Zero Experience

"A thousand?" Heinz blurted out, staring at Reeves in surprise. He had never expected the man to name such a large number in one breath.

Reeves smiled faintly. "What? Is that a problem?"

"Of course n—" Heinz was about to agree when he remembered the decision was not his to make. He quickly turned to Xu Yi and kept shooting him looks, hoping he would accept at once.

A thousand Magic Fans! At two Gold Coins apiece, they would bring in a full two thousand Gold Coins!

With his ten percent share, Heinz would earn two hundred Gold Coins from this deal alone!

Then another thought struck him. If Reeves placed the order directly with Xu Yi, Heinz would have nothing to do with it—and no share of the profits.

He could not help feeling torn.

Seeing Heinz's reaction, Reeves immediately understood that the decision rested with Xu Yi, the unremarkable-looking young man with black hair. He turned his attention to him.

Xu Yi had something else on his mind. He frowned slightly and considered the offer for a moment, then shook his head under Heinz's hopeful gaze.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't take this order."

Reeves and Heinz both froze. Reeves frowned. "Why? Are you worried I can't pay? If that's the issue, I can put down a deposit right now." He took a pale-gold sheet of distinctly unusual paper from his coat and held it out. "This is a gold note issued by the Chimera Chamber of Commerce. It's accepted throughout the Sains Continent and worth a thousand Gold Coins. You can check it."

"A gold note from the Chimera Chamber of Commerce!" Heinz exclaimed.

The Chimera Chamber of Commerce was the largest merchant organization on the Sains Continent. It was said to have the backing of the Candel Empire's royal family—one of the continent's two great empires—and wielded immense power. Its gold notes were accepted everywhere on the continent.

For this middle-aged man to produce a thousand-gold-coin note so casually, he had to be extraordinarily wealthy, far beyond a mere general-store owner like Heinz.

"That isn't the reason," Xu Yi said, unmoved. "The problem is on my end. I can't guarantee that I could produce a thousand Magic Fans in a short time. Even if I managed it, I couldn't guarantee their quality."

"Quality?" Reeves gave Xu Yi a surprised look, as though he had found something intriguing. A faint smile touched his lips. "Then, Mr. Xu Yi, what if I raised the price? Two Gold Coins and ten silver coins for each Magic Fan. How does that sound?"

Heinz's heart gave a violent leap.

Ten silver coins more per Magic Fan might not sound like much, but across a thousand fans, that was a full hundred Gold Coins!

What was more, under ordinary business practice, a buyer placing an order as large as Reeves's would usually expect a discount. Yet Reeves had offered to pay more. His sincerity was plain.

But Xu Yi still shook his head firmly. "I'm sorry. It isn't about the price. The quality of a mechanical product is extremely important. If I can't guarantee it, the result could be a disaster. I don't want that to happen."

"A disaster?" Reeves frowned, apparently unable to follow his reasoning.

Xu Yi smiled but did not explain.

On Earth, accidents caused by quality problems were all too common. He had no wish to see the same thing happen on the Sains Continent.

Perhaps he could not prevent every problem, but he would do his best.

That was a basic principle for a mechanical engineer.

Seeing that Xu Yi would not budge, Reeves sighed and put away the gold note. Then he took out another unusual piece of paper, a little stiffer and of a different color, and handed it to Xu Yi.

"Mr. Xu Yi, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please take my card."

Xu Yi accepted the card and glanced at it. It bore only a name and a simple address, with no other information.

The address was somewhere in Anvilmar, the capital of the Lampari Kingdom, though Xu Yi did not know exactly where.

Despite having lived in the Lampari Kingdom for more than three years, he had never once visited Anvilmar.

"If you ever change your mind, you can find me at that address. Or if you come up with something else as novel as the Magic Fan, I hope you'll think of me first. I believe we'll have a chance to work together someday."

Reeves had an air of shrewdness that Xu Yi did not particularly like, but his words and manner were thoroughly courteous. He was hard to dislike, so Xu Yi nodded to show he understood.

After Reeves left, Heinz asked to see the card. One glance was enough to make him cry out in surprise. "Sloan Street! Good heavens! He must be someone important!"

"Oh?" Xu Yi looked at Heinz curiously.

"You don't know?" Heinz seemed astonished that Xu Yi had never heard of Sloan Street. "That's where the great nobles of Anvilmar City live. If Reeves told you to contact him there, he must be an important man living among them!"

Xu Yi smiled, unconcerned. Whether Reeves was important or not had nothing to do with him for now.

He had other matters to worry about. Selling the first batch of Magic Fans had brought him more than four hundred Gold Coins in net profit—a small fortune—but that was only the first step. There was still a great deal to do if he wanted a steady income.

The reason he had refused Reeves's order was exactly what he had said: he could not guarantee production of the Magic Fans.

At present, he made the Magic Fans by coordinating with the Blacksmith Shop and his colleagues. It was a highly irregular production system, and a problem on either side could disrupt it at any time.

The greatest uncertainty was the ten colleagues who drew the magic arrays at the fans' cores.

A week of working with Xu Yi had shown those ten colleagues how profitable the arrangement could be. He was sure they would gladly keep drawing Magic Arrays as long as he paid them. But the arrangement was unstable and could fall apart at any moment for any number of unexpected reasons.

Yet when Xu Yi had offered them employment contracts to sign, all ten had refused.

None of them said so outright, but Xu Yi knew why: their pride and dignity as mages.

They had no objection to helping Xu Yi draw Magic Arrays. They could treat it as extra income earned in their spare time.

Signing a contract, however, would make them Xu Yi's employees. For mages as proud as they generally were, that was hard to accept.

The Magic Fan might have "magic" in its name, but on the Sains Continent, where practical applications of magic received little attention, it was probably no different from an ordinary craftsman's product in their eyes. Naturally, mages would not think much of it.

The Blacksmith Shop was another cause for concern for Xu Yi.

When commissioning the Magic Fan casings, Xu Yi had drawn extremely detailed plans and marked every part of every component. Even so, a considerable number of the finished casings failed to meet his specifications.

If the fans had required greater precision, Xu Yi would have sent every substandard piece back to be remade.

Of course, Xu Yi knew he was being too demanding.

As a senior mechanical engineer from Earth, Xu Yi was used to components produced by precision machinery, with tolerances of less than a millimeter. But this was the Sains Continent, a world with virtually no mechanical-industrial foundation. Expecting its craftsmen to match Earth's manufacturing standards already was a pipe dream.

"Ah, there's a long road ahead," Xu Yi sighed, thinking of all the problems he faced.

The next day, Xu Yi arrived at the Magic Tower for work as usual.

Xu Yi's standing in the research room was now entirely different. His magical ability had not improved significantly, but at least ten of his colleagues had worked with him and earned handsome pay. Naturally, they were much warmer toward him than before.

Many people greeted him as soon as he entered the research room.

Xu Yi smiled and greeted them in return. He had just sat down at his place when Vena darted over and slapped a drawing of a Magic Array onto the desk in front of him.

"Xu Yi, I've figured out your Magic Array!"

Xu Yi looked up in surprise. Vena wore an unmistakably smug expression. He glanced down at the drawing and saw the Wind Spiral Array, the core of the magic fan.

Vena had covered the drawing with detailed markings, annotating almost every node.

Just as she had said, the drawing showed that she had thoroughly studied the array. Every note was detailed and complete, yet easy to understand.

Even someone new to magic could look at this drawing and gain a thorough understanding of the Wind Spiral Array as Xu Yi had modified it.

Xu Yi read through it, his eyes lighting up. He looked sharply at Vena. "Hey, Vena, you're amazing!"

Vena gave a soft snort, unable to hide her satisfaction.

"It's only a low-level array. Figuring it out wasn't that hard."

Xu Yi chuckled. He had no intention of pointing out the obvious flaw in Vena's claim. Lifting the drawing, he asked, "Would you sell this to me?"

Vena blinked. "Why would you buy it? Didn't you come up with this array yourself?"

Xu Yi shrugged. "I'm honored that someone made such detailed notes on it, so I'd like to keep the drawing. What do you say? Name your price."

Vena gave him a surprised look, then waved a hand. "At least you recognize its value. Forget it—I'm not as obsessed with money as you are. You charge two gold coins for a lousy fan. This drawing isn't worth anything. You can have it."

Xu Yi laughed. "Then thank you."

Without hesitation, he folded the drawing and tucked it into his coat.

He truly had to thank Vena. This drawing solved a major problem for him.

If he wanted to teach others to draw the Magic Array in the future, he would not have to guide them through it step by step. One look at this drawing would teach them most of what they needed to know, saving him a great deal of effort.

He was about to get to work when the research room door swung open. Stille strode in, swept her gaze around the room, and fixed it on Xu Yi.

"Xu Yi, come with me. Grandpa wants to see you."