The Capital City of Yader, Brave Street, Southern District.

Karien sat by the window on the second floor of his rented house, reading documents while writing letters.

The factory was in the early stages of construction, but what exactly it would produce still depended on market demand.

And the capital city, without a doubt, was the largest market.

To make big money, one had to identify the right demand.

So, Karien spent two days conducting research within the capital city.

Afterward, he pinpointed his target audience and set a clear direction.

Putting down his pen, Karien sent out the dozen or so letters he had written through Archi.

For the past week, Karien had been sending letters via Archi.

The recipients were ordinary residents of the capital.

Karien presented himself as the bishop of the Mechanical God Sect, explaining the sect's philosophy and inviting these residents to join in pursuit of wealth and equality.

In simpler terms, it was advertising.

Of course, so far, Karien hadn’t received a single response.

To most people, the Mechanical God Sect was something they had never heard of, so they found it hard to believe the contents of the letters.

But that didn’t matter. What Karien wanted was for them to simply be aware that such an organization existed.

Many times, information is absorbed subtly, without direct awareness.

The purpose of most advertisements isn’t to make people buy immediately; it’s just to plant the name of a brand in their minds.

When the need for such a product arises in the future, the impression left by the advertisement will push them to prioritize that brand.

So, by sending out a large number of letters, Karien’s goal was to ensure that the residents of the capital would remember the Mechanical God Sect.

To further strengthen the impression, Karien even designed a gear logo and made it into a stamp, imprinting it on each letter in a prominent spot.

Of course, up to this point, the residents only had a vague impression of the Mechanical God Sect.

But Karien didn’t mind if they thought the sect was a third-rate organization.

With continuous exposure, it wouldn’t take long before they would become accustomed to hearing about the so-called Mechanical God Sect.

When the time came and Karien began selling magical products under the name of the sect, the residents wouldn’t be unfamiliar with it. In fact, they might even start discussing what kind of products the Mechanical God Sect was selling.

At first, the discussions might not be positive, but at least the attention would gradually grow.

As the attention increased, they would inevitably start paying more attention to the products themselves.

By then, Karien could leverage the quality of the products to change their impression of the Mechanical God Sect and use that to establish the sect as a legitimate organization.

This was a strategy that had been used countless times in the information age Karien came from, by businessmen and media alike.

But here, no one had used it yet.

The fruits of the efforts of the past generations were now ready for the next to harvest.

In the information age, there were plenty of strategies Karien could draw on for inspiration.

Of course, at the end of the day, it all came down to the products themselves.

After careful consideration, Karien decided to start with everyday items.

Though magic was widespread in this world, it was mostly used for military purposes, with very few civilian applications.

This gave Karien an opening.

For instance, a simple product like a fan could be created with a minor "Wind Rejection" magic.

Combined with the "Frost Mist" magic from the Water Element, it could be transformed into an air conditioner.

Additionally, a light bulb could be made with just a basic Light Element magic.

The dozen letters he had written were aimed at merchants who might need cooling or lighting products, with the intention of getting their attention in advance. When the products were ready, he could sell directly to them.

...

Once the direction was set, Karien drew up a bunch of blueprints and gave them to Brask, instructing him to ensure the basic construction of the valley factory was completed before they began developing new products.

He also gave Brask the authority to recruit more people from Iron Mountain Town and other nearby towns to work on the valley factory’s construction.

At the same time, Karien set up a recording group within the Red Leaf Academy, organizing theoretical students to teach them how to use Essence Stones to inscribe new magical formations.

Karien called the inscribed Essence Stones "Magic Chips."

A complete magical product consisted of both the structure and the chip.

Both the factory construction and student training were progressing simultaneously, but both required significant time and effort.

After about a month of busy work, the valley factory had its basic buildings completed.

The production process was set up with division of labor and an assembly line, as per Karien's instructions.

During this month, under Karien's guidance, the recording group was also able to independently inscribe the magic chips for both the air conditioner and the light bulb.

To prevent others from replicating the logical formations on the magic chips, Karien had deliberately added some unnecessary patterns to obscure the visible design.

Of course, this precaution was just for future planning. At present, it was unlikely that anyone could understand the logic behind the formations.

Even after a month of direct instruction, the students still hadn’t grasped the principles of the logical formations.

They were mostly just copying the patterns Karien provided and inscribing them accurately.

...

"This is a magic air conditioner?"

Red Leaf Academy, Indoor Training Ground.

Mia and Jack, along with others, curiously circled around a one-meter-high metal box.

"It feels so cool! This is the 'Frost Mist' magic, right?"

Mia and Jack were part of a practical combat group and had been training hard for the past month. They knew that Karien and the recording group had been working on some magical devices, but they didn’t know exactly what they were making.

It wasn’t until today that they saw the product for the first time.

"There are a few buttons on it. Try pressing one," Karien said with a smile, standing to the side.

Following his instructions, Mia reached out and pressed the "+" button.

Soon, she felt the airflow from the magic air conditioner increase and the air grew even colder.

"This is amazing. Is someone hidden inside it, or is someone controlling the strength of the formation?"

As a Magic Master, Mia understood that the strength of every magical formation was controlled by the caster’s mental energy, adjusting the ratio of elements.

But this magic air conditioner didn’t require mental energy to control the formation’s power.

Karien laughed. "Although this magic air conditioner is amazing, it’s just for adjusting temperature and making life more comfortable. It won’t have much impact on your graduation assessments."

"Mainly, it’s meant to make money!" Karien thought to himself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

After turning off the air conditioner, Karien pulled out another wooden box, opened it, and said,

"What can help you all, is this..."

"The Combat Suit K5!"

During this month, aside from guiding the recording group in developing magic chips, Karien also spent time improving the combat suits.

He went through four versions before he was somewhat satisfied with the K5 series.

Compared to the previous crude jetpack, the K5's jet devices were much more refined and included additional functions.

Of course, just like with the magic air conditioner, most of the K5 suit’s design was based on Karien’s blueprints, which were then fabricated by Brask and others at the valley factory.

“Alright, time to try it on. I’ve made a total of eleven sets this time.”

There were eleven students, including Mia and Jack, who had signed up for the graduation exam at Red Leaf Academy.

Over the course of the month, Karien had spent quite a bit of elemental currency, successfully helping all of them condense their elemental cyclones and become First-Order Magic Masters.

Of course, aside from Mia, the other ten students had poor magical talent and only managed to reach First-Order Magic Master through external aid.

Further advancement would be very difficult for them and would likely take a lot of time.

In contrast, Mia had already started experimenting with Second-Order magic, but it would still take considerable time before she truly mastered it.

“Wow! It’s smaller than the last one and looks so much better.”

Mia picked up one of the light yellow combat suits.

To give the suits a more stylish design, Karien had also asked Brask and the others to add color to them.

“The K5 suits have four functions and nine components:

“Jet Function: Back nozzle, left elbow nozzle, right elbow nozzle, left ankle nozzle, right ankle nozzle.

“Casting Function: Left palm magic gloves, right palm magic gloves.

“Protection Function: Reinforced abdominal plate.”

“External Function: Magic rifle.”

As he introduced the components, Karien helped the students put on the suits and continued:

“The jet function isn’t necessarily for flying. It’s more to give you extra power when moving around.

“I’ve designed individual magical formations for each component. You can also use your mental energy to activate the switches inside them.”

After putting on the suit, Mia moved her arms and legs, feeling a little awkward.

“It’s unavoidable; we can’t make the combat components any smaller for now. It might feel strange at first, but you’ll get used to it soon enough.”

“It’s already much lighter than the K1 suit you had me wear last time.”

Jack, with his dark skin, had been listening carefully to Karien’s explanation. Once he understood, he turned to the box, ready to put on his own suit.

There was only one suit left in the wooden box, and it was pink!

His face froze, and Jack looked at the other students, saying, “Hey, why is there only the pink one left?”

For the eleven K5 suits, Karien had made several colors, considering both male and female students: blue, white, black, yellow, red, pink, and so on.

To Karien’s surprise, none of the five female students had chosen the pink one. Instead, they preferred yellow, white, or black.

Jack picked up the pink gloves and turned to Mia.

Mia shrugged and said, “I don’t like pink.”

Jack looked at the other girls, but they all shook their heads, stifling their laughter.

“Ah! No way!”

Jack didn’t know what to do.

A tall student with thick eyebrows patted Jack’s shoulder and said seriously,

“Jack, you should be happy! Pink is the color for real men to wear!”

Turning to face him, Jack brought the pink gloves close to his face and said,

“Then you wear the pink, and give me the blue!”

“No, no, no!”

Sali, the student with thick eyebrows, shook his finger and closed his eyes, frowning in a serious tone,

“At Red Leaf Academy, you’re the real man. Only you...”

Before he could finish, Jack immediately went to pull off Sali’s blue abdominal plate.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? Let go! Hey, hey, hey, let’s talk about this...”

Seeing Jack and Sali grappling, Karien shook his head with a smile and said,

“These suits are just for testing, not permanent wear. Make do with it for now. When we improve them for the next version, you’ll be able to customize other colors.”

Hearing this from their teacher, Jack reluctantly let go of Sali and resigned himself to wearing the pink combat suit.

Karien covered his mouth and nose, coughing a couple of times, and smoothed out the corner of his mouth as he said,

“Alright, let’s continue the test. You eleven will split into four teams for a team battle.

“The rule is to fight for the enemy team’s headband. Once a headband is taken, the wearer is out. The team with the most headbands at the end wins.”

Jack, who had just put on the pink abdominal plate, looked up at Karien and asked, “Teacher, is there a reward for winning?”

With a smile, Karien replied,

“After the training, all the suits will be collected. Only the winning team will get a three-day usage right for the K5 suits.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately became alert, preparing to put in their best effort to win the training session.

Taking them outside to the training field, Karien continued,

“The K5 suits aren’t the final version. They’re just for you to test out, so don’t worry too much. Even if they break, it’s fine. Just make sure to stay safe!”

The durability of the suits was also one of Karien’s testing points.

“Understood!”

After the eleven students put on their headbands, they tested out the functions of each suit as Karien had instructed.

Thanks to the five nozzles for airflow, Jack and the others found that their balance was much better when flying with the combat suits.

Even if they tilted in mid-air, they could quickly correct their posture using the nozzles on their elbows or ankles.

Of course, this also meant they had to control multiple components at once, which tested their mental power and decision-making.

“To ensure safety, the flying height will be limited to ten meters. Anyone who exceeds this height will be disqualified.”

Even though Karien had added a "Wind Shield" magic formation to the K5 abdominal plates to help cushion falls, the K5 was still a prototype, so safety was a priority.

“Ready? Training begins now!”

The eleven students simultaneously took off. Although their bodies were a little unstable, they could still correct their balance by adjusting the nozzles at their elbows and ankles.

While everyone was still adjusting to the K5 suits, Jack was already flying with ease.

He could even perform a 360-degree spin without issue.

Aside from being the first to use the combat suit, Jack’s excellent sense of balance played a major role.

With a “whoosh,” he shot toward the nearest Sali, aiming to grab his headband.

Seeing Jack coming at him, Sali quickly dodged to the left.

However, his evasive move was too wide, and he spun out of control, crashing to the ground.

The others immediately panicked.

Karien, sitting not far away, quickly activated the “Wind Shield” embedded in Sali’s abdominal plate from a distance.

He wasn’t using high-tech methods.

Instead, Karien had embedded small marked components inside each abdominal plate to control the activation of the “Wind Shield.”

As soon as Karien saw a student in danger, he would instantly transfer the marked components to activate the "Wind Shield."

Fortunately, before the shield reached Sali, he managed to adjust his posture and landed safely.

Karien breathed a sigh of relief, snapped his fingers, and canceled the shield around Sali.