Chapter 176: A Business iation in Another World

  Fress’s sudden outburst startled Nanalie.

  In trast, Alex and Ikaros remained pletely unfazed.

  Alex had participated in tless business iations, while Ikaros simply didn’t care about such trivial matters—after all, in her eyes, her master would undoubtedly handle everything with ease.

  "Mr. Ezio, we ot accept this. You must uand, if we purchase these two iion blueprints, we will o allocate manpower for testing aually for mass produ. That requires an enormous iment of both money and time."

  Fress had a valid point—ohat applied not only in this world but oh as well.

  The process of turning a b prototype into a mass-producible product was vastly different.

  Simirly, the teiques developed in an alchemy workshop couldn’t simply be mass-produced by a single alchemist w tirelessly.

  While most fas did employ some freence alchemists without their own workshops, those individuals certainly weren’t suited fe-scale produ.

  It was like expeg desigo assemble cars in a factory.

  A produ line would be a pletely different matter.

  "I already have a fully developed produ process. Once we sign the agreement, I’ll provide it to you."

  Fress had a valid argument, but that didn’t mean Alex was going to listen to him.

  The processes freenhouse stru and slime fertilizer produ were straightforward.

  With references from Earth’s industrial methods, setting up an effit system wasn’t difficult.

  Of course, given the differences in civilization, Alex had to put in some effort to adapt the methods accly.

  "Forty pert is still too high."

  Hearing that Alex already had a fully structured "after-sales service," Fress breathed a small sigh of relief.

  Many alchemists only cared about creating their iions—they rarely ed themselves with how to produce them more effitly.

  This often forced merts to spend a fortuimizing manufacturing processes.

  If they were lucky, they could establish mass produ.

  But if they ied time and resources only to find produ infeasible or costs too high… well, that was just too bad.

  "You realize that if we sign this agreement, the Northern Chamber of erce will bee a target for many fas. We could suffer siderable losses…"

  "That’s your problem."

  Nanalie, who had never participated in business iations before, felt a pang of sympathy for Fress’s pitiful act.

  But Alex, a seasoned veteran of corporate dealings, wasn’t about to be swayed by crocodile tears.

  In business, whoever had the teology or the idea was the one in trol.

  And trol meaing the terms.

  Fet forty pert—if he demanded Fress strip down and dan public, the man would still have to ply.

  Besides, business and hoy rarely went hand in hand.

  If you believed even half of what a mert said, that mert was already being exceptionally ho.

  In trast, the fact that Fress hadn’t stormed out immediately after hearing the forty pert demand already proved his willio iate.

  Fress and Alex went bad forth for a while, but in the end, they couldn’t rea agreement.

  Frustrated, Fress had no choice but to take his leave.

  As his round figure disappeared from sight, Nanalie, who had been sitting beside Alex the eime, finally spoke hesitantly.

  "Mr. Ezio, don’t you think you were a bit too harsh? I mean… Mr. Fress seems like a det person… and forty pert… isn’t that a bit excessive?"

  Although Nanalie had little uanding of eics, she had grasped the core of their discussion.

  Alex’s demand was that his alchemy workshop would receive forty pert of the Northern Chamber of erce’s annual profits from the sales of greenhouses and slime fertilizer.

  That was no small amount.

  In the main world, the retionship between mert guilds and the Alchemist Guild was somewhat like that of a tree’s branches and trunk.

  The Alchemist Guild funed simirly to an e-erce ptform, while mert guilds operated as storefronts within that marketpce.

  Some were indepe, while others were part of major glomerates, depending on their scale.

  Nanalie’s alchemy workshop was akin to a small online shop, whereas the Northern Chamber of erce was more like a rge retail .

  Earlier, when Fress had been pining, he had estimated that Alex’s forty pert demand would amount to millions—if not tens of millions—of gold s.

  Hearing that number, Nanalie had been pletely dumbfounded.

  She could hardly prehend how something as simple as refining slime excretions aing up some wooden frames could gee so much money.

  It felt like a dream.

  To be ho, if Alex hadn’t already told her to let him hahe iations, she might have accepted a much lower deal.

  The idea of millions of gold s felt overwhelming to her—too unsafe.

  She would have been tent with just a few thousand gold s instead.

  After all, slimes were practically worthless.

  How could they be worth millions?

  So, as Fress walked away, Nanalie looked at Alex with a deeply flicted expression.

  To her, this really did feel like daylight robbery…

  "Forty pert isn’t too much at all. Don’t be fooled by his act—pying poor is a mert’s basic skill.

  If he truly thought the deal was uable, he would have left immediately.

  But he stayed.

  Do you know why?"

  "This…"

  Nanalie hesitated, thinking for a moment before responding.

  "Because he still make a profit?"

  "Exactly.

  If there was no profit, he wouldn’t eveertain the discussion.

  Of course, we both know I won’t actually get forty pert, and he won’t agree to forty pert.

  But by setting that initial demand, I’m giving him room to iate.

  At the same time, I’m making it clear that my expectations won’t be low.

  For both of us, this isn’t about losing mo’s just a matter of how much each side gains."

  As he spoke, Alex smiled at Nanalie.

  "You might think these things are worthless, but you should uand the impact they have on farmers. These things are incredibly valuable.

  We’re not just selling raw materials—we’re selling something that ge this world.

  Tell me, if you created a diviifact, how much would you sell it for?"

  "Well… that would obviously be worth a fortune…"

  Nanalie was na?ve, but she wasn’t stupid.

  There had been cases in history where alchemists had successfully crafted diviifacts.

  That was one of the reasons alchemists could rival mages in status.

  And any diviifact fed by an alchemist was worth a king’s ransom.

  But… could a diviifact ever be made out of slime skin?

  "Diviifacts are meant to be used, not worshiped.

  You have to realize that these iions don’t just improve lives—they allow people who couldn’t afford food before to actually eat.

  Even diviifacts ’t do that."

  "I see… I uand now."

  Under Alex’s guidananalie nodded in agreement.

  She still didn’t fully grasp everything, but at least she realized her initial thoughts had been pletely mistaken.

  Watg her rea, Alex sighed internally.

  To keep his identity secret, he hadn’t signed any official agreements with Nanalie.

  In the main world, tracts required Star Mark verification, which would iably expose him.

  As things stood, the alchemy workshop legally beloo Nanalie, meaning she had the final say in signing any deals.

  Alex had inally thought that, with proper training, Nanalie had great potential.

  But now, it was clear—she was a researcher at heart, not someone suited fotiations or business dealings.

  If Alex hadn’t bee, and if Nanalie had been the oo indepely develop the greenhouse system, Fress could have tricked her into selling it for five hundred gold s.

  She’d probably even thank him for the opportunity.

  Alex needed someoo handle iations, and one name came to mind—Culia.

  She left a good impression on him.

  fident, charismatid from a solid background.

  But since she was currently w for the Alchemist Guild, Alex wasn’t sure if he could recruit her.

  Still, there was no harm in trying.

  To Alex’s surprise, Culia agreed to his invitation almost instantly.

  She was well aware of Nanalie’s personality, and after hearing from Alex that her friend had almost given away the greenhouse and slime fertilizer teology for a few thousand gold s, Culia broke into a cold sweat.

  As a member of the Alchemist Guild, she uood the value of alchemical innovatioer than anyone.

  Had Naruly sold the teology for that price, it would have been a tragic waste.

  If it came to that, even handing it over to the guild for internal distribution would have been a better choice.

  For this reason, Culia didn’t hesitate to join Alex’s team.

  She didn’t think Alex was a bad person, but she also didn’t want her friend to be taken advantage of.

  Now that she had the opportunity to personally oversee things, there was no way she’d pass it up.

  Of course, the best part was that she got to work alongside Alex.

  Just being around such a handsome man every day was enough to make up for any small losses.

  Over the few days, Alex brought Culia along to iate with various mert guilds that came knog on the workshop’s door.

  Fress was smart, but he wasn’t the only one.

  Alex had no iion of expanding produ—he was clearly using these products as proof of cept.

  For the merts, acquiring these teologies was of the utmost importance.

  Just as Alex expected, the top-tier mert guilds weren’t ied in his terms.

  Some even tried to leverage their influeo pressure him into l his prices.

  Meanwhile, sed-tier guilds—like Fress’s Northern Chamber of erce—were eager to take the risk.

  However, some worried that they wouldn’t be able to withstand pressure from the more dominant transnational guilds, while others simply thought Alex’s asking price was too steep and wao iate further.

  Regardless, demand for these two alchemical teologies only tio rise.

  Finally, Fress could no longer hold back—he returo the workshop once more.

  (End of Chapter)

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