In a manor in the south of Calore City, a large shed that was once used as a warehouse was brightly lit.
This was the property of the great merchant, Codd. The shed and several surrounding houses were once warehouses used to store fodder and temporary goods for the caravan. However, since the beginning of spring this year, the warehouse had been repurposed. The great merchant had bought five magic chariots at one go and formed a new caravan. The original number of horse-drawn wagons had been reduced by 50%, and the remaining carriages had been assigned to the peddlers in the countryside. The reduction of the number of carriages had led to the reduction of the fodder required. The old warehouses had been transformed into new facilities — workshops and laboratories.
Codd, wearing a thin coat and with his hair neatly combed, walked into the big shed. The magic crystal lamp hanging on the ceiling of the shed shone brightly, making the room as bright as day. The wide space in the shed was divided into several areas by low walls that reached up to the chest. The newly purchased simple machine tools were running happily in each area. The sound of metal parts colliding with the buzzing of magic gears mixed with the wonderful smell of lubricating oil. The great merchant walked through these sounds and smells and came straight to the cubicle at the end of the aisle.
A few young men in short robes were busy in front of the workbench. When they saw Codd, they all turned around and saluted him. Codd quickly waved his hand and said, "No need to salute. Just do what you need to do."
The young men returned to their previous work. Codd came to the workbench and looked at them busy.
These people were all mage apprentices and rune craftsmen that he had recruited at a high price. Apprentices and craftsmen were not expensive employees, but they had studied in the academy set up by the government office, and they had also passed the examination to become a magician, which was enough to make their value double.
It cost a lot to hire these people, but in the eyes of the great merchant, they played a role that was completely worth the money.
On the workbench, a once complete magic device had been dismantled into a pile of parts. Several rune boards and a series of control, power supply, and linkage mechanisms were neatly spread out on the floor. Each part was labeled with its function. On one side of the workbench, there was a large pile of paper and scrolls, which were full of calculations and records. Ordinary people would have fainted just by looking at them.
"Sir, we have completely disassembled the M-2 universal magic terminal and figured out the function of all the rune boards," a young magician with short, messy hair said to Codd. "Now we are calculating the power and interference coefficient of the Icicle board according to rune logic. We think that as long as we adjust its projection area and add a good insulation box, it is completely feasible to make a container that can store food …"
"Very good, very good." Codd nodded. "Any other problems?"
Another young man said, "We need a more stable magic power source. The previous magic net units are all old goods, and some of them have begun to deteriorate. They are really unusable."
"Don't worry, I have asked Phal to purchase new magic net units. This time, they are not old goods, they are all brand new."
"Then there is no problem."
The technicians returned to their work. Codd continued to stand by the workbench, watching them busying themselves around a pile of runes, papers, and formulas.
He could only understand a small part of it, but it did not affect his immersion.
Since winter, the attempt to use 'advertising' to promote Calore's specialties had been a great success. After tasting the benefits, the local merchants had become supporters of the magic engineering industry and its by-products. Codd's new company, 'Codd's Home Affairs', which he started this spring, was his second attempt in this new era.
It seemed that this attempt would also be a great success.
The emergence of the magic engineering industry had changed the way of production. As a successful businessman, what Codd saw in the promotion of the magic engineering industry was not only a change in the way of production. After buying his first arcanotech car and personally experiencing its power and efficiency, he realized how useful this unbelievable thing could be. How unimaginable was it for a normal person like him to be able to control a powerful machine by holding on to those levers?
For Codd, the biggest impact of buying the magic car from the lord was not the power of the magic car, but the fact that magic could really belong to ordinary people.
He opened his mind and saw a business opportunity in the price of the magic car.
Magic cars, magic network communication, large machines … These things could not be replicated and produced with his ability, but what about the smaller ones? What about the simpler ones?
The officials in the city hall did not forbid him from doing so, which meant that he could do it.
His method was so simple that it was almost comical in the eyes of a true magicite technician. He bought a universal magical terminal from a shop directly owned by the Government Office, dismantled it, and used his limited knowledge of runes to link the searing runes, energy groups, and a sunken metal plate according to the basic lessons taught in the academy's textbooks. Then, he placed a pot on the metal plate and cooked a pot of half-cooked vegetable soup.
The vegetable soup was the worst thing he had ever eaten in his life, but the clumsy 'heating station' made him very proud.
Then, he registered Codd's Home Affairs.
He could not rely on the magic terminal he bought from the shop to disassemble parts to produce his own products. That would only lead to a loss. So, he went to all the departments in the city hall and bought a rune press machine that was half-scrapped due to overproduction.
Without a technician, he went to the academy to copy a full set of rune logic and basic courses in mechanics (at that time, printed books were still in short supply, and there was no way to buy textbooks in the academy). He got the young literate people in his family and the merchant guild to study for half a month and repaired the broken machine.
He used his influence and connections, and spent a large sum of money to hire a few young people with magicite licenses. These were the people in front of him.
He bought a lot of magic devices, from Cecil Machine Manufacture and Magicite Technology Research Institute, from universal magic terminals to agricultural pumps, machinery, and even the expensive magic network communication device. But he disassembled them all into parts.
He built his own 'new factory' and his own 'laboratory'. He even built a simple machine with his workers. It was powered by an obsolete piston-type magic engine. It could only be used to drill holes in metal plates, but its efficiency was much higher than manual labor.
This was his' Codd Factory ', but it was not the first factory he built. His first factory was a little further north, next to his mansion. But due to a rune rune rune accident, most of the factory was burned down, and the nearby residents were in a panic. He had no choice but to move the equipment and personnel here.
All of this cost him nearly half of his family's wealth. The wealth he had accumulated as a businessman was splashed like water on these machines and workshops. Many people thought that he had gone mad, that he had been blinded by the dazzling broadcast of the Weave, to the point that he still wanted to do such a risky thing at his age.
But in the end, he sold two thousand sets of the first batch of magic heating stations. The slightly wealthier upper-class citizens could not refuse such a convenient thing, not only because it was novel and easy to use, but also because a life free from firewood and smoke was a symbol of dignity.
The principles behind Curt's "products" were actually very simple. Just like the stupid method he used at the beginning, he would buy complicated magical devices and then disassemble them to see if there was any simple technology he could master. Or he would study the courses taught in the school to find ideas and methods.
Currently, magical engineering technology wasn't that complicated. Many of the basic principles could be understood and controlled by ordinary people, and the civilian domain was so blank that any invention that was slightly more convenient would be of great use. And the first thing Curt had to do was to find a 'demand point' for civilian use.
His method was not complicated. He studied the lives of nobles and extraordinary people, studied the convenient and comfortable parts of their lives, and then looked for ways to realize them in magic technology.
The nobles and extraordinary people of this world had always lived a comfortable and convenient life, and the convenience was beyond the imagination of the common people.
They had magic lighting, a comfortable environment with artificial temperature and humidity, instant communication, artificial intelligence servants, and could enjoy any delicacy in any season.
As a merchant who was born a commoner and became rich by relying on business, Codd knew the living conditions of the common people and the lifestyle of the upper class. He made full use of this advantage, which was equivalent to finding countless business opportunities.
Mages could use magic flames to heat food, so he could create a heating station for civilian use. Mages could cast a spell that made it like spring all year round in their mage towers, so he could use rune boards and ventilation ducts to create a similar effect. Nobles could eat ice cubes in summer and fresh meat forever, so he wanted to create a cheap and convenient container that could make ice cubes and preserve food.
The success of Codd's family business attracted the attention of others. Now, in Calore and the surrounding areas, many merchants were active. They were all preparing for their own companies, and many acquaintances came to Codd to ask for his experience. People seemed to have finally noticed this obvious truth.
Magic brought convenience to life, and those who could bring convenience to life would be able to seize the business opportunities.
A voice came from the door of the factory. Codd looked up and saw his eldest son, Phal, pushing a cart in with a few workers. They carefully protected the things on the cart, and what they were protecting was a large box wrapped with wooden planks and straw rope. On the big box, there was the logo of Cecil Rune Foundry.
A new magic network array was bought, and it was laboratory grade.
Coade quickly went up to them and called for the nearby workers to help unload the goods. However, his eldest son, Phal, pulled him to the side. The young man who had just returned from the city center had a deliberately mysterious look on his face. "Father, I have news for you …"
Codd glanced at his son. "What news?"
"Duke Cecil already knows about your company and what you are producing. Guess what happened?"
Codd suddenly felt nervous.
What happened?
He suddenly realized that what he was doing had another layer of risk. He realized that what he was touching and copying was the right of the feudal lord. Although he was only messing around with some simple 'gadgets' in a 'small domain' that the feudal lord did not care about, but the act of dismantling Cecil's magitech devices, creating new machines, and hiring magitech technicians … Did it not violate some kind of taboo?
Although the officials in the city hall did not stop him, and although Cecil's laws did not seem to prohibit such acts, and although the feudal lord had always said that he must strictly follow the law … After all, this involved the feudal lord. Would the feudal lord himself abide by those laws? Would he be annoyed by her bold actions?
Codd thought of a lot of things at once, so much so that he forgot that the advertisements he put on the magic network must first be approved by the highest government office of Cecil. Phal noticed his father's nervousness, and the young man suddenly laughed out loud. He took out a carefully rolled up paper from his pocket. "Father! A commendation order signed by Duke Cecil himself! And you're going to be conferred the title of Knight! "
Codd was stunned and froze in place for a moment.
Two seconds later, he snatched the commendation order from Phal's hand and opened it with trembling hands. He then carefully read the words on it word by word.
At the end of the commendation order was the order of conferment.
He watched it over and over again before finally noticing the smile on Phal's face that he could not hold back.
"You bastard, you actually dared to tease your own father!"
"Aiyo, father! Don't forget your Knight demeanor! "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
