Negotiations

After Iris and Roderick finished their conversation, Iris returned to the hall and asked a waiter:

"Is anyone looking for Iris from the Northern Lands Society? It should be around nine o'clock."

"Yes, Master, please follow me."

The waiter led Iris upstairs to a magnificent red wooden door, knocked three times for Iris, then stepped aside to open the door and let Iris in.

Iris had just stepped inside the wooden door, her body barely crossing the threshold, when she stopped in her tracks, her face full of confusion.

Because she recognized the person sitting in the room; it was Fran, the very person she had told could leave.

What are you doing here?

Fran didn't keep him in suspense, but instead produced a document and slowly began to speak:

"Now I am representing the Construct School's Mana Communication System project to negotiate the purchase of the Mana Communication System with the Northern Lands Society."

Iris blinked, hesitated for a moment, and then sat down in the chair. Her eyes swept over the document, and only after confirming its authenticity and the seal she had seen before did she believe that Fran was not lying.

She was speechless for a moment before finally managing to utter a single sentence.

"You were planning to discuss the procurement with me here tonight, which is why you specifically suggested holding the discussion at tonight's banquet."

At the time, she wondered how people from the Mana Communication System project could easily enter this Alchemy School's banquet.

Looking back now, it turns out she was the one who brought him in herself.

"When did you contact the mage through the Mana Communication System?"

"Shortly after arriving in the Floating City, I funded this project and also provided some valuable advice, which is why they asked me to come here."

Fran blinked and slowly explained.

Iris looked at Fran and said with amusement:

"I thought I was going to sponsor this project tonight, or even buy it out... I didn't expect you to make the first move."

"But what is your reason for wanting to fund this project? I don't think it's just to scare you here now, is it?"

"This project has many problems and the returns are poor. I can't understand why you funded it."

Fran smiled in response and decided to steer the conversation back to the main topic.

"That's not important. What's truly important is... Iris, President of the Northern Lands Society, could you please tell me how the new Mana Communication System I'm about to sell you differs from the old version?"

Iris stopped smiling, spread her hands, and gestured for Fran to begin.

Fran immediately took out another document and slammed it on the table, gesturing for Iris to pick it up and take a look.

"This is our new upgrade regarding security; take a look."

When Iris picked it up, Fran remained silent, simply waiting for Iris to finish reading.

Iris glanced at the document a few times, then put it down and looked at Fran with a helpless expression.

"You could at least explain a little bit... why are you just leaving me here to watch by myself?"

Fran simply responded with a smile, causing Iris to roll her eyes. She then picked up the document again and examined it carefully.

The meeting room was very quiet, allowing Iris to concentrate on the information presented.

Iris flipped through a few pages, then glanced at Fran with an even more helpless look. The document in her hand hadn't been organized and didn't highlight the key points.

Perhaps because Fran had already anticipated that she and Iris would be discussing the details of the Mana Communication System, Fran did not bother to organize anything.

However, even if it's not organized, for High-Order Mage, it only takes a few extra seconds and is not a big deal.

After Iris finished reading, she remained silent for a long while, gently put down the document, and then asked.

"A good solution, you came up with it?"

Fran nodded before she began to speak.

"It was my idea, but it was the efforts of the other mages in the project that put it into practice." She was right; Asher and Philly did the heavy lifting, and she mostly just did the basic work.

Hearing Fran's very modest words, Iris remained noncommittal and instead said:

"That's indeed good. This can effectively prevent most information leaks. However, you also seem to have written in the document that this encryption method can be cracked..."

Iris paused for a moment, then looked at Fran's smiling expression and spoke slowly.

"Remember not to include such negative information next time; it's detrimental to our deal."

Fran's expression remained unchanged. Instead, she pulled out another document and continued:

"This is another change, including renaming the receiver board to ' Personal Terminal '."

This document was half again as thick as the previous one. Iris gently lifted it up and turned to the first page, where she could see the messy handwriting. She knew that Fran had given her the draft again.

The first unusual change she noticed was the increased price of this additional Personal Terminal.

Why is it extra? According to the rules of the Northern Lands Society, every registered mage can receive a brand-new Personal Terminal. If it is damaged or lost, they need to spend half a Gold Coin to buy an extra terminal.

Very few of these additional terminals are sold because mages are meticulous in their thinking, and the system has only been established in the Northern Lands Society for a little over a decade, so few people would buy them.

The original receiver plate was quite durable; it wouldn't necessarily break even if it fell from the top of the Mage Tower.

However, Fran specifically pointed out in this document that the price of this additional terminal would be 1.99 Gold Coin, which is 1 Gold Coin and 99 silver coins, exactly less than 2 Gold Coin. The reason, as mentioned above, is to make it appear cheaper...

Furthermore, Fran has also equipped the Personal Terminal with a new accessory: an external keyboard. Only this device can be used for input on the Personal Terminal.

This keyboard isn't expensive, costing about 10 silver coins. Judging from the blueprints, it's entirely made of refined iron, meaning the material cost is less than 1 silver coin; the main cost is the manufacturing process...

"Why are you setting such detailed prices for these extra items? No mage would buy so many of these things anyway?"

"There are always some people who need so many, not just Personal Terminal, but even the keyboard; they'll buy multiple copies."

Fran said meaningfully.

Iris gave Fran a look that said, "If you don't explain clearly, I won't buy it," forcing Fran to explain:

"It's nothing. Take a look at the security section. I specifically noted at the back, 'If there are any violations, we will directly blacklist the terminal.'"

Now Iris understood. Besides being known for not using paper for storage, the Mana Communication System had another impressive reputation: it was a complete sieve.

The previous defense system was so bad that Iris bought a version from who-knows-how-an-an-ancient time, which means that Northern Lands Society Paper could probably be bought for free on the Black Market with Gold Coin.

After the system update, many mages will rely on their previous habits and try to obtain new Paper from the system.

Thus, when they try, they will be very surprised to find that the terminal system they received for free displays a message saying that the terminal has been blacklisted and cannot connect to the system.

Therefore, whether they plan to try again or simply buy a new one for their own use, they will have to pay 1.99 Gold Coin for a new one.

As for that keyboard, it's not as durable as the terminal system keyboard.

Given the current manufacturing capabilities of Fran's factory, it's difficult to produce a stable, intricate structure. Fran sets the stable lifespan of a keyboard at six months. After six months, if a mage doesn't want to endure various accidental key presses and key malfunctions, they'll have to buy another one.

Fran also took a clever approach. This keyboard appeared to be a companion to the terminal system, but it had absolutely no magical effects. However, because it could work with the terminal system, it naturally benefited from the allure of magical items and could be sold for a good price.

Don't be fooled by Fran's seemingly expensive price of ten silver coins for this keyboard; in the eyes of mages, it's actually incredibly cheap for a magical item.

Iris read through all the documents in Fran's hands, and a look of joy gradually appeared on her face.

But there was one more thing she felt wasn't enough.

"Do you still need to find those Magic Artisan to produce your Personal Terminal? Although it should only cost about 60 silver coins to produce one..."

"I'm sorry, Society President, there's no way to do that right now."

Fran was truly at a loss. She herself wasn't very skilled at engraving inscriptions on machinery, let alone factory-producing the engraving work to reduce costs.

"Alright then, well done, Fran..."

Iris is very satisfied with the current Mana Communication System. Compared to the version from the Northern Lands Society, many problems have been solved, and it has even opened up a new way to make money.

"This time I can give you 11,999 Gold Coin, what do you think?"

Fran clicked her tongue, realizing that Iris had learned this simple psychological technique, and quickly replied:

"Sure, but there's something else I'd like to ask you, Society President."

"What is it?"

Fran straightened her expression before asking:

"I'd like to know if the Alliance has any special restrictions on Communication Device and the laying of communication lines?"

"This is probably asking if the Alliance imposes any restrictions on Communication Device created by mages themselves?"

This is a highly confidential matter, the Alliance manages it very strictly, which is why Fran couldn't find any relevant regulations at all.

"There are no restrictions. The Communication Device made by mages are too unreliable, and most of the Alliance's regulations are just administrative rules."

"Okay, thank you, Society President." Fran raised an eyebrow; this good news put most of her worries at ease.

"We can try conducting point-to-point terminal experiments now," Fran thought to herself.