Replacing the Magic Furnace

Etila and her party brought back quite a few spoils of war, piled up in a large heap. Besides the more common items from the Egonen Forest, such as Wisteria Tendrils, Aster Powder, Jute, and Bearberry Dried Fruit, there was also a high-quality Water-attribute Primal Crystal. This crystal alone sold for a hefty 5,700 Riser.

Among the remaining items, the Wisteria Tendrils fetched the highest total price. They are the best raw material for airship rigging, and forest elves also favor them as filler for their Elven Longbows. The finest wisteria in Aethelria grows in this forest, and Etila's professional eye ensured that only the best quality was selected.

These vines were sold at 200 Riser per pound. Although the unit price wasn't high, the sheer volume brought Etila's party their largest income, nearly 10,000 Riser.

As for the other miscellaneous raw materials, they were basically just extras. The only one worth a bit of money was the Fire-attribute gland of the Elephant-Nosed Beetle. Its unit price was high, but the quantity was too small; the total value didn't even match that of the Primal Crystal.

Fang Heng also sold his Aster flowers and Hard Feathers. Since the Kaolin Merchant Alliance implemented a unified regional pricing system, the prices were quite fair. In particular, the Hard Feathers from the Dragon-feather Emu reached C+ quality, selling for 2,900 Riser for seventeen feathers.

Next, Etila and the others purchased some supplies. Rainbow Bay's region had a prosperous trade, and its regional tax was much lower than Rodell's. The price of the Silver Blaze Forest Eyeball made Fang Heng's fingers twitch.

But he sighed, realizing he had more important things to buy than the Silver Blaze Forest.

He first spent over 700 Riser on a used communicator that was about eighty percent new. This item was of Earth origin, but a small number had fallen into the hands of the Merchant Alliance. Since it was also sold at the Chosen Federation, the price here wasn't very high.

Then, he remembered he needed a new Magic Furnace and inquired about it. The gnome, initially somewhat uninterested in these small transactions, immediately perked up upon hearing someone wanted to buy a Magic Furnace. He eagerly led Fang Heng behind the shelves and lifted a wooden board.

A scent of kerosene wafted out.

Beneath the wooden board, a long row of oil-paper-wrapped items was neatly stacked. Fang Heng recognized them as Magic Furnaces just by looking at the printed serial numbers. The very top row displayed samples, and when he saw one of them, his eyes widened.

Fang Heng rubbed his eyes, realizing he wasn't mistaken. The streamlined industrial design, the iconic Mithril outer ring on the brass casing – it was the 'Central Nervous System' AE Magic Furnace.

The latest product from the Ausch Empire's workshop.

Without even needing to consciously recall, the original specifications for this item flashed in his mind:

Length 41 cm, diameter 27.3 cm, cylindrical, self-weight 2.2 kg, maximum output power 660M, instantaneous overload 30%, stable overload time 28.1 seconds.

Two mana crystal interfaces, one recharge interface with a recharge speed of 372% of the standard type, one main interface and one auxiliary interface, and one irregular interface, for a terrifying total of six interfaces.

The critical temperature threshold for high-temperature operation was 87, core heat generation rate 0.3~4.5 per second (under full load), heat dissipation efficiency 1.2 per second; the core crystal framework was 'Floating Island-IX', arguably the best civilian crystal framework usable at this level, capable of reducing the Magic Device's output power consumption by nearly 17%.

Finally, it had a built-in 'Kingfisher III' shield generator with a shield value of 220.

Fang Heng's mouth watered at the sight of this Magic Furnace, but he glanced at the price. The five zeros on it made him reluctantly look away.

However, his hasty glance had not escaped the gnome's eyes. The short man rubbed his hands together with a smile and said, "Esteemed guest has excellent taste. This 'Central Nervous System' AE Magic Furnace just arrived yesterday. It's one of the Empire's workshop's latest creations."

"But it's only for civilian use," Fang Heng replied, forcing himself.

'Central Nervous System' was the production serial number of this type of Magic Furnace. The absence of a suffix number indicated it wasn't a derivative model. The 'A' following it signified a craftsman-type Magic Furnace, and 'E' denoted professional-grade. Therefore, according to standard reading, it was a professional-grade craftsman-type Magic Furnace named Central Nervous System.

The Magic Furnace he used originally was the Kingdom of Kaolin's 'Kingfisher' AA Magic Furnace. The second 'A' represented an amateur model, specifically for trainee apprentices and hobbyists. The difference between them was immeasurable.

Military models typically had an 'M' at the end, indicating military use. But this was stating the obvious; military-grade professional equipment was generally not sold externally by any country.

The little dwarf clearly understood this and just smiled at him. He knew very well that this young man was someone who knew his stuff; there was no need for him to elaborate further, as the other party would undoubtedly understand the merits of this Magic Furnace.

Indeed, the 'Central Nervous System' Magic Furnace was a new series within the IV-series Magic Furnaces produced by the Empire's workshop. It was an unprecedented Magic Furnace specifically designed for Combat Artificers.

Speaking of which, it's necessary to mention the origin and differences of Magic Furnaces--

After Alchemists invented the core crystal, the concept of Magic Devices spread widely throughout the world. From its inception, it was deployed for military purposes, thus giving rise to 'Knights' who specialized in using Alchemical Battle Gear.

The earliest 'Knights' were the elite combat forces of various nations, extremely rare and difficult to cultivate. The true reason for this situation was the bulkiness and inefficiency of Magic Devices at the time.

Without a Magic Furnace to consolidate the core crystal, each Magic Device had to have its own dedicated core crystal. The core crystal and its various supporting components were massive and complex, requiring the 'Knights' who used them in combat to have physiques far beyond the ordinary.

Magic Devices of that era valued size, with the Giant Constructs, the predecessors of Dragon Knights, being the ultimate embodiment of this.

However, the massive structure did not bring high efficiency. It even led to a ridiculous situation where the method of classifying Knight strength at the time was based on how many Magic Devices they could use. Those who could only use one were called 'Knights,' two were 'Great Knights,' and only those who could use three or even four or more were called 'Paladins.'

Legend has it that a muscular man named Qinchuan Derich, who could simultaneously use seven Magic Devices, became the only 'Sun Knight' in Aethelria's history.

But that was already the twilight of an era.

About a thousand years ago, a genius arrived in this world – Rolin-Ed, the greatest Alchemist in history. He proposed the following idea and concept:

'Consolidate the core crystals of most Magic Devices into a specialized device, and then use the resonance effect between the crystals to influence the secondary crystal fragments.'

This idea, in fact, is the design philosophy of Magic Furnaces that has been used to this day.

Although the main crystal within the Magic Furnace was even larger and heavier than any previous core crystal, its ingenious design liberated the other Magic Devices, thereby greatly reducing the overall weight.

More importantly, it fully leveraged the mana output efficiency of the main crystal, significantly lowering the total cost and the complexity of other Magic Devices. It also allowed adventurers to focus solely on controlling the main crystal to fully unleash the true power of each Magic Device.

All these changes, ultimately, led to a reduction in the physical requirements of Magic Devices for their 'users.'

Thus, the 'Knight' class naturally disappeared, and the era when ordinary people could use Magic Devices arrived.

This was followed by a thousand years of rapid development in Alchemy.

Building upon the foundations laid by their predecessors, subsequent generations continued to advance, and Magic Furnaces underwent numerous transformations--

Elric, (Heroic Era) 215-252, National Alchemist of the Ausch Empire – Precision and miniaturization of core crystals.

Lee-Oznome, 317-389, National Alchemist of the Ausch Empire – Invented the small mana sensor, replacing the sensor crystal fragments in Magic Devices.

Oakes-Steelbrow, 352-471, Dwarf, from the Kaolin-Ishurian Alchemy Association – Inventor of the 'Oakes' cooling system.

Nick-LeMay, 669-712, Free Alchemist of Luotao – Proposer of the core crystal framework.

Finally, the arrival of Earthlings brought the design concept of universal interfaces.

From then on, outdated, specially designed Magic Furnaces disappeared into the river of history. Universal Magic Furnaces had, in fact, infinitely approached the design standards of Magic Furnaces of this era.

And it was from this point that Magic Furnaces began to exhibit standard design differentiations--

Combat-oriented Magic Furnaces have more main interfaces, higher output power, and overload effects, making it convenient for adventurers to use their Battle Gear and achieve higher burst damage in combat.

Magic-oriented Magic Furnaces possess greater stability, which is more conducive to the performance of precise Magic Devices requiring stability, such as shield generators.

Support-oriented Magic Furnaces have more auxiliary and irregular interfaces, better recharge speed, and portability, making it easier for support-oriented professions to survive on the battlefield.

As for Artisan-oriented Magic Furnaces, due to the need for daily maintenance by Alchemists and the ability to charge other people's Magic Furnaces or the core crystals of Flexible Constructs during combat, they have dedicated recharge interfaces and possess the largest magic capacity.

Since Magic Furnaces are one of the essential pieces of equipment for adventurers, and with the principle of "what gains in one aspect must lose in another," a single Magic Furnace cannot possibly cater to all situations. Strengthening it in one area inevitably means weakening it in another, thus making specialized Magic Furnaces a necessary choice.

However, before this, Combat Artificers, as a special type of Alchemist, had never had their own specialized Magic Furnace.

Although ordinary Artisan-type Magic Furnaces were sufficient, the numerous recharge interfaces were of little use to Combat Artificers. Moreover, due to the need to balance combat, the other interfaces on Artisan-type Magic Furnaces were far from adequate for Combat Artificers.

Take the 'Kingfisher' AA Magic Furnace that Fang Heng used before. Besides two recharge interfaces and one magic storage interface, it only had one main interface. Therefore, he had to place the main control device for his own Flexible Construct on his glove, which was very cumbersome.

Of course, ordinary beginners do not need to operate Flexible Constructs.

And thanks to this, his first Walker, the 'Sword Plover,' could actually be made, because ordinary flexible operating gloves do not contain core crystals.

This could be considered a blessing in disguise in a way.

Of course, all of this came to an end with the appearance of the 'Central Nervous System' Magic Furnace. This is a Magic Furnace specifically designed for Combat Artificers—it balances the number of recharge interfaces, has a more balanced number of interfaces overall, and can also cater to the primary work of an Alchemist.

It was just that the price blinded Fang Heng's dog eyes.

The gnome merchant, unaware of the young man's inner turmoil, smiled. "...Look at this exquisite craftsmanship, the perfect exterior, it's simply a work of art. Because, like Combat Artificers, it pursues ultimate perfection. You must also be an Alchemist, sir. I believe every Alchemist dreams of being a Combat Artificer. This Magic Furnace might just help you realize that dream."

He looked up at the dazzling, luxurious equipment and said in a seductive tone, "This is the first 'Central Nervous System' AE Magic Furnace we've sold in our camp. I believe you'll definitely want to be the one to own it."

Fang Heng swallowed hard.

"Ed is a Combat Artificer," a voice came from behind the shelves, sounding somewhat indignant on his behalf.

Fang Heng looked over in surprise, but the speaker remained hidden. Just then, Tian Lan's voice called from outside, "What are you guys whispering about?"

"Wait, wait a moment—"

"Wait for what?"

Then Fang Heng saw the French girl pull someone out from behind the shelves.

The person was indeed the tall trainee, Luo Yu.

A rare look of embarrassment appeared on his usually serious face, and he looked at Fang Heng apologetically, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have spoken."

Fang Heng looked at him strangely but shook his head to indicate he didn't mind. He had actually noticed for a while that this peer, about the same age as him, had been paying attention to him.

"Brother Ed, what are you doing?" Tian Lan asked curiously.

Fang Heng was about to answer.

But at this moment, the gnome interrupted their conversation dramatically, "Ah, apologies! I didn't realize you were a Combat Artificer. My mistake, sir. Then, with your professional eye, you must understand its value."

Fang Heng suddenly remembered the matter and couldn't help but scratch his head. He understood the value of the item, but precisely because he understood, he knew he couldn't afford it.

He couldn't afford it even if he sold himself.

But before Fang Heng could figure out how to refuse, Tian Lan, standing beside him, exclaimed in surprise, "Ah, why is there one unit missing here?"

The gnome froze. This 'Central Nervous System' AE Magic Furnace was clearly not the first one sold, and he had just been talking nonsense.

Tian Lan looked at the merchant meaningfully, "Wow, are you committing consumer fraud?"

The term "consumer fraud" was a foreign import, but this native merchant clearly understood its meaning and its implications.

The motto of the Kaolin Merchant Alliance was "Fair Trade," and their emblem was derived from the Hailan'er Scales of the Temple of Commerce, symbolizing fairness and the exchange of goods for money.

Most merchants believed in Roman, the patron deity of commerce. As the goddess of fortune, Roman appreciated her followers' ability to seize opportunities, but as a goddess of order, she also upheld normal commercial order.

Fraud, in particular, was absolutely forbidden.

"H-how could that be?" the gnome said, sweating profusely.

He had initially seen Fang Heng as a complete novice and easy to fool, but he never expected someone to be eavesdropping. His sharp-witted companion had overheard his words.

He was not a free merchant. Even without the goddess's punishment, the Kaolin Merchant Alliance above him would not let him off. This was a loss he could not afford.

"Are you saying I misheard?" Tian Lan asked sinisterly.

"N-no, of course not," the gnome wiped his sweat. However, a merchant is a merchant. He quickly reacted and hurriedly said, "It is my fault, my fault."

"Is it?" The French girl reached out and patted the luxurious equipment. "Then let's do it by the rules?"

The short man put on a pained expression. "Ten percent off, ten percent off should be enough to show my sincerity, the three of you."

"Ten percent off?" Tian Lan's eyes widened as she looked at him incredulously.

The gnome merchant looked at the Magic Furnace in her hand and mentally calculated the profit margin. New products usually had a very high markup. After confirming that he could still make a profit, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. "Twenty percent off, no less!"

"Twenty percent off, really?"

"Of-of course, it's true," the short man replied through gritted teeth, his expression showing that he was bleeding internally.

Fang Heng, who had witnessed this exchange firsthand, was dumbfounded. He couldn't help but glance at Luo Yu beside him, who clearly seemed unfazed, as if he had expected it.

At this moment, others who had heard the commotion inside the room came in from outside.

Upon seeing the scene, Etila looked as if it were only natural. She walked over and patted Fang Heng's shoulder, signaling him to remain calm.

To be perfectly honest, Fang Heng was starting to panic a little. Even with an 80% discount, he couldn't afford that Magic Furnace that cost hundreds of thousands. It was just too luxurious, too extravagant.

Oh, no.

It was too embarrassing.

I forgot something. My memory is really failing me. I promised to recommend a book for a new friend. Oh dear, I'm getting old.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Throne Hegemony. Please give the new author some attention, everyone.