When the car was parked, many young people were already watching. It was mainly because the sound of the car's engine and exhaust was too obvious in such a quiet night. Of course, it would arouse everyone's curiosity.
He turned off the car and got off. But the three passengers on the car didn't seem to realize it. They were still clinging to the body of the car until Ruan Wenyue's brother ran up to them. "Brother, are you okay?" The three of them finally remembered to get off the car.
Because he didn't intend to turn tonight into a driving class, Lin politely refused everyone's request to test the car or go for a ride. Instead, he instructed the attendants to bring the few who had been exposed to the cold wind into the room to warm themselves up and drink some warm tea.
Fortunately, the three of them were quite strong. After being exposed to the wind, they shouldn't have any problems. The two Mages in the combat force had nothing to say. Even Ruan Wenyue, as a businessman, was a strong Warrior according to Lin's observation. He didn't dare ask him to fight on the frontline, but it shouldn't be a problem for him to protect himself in the face of an unexpected situation, not to mention just being exposed to the wind.
As for himself, Lin wasn't worried at all. He knew what kind of situation he would face. How could he not be prepared in advance? An apprentice-level spell, Wind Barrier, easily straightened out the changes in the airflow around him and made the cold wind automatically avoid him. It was a spell that could control the airflow around him and divert the attacks of flying objects like arrows. A mere cold wind was nothing to it.
Returning to the small salon where they had talked before, the old deacon who had been following Ruan Wenyue asked the young people who had followed him in to leave. The three old men who had eaten a stomach full of cold wind exhaled heavily after drinking a few cups of hot tea. Their eyes gradually regained their vigor. It was only then that they seemed to have come back to their senses. They opened their mouths and asked a series of questions.
It could be said that Lin answered every question in great detail, and even provided some data from the observation of the carriage as evidence. Except for the detailed design structure and parameters that weren't given, Lin answered all the other questions, whether they were normal or not, such as whether they could fly in the sky or swim in the sea, whether they could jump, whether they could install it on a house, and whether they could pull the whole house along, and so on.
But Ruan Wenyue was indeed a businessman. After a series of technical and random questions, he immediately turned the conversation back to the main point. He asked, "Sir Tripwood, can you tell me how much it costs to make such a car?"
"Not counting the salary and design fees, just looking at the material cost, although I didn't calculate it in detail, it should be more than Xbar Kiel (10,000 gold)."
A certain someone's straightforward answer immediately caused everyone's bright eyes to dim. Ten thousand gold was definitely not something an ordinary person could afford. Even a great merchant or noble might not be able to afford it.
After all, the luxury car culture in the mysterious land had yet to flourish. No one would blindly pursue more luxurious, faster, and rarer cars. Not to mention, after buying the car, there would be all kinds of fuel, consumables, and maintenance.
Of course, by using some means to package it, it was still possible to trick fools into spending a lot of money, but it was meaningless to do so. The positioning of this thing should not be in the high-end line, but in the mass market. It would be best if it could be sold on the streets and completely change the lives of the people in the Lost Land.
Therefore, in the face of everyone's disappointment, Lin smiled and said, "Not only do you think it's expensive, even I think it's very expensive. However, this is only a trial car to verify the feasibility of the structure. It's not a car that will be sold in the end. "
"Oh, what's the difference?" Ruan Wenyue asked.
"This trial car is entirely made of magical metals. This is to facilitate the use of magical molding to change the structure of the parts. When a part is confirmed to be incorrect or unnecessary, it can be quickly restored into a metal ingot and reused. That's all. The two main characteristics of magical metals are that they can be added with magical effects, and the metal's strength is much higher than ordinary metals. However, in the structure of this car, there is almost no need to add magical effects. The problem of the metal's strength can also be solved by smelting. In other words, more than 99% of the structure can be replaced with ordinary metals, or even wood or other lighter materials. I estimate that the final product of this car should be able to reduce the material cost to XXX Kiel (30 gold). The price is set at XXX Kiel (100 gold). I think that with this price, there will be a lot more people who will be willing to accept it. "
This number was not made up by someone. The production of this trial car had, of course, made Lin see many shortcomings. Moreover, they were the kind that could not be replaced with magical materials. Amongst those shortcomings, the most important one was the tires.
The test just now made Lin understand that the current tire's grip was far from enough. In this case, in addition to finding ways to improve the formula of the tires, the simplest way was to reduce the speed limit, which was to change the engine with less horsepower. This was to prevent the vehicle from losing control due to excessive speed in some extreme environments, resulting in accidents.
Less horsepower meant that there was a method that did not require the strength of the material. In other words, the engine's material could not be made of magical metals. In addition, the rubber's airtightness also increased the engine's efficiency. Gradually, the cost of production would be reduced.
Lin even planned to introduce material science in the Maze Land and use alloys to replace magical metals. After all, if a car used pure fuel engine, it would have nothing to do with magic. It would be a waste to use magical metals and only take the strength of the material.
Even if it was a hybrid engine, there was a limit to the places where the magic array needed to be carved. Most of the car's body could be made of ordinary metals. Not to mention, ordinary cars did not even need to be made of steel plates that were a few centimeters thick. Some unimportant places could be covered with a thin layer of iron. Cheaper materials could even be considered. Therefore, it was possible to lower the price to 30 gold coins.
In addition to the radiance in their eyes, there was also an indescribable and inexplicable feeling in them. The Warlock Saint, who was very friendly, put his arm around Lin Li's shoulder again and said, "Kid, you're good. You intend to sell XXX Kiel's things. Do you sell other things in the same way? "
Warlock Saint Baruch Abnahan immediately thought of the other goods related to this man and wondered if they were all sold at such a low price. He immediately became unhappy and planned to take some money from Lin Li's wallet.
Lin Li smiled bitterly and said, "Sir Warlock Saint, I'm only calculating the cost of the materials. I don't include the design cost and the remuneration of the manufacturer. I can't ask these people to work for free. You can ask for the same price as the iron ore. "
However, Ruan Wenyue was thinking about something else. He asked, "Sir, since this industry is profitable, why didn't you choose to work with Mage Kabanbai? Instead, you were willing to take it out and work with me. "
He was not the only one who wanted to know the answer to this question. The two mages beside him also wanted to know the answer. Although there was no such thing as "the pavilion closest to the water enjoys the moonlight first" in the mystery land, this logic still made sense.
The answer to this question was not difficult to think of. Lin Li said directly, "Because the direction is different. If I were to have this carriage built to-day to run faster, to be able to push heavier carriages, to be larger or smaller, or to have some special function added to it, I would, of course, seek the cooperation of Headmaster Kabambai. But today, my idea is to build this car at a cheaper cost. I want to build it according to the needs of the customer, that is, the user. I don't want to use magic as much as possible. Instead, I want to find a method that ordinary craftsmen can use to build this car. Then, compared to an archmage, I think a businessman who understands the needs of the customer will be a better partner. "
This logic was so simple that everyone present understood it immediately. After experiencing the speed of the car, they naturally had some ideas. However, these ideas were just like what the mage in front of them said. Mage Saint Babak Abnahan and Archmage Attila were thinking about how to make the car faster, but as a businessman, Ruan Wenyue was thinking about how to obtain it at a cheaper cost.
This was not to say that businessmen only thought about how to cut corners all day. Faced with the same product, making more at a cheaper cost was the nature of a businessman. The difference was who would get the benefits after the cost was reduced.
If it was a merchant who had stolen the goods, then the goods in his hands would be shoddy. This kind of behavior was obviously not desirable. But if the price was reduced at the same time as the cost was reduced, and it clearly showed the difference between before and after. It emphasized that you get what you pay for, so that the buyer could choose the grade of the product according to their own situation. How could this be said to be a businessman's fault?
To put it simply, the high-end market should be occupied, and the low-end market should also be occupied. A real businessman would of course want to have more of the market. And this kind of pursuit was precisely something that Kabanbai, the great mage, wouldn't care about.
After listening to the mage's thoughts, Ruan Wenyue also understood his role. Faced with this opportunity that seemed to have a high chance of winning, he already had an idea in his mind. But there was still a question that he had to clarify. "If we cooperate, what do you want my family to do?" After all, this was a business that had never been done before. So, to be honest, he was still a little lost on how to cooperate.
"Haha, the success of the test car, you have all experienced it. And this also proves that the structure of the car is feasible. Then, what comes next is continuous experimentation and exploration. To use ordinary metals to make a car, other than the formula of the alloy material, there is also the manufacturing process. How to make gears, how to make curved steel plates, these parts that cannot be made directly with magical shaping are the key points that require Mr. Ruan's cooperation. "
At this point, Lin still maintained his original bitter expression and said, "In other words, don't look at the cost of my car in XXX Kiel. If I want to sell it to C. Kiel, this does not take into account the time and salary spent on research and development. If the final product does not sell enough, it is not impossible to lose money. "
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