Chapter 321: Yet More Busy Work

Chapter 321: Yet More Busy Work

With the help of such a “dictionary,” Zheng Yichen worked for two days and managed to resolve several conflicts. However, this did not mean he could relax right away. The combinations of magic potion materials were far too many, so many that the book could not possibly record them all. And the conflict issues between material pairings were not as simple as solving one and hammering down a nail.

When nine out of ten conflict points were resolved, but the last one stubbornly refused to be fixed, it meant either starting over or modifying the earlier conflict resolutions to come up with a better pairing scheme. He also had to consider the properties of the materials, ensuring they would not affect the final effectiveness of the magic potion.

Although Zheng Yichen found the research quite fulfilling, upon second thought, engineering was simpler and more mindless… ahem, relatively speaking. Rubbing his somewhat swollen head, Zheng Yichen left the laboratory and went to patrol the production workshop. The production line, entirely controlled by Alchemical Puppets—this could be considered a kind of automated production, right?

“Hmm… calculating the time, the ID Tianwang also needs to make a move.” Zheng Yichen flipped through the quest records in one production workshop. He could not create an Otherworld version of a computer, but the Alchemy Core made from soul material could replace computers in many aspects, such as the quest record function.

The workshop Zheng Yichen was in produced vehicles. Not sports cars, sedans, or off-road vehicles, but trucks, buses, and coaches. Although these vehicles used more materials, they could be sold at higher prices. He believed the merchants would like them very much. Moreover, Zheng Yichen had recently noticed some signs on the Forum. Some Auxiliary Profession Practitioners in Engineering had begun trying to replicate the Magic Cycles he made.

Zheng Yichen could keep the internal structure a secret. But keeping it secret was one thing; the internal structure was essentially uncomplicated. Many things could be observed and analyzed from the outside. He did not find it strange if capable engineering masters managed to replicate it. Of course, they could replicate it, but Zheng Yi was not worried that this would affect his own standing.

First, the biggest issue was cost. With high costs, could they forever keep the selling price below the cost line to compete with him?

They would bleed money to death. Next was performance… In terms of performance, which imitation Magic Cycle could match the performance of his own? Whether it was speed or endurance, even if the internal structure of the Magic Cycle was truly reverse-engineered by some engineering masters in the future, Zheng Yichen was not worried. Once it was no longer a secret, he would simply stop keeping it secret. He could just keep the core parts confidential as usual. After all, the Mana Source was not an overly secret thing.

But there were many versions! Different versions had different effects. That thing could not be deduced just by reverse-engineering. Protecting a unique Mana Source tightly was like protecting intellectual property. No one would complain unless Zheng Yichen chose to publicly disclose the technology… He was not stupid!

In short, if it really came to that, Zheng Yichen would not worry. Without keeping the structure secret, Zheng Yichen could totally create a large group of passionate modification enthusiasts…

“Hmm~ But he had to consider the problem of mana harvesting. Tsk, he could think about that later. Before that, he had to thoroughly establish the ID Tianwang that he used. In the future, whenever anyone talked about transportation… or even other equipment, the first thing they thought of would be Tianwang.” With his mind made up, Zheng Yichen opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, entered the backend of the Online Store in the Trading Zone, and, as Tianwang, posted some product information…

A large number of pictures and a large amount of textual description. The follower count of his Online Store was very high. Almost as soon as Zheng Yichen posted this information, the view count exploded at a visibly increasing rate.

“This is truly a big move!” In one city, a senior manager of the Purple Vine Guild looked at the latest information posted in the Tianwang Online Store. He had specifically set up an alert… Hmm, once there was any relevant updated information, his subordinates would notify him immediately. Initially, the Tianwang Online Store only had the Magic Cycle as a product. Even though there were many styles, it still seemed somewhat monotonous.

But this time, the product list in the Online Store instantly became much richer. All were four-wheeled vehicles. There were Sports Cars and Off-road Vehicles. Trucks and Buses were not missing either. If not for considering that mana harvesting might be difficult to manage, Zheng Yichen thought about whether he should create something like a Subway in the near future!

Subway construction involved too much; Zheng Yichen would not consider it for now.

The manager just glanced at the Sports Cars and Off-road Vehicles and set them aside for the moment. Although the internal structure could be seen from the pictures, they were clearly not for hauling goods but were similar to the Magic Cycle. What he really focused on extra were the Trucks and Buses.

As for Trucks, they were similar to beast-drawn carts for transport, but the front was clearly engine-driven as well. Small ones were convenient for moving within the city, while large ones were convenient for transport outside the city. Most importantly, keeping these things was much cheaper than raising Magical Beasts. Even with the existence of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, which made goods transport extremely convenient.

But shrewd merchants would not entirely adopt such a method. Using this method to transport goods when clearing customs could indeed save a sum of expenses, but it was not a complete saving. The pickup fee had to be paid, right? Picking up large quantities of goods also meant paying a large amount of mana—wasn’t that a problem? The mana consumption for pickup was not based on distance but on quantity. These were all costs. The foundation of a merchant making money was to cut all costs that could be cut while still competing with rivals in quality.

To achieve this required sufficient brains to calculate gains and losses.

In short… the usefulness of these Trucks remained very significant. As for that kind of Bus, the manager thought for a moment; there was also a lot of business opportunity there. Besides the over twenty seats inside that rectangular large vehicle, the other empty spaces could clearly accommodate many people as well. He estimated that, counting the standing room, one Bus could cram in at least seventy people…

In short, after this thing appeared, some coachmen in the city could basically consider changing careers.

Just as this manager was pondering the impact these vehicles would bring, he saw a prompt “icon” displayed on the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Without a second thought, he immediately left that light spot, clicked on the link associated with the icon, and entered a Confidential Post in the Forum. The summons from the big Boss—even though these managers held high positions, who among them dared not enter on time?

With the existence of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, people of their status now had an extra “secretary” by their side. These secretaries usually did not need to do much else. They just collected some trends in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and monitored some important prompts, notifying them promptly.

This kind of “@” summoning all managers allowed a five-minute waiting period. So, after entering, even though the post was completely blank, this manager was not too anxious. He patiently waited. While waiting, he even opened another new window that did not interfere with viewing this post and chatted with a few managers he knew, who were responsible for other areas. Those who could reach this position had corresponding abilities.

The content of their discussion was also about the new vehicle types appearing in the Tianwang Online Store. He valued the Trucks and Buses, while two other managers valued the Sports Cars and Off-road Vehicles. After some exchange, he felt their viewpoints were also quite good, with great development potential. Their exchanges were just brief and to the point, without delving too deeply… after all, this was all about performance!

After the five-minute gathering time ended, all managers of the Purple Vine Guild gathered in this Confidential Post. Their top Boss did not say anything ambiguous. She posted a plan… regarding the newly appeared vehicles plan.

“Establish a branch mainly focused on the transportation industry…?” The manager who had been focusing on Buses and Trucks frowned slightly and thought for a moment. Soon, his brows relaxed. As expected of the top Boss; she acted with courage. The vehicles in the Tianwang Online Store had only publicly released information and had not formally gone on sale yet, but she had already formulated a related plan. This plan had great potential.

However, he also saw some drawbacks. This was a big cake, destined to be fought over. A city was not small. To create a transportation network responsible for the city, the number of Buses needed would not be too few. Some roads were too narrow and could not accommodate larger Buses, forcing the choice of smaller ones. All this needed careful planning.

Apart from competition between guilds, the nation would certainly get involved. After all, these were things that would run all over the city, and the city was property managed by the relevant regional nation. To avoid trouble, they really had to bring them in to play, letting them take a share of the profits to shut their mouths and avoid causing trouble.

Even though these would take away a portion of the cake, what remained was still greatly profitable. The more he thought about it, the brighter this manager’s eyes became. He even felt an urge to start operating it immediately. This kind of thing was about seizing the initiative. The later one tried to squeeze in, the harder it became. He carefully read that plan. Buses were responsible for within the city. Coaches were responsible for between cities. The seats in Coaches were more comfortable than the hard seats in Buses and could even be adjusted to allow lying down to rest, suitable for transport lasting over a day or half a day… Of course, the price would be much higher.

Buses had cheap fares aimed at the ordinary people. As for cars, their passenger capacity was limited. With the driver, at most five people; larger ones could hold eight. This kind of vehicle was suitable for those with higher income who wanted to save time, since smaller vehicles were faster and more agile.

The plan did not mention Off-road Vehicles and Trucks. Additionally, their Boss extra mentioned that she would try to contact the Creator recently to discuss some additional business. She told them to do this matter well first. If anything needed to be added later, she would arrange it.

“Hmm… It seems the impact is quite good. Alright! There are new things to do again.” After receiving Qin’s new reply, Zheng Yichen rubbed his neck. He planned to seize the opportunity to create “ride-hailing” and “rental” services… The external reason? The Creator took the initiative to seek cooperation. Did this reason count?