Piracy

Illusion magic crystals were even more convenient than projectors. Not only could they store images, they could also project and play them directly, without needing any fixed medium at all.

As one yo-yo tutorial after another was produced, illusion magic crystals, which had not originally seen much use, were bought up until they were out of stock. There was a serious shortage of illusionists.

To produce illusion magic crystals, Drogo arranged for Aisha to recruit at the academy, luring over as many underclassmen as she could.

However, there were only one or two illusionists in each graduating class, and some had even switched majors and run off. Left with no choice, they turned their attention to the overabundant Conjuration School and Evocation School. Making illusion magic crystals was not difficult; a little training would do.

A single academy produced over a thousand graduates from those two schools, and quite a few of them had chosen those fields because they thought they would be easy to find work in. Only after graduating did they discover that, while there were many relevant positions, there still were not enough to go around, forcing them to seek other careers.

Reality proved that employment trends came with a delay. Studying whatever field was popular at the time might leave one at a disadvantage.

Of course, some schools were forever stuck in the gutter, like the Necromancy School. It was useful, but unpopular. Perhaps most of its students were unlucky people assigned there against their will.

Although they had lured people over from other schools, training still took time. During the gap when raw materials could not be supplied, an unexpected person offered help.

Young Master Craig.

To ensure that the Craig's Arcane Storm instructional shorts starring him could spread widely, he provided a huge batch of illusion magic crystals.

This ruined the Craig family's plan to hoard goods and drive up prices.

Drogo affectionately called this kind of behavior selling off his father's land without feeling the pain.

However, they did not see him again for many days afterward. Perhaps he had been confined. Drogo wished him well; the economy needed rich fools like him to keep money circulating.

Naturally, Drogo was not satisfied with short videos. The camera's optimization was progressing quickly and was nearly ready for commercial use, but he still had not decided what feature-length film to make.

He decided to read some proper newspapers and see whether he could ride the wave of any trending news.

"Pope Saint Dino claims to have received divine revelation."

"Today, the first railway was completed and opened to traffic. The fastest trip from Twin Towers City to Holy Mountain takes only twenty-five hours."

"The Loman Empire and the Virian Kingdom conduct joint military exercises..."

The headlines were all far too serious. Clearly, they had not studied journalism very well.

The store had recently returned to the lively atmosphere from when blind boxes had first become popular. For one thing, an awning had been set up outside, where yo-yo instructional shorts played on repeat. Many children who could not afford illusion magic crystals gathered there.

For another, the reward for solving the puzzle toys had attracted many curious people. After all, the prize of one gold coin was genuinely tempting, and it gave grown-up friends an excuse to come play with toys. "It's not neglecting proper work—we're here to make money!"

"Success! Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds! Write it down, the first to solve the magic cube was Twin Towers City's Guardian, King of Defensive Spells, Red Dragon..."

"Have some shame," Aisha mercilessly stopped Soren's cheering. "You're at least someone important. Did you really have to stack six layers of Haste on yourself just to solve a magic cube?"

"So what? Isn't Haste one of my own abilities?"

Aisha rolled her eyes. Did a Legendary Mage really have nothing better to do all day?

Another burst of commotion came from outside the store.

"My yo-yo isn't fake! Waaaah! You're all bullying me! I'm going back to tell the teacher!"

"Pfft, counterfeit. All you know is how to run to adults. Even if you have a yo-yo, no one wants to play with you."

"I'm not a counterfeit! Ah!"

A useless little fact of life: if you were really curious how a screaming banshee sounded, just pick on some kid whose voice had not changed yet out on the street, and you would find out.

The children were arguing again. Aisha hurried over to check on the situation. They absolutely could not start fighting, or it would be another huge headache once the parents arrived.

A store manager was like a brick in a toy store—moved wherever needed.

Enduring screams sharp enough to pierce her eardrums, Aisha found the group of little noise-makers.

"What happened? Children who bully others are not good children, you know."

"She's playing with a fake yo-yo! Take her ball away, and don't let her come to the toy store anymore!"

"Mine isn't fake!"

"It is fake!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"No, no! Ah!"

Aisha felt that Drogo ought to compensate her for hearing loss.

"No more shouting. Whoever keeps shouting, Teacher Toto won't teach them how to play yo-yos anymore."

Toto's name was still effective. Her status in the eyes of the city's children was now quite lofty.

At last, after a brief moment of quiet, Aisha was able to take the yo-yo accused of being fake.

It was Firepower Silver Lightning, a new model launched just last week. It looked no different from the ones in the store.

To be safe, she attached a string and performed a Launch. It was one of the few moves she knew, and the illusion that appeared was correct as well.

It should have been a yo-yo sold by the store.

"Why do you say this is a fake?" Aisha asked the boy who had raised the question first.

"She can't afford Firepower Silver Lightning. If it isn't fake, then she stole it!"

That actually made sense. The yo-yo was expensive right now—not because it cost much to make, but because its price had been deliberately set high to ensure that not too many people possessed the best yo-yo currently featured in the story.

She carefully examined every detail of the yo-yo again.

The specifications were right, the material was right, and the pattern was right. So where was the problem?

Wait, this rune?

She stared at the rune on the bearing for a long time. It was indeed the structure she had designed, but the engraving strokes differed subtly from her usual habits.

Another illusionist had copied her rune and made another engraving template!

In a sense, this Firepower Silver Lightning was no different from the genuine version, except that it had not been produced by Drogo's Toy Store.

Aisha's first thought was Arclight Toy Store, especially that man named Hakan.

But on further thought, that did not seem right either. They were right across the street. If they had been selling fake yo-yos, they would have noticed long ago.

She first comforted the two children, telling the little girl that she had not bought a fake. Someone had merely picked up a defective item the store had discarded and resold it. If she told Aisha where it had been sold, the store would give her a new yo-yo.

She then warned the boy that it was good to defend the toy store, but he could not be so fierce toward other children. If something like this happened again, he only needed to tell her. She also gave him a storage pouch printed with the River-Sea Team emblem.

Ah, it was exhausting. Did people think taking care of children was easy?

Before long, the pirated Firepower Silver Lightning was delivered before Drogo.

Drogo was not surprised. He had thought there would have been pirated versions long ago.

Over half the toys sold throughout Twin Towers City in the past two months had been yo-yos, and patents did not protect toy designs.

The previous imitators had merely skirted the edges and had not directly ridden the popularity of Blazing Teens. At most, they had been sipping soup behind Drogo's Toy Store. But this one genuinely wanted to shove its chopsticks into the bowl and snatch the meat.

That called for a heavy-handed response.

At a single command, the Drow squad took position.

Drogo repeatedly reminded them, "Find out who made this yo-yo. Don't rush to act, and absolutely do not rush to act. We're respectable businesspeople now. No, put away the hand crossbow first. Once you find the person, wait for me to handle it."

Night belonged to the Drow. By dawn the next day, a report had been delivered into Drogo's claws.

"Great Drogo, we have already identified the target: the target's parents, wife, three lovers, and five children. Please give the order."

"Didn't I say we're respectable businesspeople? Why did you track down his entire family?"

Aisha watched helplessly as a dragon told a squad of Drow that they were respectable businesspeople. Was something wrong with him? Respectability aside, none of them were even human!

Drogo opened the report.

What met his eyes was a fat, middle-aged human man. "Ragu Kulman, potion merchant."