Wheel of Fortune: “Eat, eat, eat. Is that all you know how to do?”
High Priestess: “Hehe, there’s an old saying in the Dragon Country: food is the first necessity of the people.”
The Emperor: “It’ll be ready soon. Just wait a moment.”
Gu Xiaobei, who was cooking while keeping an eye on the chat, said this.
The Emperor: “By the way, @Chariot, I want to make a multi-functional kitchen machine. I need a lot of stoves, and they need to be big. It should be able to steam, deep-fry, stir-fry, and boil. How about I provide your meals for a month in exchange?”
Chariot: “I can certainly do that. How about using mana as the heat source?”
The Emperor: “I can’t. My mana pool isn’t high enough.”
Chariot: “I see. Then I’ll try to make a low-consumption mana machine.”
Watching the conversation between Gu Xiaobei and Olf, Lan Qingyou’s brows furrowed as she realized an opportunity had presented itself.
The Tower: “Speaking of machinery, I just remembered. @Chariot, I have a machine I need you to make right now.”
Chariot: “Oh? What is it?”
Chariot’s interest was instantly piqued.
As a ‘machinery specialist,’ he would gladly accept any ‘challenge’ given to him by the group members.
Of course, an equivalent price had to be paid, but since he already had Lan Qingyou’s promise, he naturally wouldn’t ask for anything else.
The Tower: “Engines. Mana engines, or an equivalent driving force. I need at least ten as spares.”
Chariot: “I see. That’s not too difficult. I designed a model when I was making agricultural machinery for the Empress, but since I’m making more, I’ll iterate on the design.”
Chariot: “I remember seeing someone with the book 《Basic Mana Reaction Theory》. Let me borrow it.”
High Priestess: “I have it. Sent it to you.”
Chariot: “Thanks.”
High Priestess: “You’re welcome.”
Mhm! They could even borrow books!
This was quite a good development!
Scholarly materials should be borrowed; buying them was far too beneath them.
Lan Qingyou’s eyes lit up.
She knew that because so many people wanted to learn magic, books were becoming increasingly difficult to collect.
If they could borrow books internally, she wouldn't have to worry about finding them anymore.
She wouldn't even have to look longingly at the many books in the reward selections, torn between choices.
It seemed she really had joined a great organization!
The Tower: “@The Moon, I have a list here. Help me prepare these items.”
The Moon: “No problem. When do you need them?”
The Tower: “As soon as possible.”
High Priestess: “What’s this? It feels like The Moon is The Tower’s little lackey.”
The Moon: “Haha, rather than calling The Tower my boss, it would be more accurate to call her my creditor.”
Wheel of Fortune: “Tell us your story.”
The Moon: “It’s nothing much. I just owe her about a hundred thousand mana potions from the last mana tide. The exact number is unclear.”
Wheel of Fortune: “...”
High Priestess: “A hundred thousand...”
Chariot: “Good lord! Is that even humanly possible?”
The Moon: “So, you see,”
Justice: “@The Moon, what are the prices like in your area? I want to agree on a price standard with you.”
The Moon: “Private chat.”
Justice: “No, it’s better to discuss these things publicly.”
Chu Yuan thought that since everyone felt the pricing wasn't very public or transparent before, it was better to discuss it in front of everyone now.
This way, no one would question these matters in the future.
After all, the essence of his and Magician David’s effort in establishing this Villa was to provide a better environment for more scholars to study the magic of this world.
The goal was to help more people adapt to everything here.
Therefore, he had no intention of being secretive, whether in business or anything else.
To put it bluntly, as one of the councilors of the Kalim Supreme Council, he didn't lack resources and had no intention of making money off these people.
But now, with the addition of the merchant Shang Chuan, setting the prices might actually yield a profit.
Of course, the most important thing was that once prices were set and everyone agreed, the prices across the entire Kalim continent wouldn't fluctuate too wildly due to regional isolation.
The Moon: “Fine. Actually, there’s not much to negotiate. The Tower is the price standard in our district.”
Justice: “?”
Although he had heard that prices in Lan Qingyou’s region were high, he hadn't expected them to be this high.
Using mana points as a measure was a good idea, though.
The Moon: “Mana points. We use mana points to fix the price standard. 1 mana point equals one basic unit.”
Justice: “Uh... isn’t that a bit too crude? By that calculation, how high are the prices in your area?”
The Moon: “Not that high, right? We’re used to it.”
Justice: “If we calculate the prices here that way, it’s about 3 basic units to 1 mana point.”
Wheel of Fortune: “It’s 5 here.”
Empress: “It’s about 2.5 here, I think?”
The Moon: “I see. Everyone’s prices differ quite a bit. We really should discuss this properly.”
Pfft!
After typing that, Shang Chuan immediately covered his nose to prevent a nosebleed.
Don’t panic, this was a normal physiological response.
Sometimes this happens when a person gets excited.
Although Lan Qingyou had warned him before, he hadn't known anything else besides the existence of the researchers at the time.
Good heavens, were the basic units in other regions really that cheap?
If he started buying and reselling, wouldn't he make a fortune!
Despite his excitement, Shang Chuan quickly realized where the issue lay.
It wasn't that prices in other regions were cheap, but that prices in District 666 were too expensive.
Lan Qingyou’s sudden rise had single-handedly driven up the unit price of basic units in the entire District 666.
1 mana point for 1 basic unit.
This was unthinkable in other districts.
Or rather, District 666’s anchoring standard was different from other places, directly benchmarking against ‘mana.’
And so, witnessed by the group, Shang Chuan, the professional, and Chu Yuan, representing the Supreme Council, conducted a ‘negotiation.’
The final result was that the Supreme Council, represented by Chu Yuan, decided to discuss a currency system to facilitate trade and even produce some currency.
Like gold coins, silver coins, and the like.
Of course, this result could only represent the decision of the Supreme Council or those willing to cooperate with them.
Whether every district below would comply was another matter entirely.
To be honest, Lan Qingyou was quite dissatisfied with this.
In her view, a one-to-one ratio was the only way no one would lose out.
After all, whether it was 1 mana point for 2 basic units or 2 basic units for 1 mana point, someone was bound to get the short end of the stick.
In the end, Shang Chuan only said one thing: “This is business. This is circulation. In this world, there is no such thing as a true win-win or absolute fairness.”
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