Problems Facing Mass Production

Xu Yi nearly choked to death on a mouthful of food.

"Cough, cough... Stille, what did you say?"

"Go to your house." Stille looked puzzled, but when she saw the strange expression on Xu Yi's face, she realized what he was thinking. Her cheeks flushed, and she punched him. "What are you thinking?"

Xu Yi hurriedly raised his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, I know what you mean. You want to see that Piano Model at my house, right? But why are you in such a hurry to see it?"

Stille stopped hitting him. After a moment's hesitation, she asked uncertainly, "Xu Yi, um... could you sell me that Piano Model?"

"Sell it to you?" Xu Yi gave her a puzzled look. "What do you want it for?"

"I have a use for it," Stille answered vaguely.

Xu Yi gave it little thought and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It's important to me too, so I can't sell it to you."

He wasn't making an excuse. He had made the piano model in his spare time while studying at Senkohaier Academy. It was the first magic-industrial product he had created in this world and held great sentimental value. He wasn't willing to hand it over to someone else.

"I see..." Stille looked a little disappointed, then asked, "Then... could you teach me how to make one? Actually, that's what I wanted all along. Something I make myself would mean much more than something I bought from someone else."

Xu Yi looked at her curiously. "Stille, if you don't mind me asking, are you giving it to someone?"

"Yes. I need a birthday present for someone. When I saw your Piano Model last time, I thought it was unusual and charming. It would make a wonderful gift. So, will you teach me? I promise I'll make it worth your while. If you help me this once, I'll make sure Grandpa treats you well from now on."

Xu Yi rubbed his chin. Even setting aside the chance to improve his relationship with Great Mage Camilla, he felt he ought to help a lovely young woman like Stille.

"Oh, one more question. The person you're giving it to is a man, right?"

Stille's cheeks reddened. "That's none of your business!"

Xu Yi laughed. Just as I thought.

Stille was nineteen, in the prime of her youth. There was nothing strange about her having feelings for a young man.

"All right, I can teach you how to make it, but there's no need to go to my house. It's late, and it wouldn't be appropriate for a young woman like you to come over. Starting tomorrow, find me in the research lab after work each day. I'll teach you there."

Stille looked him up and down in surprise. "Xu Yi, I never knew you were so proper."

"Ahem... Do I look improper to you?" Xu Yi glared at her, then asked irritably, "When do you need the gift? I'll work out how quickly to teach you."

"In half a month. Is that enough time?"

"Yes, plenty. The Piano Model isn't technically complicated. It just takes some delicate work."

After arranging a time, Xu Yi said goodbye. Instead of going straight home as usual, however, he stopped at the clinic first.

The young slave, wrapped so thoroughly in bandages that he looked almost like a mummy, had woken from his coma. He lay on a clinic bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, bewilderment and a trace of fear on his face.

Only when he heard Xu Yi speaking with the doctor did he react. He turned his head toward Xu Yi, his eyes full of curiosity.

"How do you feel?" Xu Yi stopped talking to the doctor and asked him gently.

The young slave seemed unused to speaking with strangers. After a long hesitation, he slowly nodded.

Xu Yi smiled and didn't press him. He asked the doctor a couple more questions and, once he was sure the boy was out of danger, told him, "That's good. Your injuries haven't fully healed, so stay here and rest for a few more days. I'll come get you when you're better."

Xu Yi was about to leave when he felt a tug on his clothes. He turned back in surprise and found that the young slave had reached out and gripped the hem tightly.

One look at the fear and tension on the young slave's face told Xu Yi what he meant.

"What is it? Do you need someone to stay with you? I'm afraid I can't. I'm very busy with work, so I can't spend much time here. Don't worry. I bought you, and I'm not going to abandon you. Just rest here. The doctor says you can leave in a few days. You'll be fine."

The doctor gave Xu Yi an odd look.

Bought him? So this little fellow in the bed is a slave.

Xu Yi really was a strange man, treating a slave so well.

This was the best clinic in Bunta City, after all, and treatment here was far from cheap.

The young slave still clutched Xu Yi's clothes. The fear on his face only deepened, as though he was terrified Xu Yi would leave him behind.

Xu Yi could only sigh helplessly. He turned to the doctor. "What if I take him home? Would that put him in danger?"

"Well... his injuries are only superficial. There's nothing seriously wrong with him, so taking him home would be fine. Just make sure he takes his medicine on schedule and bring him back every three days to have his dressings changed."

"All right, I'll take him home for now. Please keep his bed reserved. I'll continue paying the inpatient fees."

The doctor couldn't help looking at the young slave on the bed.

Treatment like that would be hard to come by even for a child from an ordinary family, let alone a slave.

Getting the heavily bandaged young slave home was no easy task when he could barely move. By the time Xu Yi had settled him in and helped him take his medicine, Xu Yi was drenched in sweat.

Looking at the young slave, who had fallen asleep after taking his medicine, Xu Yi let out a long breath. "Whew... And I told Butler Wenlai I was buying him to look after me. Now I'm the one looking after him."

Even in his sleep, pain still flickered across the young slave's face. It was easy to see how hard his life had been.

Xu Yi looked at the boy's thin face and sighed. Then he shook his head, took a bath, and buried himself in his research on the Magic Array again.

With Vena helping him research the Magic Array, work on the Variable-Speed Magic Fan was progressing much faster. What remained was to design the most suitable shape around it.

Xu Yi had originally hoped to use the launch of the second-generation Magic Fan to improve its performance substantially. But after studying the matter in detail, he found two fundamental problems he couldn't avoid.

The first was materials.

The Sains Continent had almost no industrial foundation. Although people made some crafted goods, they mostly used natural materials, and any processing was crude. The resulting materials couldn't begin to compare with the precisely processed ones available on Earth.

For a fan, the most essential component was undoubtedly the electric motor. Xu Yi had replaced that with the Wind Spiral Array.

But he had yet to find a better substitute for the central Bearing, which was just as important as the motor.

Electric fans on Earth could use Bearings made from dense, wear-resistant alloys. On the Sains Continent, Xu Yi could only make them from ordinary iron.

Ironworking in this world was less advanced than on Earth. The smelted iron was poor quality to begin with, and even after polishing, a Bearing made from it would be far from ideal.

Xu Yi had been uneasy about the quality when making the first-generation Magic Fan.

Electric fans on Earth could last ten thousand to forty thousand hours. By Xu Yi's calculations, though, the first-generation Magic Fan was unlikely to last more than three thousand.

Assuming a fan ran eight hours a day for the three hottest months of each year, a first-generation Magic Fan would last at most four years before giving out.

For someone like Heinz, who ran his fans almost day and night, the two Magic Fans in his home might be worn out by next summer.

Materials were the greatest constraint on the Magic Fan's quality, and Xu Yi had no way to solve the problem for now.

Materials engineering was both the most fundamental and one of the most complex parts of an industrial system. It touched every aspect of industry. Improving it was difficult enough on Earth, let alone on the Sains Continent, where the industrial foundation was almost nonexistent.

The second problem was manufacturing.

The Sains Continent had none of Earth's standardized Machine Tools. To make the first-generation Magic Fan, Xu Yi had been forced to find a Blacksmith Shop and have its blacksmiths forge the parts from his drawings.

The blacksmiths of Bunta City were quite skilled. But no matter how good their craftsmanship was, it couldn't match the precision machinery of Earth. The fan housings they made always had slight differences.

That wasn't a major problem yet. But Xu Yi knew that substantially increasing the Magic Fan's output would mean moving to large-scale production. Every stage of manufacturing would need to be as close to perfect as possible, or at the very least follow a completely uniform standard.

"Cutting Machine Tools, sliding tool rests, stamping presses, drilling machines, boring machines... Aaargh, just kill me now!"

Thinking of all the problems he would have to overcome to achieve mass production, Xu Yi let out an anguished wail.