Ch 7. Zero Industrial Foundation.

"One thousand units?" Heinze who is lost for words, looks at Louise wide-eyed. Never in his wildest dreams would he expect that this man would place such a huge order.

Louise smiled, "Will you accept the order?"

"Of course I---" Heinze is going to accept the order, but when he realises he has no say in this, he quickly turns to Xuyi, trying to urge Xuyi on with his eyes to quickly say a big fat 'Yes'.

One thousand units, that is a 2000 gold sale! With a 10 percent commision, he will get 200 gold from such a transaction!

But he suddenly realises , if Louise orders directly from Xuyi, he has no business asking for a comission. Realising this, Heinze can't help feeling down.

Seeing Heinze's reactions, Louise instantly got the gist: the person who is really in charge of the magitech fans is this inconspicious-looking black-haired man. So, he turned to face him.

Xuyi, has a different take on this from Heinze's, an after a moment of consideration, he shakes his head.

"I am really sorry, I cannot accept this order."

Both Louise and Heinze are utterly surprised by his response, and Louise asks with a frown, "Why can't you? Are you worrying that I can't pay you? If you are, I can pay you the deposit right away." 

Louise takes out an exquisite looking piece of golden-hued paper, and handed it to Xuyi. "This is a 1000 gold bank note issued by the Chimera Chamber of Commerce, it is a currency accepted across Conaissance Continent, you can check it up."

"Chimera Chamber of Commerce's bank note!" Heinze cries out in surprise.

Chimera Chamber of Commerce is the largest trading organization on Conaissance Continent. It is reputedly backed by the royalty of Candela Empire, one of the two largest empires on Connaisance Continent, and holds immense economic influence, so naturally the bank notes they issued are accepted throught the continent.

This middle-aged man can casually produce a 1000 gold bank note, evidently this person is extremely wealthy. 

"It is not about the payment," said Xuyi coolly. "I have not the ability to guarantee the production of 1000 magitech fans, and even if I manage to, I can't guarantee its quality."

"Quality?" Louise looks at Xuyi surprised, and as if discovering something interesting, his smile widened, "Mr. Xuyi, if I offer to increase the price slightly, by 10 silver, making the price 2 gold and 10 silver, will you accept?"

Heinze's heart abruptly skips a beat.

Although a 10 silver increase doesn't seem much, but for an order of 1000 units, that is an increase of 10,000 silver, equivalent to 100 gold!

In the usual trading conventions, if someone orders in large quantities like Louise does, a merchant will offer a discount. But now, Louise initiates an increase in price. This is unheard of.

Yet, Xuyi firmly declined, "Dear Sir, I apologise again. But this is not the matter of pricing. For mechanical products, quality is of utmost importance. A low quality product can cause accidents, which can be terribly disastrous. And for this I have to decline."

"Disastrous?" Louise frowned deeply, unable to fully comprehend Xuyi's explanations.

Xuyi has no intention to clarify. So he only replied with a smile.

Back on Earth, countless mishaps had been caused by poorly manufactured goods and machines. So he does not want the same to happen on Conaissance Continent.

Perhaps he cannot avoid accidents from happening, but he is willing to give his utmost. This is the fundamental principle of a mechanical engineer.

Seeing Xuyi so determined, Louise sighs and withdraws his bank note. He then produces a plain-coloured, but equally exquisite-looking card and handed it to Xuyi.

"Mr Xuyi, it is nice making your acquaintance, this is my name card."

Xuyi accepts the name card, and at a glance, he finds that it bears only a name and an address, and nothing else. The address is of some place in Einweimar, the capital city of Lamparle Kingdom. But the exact location is unfamiliar to Xuyi.

"In case you change your mind, you can come to this address anytime. If you invent something else as novel as this magitech fan, I hope you will show it to me. I am sure we can think of a suitable form of cooperation."

Although the way he looks piercingly at Xuyi makes him uncomfortable, he is decent and polite, and not at all disagreeable. So Xuyi nods in agreement, and bids him a warm farewell.

After Louise's departure, Heinze asks for Louise's name card, and after just a glance, he exclaimed in surprise: "My Lord! Sloan Avenue! This man is a nobleman!

"Oh?" Xuyi looks at Heinze curious.

"You didn't know?" Heinze seems astonished to find Xuyi's ignorance of Sloan Avenue. "Sloan Avenue is where all the nobleman and aristrocrats reside. This Louise invites you to look for him there, his residence must be one of the mansions there!"

Xuyi does not really care if Louise is a noble or not. Besides he is just an acquaintance, that's all.

At the present stage, he does not need to be concerned with the nobility. Although he has successfully sold his first batch of magitech fan for a nett profit of over 400 gold, he still has lots to work on.

The production of magitech is still a haphazardly formed production model, and is plagued with uncertainties.

He currently relies fully on a random blacksmith and his colleagues to manufacture these magitech fans. At any moment, anyone of them might call it quits and the whole production will be jeopardised.

This is especially true of his colleagues whom he needs to continually produce all the sigils to power the magitech fans.

He is sure that his colleagues will continue to help him with the sigils as long as they are paid, but this cooperation is so loosely held together, that it may collapse at the slightest hiccup.

But when Xuyi asks them to sign an employment contract, all ten wizards declined.

Although they did not say it outright, but Xuyi is crystal clear that it is due to a wizard's restrain and self-respect.

Helping Xuyi with the sigils is just a form of freelance job, something to do after work to earn some extra money.

But signing an employment contract will make them Xuyi's employees, and this to a disrespect to their wizard's status, so is impossible to bear.

Although a magitech fan is related to magic, but since magic application is not taken highly by Conaissance's society, where this magitech fan is regarded as some metalware. Naturally they will be treated lightly by wizards.

Wizards aside, the blacksmiths needs working on too. Some important issues needs to be sorted out.

Despite having labeled the technical drawings thoroughly, and drawing the magitech plans to proportion, many of the final product did not conform to his demands and requirements.

If it isn't fortunate that the technical requirements of a magitech fan is not too rigid, he might have needed to send them back for a rework.

Of course Xuyi knows he is expecting too much of the blacksmiths.

Xuyi is accustomed to working with precision engineering which has accuracy down to the micrometres, but this is sadly not Earth, but a place of zero industrial knowledge. 

"There is so much to do." He let out a mighty sigh.

The next day, Xuyi goes to work as usual.

In the meanwhile, his social standing has changed quite a bit. Although his wizardry has not improved notably, but the ten colleagues who has worked together and has received quite some pay, is being friendlier towards Xuyi.

When he reaches the workplace, quite a few says their hellos and good mornings to him, and Xuyi returns them warmly. As he is reaching his desk, Venna suddenly appears beside him and smacks a sigil drawing onto his desk.

"Xuyi, I have finished analysing your sigil!"

Xuyi looks up in surprise, and sees that Venna is looking a little complacent. He looks down at the sigil laying on his table. It is the sigil used in the magitech fan---the redesigned Level 1 Whirlwind Sigil.

But on this copy of sigil drawing, Venna has labeled and annotated in great detail. Practically all connecting nodes are minutely analysed and are provided with explanatory notes.

Exactly as Venna said, looking from all the notes she had written, she has thoroughly studied the Sigil. Every annotation is detailed and complete, and easy to understand.

Even a wizard apprentice can throughly understand the Sigil by just studying Venna's notes.

Xuyu scanned through the notes and complimented generously, "Wow! Venna. You are really good at this!"

Venna snorts slightly to show her complacence, "It's just a low-level sigil, studying it is all easy-peasy."

Xuyi can easily read the condescending tones betwen the lines, but he does not take heart. He takes the Sigil drawing in his hands and asks, "Can you sell this to me?"

"What are you buying it for? Isn't the sigil your own work?" Venna asks surprised.

"I am flattered that you annotated the sigil in so much detail, so I want to buy it as a keepsake. Will you sell it to me?"

Venna did not expect Xuyi to react in such a way. But then she brushes it off, "At least you know your stuff. Forget it. I am not a miser like you, charging me 2 gold for some ugly fan. This paper is worthless, I won't charge you for it."

"Wow! Thanks a lot, then." Xuyi folds the study neatly and slips it into his bag.

Xuyi is very grateful for Venna's work. Her notes are godsent, and solves a great trouble for him. Later on, when he wishes to train a new employee to install this sigil onto the magitech fans, he no longer need to guide them by hand. He just need to let them read through Venna's notes, they will be close to mastering the reproduction of the sigil, saving him a great deal of work.

Just as Xuyi is about to start on his work, Stelvia comes through the door, and after a brief search, her eyes locks onto Xuyi.

"Xuyi, come with me, grandpa asks to see you."