Chapter 41 Interview test
As the factory became bigger and bigger, there were more and more things Xu Yi had to take care of. As that increased, the time he spent in the factory also increased, so there was a small room built to serve as an office.
Xu Yi received Akali and Evita in the office. After washing up, he poured some water for them before sitting down and seriously looking over them.
These two girls should be around the same age as Still. The one called Akali seemed more lively while the one called Evita seemed more gentle.
This could be seen from their attire.
Even though they both wore magic robes, Akali’s skirt length was as high as her knees, completely revealing her two little calves. It was clear that this had been specially altered.
Other than this, her magic robes were covered in all kinds of little decorations, making her entire person seem more sprightly.
In contrast, Evita’s magic robe was very traditional. It was very straight, reaching all the way down to her ankles, not being altered at all.
The only difference was that there was a little light blue flower on her chest, fully representing the fact that Evita was still a young girl.
While Xu Yi was looking over them, Akali and Evita were also curiously looking over him.
In the letter Still wrote to them, there had been quite a few descriptions about Xu Yi.
According to what Still said, this Xu Yi should be a “charming uncle”, but when the two first saw Xu Yi, they had seen this fellow covered in dirt. His face was so dirty that they couldn’t even clearly see what he looked like, how could they tell if he was handsome or not.
But after Xu Yi received them and went to wash his face, revealing his true appearance, the two of them agreed with Still’s appraisal.
Eh…...Accurately speaking, they agreed to the first half.
This Xu Yi was indeed quite handsome. His face was very neat, his eyes were bright, and his nose was straight, but he was clearly very young, he didn’t seem like he was that much older than them. How was he an uncle?
Compared to Akali who mainly focused on Xu Yi’s appearance, Evita was paying more attention to Xu Yi’s movements.
Evita believed that a person’s true nature could be seen from the tiniest movements they made.
So from the first moment she saw Xu Yi, Evita had been looking for these. She wanted to use the smallest movements to judge what kind of person Xu Yi was.
If he really was as good as he was in Still’s heart, then she would consider staying here to work.
Otherwise, even if it was Still that pulled them here, she could only say sorry.
The results of her observations had satisfied Evita.
When they first met a few minutes ago, Xu Yi had kept a bit of distance from the two of them because he had been covered in dirt to avoid making them dirty. Just this raised a bit of goodwill towards him in Evita.
After coming to this office, Xu Yi wasn’t in a rush to talk to the two of them. He first went into another small room to wash up and change into new clothes. This was a sign of respect to the two of them.
While he had been pouring water for the two of them, Evita had focused on his fingers. She found that not only were this man’s fingers slender, his fingernails were neatly trimmed, not leaving a bit outside at all, while also keeping his fingernails very clean. It could be seen that he had been very careful in cleaning himself just now.
Because of this, Evita’s appraisal of Xu Yi had increased by 10%.
Other than this, Evita was also paying attention to Xu Yi’s other movements.
A person’s walking pattern, the way they bent their waists or their arm, or even the small movements they made when they talked, all of these revealed a person’s real personality and were very hard to hide.
After Evita observed him for a period of time, her initial assessment of him was that this chairman Xu Yi should be a very careful person, but he was also a person with a frank personality.
“No wonder he could open a company and develop it this quickly.” Evita secretly praised in her heart, “Still held him in such high esteem, it really is because he has all these merits.”
“The two of you, can I ask you a question?” Xu Yi suddenly said.
“Ask all you want, we’ll answer all your questions.” Alkali said with a smile, “Of course, if chairman Xu Yi asks a bunch of extremely personal questions, don’t blame us for going back on our promise.”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, as he thought that this Akali truly was lively.
“This question is a bit personal because I wanted to ask, since you have graduated from the Lampuri Royal Magic Academy like Still, you should be considered magical talents among the kingdom’s youths. Why would you choose to come work in my place?”
“No, no, no, sir chairman, have you made a mistake? We are only taking a look, we haven’t said that we would work here.” Akali waved her hand as she spoke.
Evita gently nudged Akali, signaling her to restrain herself a bit.
No matter what, they had been invited here this time. Whether it was their travel expenses or meal fees, it had all been paid by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so they had to be a bit more polite to the other side.
Xu Yi didn’t mind at all as he laughed before continuing to say, “Good, then I’ll change my words. Since you are here, then you must be interested in the work here, right? I want to ask you now, what kind of things do I need to give to make the two of you stay?”
“Isn’t this simple? As long as you give us thirty gold coins a month as a salary, we will definitely stay without another word.” Akali openly replied.
Xu Yi shook his head, “I’m afraid I’m helpless there. Still is currently a member of the research lab and she is only make fifteen gold coins per month, I can’t just give you twice the salary she makes as soon as you start.”
“Sir chairman, don’t listen to her nonsense.” Evita finally couldn’t help speaking up, “Still has already clearly explained your conditions for us in her letter. We came this time because we wanted to see what kind of work you had for us here. If we feel the work is suitable for us, we should choose to remain here.”
This time it was Akali’s turn to stare at Evita.
This fellow, what was she doing lowering their stance so low? Wouldn’t they be at the mercy of this chairman in a while?
“Work contents? I have a few blueprints here, take a look to see if you can understand the content of this work.” Xu Yi took a few blueprints off the table of the office and gave it to the two of them.
Akali and Evita curiously took the blueprints and looked over them. She found that there were some Magic Arrays drawn on the paper.
But they were different from the Magic Arrays they had studied in the Lampuri Royal Magic Academy. These Magic Arrays were only rough designs and there were requests written on the side of the designs.
For example, the blueprint that was currently in Evita’s hand. It used to be a Revolving Wind Array, but there were three requests on the design.
One was to lower the wind speed of this Revolving Wind Array. The second one was to stabilize the Magic Crystal usage of the array for at least ten hours. The third was to ensure that the wind produced by this array remained stable.
The three requests seemed very simple, but when Evita carefully looked it over, she couldn’t help knitting her brows.
Changing a Magic Array wasn’t that difficult of a matter, Evita was confident in taking care of any one of these three requests. However, adding them up together, she felt it was quite difficult.
“Sir chairman, does Still normally alter Magic Arrays based on these requirements?” Evita asked Xu Yi.
“Un, pretty much. Of course, normally I’m the one who comes up with the requests and we research how to make the changes together.” Xu Yi said, “Take a look at these designs, can you see any changes that need to be made?”
Evita and Akali looked at each other. This should be his test for the two of them.
They didn’t hesitate at all as they took the papers from Xu Yi and began to study them.
Seeing how focused the two of them were, Xu Yi revealed a smile. He filled the cups in front of them and spoke up to give them notice before leaving the office, letting the two of them study in this quiet space.
Outside the office, there was a large building in the empty space that was previously there.
Other than the Magic Fan factory that was made in the beginning, there was an even larger round building that was built out of stone.
This was the workshop the dwarves normally worked in to research and produce magic machines.
When they built this workshop at first, Heinz was very confused because he didn’t understand what magic machines meant. He didn’t know what it was to be used for at all.
But after Xu Yi signed the agreement with chairman Farsak, selling the five magic machines to him, Heinz immediately changed his attitude.
This was because according to what Xu Yi said, the price of those five magic machines didn’t even add up to twenty seven gold coins, but he had sold them to chairman Farsak for an entire two hundred gold coins!
There was an eight times profit earned from that!
Not to mention that they were just beginning to make magic machines. If those magic machines ever needed repairs of spare parts, chairman Farsak would have to work with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He even needed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s help in training people to work those magic machines.
They would also charge money for this matter. As for the price…..Even Heinz who thought that he had a black heart, after he read the contract, he felt that Xu Yi was too black.
Xu Yi only had a few words in response to this.
“There’s no other way, this is the power of a monopoly.”
Even though it was like this, chairman Farsak was satisfied in his discussions with Xu Yi. He even thought that he had gotten quite a cheap deal out of this.
As for Heinz, he couldn’t only give an emotional sigh in his heart. This fellow Xu Yi, his talent for making money was not something he could match.
Because these five magic machines had earned such a large profit, the magic machine workshop was filled with excitement.
The dwarves that received this praise and encouragement felt like they were heated up from within. Other than sleeping and eating each day, they were always inside the workshop, doing their best to complete the task Xu Yi assigned them.
Of course, the biggest reason was Xu Yi’s promise. As long as they finished the Magic Harvester, each person would be rewarded with one gold coin.
Chapter 42 Material limitations
When Xu Yi walked into the magic machine workshop, all the hundred dwarves in the workshop were working hard.
These hundred dwarves were all responsible for different kinds of work. A part of them was to continue producing Magic Thread Rolling Machines and other magic machines used to produce the Magic Fan. Another part of them was responsible for researching how to forge the new Magic Harvester Xu Yi had assigned them.
At this time, the research emphasis was placed on the Magic Harvester.
After his conversation with Viscount Leslie last time, Xu Yi believed that farming technology had large prospects on the Sines Continent, so he immediately began researching it as soon as he came back.
Also because they were about to enter the fall harvest season, Xu Yi goal right now was to produce a small scale harvester.
The research was divided into two different aspects. One was Xu Yi and Still studying a Magic Array that would be used as the core driving force for the harvester. The other portion was the dwarves researching how to forge the outer structure of the harvester.
The work that Xu Yi was responsible for was the most important, he had to perfectly combine the Magic Array with the structure of the harvester. To do this, he needed large amounts of practical data to support him. For this, he had been running between the research laboratory outside and inside Banta City for the past few days.
Hard work definitely had its payout. After this period of research, the small Magic Harvester had already taken form. In this laboratory, the dwarves responsible for researching magic machines had already made a harvester that was almost the same as one on earth and now they were just fixing all the bugs.
When they saw Xu Yi come in, Camby who had been appointed the manager of the workshop came over.
“Hey, Xu…...Oh, no, chairman, did you come here to see the Magic Harvester?” Camby raised his stubby arm to greet Xu Yi,
“Alright, Camby, just call me by my name.” Xu Yi nodded with a smile, “That’s right. Didn’t you see all the wheat in the Lord Viscount’s fields turning yellow? It seems like they’ll begin harvesting it in less than a month. If we don’t hurry up and finish this Magic Harvester by the time the wheat matures, we’Lloyd have to wait at least another half a year.”
“Relax, the brothers have been working hard overtime these past few days. Looks, this thing has already been made, but there are still some small bugs with it, otherwise it could already be used.”
“Finding the problems now is better than problems appearing when using it.”
Xu Yi and Camby went over to the dwarves who were testing out the Magic Harvester. After asking some question, he found that the problem they had now was that after using the machine at high speeds for a while, there would be the situation where it wouldn’t run as smoothly.
There was no need to investigate at all, Xu Yi already knew what it was. It is certainly because of the bearings breaking down.
As expected, once he opened it for a look, there were scratch marks on the line shaft of Magic Harvester, causing several dents to appear in it. This would naturally affect the rotation.
Xu Yi was actually helpless about this because this was completely an issue with the material of the bearing.
Because the iron smelting technology on the Sines Continent was limited, steel alloy that was wear resistant and stretchable hasn’t appeared right now.
Whether it was using white iron or grey iron, it clearly wasn’t enough to build this kind of bearing that needed to withstand this kind of high speed rotation.
Although the Magic Fan from before also needed to withstand high speed rotations, the driving force of the Magic Fan wasn’t that strong, so the pressure wasn’t too strong. Just using simple iron to build it was enough to withstand it. But when it came to the Magic Harvester, it was very easy for problems to occur with this machine that needed a strong driving force.
Xu Yi couldn’t solve this material problem right now. He carefully thought about it and could only come up with a compromise. He had the dwarves install an iron roller on the bearing. This would reduce the effect of the rubbing and allow the bearing to live a bit longer.
Of course, this would also weaken the output power. So, Xu Yi had no choice but to consider changing the Magic Array to allow the Magic Array to release enough power.
“Ai, speaking of this, the industrial system of the continent is just too weak. If it was like on earth where there were ten different kinds of steel alloys, would there be such troubles?” Looking at the dwarves who had begun working hard because of his one little modification, Xu Yi couldn’t help shaking his head and secretly sighing.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi naturally thought about his material research laboratory in the dwarves’ village.
Although he had promised the five hundred gold coins each month in research expenses for the hundred dwarven masters, he still had a trace of hope in his heart.
If the dwarves of the tribe could make a breakthrough in this material research, the five hundred gold coins a month would be worth it.
Of course, as a mechanical engineer specialist, Xu Yi knew that there wouldn’t be sudden progress in researching materials. They could only make improvements bit by bit, they couldn’t rush this matter at all.
“Forget it, the so called engineering master only exists to solve this matter. When you need to solve problems in limited situations, that is where people like me have value.” Thinking of this, Xu Yi psyched himself up according to his habits.
He then considered that because of this small change, he would have to make corresponding changes with the Magic Array. When he thought of the Magic Array, Xu Yi naturally thought of the two girls who were currently working in his office.
“This is bad, I was only focused on the work here, I almost forgot the two of them.” Xu Yi slapped his thigh. He pulled Camby over to say a few things before leaving the workshop and rushing back to the office.
“Sorry, I was busy with other stuff…..” When Xu Yi opened the door to the office, he wanted to apologize, but he found Akali and Evita sprawled over the table, completely focused on making the changes to the Magic Array according to the test he gave them. He immediately stopped talking.
Xu Yi stood by the door for a while. Akali was probably a bit tired, so she stretched herself out and she finally noticed Xu Yi.
“Yi? Sir chairman, when did you come back?” Akali asked in a surprised voice.
Hearing Akali say this, Evita was also surprised and looked over at Xu Yi.
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “It’s been a while, but seeing how focused the two of you were, I couldn’t bother you.”
“What bother.” Akali reached out her little fist to tap his head and complained, “Sir chairman, the blueprints you gave us really is troublesome. Evita and I have thought about it for a while and we haven’t even finished a single sheet. Would you think that we are too stupid since we can’t even solve these problems?”
“How could that be?” Xu Yi laughed, “To be honest with you, I spent several days thinking about these problems in the beginning before solving them. If you were able to solve all these problems in such a short amount of time, would you believe that I would use a salary of a hundred gold coins a month to keep you here?”
Akali couldn’t help rolling her eyes at Xu Yi, “You clearly knew we couldn’t do it and you deliberately used this large salary to wet our appetite.”
Evita paid attention to another matter, “Sir chairman, you mean that these designs are already problems that you have solved? Then…...Can you let me see the method for solving this?”
Xu Yi shook his head, “I’m afraid I can’t because the final solution is currently a secret for our company. We can’t easily let others see it.”
Evita gave a disappointed sigh and her head went down.
“Of course, if you officially join our company, it won’t be a secret to you anymore.” Xu Yi said with a smile.
Akali said in a dejected voice, “Sir chairman, the designs you gave us are already this difficult, would you even let us join your company even if we wanted to?”
“That is not certain.” Xu Yi shook his head with a faint smile, “Can you let me see your solutions first?”
Taking the sheets from the two of them, Xu Yi seriously looked them over and he couldn’t help nodding in satisfaction.
Even if the two of them didn’t give a complete answer, based on the thoughts they had written on the paper, Xu Yi was certain that they had graduated from the Lampuri Royal Magic Academy. They had a very high understanding of magic and the thoughts they had were already on a very high level, even coming very close to the final solution Xu Yi had.
Based on the thoughts the two had, one could see that there was a difference in personality between the two of them.
When comparing them, Akali’s thoughts were more active, acting in an unconstrained manner. There were some very bold ideas in her method, which could even be considered fantasies.
As for Evita, she was much more traditional, but it could be see that she had a very solid foundation. Every step of her solution was very solid and her overall idea was close to perfection.
If Evita was given enough time, he believed that she would be able to create a real solution in the end.
After looking over these papers, Xu Yi was very happy.
Although these two classmates of Still weren’t powerful magicians, it was as Still said, the two of them were competent enough to finish the work in the lab right now.
If they were recruited and adding in Still, Xu Yi would have three reliable helpers. It would definitely greatly increase the efficiency of his magic research.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi put down the papers and looked into their expectant eyes. He revealed a refreshing smile and said, “I have to say, you two are truly outstanding, completely fulfilling the requirements for working in our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic research lab. I have a serious question for the two of you right now, are you willing to join the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?”