Negotiation

Generally speaking, large-scale academy procurements were controlled by the municipal education department. This included knight training equipment, which normally would never fall into the hands of a town-level academy.

After all, the Grey Mist Mountain Town Academy had about 9,000 students. Each student needed to be equipped with a knight's sword, a shield, and arrows. At three silver coins a set, that amounted to over 200 gold coins, and this was an ongoing expense that required frequent replenishment.

Lizer's gaze swept over the rune-engraved sorcery crystal pen on the desk. As he calculated in his mind, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly popped into his head:

[Five energy points can be consumed to deduce the optimal production plan and achieve the lowest cost.]

Lizer ignored the prompt to pay to win, continuing his own train of thought.

An ordinary person would not see this many gold coins in a lifetime!

Lizer clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

This was the first pot of gold on his path to becoming a sorcerer!

He had to seize this opportunity to earn enough money so that his pay-to-win ability could completely break free from the embarrassing state of being practically useless.

Felina gently tapped her fingers on the desk, a hint of helplessness in her tone.

"The military department placed a massive temporary procurement order. The municipal sorcery factories are all working overtime, so they had to cancel the education bureau's orders. The education bureau had no choice and didn't dare delay the new academic year, which is why this good deed fell into the laps of the town academies."

Lizer furrowed his brows, instantly smelling the scent of war.

They might not fight immediately, but so many military orders indicated that the shadow of war was not far off.

He had to quickly gather intelligence to determine the location of the frontlines and subsequently avoid them.

He definitely did not want to die on the battlefield right after transmigrating!

Amidst his reverie, he quickly made a decision.

No matter what, he had to secure this massive order; it was the capital for his path of sorcery!

Lizer's eyes grew firm as he continued to ponder.

Of course, the academy couldn't possibly buy 9,000 sets at once. Generally, preparing enough for the new students and covering wear and tear would suffice, which meant around 1,000 sets.

However, aside from the procurement of new equipment, the disposal of old, scrapped equipment was also a lucrative piece of meat!

How could the lords at the municipal bureau know whether every scrapped sword was truly beyond repair?

Anyway, if he were the academy's dean, he would definitely scrap as much as possible. The more they scrapped, the more new equipment they could buy!

Felina brushed aside the loose hair by her ear. That touch of charm made Lizer's heart skip a beat. He muttered in his heart:

She was so young, why would the dean let her handle this matter?

It definitely wasn't as simple as having the sons of two blacksmiths in her class, but he couldn't figure out this secret for the time being.

The opportunity was right in front of him!

Lizer leaned forward slightly, his tone carrying a bit of urgency.

"Mentor, exactly how much is this order? How long is the supply cycle?"

Felina flipped through the documents on her desk and said straightforwardly:

"Within three months, supply 1,500 knight iron swords, 1,600 round shields, and 90,000 arrows in batches. If the cooperation goes smoothly, we can sign a long-term supply contract later."

Felina's answer raised another doubt in Lizer's mind. He frowned.

"Long-term supply? Won't the municipal lords take back the procurement rights next year?"

Felina covered her mouth and smiled, saying mysteriously:

"No! The dean said they won't take it back for at least three to five years."

Lizer took a small sip of hot water. The pink cup in his hand was quite cute—his teacher had quite a girlish heart.

He secretly glanced at the cup, wondering if she had used it before.

She had revealed enough information. Was the procurement right not being taken back for three to five years because of the large municipal military orders or some other reason?

Lizer shook his head. He would ignore this for now.

He only cared about the price; no matter how large the volume, taking a loss was unacceptable!

Scratching his head, he asked with a smile:

"We can talk about the long-term supply later. Can you reveal the budget price given by the city, Teacher? Hehe."

Felina cast a glance at him and tapped her finger on the desk.

"The budget approved by the city is two silver for an iron sword, two silver for a round shield, and one copper for an arrow. However, the dean said we need to save money to repair the academy, as many projects lack funding. So your price must be significantly lower than this!"

The corners of Lizer's mouth curled up secretly—this dean was quite smooth at making excuses, even bringing up repairs!

If the money was actually spent on repairs, he would dare to eat a chicken while doing a handstand!

However, this matter couldn't be exposed; exposing it would be bad.

Spreading his hands, Lizer said:

"The school does need some repairs. How about I yield ten percent to the academy?"

Felina put her hands on her hips and glared.

"You dishonest brat! Your family's iron swords are eighty copper a piece, did you think I didn't know?"

Lizer scratched his head and laughed:

"Those are cheap goods with reduced materials. The academy's knight swords are used for hacking and slashing training every day. Using those will definitely break fast. Adding the cost of materials and labor, yielding ten percent is the only way I won't lose money. You can't let me take a loss, right?"

Felina slapped the table and scolded with a laugh:

"At least you still know I'm your teacher! The dean's bottom line is yielding at least forty percent. Not a penny less, or there's no deal!"

Lizer clenched his fists and gritted his teeth:

"I'll yield twelve percent at most! Plus another three percent for you to organize extracurricular activities?"

Felina choked and coughed:

"Cough! What three percent? Don't talk nonsense! At least thirty percent, otherwise I'll go to George's family!"

Lizer shook his head:

"George's family can't take it. To gather a large number of hands in three months, my dad has the best craftsmanship. Most of the apprentices in the surrounding villages and shops belong to my family, and we still have to use municipal sorcery equipment for assembly line production!"

Felina sighed:

"Fine! Fifteen percent is too little. I'll go talk to your dad!"

Lizer quickly waved his hand:

"I'll go talk to him! I'll yield twenty percent, and another five percent will serve as the class activity fee, on the condition that the scrapped equipment is sold to my family at ten percent of the price?"

Felina slapped the table, going frantic:

"Bah! Twenty-five percent is negotiable, but don't even think about getting the scrapped equipment at ten percent of the price! Anything less than thirty percent of the price is off the table!"

"Deal! Thank you, Teacher!"

Lizer happily grabbed Felina's hands. Feeling the warmth from her palms, his heart bloomed with joy—thirty percent of the price was already much better than he had anticipated!

"You! You're infuriating me!"

Felina's face turned bright red. She abruptly withdrew her hands and stomped her foot, saying:

"You took advantage of me again!"

She pointed at Lizer, her fingers trembling, yet she couldn't utter another word for a long time.

Lizer chuckled continuously, rubbing his hands together as the little abacus in his heart clicked away:

It was true that the academy's knight swords had high requirements, but the shop's selling price wasn't the cost!

The cost of a sword was only eighty copper. Even with the amortization of new equipment, it would only be 1.2 silver. He would make a net profit of thirty copper and gain the equipment to boot.

Shields were around the same price, and arrows would earn him one copper for every ten.

With this single order, he could earn nearly twenty to thirty gold coins in three months!

How many energy points would that be?

How many attribute points could he increase, and how many sorcery spells and pieces of knowledge could he analyze?

Thinking of the exciting parts, his body trembled slightly.

Lizer clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, as he already began planning how to spend this money in his mind.

Looking at it this way, the path of a sorcerer didn't seem so far away from him after all.

Lizer's eyes grew firm, and his fingertips itched slightly—he could already imagine himself holding the sorcery crystal pen and drawing runes.

Having basically settled the procurement matters, Felina anxiously urged Lizer to take her to see his old man, Patiff, that very day to finalize the contract.

This made Lizer's heart stir. It felt somewhat surreal, yet it also felt as though a fog in his mind had been cleared away...

He had some information and ideas that he wanted to discuss with Gloria immediately...

Using the late hour and his exhaustion as an excuse, he agreed to let Mentor Felina take him to meet Patiff the following day.