Chapter 15 Everyone has ambitions
“Look, these two Magic Arrays should be further apart. This way, the two Magic Arrays can work together on this node and the two Magic Arrays won’t affect each other.”
“You need to pay attention here, you have to look over each socket, there can’t be a single mistake. Otherwise, a spring will be stuck when the piano starts and it can’t continue working.”
“That’s right, what song did you decide on? Different songs have different keys, so the Magic Arrays are also different, it needs to be set beforehand.”
“No, no, no, you can’t do this here, you will destroy the entire model……”
…...
The Camilla Magic Tower was silent after work, but Xu Yi’s voice kept ringing out in the lab he was in.
He was following through with his agreement, teaching Still how to build her model piano after work.
Still’s talent in magic was as good as the rumour said. Xu Yi only needed to explain the principle of the two Wind Attributed Magic Arrays of this model and she could easily replicate it.
But when it came to model design and building the model, Still could only honestly listen to Xu Yi’s instructions.
It was a good thing Still was diligent and naturally intelligent. Xu Yi didn’t need to waste that much effort before she learned the main points.
After using around a week’s worth of rest time after work, Still’s model piano had already taken its basic form. Now they only needed to make a few more precise adjustments.
With the current speed, it would take no more than three more days. They could definitely finish it before the birthday of Still’s friend.
“Ka——”
Still pressed gently and a sound came from the model. The piano lid fit perfectly with the base.
“Hu——” Still let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off her face, “Alright!”
“Un…..Not bad.” Xu Yi nodded, “You’ve grasped the main points of the model, the rest you can complete by yourself. If there is any adjustment you don’t understand, you can as me later.”
“Un.” Still replied, turning to reveal a smile at Xu Yi, “Xu Yi, thank you for patiently teaching me. Later, I’ll treat you to another meal.”
Xu Yi looked at the sky outside and shook his head, “I’m afraid I can’t today, I have a meeting with someone else tonight. I have other things to do.”
“Oh?” Still was a bit disappointed. She thought about it before asking, “That’s right, Xu Yi, I always wanted to ask you, why did you reject my grandfather’s invitation? You should know, there are many young magicians who give their all to being grandfather’s disciple. Moreover, grandfather has secretly praised you several times in front of me, saying that your talent in magic is very high. As long as you focus on studying magic, it is very likely you’ll become a Great Magician in the future.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Many thanks for his excellency Great Magician’s praise, but please tell his excellency that it isn’t because I don’t want to become his disciple. Only, there are too many other things to do and I’m afraid I won’t have enough time to study magic with him, so I can only turn down his goodwill.”
“Why?” Still knit her brows and asked in a confused voice, “Even my grandfather has praised you for your high talent in magic and I can see in these past few days that your talent in magic is indeed high, perhaps even greater than mine. Why aren’t you willing to properly study magic? Could it be because of that Magic Fan? I’ve heard that you’ve been focused on studying that during this period.”
Xu Yi thought about it and asked a question back, “Still, what do you think of the Magic Fan?”
“Me?” Still pointed at herself and honestly thought about it before slowly answering, “I feel that it is very interesting because it’s very rare to see magic being put to use in daily life and it is very well designed. To be honest, I admire you quite a bit. But Xu Yi, you should be clear that a magician’s status on the Sines Continent depends on his strength. Even if you design a hundred Magic Fans and your magic power isn’t that strong, you still won’t have any status. Your magic talent is that good, I urge you to focus on studying magic. As long as you become a Great Magician, I promise you that everyone will applaud and praise you when you design a Magic Fan.”
“You’re saying this like everyone feels the Magic Fan is a bad thing…..” Xu Yi couldn’t help muttering in a low voice. Seeing Still’s honest expression, he gave a cough and seriously said, “Still, I understand what you are talking about, but each person’s thoughts and pursuits are different. Perhaps most magicians feel that their magic power is the most important, but I am not the same. I’ve always felt that magic is a tool. Magicians can use magic to destroy, so why can’t they use it to build? We have reasons to use magic in many parts of our daily lives and if we can improve everyone’s lives with magic, isn’t that good?”
“This…..” Still hesitated, “You’re right, but…...But if a magician isn’t strong enough, they will miss many……”
“Who says that studying magical machinery won’t raise my strength?” Xu Yi suddenly revealed a strange smile. He raised his right hand and activated his magic, creating a small cream coloured tornado in his hand that was visible to the naked eye.
“Miniature Tornado Spell!” Still called out in shock, “This is a Third Grade Magic Spell, only Third Grade Magicians can use this kind of spell! Xu Yi, I remember that during the interview, you said that you hadn’t passed the Magicians Guild’s certification exam!”
“Didn’t pass doesn’t mean I can’t pass.” Xu Yi said with a smile, “Of course, my magic power during the interview couldn’t compare to my magic power now. Back then, I was still in the middle of the First and Second Grade Magician Rank.”
“Your meaning is that…...In just two months, you became a Third Grade Magician?” Still was even more shocked, “Isn’t this too exaggerated? You…..Your talent in magic is actually this high? I thought you normally didn’t have that much time to research magic!”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “You can’t just raise your magic power by focusing on studying magic. While studying magical machinery, I am also focusing on studying Magic Arrays. Studying Magic Arrays is also equal to studying magic, so it isn’t strange that it can raise magic power. Still, when focusing on building this model piano during the past few days, didn’t you find that your magic power has increased because of it?”
Still tilted her head to think before nodding, “Un, I feel that my understanding of Wind Attributed Magic has deepened. But…..it isn’t as exaggerated as you.”
“That is because I am a genius.” Xu Yi gave a shrug, boasting as he spoke.
Still rolled her eyes at him and couldn’t help saying, “Since you are a genius, why don’t you focus on studying magic? With your talent, there is a very large chance of you becoming a Great Magician.”
“I already said it, everyone has their own ambitions.” Xu Yi said with a relaxed expression. He looked up to cut Still off from trying to convince him otherwise and looked at the sky outside before saying, “Alright, Still, we’ll end here today. I’ll remember your offer to treat me to a meal, when I remember it in the future, you can’t forget about it.”
“Humph, petty.” Still pouted her lips.
Xu Yi laughed before putting away his things and walking out.
When he came out of the Magic Tower, he saw someone in the distance quickly walk over.
Xu Yi was very familiar with that figure, it was Heinz.
Seeing how rushed Heinz looked, Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling.
Since Xu Yi gave Heinz 20% of the stocks, he was like a car that gained more horsepower and he drove off at full force. Not only did he take the job to supervise the factory, he completely took over the production, transport, and sales channels for the Magic Fan. He was entirely like a smart and competent manager.
As for his small general store, he had already completely handed it over to his nephew Alex.
Although Heinz was not someone who had experience and creativity, he was a good person and wasn’t afraid of working hard. He was very organized when taking care of things, so it could be said he was very suited to this kind of work.
Of course, the dividends brought by the 20% was the greatest driving force for this kind of effort.
“Hey, Heinz, why did you come looking for me today? You’re even this anxious……” Xu Yi had just raised his hand to greet him when he was suddenly shocked.
Heinz had come over at this time. Xu Yi was surprised to find that he looked very serious, so solemn that he seemed like he would drip out water at any moment.
Xu Yi’s heart skipped a beat.
This was because since they hired the thirty Baron Rickto Magic Academy students to draw the Magic Arrays, the production of the first generation Magic Fans hadn’t stopped during this time. The sales had been as high as usual, selling over a thousand of them in just a short week.
This brought Xu Yi over seven hundred gold coins in net profits and also two hundred gold coins for Heinz who had a 20% share. Heinz’s mood had been good the entire time, always having a smile whenever he met Xu Yi, like he had just drank honey.
This was his first time seeing him with such an ugly expression.
“Could it be that something happened?”
Thinking of this, Xu Yi quickly walked over.
Without Xu Yi even asking him, Heinz said in a small voice, “Xu Yi, this is bad, something has happened!”
Seeing how anxious Heinz was, Xu Yi patted his shoulder to tell him to calm down.
“Don’t be anxious, what happened? Tell me slowly?”
Heinz took a few deep breaths and calmed down after a while. He looked around before moving close to Xu Yi, whispering in a deep voice, “There has been imitations of the Magic Fan!”
Chapter 16 - Brand
Xu Yi looked at the Magic Fan that was almost exactly the same on the table. After looking over it for a while, he reached out his hand to press the switch.
The Magic Fan stopped for a few seconds before the fan blades began to rotate slowly. After a while there was a cool breeze that was blown out.
Xu Yi stood in front of the fan to feel the breeze and gave a slight nod, “Un, not made, it’s quite cool.”
Heinz on the side became anxious, reaching out to turn off the Magic Fan. He began panting out of anxiety, “It’s already like this and you have the mind to praise it? Quickly think of a way! Let me tell you, there isn’t just this one thing. I’ve had people investigate this for me and there aren’t that many in Banta City, but there are many imitations outside the city!”
“Did you investigate where the imitations came from?”
“No.” Heinz was instantly discouraged.
“No need to investigate.” Xu Yi waved his hand, “There is no use even if you find out.”
“What do you mean no use! We can tell…..” After saying this, Heinz suddenly stopped.
This was because he suddenly remembered that for products, not to mention the Lampuri Kingdom, even the entire Sines Continent didn’t have a law that protected them against imitations. Even if he found the person making the Magic Fan imitations, it was impossible to depend on the kingdom’s laws to punish that person. The kingdom might even reprimand him for being too nosy.
“Have you realized it?” Seeing Heinz’s expression, Xu Yi knew he understood the main point, “Actually when I was designing this Magic Fan, I had already thought of this.”
This was not just Xu Yi deceiving Heinz, when he was designing the Magic Fan, he had already done his research. He was certain that the Sines Continent was exactly as he thought, there was nothing like patents and there wasn’t a need to mention something like product protection.
So he was already certain a long time ago that Magic Fan imitations would appear because the technology in this thing wasn’t at a high level, so it wasn’t hard to imitate it at all.
“Since you have already thought of this, do you have a way to prevent it? Do we really have to watch these sneaky fellows copy us? Xu Yi, you should be clear on this, each one they sell means one less we sell. That means we will be earning one less sparkling gold coin!”
“Alright, no need to be excited.” Xu Yi raised his hand to press him down, signaling to Heinz to calm down, “Relax, since I have already thought of this, I have already prepared a way to stop it. Come, take a look.”
Xu Yi casually grabbed one of the Magic Fans he made and pointed at the base of the fan for Heinz.
“What?” Heinz felt this was strange.
“Do you see this symbol?” Xu Yi pointed at a circular icon above the switch at the base of the Magic Fan, “Here, this is the brand logo that I’ve designed for our Magic Fan.”
Heinz knit his brows to look at this half a wing inside a circle and asked in a confused voice, “What use is this thing? The brand logo you mentioned…..what does it mean?”
“This…...You can consider it a badge, a unique one that one that is only on the Magic Fans that we produce. I have already given an application to the kingdom’s Royal Parliament to have this as a badge. Without our approval, anyone who uses this badge will be severely punished by the Royal Parliament.” Xu Yi explained.
“Applied for a badge from the Royal Parliament?” Heinz’s eyes popped out as he looked at Xu Yi with a shocked look, “My god! You actually made an application to the Royal Parliament for a little badge? You…..Wait, what grade badge did you apply for?”
Xu Yi smiled as he stretched out three fingers.
“Pa!” Heinz slapped his hand to his head and painfully said, “Although the Royal Parliament is less demanding on applications now, but a third grade badge…..Just because of this, we have to pay three hundred gold coins each year to the Royal Parliament?”
“Un, it is indeed that much. Actually the Royal Parliament isn’t accommodating enough. They will only allow me to raise the badge’s level if I pay enough for a year, otherwise I would have directly raised it to the platinum grade.”
“Platinum badge?” Heinz suddenly raised his voice and shouted out, “That costs one thousand gold coins each year! You must be crazy!”
“No, I’m very sane.” Xu Yi had Heinz sit down while giving him a cup of tea, “This badge, actually it is the only thing that I could think of that would protect us right now. With the protection of this badge, we can imprint this badge onto each Magic Fan that we make. As for other people, they can imitate the Magic Fan, but out of fear of the Royal Parliament’s laws, they wouldn’t dare put the same badge onto the Magic Fans they make.”
Heinz drank a mouthful of tea and shook his head, “I still don’t understand what you mean. Even if we have this extra badge, what use would that have?”
“There are many uses!” Xu Yi confidently said, “This badge can be used to differentiate the Magic Fans we produce and those imitations and that difference will become our brand!”
Heinz was still astonished, “What about a brand? Can it be eaten?”
Xu Yi shook his head. To want to explain the value of a brand to the people of this world was a bit advanced.
Moreover, it was very hard for people to understand with just this thing. People could only understand if they ever saw a concrete example.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi waved his hand at Heinz.
“Hey, Heinz, does Banta City have any…...Eh…..Anything like a newspaper?”
Afaylia’s father was very angry.
To an old hunter who relied on hunting to make a living, two gold coins was half a month’s income from hunting in the mountains. Normally, he wouldn’t be willing to spend such a large amount at once.
If it wasn’t because his beloved grandson had fainted because of the heat in the past two days, he wouldn’t have made up his mind to buy an expensive Magic Fan.
Although this Magic Fan was indeed pretty good, sending out a cool breeze at first. It made his grandson smile from ear to ear, but…..damn! This damn Magic Fan only turned for two days before it stopped turning!
Afaylia’s father bought several pieces of Magic Crystals for this, but no matter which crystal they used, the Magic Fan wouldn’t turn at all.
Seeing his little grandson’s face flushed red because of how hot it was, Afaylia’s father couldn’t take it anymore. He took the Magic Fan in one hand and entered Banta City.
The person who sold him the Magic Fan had said that he bought this Magic Fan from a store called Heinz’s General Store in Banta City. Now that there was a problem with the Magic Fan, he couldn’t find that damn merchant, so there shouldn’t be any problem looking for this Heinz’s General Store.
Afaylia’s father didn’t come to Banta City often, he spent some time in the city before he found that Heinz’s General Store. However, when he arrived at Heinz’s General Store, he was stunned.
This was because the general store’s entrance was filled with people. With a casual look, it was over a hundred people.
What made Afaylia’s father even more curious was that these people all had Magic Fans in their hands.
“Hey, young man, what is going on? Why are there so many people here?” Afaylia’s father curiously pulled out a young man from the crowd and asked him.
The young man looked at Afaylia’s father and seeing the Magic Fan in his hand, he immediately revealed a look of understanding.
“Old man, is your Magic Fan broken?”
“That’s right, what? Is everyone here like me?”
“That’s right! This damn profiteer!” The young man spat on the ground, “I resolved my heart to buy a Magic Fan, but it stopped turning after using it for just one night! It caused me to sweat all night and I couldn’t fall asleep at all!”
The young man’s voice was very loud and the people beside him clearly heard him, so they all agreed with him.
“That’s right, it was also like this for my Magic Fan. It stopped turning after just a single night, it didn’t work even after I changed the Magic Crystal.”
“Mine is a bit better than yours. I used it for two days, but it stopped working when I took it out today at noon.”
“It seems like I’m the most unlucky. I only used it for less than two hours and was just feeling good when it suddenly stopped. Damn, I spent a whole three gold coins on this !”
“Ah? You spent three gold coins? Isn’t it only two gold coins?”
“Two? Why did that damn profiteer want three from me?”
“You’ve been scammed……”
…...
Hearing the discussions of the people around him, Afaylia’s father was actually a bit comforted.
If it was only his Magic Fan that had a problem, the profiteer might never admit it and his problem wouldn’t be easily solved.
Now that all these people had a problem, if this damn profiteer wasn’t willing to solve it, it would cause the public to be enraged.
While they were thinking, the doors of Heinz’s General Store slowly squeaked open.
Everyone immediately came forward.
“Hey, my Magic Fan is broken. Can you fix it?”
“Mine is also broken! I want to exchange for another one!”
“That’s right! Directly exchange it!”
“Profiteer! Father spent a whole two gold coins and it broke in just a single day! Be wary that father might report you for this!”
…...
When the general store’s door opened, Heinz came out with a somewhat strange look.
Seeing the excited crowd, Heinz was very surprised.
“This, Xu Yi, how did he know that this would happen today?”
The discussion he had with Xu Yi last night flashed in his mind. Heinz raised his hand before slapping it down and saying in a loud voice, “Everyone calm down, let’s slowly discuss this if there is a problem! I am this store’s owner, Heinz! If there is a problem with my store, I will definitely solve this problem for everyone!”
“You say you’ll solve it? Good, then let me tell you, I bought this Magic Fan from your store and it broke only after one day! What are you going to do?” A large man said in a loud voice.
“What can you do, compensate us! Something worth two gold coins, how can it break so easily!” Another person shouted out.
“That’s right! Compensation!”
“Even if you don’t compensate it, you have to repair it for me! The tigress in my house hates this heat!”
…...
“Everyone calm down!” Heinz shouted out again and pressed down everyone’s voice. Looking around, he pointed at the loudest large man and said, “Let me see your Magic Fan.”
The large man gave the Magic Fan to Heinz. With so many people watching, he wasn’t worried that Heinz would dare to deceive him.
Who would have thought that after Heinz looked at it for a bit, he would shake his head, “I’m sorry, this Magic Fan wasn’t sold by us. I can’t solve your problem.”
“Ha? What kind of joke is this?” Seeing Heinz actually rejecting him, the large man instantly flew into a rage, “I’ve already asked around, only your store sells Magic Fans in Banta City. If it wasn’t sold by you, could it have fallen out of the sky?”
“That’s right, there is no other store that sells this other than yours, do you dare not admit that?”
“This bastard wants to cheat us!”
“Profiteer! Beat him to death!”
…...
Seeing the crowd swelling up, Heinz was a bit fearful. After taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and shouted, “This Magic Fan indeed was not sold by us because there isn’t our brand on it!”