Chapter 90: Magic modification is the primary productive force!

Ouk's magic workshop, the apprentice's practice room, was currently a bustling scene of clanging.

A group of skinny skeleton soldiers were surrounding a square wooden table, shouting something with a creaking sound.

Following Ouk, Luo Yan walked into the practice room and took a curious look into the group of skeletons.

On the wooden table sat something resembling a sewing machine, with leather wrapped around a flywheel connected to a pedal and linkage beneath the table.

The player with the "Zheng Fangxing" ID sat in front of the wooden table, stepping on the pedal while carefully moving the granite block in his hand.

In fact, this thing didn't just resemble a sewing machine; it was a sewing machine.

Previously, Brother Zheng had received an order from the Great Graveyard's first leather factory, the requirement being to build a pedal-operated sewing machine. He spent two weeks studying this thing, and only the final hook-line shuttle was missing; thinking about it, he simply modified the semi-finished machine and used it for inscription carving.

Facts proved that this thing was incredibly useful!

Driven by the railing and flywheel, the needle head connected to the spring rod struck the surface of the granite practice stone at a speed of N times per second, the efficiency simply crushing manual punching!

Not only that!

Through the spring rod above the needle head, the force of a single strike could also be adjusted to match the material to the maximum extent! Avoiding hitting too deep or too shallow and shattering the material!

Hearing a series of crisp clanging sounds, he used only a few breaths of time to poke hundreds of dense dots on the surface of the practice stone.

"Done!"

The carving knife lightly dragged across the dot matrix, and the dot matrix immediately connected into a line!

Zheng Fangxing clapped the dust off his hands gracefully and showed the practice stone in his hand to the other apprentices around him.

Looking at the "Nether-script" that was as neat as if it had been printed, the onlookers couldn't help but exclaim from the bottom of their hearts.

"66666!"

"Holy crap brother! Your craft is awesome!!"

"This was modified from a sewing machine??"

"Brother, how many years were you sentenced?"

Zheng Fangxing: "Get lost! You're the one sentenced! I'm a decent person with decent craft!"

Looking at Brother Zheng, who was surrounded by stars, Yikou Menle Huaxuechi was incredibly jealous and muttered sourly on the side.

"Don't forget this was my idea!"

Obviously, Brother Zheng had already forgotten.

But whether he forgot or not, this thing was designed by him, and it had nothing to do with this old iron who only knew how to shout 666.

Looking at everyone staring at the machine in his hand with envy, Brother Zheng, who smelled a business opportunity, also chuckled, finally revealing the fangs hidden behind his smile—

Or rather, human nature.

"Everyone, my homework is done! Who else needs to submit homework? Don't worry, my machine isn't expensive, only 1000 Nether coins for half an hour!"

The so-called homework was the apprentice task assigned by Ouk, with each person submitting 10 practice stones every day, and practicing for a week to obtain a C or higher rating was considered passing, allowing them to enter the study of the next subject.

If this thing was used, seven days of all A's wouldn't be a problem!

The most critical thing was saving time!

Rubbing Nether-script by hand was too troublesome, and wanting to learn a life skill while delaying leveling time was something most "roll kings" couldn't tolerate.

However—

1000 Nether coins was too damn expensive!

Before Brother Zheng's voice fell, it was drowned out by a clamor of voices.

"Damn!"

"This is called not expensive?!"

"It's enough for my good brother to use the toilet five times!!"

Yikou Menle Huaxuechi clenched his fists even tighter and fanned the flames.

"Abominable capitalist!"

Zheng Fangxing widened the soul fire in his skull, looking at this guy who was crying thief while being a thief.

"Holy crap?! I count as a capitalist??? You don't be too absurd—"

"Brothers! Confiscate his stuff!"

"Aoooooo!!!"

"@#￥&%!"

Confiscation was of course impossible; not to mention whether the game rules allowed it, even if it were truly confiscated, it would only benefit the Demon King in the end.

Under the booing of a group of people, this farce finally ended with Brother Zheng making a compromise, changing the hourly fee to a "membership-based task passing" system.

1000 Nether coins an hour was a bit painful, but 10,000 Nether coins for a week of task passing was actually acceptable to most players.

Although once they were truly familiar with how to use this thing, most people wouldn't use it for an hour a day, and maybe they could pass the task in half an hour.

And originally in Ouk's plan, these apprentices would have to grind for six hours to finish ten samples...

It wasn't just the players who were shocked.

There were also the two "NPCs" standing at the door.

Watching his apprentice make another finished product, Ouk excitedly looked at Luo Yan standing on the side, dancing and gesturing.

"Look! Demon King! You must understand what Ouk wants to say! This is simply... simply incredible! Your minions... how did they think of this method?"

To be honest, if this game had something like a public screen, Luo Yan would have wanted to type "666" for this old guy.

Although this wasn't any amazing technology, thinking of using this technology here was truly not easy, and the improvement according to local conditions was even less simple.

"Indeed powerful."

Worthy of being his minions! Seeing that the Demon King really understood his meaning, the expression on Ouk's face became even more excited, clenching his fists and saying with high spirits.

"If we have this kind of punching tool... our requirements for the apprentice's craft can be further lowered! Even the stupidest goblin can be competent at carving inscriptions! Demon King, Ouk strongly suggests to you that we should get a few more of these!"

Looking at the ignorant look on Ouk's face, Luo Yan chuckled, raising his hand to signal him to be calm.

"Don't worry, Ouk, I know the value of this thing, but this is far from the limit of my players."

Ouk was stunned.

"Limit?"

"That's right," Luo Yan nodded, smiling and saying, "Didn't you notice? This set of devices looks clever, but it's actually just a semi-finished product, far from mature, or rather, there are many places worth improving."

Not to mention a semi-finished product, this thing wasn't even meant to be used here; it was just a magic modification of a sewing machine.

As for being able to exert such great use, I'm afraid the players themselves didn't expect it, it could only be said to be a coincidence.

But aren't great inventions born this way?

Luo Yan believed that once they tasted the sweetness of technological improvement, they would definitely devote themselves to the cause of "squeezing the limits of the Catastrophe OL physics engine" with greater enthusiasm.

He had no need to pull up the seedlings to help them grow at this time; he could wait until his little players came up with more mature technology, and then stand on their shoulders to do big and strong things.

Or just leave it to them to handle.

Luo Yan actually didn't want to personally enter the field to do this thing; there was really no need to be both the referee and the player.

Looking at the calm Demon King, Ouk's heart was extremely shocked, and he said in surprise.

"D-Demon King... could it be that you have seen tools even more powerful than this?"

"This counts as what," taking a look at this ignorant guy, Luo Yan smiled and said, "What's important isn't the tool, but the method and thought of solving the problem... I let you teach them Nether-script, also hoping that you can learn some of these things from them, don't just drill into previous research and not come out."

"Although you might not understand the meaning of what I said now, I believe that one day you will understand."

If there was such a day, he would take the opportunity to act cool. If not, then not; anyway, he wouldn't lose anything.

The serious expression on Ouk's face moved slightly, and while shocked, tears of emotion suddenly welled up in his eyes.

Demon God above!

The respected Demon King was actually caring about him!

This is what kind of kindness—bah! Evil—no, that doesn't seem right either?

Ouk knocked on his mentally disordered head in annoyance.

Because he didn't know what adjectives to use to praise the Demon King, he became dizzy from being moved.

Fortunately, the Demon King didn't care about his rudeness.

Luo Yan never looked at this guy from beginning to end; his gaze had always been on those smart and diligent little players.

"I think as long as they are given enough time and appropriate help, they can do more than just improve the carving technology of Nether-script, they can even make Nether-script automatically produce Nether-script... just wait and see."

As he said this, Luo Yan walked from the door into the practice room.

Seeing the suddenly appearing Demon King, Zheng Fangxing, who was counting money until the corners of his mouth couldn't be suppressed, was startled and subconsciously said guiltily.

"D-Demon King?! Why are you here?"

The player stepping on the punching machine looked up, and without paying attention, almost punched a hole in the skeleton finger.

Seeing pairs of eyes looking toward his side, Luo Yan didn't beat around the bush and said with a smile.

"I heard that a strange invention was born in Ouk's magic workshop, which can reduce the apprentice's working time from six hours to within one hour... is it this thing?"

Not sure what the Demon King's idea was, Zheng Fangxing nodded nervously and said.

"Y-yes..."

When he said this, he couldn't help but add a small sentence in the back.

"This shouldn't count as a bug, right?"

"Well done," ignoring that whispered sentence, Luo Yan nodded approvingly, looking at this guy and continuing.

"The Great Graveyard needs exactly this kind of innovative spirit... you did very well, this Demon King is very satisfied."

He found this ID more and more familiar; after staring at it for a while, he realized that this guy wasn't the talent who made furniture for him?

Luo Yan was puzzled while admiring.

You can actually do decent work! Seeing that the Demon King didn't come here to find fault with him, Zheng Fangxing chuckled embarrassedly and turned back into that wooden carpenter.

"Overpraised, overpraised! Hehe..."

Luo Yan stared at the machine for a while and continued.

"The design of this tool is very interesting... but I'm thinking, why not try applying Nether-script to this?"

"Respected Demon King! We are planning to do just that," Yikou Menle Huaxuechi quickly interjected into the topic, smiling embarrassedly, "It's just a pity... as apprentices, we only have practice stones to use, and we can't enchant this machine. If Mr. Ouk could teach us how to print Nether-script on metal, I think this wouldn't be a problem!"

"This isn't very difficult, I will have my servant teach you."

When he said this, Luo Yan paused for a moment and continued.

"In addition, not just technology, I also have a batch of skilled craftsmen here, they happen to have nothing to do, maybe they can help you."

The players looked at each other and cast surprised gazes at Luo Yan.

Vaguely guessing something, Yikou Menle Huaxuechi swallowed his saliva in reality excitedly and asked in a low voice.

"Craftsmen? May I ask what you mean is..."

"The third floor of the labyrinth, the mole-men of Iron Tooth City."

Dropping this sentence concisely, Luo Yan sent the task he had just edited to the task bar of more than twenty life-profession players in front of him.

Watching the soul fire burning in those pairs of skulls gradually write on the excited look, he continued in a gentle voice.

"Those guys are natural craftsmen, best at polishing metal and stone. Previously they were suspected of working for the dwarves in the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, later they fled into my territory, and have just surrendered to me."

"At this time next week, I plan to send Ouk there to visit and study, to exchange experience and insights on the use of Nether-script with the mole-men engineers, and by the way, let them produce some truly useful things, instead of those industrial trash from before."

"With your understanding and application of Nether-script, I think you will definitely be able to bring some different inspiration to those little guys. If you are interested, I will have Ouk take you to participate in this exchange meeting... as his apprentices."

Without a doubt—

This is a hidden task!

And it is a hidden task exclusive to life-profession players! After listening to the first half of Luo Yan's sentence, the soul fire in the skulls of all the players present boiled, and even some people didn't listen carefully to what the second half of the sentence said.

"I want it!" The first to express his position was still Brother Yikou, this guy was so excited that he wanted to hold Luo Yan's hand, "Respected Demon King, as your most, most, most respected servant, please be sure to hand this glorious and arduous task to me!"

The voices of talking all at once suddenly filled the practice room, and the skeleton hands raised one after another almost completely blocked Luo Yan's sight.

"Me me me!"

"Demon King, look at me too!"

"Demon King, these guys are all sycophants, only I am the truly loyal minister!"

"You are all my loyal minions, no need to be excited... everyone present has a share."

Luo Yan chuckled, raising his hand to signal the excited little players to be calm, and then slowly opened his mouth to continue.

"Since you have agreed, then work hard... Ouk."

"Here! Demon King!"

Hearing Luo Yan call his name, Ouk, who was standing at the door, ran in and stood respectfully on the side waiting for orders.

Luo Yan continued.

"Only truly talented people can become your apprentices, I think you can set the requirements appropriately higher... you understand what I mean? Ten practice stones a day is too simple, and this kind of basic skill is no longer useful, isn't it? You have to examine their creativity."

Ouk was stunned.

"Cre-creativity?"

Luo Yan smiled and said.

"That's right, for example, you can hand your topics to them to do."

After a pause, he continued.

"Didn't I ask you to research and improve those war robots driven by ancient inscriptions? Actually, you don't need to personally design every line of Nether-script for every part. You can propose requirements, and then let your apprentices conceive for you the Nether-script 'code' for a certain function of a certain part."

"For apprentices who have made contributions, you should reward them with credits, and after the credits reach your psychological expectations, issue them corresponding graduation qualifications... for example, how about a graduate student? Junior graduate student."

When saying this sentence, Luo Yan didn't hide it, but let Hearing You You translate it word for word to the players.

The players looking at the subtitles were all shocked one by one.

Holy crap?

This also works?!

The freedom of this game is too awesome?!

It wasn't just the players who were shocked, Ouk opened his mouth wide in surprise, his chin almost falling to the ground.

Can skeleton soldiers be used like this?! "This... D-Demon King, you are truly..."

Luo Yan waved his hand calmly.

"Praise for me is unnecessary."

Looking at that light and breezy appearance, Ouk had nothing but respect in his heart besides admiration.

Worthy of being the Demon King—