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Aresia followed him for a few steps, but as Amos abruptly turned back, she handed him the backpack with the gryphon egg, saying, “Hold onto this for now, and make sure you take care of it.”
“Give it to someone else; I’m going to speak with father.”
Aresia declined because Amos wasn’t planning on just a simple test flight. Although hesitant, she remembered the Duke’s words and urged him to return quickly.
However, Amos insisted, “I won’t trust anyone else with it. Give it to my father’s men, and I’ll pick it up later.”
Amos never left his gryphon egg unattended. Besides being concerned about the hatching time, he feared someone might steal it!
Although few people in the legion knew about exotic pets, having a gryphon egg was an eye-catching oddity. Some troublemakers attempted theft a few times, almost succeeding. Despite their mischief being just a joke, it made Amos increasingly paranoid, suspecting everyone as a potential thief.
Aresia sighed.
As Amos shouldered the backpack containing the gryphon egg, the weight, along with the hatching box, was now over ten kilograms. Even for her relatively delicate physique, she could handle the weight.
Leaving the quarter and arriving at an open area, Amos eagerly stepped onto the magical hoverboard. As his body tilted, the activated board released a cylindrical burst of air from its bottom, propelling him into the air, accompanied by Amos’s excited cheers.
Aresia looked up as Amos soared around the legion. Due to the ten-meter height restriction, she could clearly observe his every move in the sky. His courage and agility were admirable, almost as if he was casually floating, confidently and skillfully performing even more difficult maneuvers.
However, having someone flying around the legion wasn’t ordinary. People started to gather, curious about the magical hoverboard. Although familiar with magic, witnessing such a spectacle was a novelty. Apart from making them envious and eager to try, they were awed by the magical board’s capabilities. To them, it was beyond their usual experience with magic. While they had seen other impressive magical tools, nothing quite compared to the magical hoverboard.
Seeing that Amos’s flight didn’t appear dangerous, Aresia glanced towards the mansion and gestured at a window where the Duke was located. Through their interaction, it seemed like the Duke wanted for her to come back.
Aresia returned with the gryphon egg to the Duke’s vicinity. By gauging the height, Amos’s flight seemed to be even higher than the mansion’s lower towers.
Without looking back, he asked, “Is this thing complicated to make? The design seems challenging.”
Aresia watched her “foolish” brother’s first flight performance. “It’s not that difficult to create. Remember, the design was crafted by a level-one alchemist. The knowledge it holds requires an extensive study period for an alchemist to master.”
The hoverboard’s primary technique was its levitation technology, initially used in magical airships. As the technology matured and became more compact, it resulted in the creation of the hoverboard. While the board might seem like a mere toy, it incorporated highly advanced technology.
The Duke nodded in acknowledgment of Aresia’s words.
In truth, while the hoverboard attracted attention, it wasn’t a big deal. Alchemists were known for their creativity, deciding which direction to pursue in their research. To the unexperienced, the hoverboard was intriguing, more of a novelty than an item of great significance. While the Duke found Amos’s flight fascinating, it was more out of surprise than anything else.
The Duke signaled Aresia to avoid drawing too much attention, especially during this sensitive time. His consideration in this regard was a bit neglectful.
Although Aresia, being a level-one alchemist, could create it based on the blueprint, it posed no challenge to her.”
“Aresia has recently shown aptitude in alchemy, possessing the abilities of a Level 1 alchemist.
The alchemist who initially taught Aresia was sponsored by him and is currently in the Rogest clan’s employ. They are bound by a secrecy agreement preventing them from disclosing Aresia’s true capabilities. The Duke has already made arrangements for this.
Seeing his silence, Aresia took the lead: “Father, I wish to start an alchemy workshop.”
“Oh?”
Initially considering whether to have Aresia take the designs to the alchemy workshop to produce another batch of magic hoverboards, the Duke was surprised to discover Aresia want to run an alchemy workshop.
Perplexed by this unexpectedly, the Duke raised an eyebrow. ‘How did you suddenly become interested in an alchemy workshop? Moreover, Aresia, are you aware that the owner of an alchemy workshop needs to be at least a Level 4 alchemist?’
Aresia was unaware of this requirement. Honestly, she shook her head, almost giving up on the idea. “Magic hoverboards can be a highly profitable business. Having an alchemy workshop produce them brings us immense benefits. Additionally, while I continue my research, having a simple alchemy workshop is convenient. As we can produce magic loom, hoverboard and other things in the future.”
The Duke found it unrealistic to achieve such high production numbers.”’Is producing in such quantities feasible?”
“At the very least, those who wish to buy them can purchase them.”
The exact quantity of purchase was indefinable.
“Do you think an alchemy workshop requires many people?”
Aresia pondered this question, thinking that initially, the scale might not need to be too large. “In terms of goals, it won’t differ much from the people who was assigned in magic loom.”
“A magic loom? There would be at least a thousand workers.”
The Duke sighed; it seemed Aresia’s perspective was somewhat unrealistic. “I must inform you, we may find it difficult to recruit more than fifty alchemists, even if they possess Level 1 skills. The existence of alchemist is indeed rare. Even in a population of nearly ten million in the Holy Lotean Empire, the recorded number of documented mage, alchemist, including priests, is less than a hundred thousand. Among them, a vast majority are lower-level magic practitioners.’
Even lower-level magic practitioners are highly sought after wherever they go.
“Aaron mentioned that even at Flamel’s Master Alchemy Workshop, they don’t have more than ten alchemists, and they were trained by the owner.”
Alchemy isn’t a profession one simply practices; they require guidance from a teacher to gain further knowledge. Though magical schools do cultivate alchemists, the instruction mainly covers basics. It’s up to individuals to choose the path of becoming an alchemist.
In a way, an alchemy workshop is similar to a mage’s tower. The alchemists working in the workshop are mostly trained by the workshop owner. If their level progress to a point where the teacher is satisfied, they usually remain in the workshop. It’s challenging for others to poach them. Only when these individuals have the ability to set up their own workshop can they leave, not simply be employed by someone else.
Specialized alchemists serving nobility do exist, and the Rogest clan has cultivated a few. Their number is less than a hundred, with some still in training, some even possessing Level 1 alchemy skills.
These talents are genuinely scarce. Even if Aresia managed to gather a dozen or two dozen people, or directly invited skilled alchemists, it would still be too obvious.
Yet, Aresia shook her head. “No, we don’t need an abundance of alchemists. A few leaders possessing alchemy skills are enough. We can entrust the workshop’s operations entirely to ordinary individuals.”
Aresia’s production model relies on a world where mechanized magic devices handle part of the production process, even managed by ordinary individuals.
Regarding the dispute about the alchemy workshop, it’s actually an alchemy factory.
Upon hearing this, the Duke felt that this perspective didn’t align with reality. “That’s impossible. Ordinary people can’t create magical items.”
“They indeed don’t create them. I don’t need them to. They just need to understand how to operate machines.”
Aresia reminded the Duke, “Father, the magical looms in the textile factory are operated by ordinary people. The resulting spider silk fabric is a magical item. Our alchemy workshop follows a similar pattern.”
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