Forget it, I should focus on the present.
Once I recover my strength, this little bit of money won't mean a thing!
When that time comes, I'll just go rob the Church's vault... oh, no, I mean "borrow" from it!
Leon took a deep breath, pushing those unrealistic fantasies to the back of his mind.
It was exactly as Flint said; the 【Little Tigers】 were in dire need of a high-performance carriage to make their escape, and their pockets were currently empty.
If he wanted to monetize his inscription skills quickly, there didn't seem to be a better channel than the insider right in front of him.
Moreover...
Leon glanced at the heavy coin pouch on the table.
Seven gold coins, twelve silver coins, and thirty-five copper coins.
There were both large and small denominations.
If Flint had simply produced ten gold coins or rounded up the amount, Leon might have felt it was just a transaction.
But this entire net worth, precise down to the copper coins, made Leon feel a hint of long-lost... sincerity.
This guy was going all-in.
However.
"There's one thing I don't understand."
Leon set down the terrible cup of coffee, his gaze sharp as he stared at Flint.
"You said you could get a brand-new 【Black Wind-Ultra】 flagship model?"
"As far as I know, that's your flagship model with a price tag of 250 gold coins. Since you're poor enough to give me your entire life savings, where are you going to get the money to buy a carriage?"
"Even with an internal employee discount, it's impossible for it to be cheap enough for you to afford, right?"
This was a very practical problem.
Leon didn't want to end up as the fall guy if something went wrong.
"Hehe..."
Hearing this question, a sly smile appeared on Flint's dust-covered face.
He lowered his voice and leaned closer to Leon.
"Sir, this is my area of expertise."
"Every batch of new carriages leaving the factory undergoes a quality inspection."
"I am the chief maintenance technician and the head of quality control here. I only need to tamper with things slightly during the inspection... for instance, by determining that a certain new carriage's 'core magic circle' has an irreversible major defect."
"Then, I use the scrapped bulk parts in the warehouse to piece together a 'corpse' that looks the same on the outside but is actually an empty shell."
"Finally, I follow the 'scrapping application' process and hand over that 'corpse' for destruction..."
Flint pointed toward the door.
"So, that brand-new carriage that was supposed to be destroyed but has already 'disappeared' from the accounts... can't it be driven out silently and without anyone knowing?"
...
Vespa and A-Ling listened, dumbfounded.
Good grief!
This operation was far too illegal!
Leon's eyebrows shot up; looking at Flint's expectant gaze, he understood instantly.
This guy was hinting at something.
This wasn't just a plan to get a carriage; it was a "leverage point."
Flint was proactively handing Leon the very leverage that could ruin him, just to tell Leon: "I've done something like this, so it's impossible for me to betray you."
This was called a pledge of loyalty.
'Is my overwhelming presence really that hard to hide? Is that why he's so devoted?'
Leon mocked himself in his mind, but he had to marvel: 'Man, you really can't underestimate the people of this other world...'
However, inspired by Flint's suggestion, a flash of inspiration struck Leon's mind.
If Flint could successfully rise to power and become an executive at the Riders' Dealership... wouldn't he have a perfect white glove?
In the future, improved magic circles could be monetized through Flint's operations, while Leon could stay behind the scenes and count the money!
This was a perfect industrial chain!
Thinking of this, Leon's opinion of Flint improved significantly.
However, this would take time to settle and ferment.
And the most crucial point was—he had to see if this guy actually had what it takes.
Although Flint's emotional intelligence wasn't low and he understood social nuances, Leon had sensed his magical strength earlier—he was just a 【heroic】-rank weakling.
But inscriptions were about brains and logic; they had no necessary connection to combat power.
"I'm not saying I won't agree to what you've said."
Leon tapped his finger lightly on the table, the sound making Flint's heart skip a beat.
"But all of this must be built on the premise that you have enough talent and strength to seize this opportunity."
Leon's tone became serious.
"After all, I'm only giving you the blueprints. If you're a half-wit who can't understand the logic behind them and get easily exposed or stumped by questions, then you're useless."
"Technology is just like mathematics. If you don't know it, you really don't know it. It's not something you can easily fake."
"Mathematics?"
Flint was stunned for a moment. Although he didn't quite understand the exact meaning of the word, he understood what Leon meant.
He was being tested!
"Sir, please enlighten me!"
Instead of backing down, Flint straightened his back, a hint of pride flashing in his eyes.
Although he called himself "your servant" or "adoptive son" in front of Leon, it didn't mean he was a useless person.
He was, after all, a top student who graduated from the Virado Royal Magic-Polytechnic Institute!
To become a technical expert at a top-tier dealership in a new first-tier city in his early twenties, Flint definitely had some skills!
The sharp edge unique to young people filled him with fighting spirit.
"Bring it on! If it's a question about magic circle architecture, I'm confident I won't lose to anyone!"
"Heh, interesting."
Seeing Flint's confident appearance, Leon smiled.
He extended a finger and dipped it into the terrible coffee that lacked any sense of narrative.
Then, on the rough wooden table, he slowly drew a basic yet peculiarly structured triangular array pattern.
"I won't test you on any profound or complex arrays."
After finishing the last stroke, Leon looked up, his gaze playful as he watched Flint.
"Since you're a maintenance technician, I'll test you on the most basic things."
Leon pointed at the water stain on the table.
"Do you know... how many ways there are to write the character 'hui' in aniseed beans?"
"Huh? Anise... what beans?"
Flint looked completely bewildered, his bloodshot eyes filled with pure, unadulterated stupidity.
Was this some profound ancient magic incantation? Or some lost secret code?
"Cough, wrong script."
Leon withdrew his finger without changing his expression and pointed again at the water stain pattern on the table.
"I mean... this 【Standard Mana Return Triangle】."
"Do you know how many solutions it has in inscription construction?"
Flint looked down.
What met his eyes was a simple equilateral triangle with a swirling dot in the middle.
This was the very first lesson for any apprentice inscriptor, just like "1+1" in mathematics.
Flint instinctively wanted to laugh, about to blurt out that this kind of child's play only had one standard way to be drawn.
But when his gaze truly focused on the seemingly ordinary lines Leon had drawn with that low-quality coffee...
Thump.
The words at the tip of his tongue felt as if they were being squeezed by an invisible hand, stuck in his throat and unable to come out.
Although Leon had drawn this stroke with coffee stains, the flow of the lines and the hidden layout of the mana nodes... actually gave him a sense of vertigo, as if he were facing the vast starry sky.
"Ordinary apprentices only know how to use 'linear conduction'."
Leon spoke calmly, his voice sounding as if it came from the clouds.
"Those with a bit of skill know how to use 'arc refraction' to reduce loss."
"But..."
Leon lightly tapped the center of the triangle.
"If you want to achieve a perfect closed loop of energy on an unstable carrier, how many ways are there to write this node?"
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