Pallos Magic Academy, Main Campus Elders' Hall.
In his early sixties, with his hair neatly combed, Elder Alisson sat in his office, reviewing the latest academic reports.
With only twenty days left until the graduation assessments, as the Elder in charge of academics, Alisson had to process a large amount of student data and assessment plans.
At that moment, a gray owl flew in from the distance and perched on the windowsill.
After a brief pause, Alisson set down his quill and walked over to the window, gently stroking the owl.
At the same time, a magical rune circle appeared with a soft "hum" above the back of his hand.
The owl blinked its large, round eyes a few times before opening its beak and speaking in human language:
"Elder Alisson, Nack has gone missing as well."
Alisson’s expression darkened, and he asked in a low voice, "Not Sony—what happened?"
With its beak still open, the owl continued,
"Half a year ago, Fiennes, Nack, and I were sent by the Holy See on a secret mission to the Northern Province.
"Later, we discovered that we were part of the first group assigned to explore ancient ruins.
"Five months ago, Fiennes was swallowed by the Elemental Black Tide upon entering the ruins and was lost.
"Three days ago, Nack met the same fate while excavating an ancient statue, consumed by the rising Elemental Black Tide beneath the ground.
"Now, half of the original exploration team has been lost, including the three of us."
A shadow fell across Alisson’s face as he asked again, "Where are you now?
Are you still in the Northern Province?"
The owl shook its head and continued,"I’ve returned to the Holy See.
The higher-ups are worried that I might still carry the curse from the ancient ruins, so I’m being kept in a purification chamber for observation.
"Also, the ancient ruins are of great importance. Based on what we’ve discovered so far, they are tied to the War of the Gods.
"Therefore, Archbishop Muzan asked me to contact all the Elders. The Holy See will be dedicating significant manpower and resources to excavating the ruins.
It may require mobilizing all the Grand Magisters from the magic academies."
Alisson was taken aback and asked, "All magic academies?"
"Yes," the owl replied.
"The ruins are fraught with danger, containing numerous magical traps from the
Age of the Gods, but they also hold the secrets of ancient magic.
"To unlock these, high-level mages or Grand Magisters from the magic academies will be needed. This is why Fiennes, Nack, and I were chosen as the first exploration team."
Alisson nodded in understanding and said, "We will hold a council meeting in the next few days to discuss this."
Once the message was delivered, the owl flapped its wings twice and flew away from the window.
Alisson picked up his staff and left the office.
In the Southern District of the Royal Capital, the House of Mechanisms.
After replenishing stock for the store, Karien checked the inventory.
The House of Mechanisms had been open for three weeks, and during that time, 385 magical air conditioners and over 500 magic light bulbs had been sold.
The air conditioners had been featured in three promotions.
The first promotion sold them at half price, with a limit of 100 units.
A week later, the second promotion offered them at 60% off, limited to 80 units.
By the third week, the sale was at 30% off, limited to 60 units.
The promotions had become a regular event, though the discounts had steadily decreased.
This caused people who had been waiting on the sidelines to realize that the prices would soon return to their original levels.
Around this time, the store introduced a membership card system.
A brass membership card could be obtained for 5 gold coins, offering a 5% discount on all store items.
After spending 500 gold coins at the store, customers could upgrade to a silver membership card, giving them a 10% discount on all items.
Spending 5,000 gold coins would unlock the gold membership card, which granted a 15% discount on all merchandise.
After these adjustments, the air conditioner sales didn’t increase much but began to stabilize.
The early promotions had been designed to attract attention, but selling in the long term was the true goal.
Moreover, there were not many middle- or upper-class people in the Royal Capital who could afford to spend dozens of gold coins.
Most people had little need for magical air conditioners.
On the other hand, nobles in various regions outside the capital were very curious once they heard about the magical air conditioners.
Now, Karien could begin selling them through Simon’s managed merchant caravan to the noble families in those regions.
The Royal Capital had merely served as a launchpad for public interest
Karien’s desired market extended far beyond it.
Of course, everything had to be done gradually.
However, in the three short weeks since opening, the profits Karien had made already rivaled the windfall from his previous herb business, enough to cover the costs of the factory in the valley.
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After this, as long as new products were launched periodically, the House of
Mechanisms' brand would be well-established.
Just as he was preparing to launch a new product, an unexpected development occurred.
The market had already begun to see counterfeit magical air conditioners.
The counterfeit products were almost identical in function but sold for only a third of the price—35 gold coins.
Karien had anticipated that someone might replicate the magical chips, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
After all, he had embedded numerous meaningless patterns into the chips, making reverse-engineering difficult.
Though Karien wasn’t worried about the chip’s design being cracked, since it was just a small part of his larger plan.
What he truly valued wasn’t the small chip itself but the fusion of magic with various physical phenomena, and the real technologies behind them wouldn’t be sold.
What he sold were merely household items.
However, to confirm if the chips had truly been cracked, Karien spent 35 gold coins to buy one of the counterfeit units and dismantle it for inspection.
Upon disassembling it, he found the external structure was rough, and the airflow didn’t align well with aerodynamics.
However, the patterns on the chip were an exact match to the ones he had etched, including the meaningless ones.
This meant the person who created the counterfeit didn’t reverse-engineer the chip’s principles but instead used excellent craftsmanship to perfectly replicate it.
Achieving such an effect wasn’t difficult.
After all, the magical air conditioner’s function was essentially just an "Frost Mist" spell, which low-level mages could easily copy.
Copying and cracking were two completely different things.
After completing his inspection, Karien wasn’t angry—in fact, he smiled.
The emergence of counterfeit products wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The appearance of counterfeit products, although it would undoubtedly take away some of Karien’s customers, would also help to expand the market further and prevent the Mechanical Church from becoming too prominent.
The reputation he had built up so far was more than enough for Karien to run the business for a long time.
What he needed next was stability and steady progress.
Moreover, when compared to the counterfeit products, the genuine ones would stand out in sharp contrast.
Karien could use this as an opportunity to further solidify the presence of the Mechanical Church.
Most importantly, Karien’s products were mass-produced using standardized processes. While the core chips were essential, the overall structural design was just as crucial.
To optimize this structure, Karien had hired more than forty seasoned blacksmiths and over a hundred workers at the factory in the Black Iron
Territory’s valley. He invested thousands of gold coins in repeated tests and improvements.
Only after this extensive work did he create a professional production system that considered not only durability but also scalability.
This meant that the magical air conditioners sold weren’t just air conditioners—they could also serve as platforms, allowing for the integration of additional chips.
Royal Capital, Southern District, Pebble Street, Hammer Forge.
Dressed in a wide-shouldered single-breasted suit and sporting a curly beard,
Bandel waved his cane and shouted at the dozen or so blacksmiths working bare-chested:
"Hurry up, hurry up! It’s just making iron boxes! Why is this taking so long? We need thirty done today!"
The blacksmiths looked up at his command. One of them opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Bandel’s glare and a sharp reprimand:
"What do you think you're doing? I’ve paid you all to work, and now you’re not doing it?"
Faced with Bandel’s scolding, the blacksmiths didn’t know how to reply. They just took a deep breath and continued swinging their hammers.
Satisfied with the progress, Bandel stroked his little beard and turned to leave the forge, walking down a narrow alley into a low stone house.
On the walls of the house hung several magical light bulbs, and the space was cluttered with various items.
At that moment, a thin man with reddish-brown skin sat cross-legged among the piles of goods. He was holding an engraving pen, deeply focused as he engraved runes onto a piece of primal stone.
After each stroke, he would raise his head to observe the runes on another piece of primal stone.
"Master Arij, is there anything I can help you with?"
The reddish-brown-skinned man, Master Arij, didn’t look up but continued engraving while asking,
"How did the batch of magical air conditioners turn out? Any sales?"
Smiling broadly, Bandel replied,
"They all sold out. A total of 60 magical chips, but 30 got damaged during assembly. The remaining 30 were turned into magical air conditioners, and they sold out within a few days. Some people are even asking if there are more."
After closing off the last rune, Arij set down the engraving pen and began counting on his fingers.
"Each unit sold for 25 gold coins. After accounting for the primal stone and workers’ wages, we made about 10 gold coins per unit. Thirty units would be over 300..."
After calculating, Arij couldn’t help but click his tongue in surprise,
"This money is easy to make. I used to work at the research institute for a whole year and didn’t earn this much!"
"Naturally, with your excellent skills, Master Arij, working at the research institute was a waste!"
Bandel said as he took out a cloth pouch and respectfully handed it to Arij, adding,
"As per our agreement, you get 80% of the profits. This pouch contains 240 gold coins. Feel free to count it!"
Arij took the pouch, glanced inside, and saw that Bandel had thoughtfully exchanged the coins for two Dark Elemental Coins and forty gold coins.
He nodded in satisfaction, put the two Dark Elemental Coins aside, and then handed the forty gold coins back to Bandel, saying,
"You’ve been running around for the past few days. This is yours!"
Bandel’s expression softened in gratitude, and he took the pouch with a respectful bow, saying,
"Thank you so much, Master Arij!"
Arij waved him off,
"No need for thanks. Just remember to restock the primal stones."
Bandel nodded in understanding,
"I’ll take care of it. You keep working!"
"Go ahead."
After that, Arij went back to focusing on his engraving.
As a second-tier Mage and second-tier Engraver, Arij didn’t fully understand the chips used in the magical air conditioners, but he could tell that they were based on fundamental magic arrays. The requirements for engraving weren’t particularly high.
As long as he mimicked the patterns perfectly, he could replicate the effects of the magical chips.
The skills he had honed were the result of his previous work.
In fact, Arij had once worked as an ordinary engraver at the Gallon Research Institute, responsible for engraving basic magic arrays.
However, because of his foreign heritage, with skin and facial features unlike the locals, he was often marginalized. Despite being the most skilled in his department, even close to perfection, he couldn’t get promoted.
It wasn’t until two weeks ago, after losing his temper and beating up a colleague who insulted him, that he was kicked out of the institute.
After leaving the institute, Arij was at a loss in the royal capital. He had originally traveled from his homeland, Abang, to the capital because he had been recruited by the Gallon Research Institute.
Now that he had been fired, he didn’t know where to go.
Not wanting to return home in disgrace, Arij desperately searched for work, but because of his appearance, doors were repeatedly slammed in his face.
It was laughable that a second-tier Mage couldn’t even find a job.
He even considered becoming a mercenary, but the problem was he wasn’t skilled in combat. If he took on any dangerous tasks, he’d likely die quickly.
Just when he was feeling hopeless, Bandel found him.
This kind-hearted merchant didn’t discriminate against him for his foreign appearance; on the contrary, he showed him great respect and proposed a partnership to make money together.
Bandel then brought out a piece of primal stone engraved with complex runes and asked Arij to replicate the design.
Arij initially thought it was difficult, but he gave it a try and succeeded.
Bandel was delighted, then provided Arij with more primal stones and asked him to continue engraving. After assembling the magical air conditioners, they sold them with Arij receiving 80% of the profit and Bandel taking 20%.
At that low point in his life, Arij agreed to the partnership.
In just over a week, he had earned 240 gold coins.
Whistling a cheerful tune, Arij continued engraving happily.
Outside the Stone House.
Wearing a black top hat, Bandel walked out of the low stone house. His smile instantly turned into a sneer.
He tucked the pouch away and, leaning on his cane, hummed a tune as he exited the alley, his mind filled with contempt as he muttered to himself,
"The Abang people are so easy to deceive. Once I’ve got this fool in my grip, I’ll be rich!"
In reality, Bandel had sold 60 units of the magical air conditioner.
He lied to Arij, saying that 30 of the chips had been damaged during assembly.
The truth was that Bandel had sold the air conditioners for 35 gold coins each, but told Arij they were sold for 25 gold coins.
This meant that Bandel had made a profit of over 1,200 gold coins but had only given Arij 240 gold coins.
Arij, due to the information imbalance, thought he had received too much and, feeling guilty, returned 40 gold coins to Bandel.
"Heh, what a fool!"
Snickering to himself, Bandel climbed into his carriage.