke up, it’s better to eat something before you go.”
Xu Yi rubbed his stomach, it was indeed empty, so he nodded.
Camby brought out two pancakes made of unknown ingredients that Xu Yi quickly finished. Then he asked Camby to lead him to the meeting with the head.
The dwarven tribe Lanus came from was not especially big. According to what Camby said, there was only around five hundred people in the entire dwarven tribe.
Xu Yi estimated according to what he observed. There should be around one hundred adult male dwarves in the dwarven tribe.
This made him a bit disappointed. He planned on recruiting enough dwarven workers this time, but the adult males of this tribe only added up to around a hundred people. Even if everyone had the same level of skill as Master Lanus, it was still a bit lacking.
“Who told you that only adult male dwarves could forge?” The dwarven tribe chief Siluka gave a snort at Xu Yi’s question, “Let me tell you, we dwarves learn winemaking and forging as soon as we’re born. Even the little kids in our tribe are much better than those human blacksmiths!”
Seeing Siluka’s proud appearance and the approval of Master Lanus and Camby on the side, Xu Yi tactfully didn’t respond. He thought about it before saying, “Then respected sir tribe chief, can you allow me to hire some smithing masters from your tribe to help Master Lanus complete the work I’ve entrusted him?”
“Regarding your request, I’ve already discussed this with Lanus.” Siluka nodded, “Speaking logically, I don’t have a reason to stop you. But human, have you considered a problem? If a large group of people leave the tribe, it will greatly affect the lives of our tribe members who remain. Not to mention, how can you guarantee that the tribe members who work in your human factory will be able to live a good life and will obtain the rewards they deserve?”
Xu Yi looked over at Master Lanus and Lanus gave a slight nod.
Master Lanus had already mentioned this problem to Xu Yi on the way her, which is a problem that many dwarves tribes faced.
Although the races of the Sines continent lived in relative peace, they were still different races in the end and various kinds of problems will occur when living together.
For example, even if Master Lanus was a master blacksmith recognized in Banta City, because he is a dwarf, there are many difficulties for him living in Banta City.
Although this problem was only brought up by Siluka, these were the worries in the hearts of many dwarves.
It was because of these worries that caused the dwarves to gather together in little villages instead of choosing to live together with humans.
Xu Yi had long considered this and casually said, “Sir tribe chief can be assured, since I want to invite the dwarven friends to work for me, naturally I will solve all their problems. As for their daily needs, I have already discussed this with Master Lanus and I believe that Master Lanus has already mentioned this to you.”
“Un, he said that you want to assign a special area for the tribe members to live near your factory and you will take care of their board and daily necessities, this is very good. But what about the other aspects? Are you certain my tribe members won’t be disdained and oppressed by humans?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Sir tribe chief, I’ll tell you something I’m not willing to admit, which is that we humans care quite a bit about race. As long as the other side can bring benefits to us, then we can be friends with them and won’t have any scruples with them. I think you would agree to this point, right?”
Siluka gave a cold snort, “Of course I know this.”
“Since it’s like this, what scruples do you have? Look, Master Lanus is a very good example of this. Although he is a dwarf, because of his exceptional blacksmithing skills, he can bring many benefits to the people of Banta City and that naturally gains him the respect of many people in Banta City. Perhaps there are some difficulties with his life, but those don’t really inconvenience his life at all, right?”
Master Lanus laughed at the right time and said with a nod, “It is indeed like this. That group of fellows in Banta City don’t dare offend me. There are many things the human blacksmiths in Banta City can’t do and only I can do, so how could they possible cause trouble for me?”
Siluka considered this for a bit before saying, “Then that’s good, let’s not discuss this matter for now. You are taking a large group of our adults away, so what can the rest of the tribe members do? You have to know, even if we dwarves love wine and forging, we still need to keep living. Whether it is hunting or farming, we still need quite a few tribe members. If you take them away, it will greatly affect our tribe.”
“Sir tribe chief, I have a suggestion that I hope you will listen to.”
“Speak.”
“I am planning to build a research lab here and I hope the dwarven friends can help me research something. Of course, I will also send a set amount of research funds each month. As for the amount…..let’s set it at five hundred gold coins for now. If the lab comes up with and significant results, there will still be corresponding rewards. Sir tribe chief, what do you think of this suggestion?”
As his voice fell, the three dwarves on site were stunned.,
“Five hundred gold coins?” Master Lanus’ eyes popped out, “Xu Yi, why didn’t you tell me you wanted to build a research laboratory here before?”
“Research laboratory? Human, we dwarves only excel at forging, what do you want us to help you research?” As the tribe chief, Siluka was worried about something else.
“Please be assured, the things you are researching is related to forging, it’s mainly related to researching some forging materials. I’ve bought a research plan today, sir tribe chief, please take a look at it.” Xu Yi took out a piece of paper from his chest.
Siluka looked it over and was a bit stunned, “Steel allow? What is this thing?”
“The concrete details have all been written, sir tribe chief can slowly look it over.” Xu Yi replied with a smile, “Now, sir tribe chief, do you have any other questions? If there is anything you still aren’t satisfied with, please speak. As long as I can do it, I will definitely satisfy your request.”
Siluka and Master Lanus, as well as Camby looked at each other a few times before giving soft sighs, “Alright, human, I admit that I have been moved by your words. I basically agree with your condition and agree to you recruiting people in the tribe, but as for the concrete details, we still need to properly discuss them.”
Xu Yi revealed a happy smile and replied, “Of course.”