Volume 7: Doing Business with the World Chapter 227: The Mage's Hand
Von Aldoni only heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and his brain stopped functioning as if it had been stimulated extremely strongly.
But when he was completely unable to think, the world before his eyes began to shake, making him feel as if he was being thrown into the sky by the earth.
The female traveler noticed that something was wrong with the teacher and quickly grabbed Aldoni's arm: "Teacher, are you okay? Teacher?!"
"...I'm fine." Aldoni waved his hands, barely stood still, and stared at Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun continued to smile.
"Ayun...Mr." Aldoni said with difficulty, "You...you...no, could it be that your teacher is——?"
"I am definitely not Melville, and I have never seen Melville." Xiao Yun answered immediately.
So these spellcasters are too rigid in their thinking. Sean in the beginning, Alman later, and Aldoni now, as soon as they heard his "friendly suggestion", they would pull him to the Lich King who had been dead for who knows how many years...
It's not that he dislikes the Lich King. Xiao Yun himself actually hopes that the Lich King will come to him - with such a big boss who can unite people, why should he pretend to be a grandson in front of other big bosses? !
Is it still necessary to find ways to give money and curry favor with others?
Is it necessary to be so cautious and hesitant even when trying to hook up with the Dwarf King?
This is totally untrue~ Xiao Yun is still feeling upset about it!
Aldoni: “…”
Five disciples: “???”
Aldoni stood up straight with a complicated expression, and put his hands on his chest to salute: "Please allow me to apologize to you, Mr. Ayun... Please let me and my disciples stay in this 'chemical laboratory' to help."
Xiao Yun's words were like hanging a carrot in front of a donkey and asking whether the donkey was willing to bow its head and do the work.
Such a delicious carrot, although a bit literary, but still willing to do practical things, Aldoni has no choice but to take a bite, low, let's low...
Xiao Yun smiled and clapped his hands: "Thank you so much, Mr. Aldoni and everyone else. Our chemical laboratory does have many difficulties that have not yet been overcome. Having human heroes like you join us in supporting us is a huge help to us. BALABALABALABA..."
While he was throwing nice words around, he was also assigning tasks to the six Aldoni disciples without delay - the members of Sean and Evelyn's team were able to help right away, but the situation at the Balk Laboratory was much more troublesome and they would be completely useless without intensified training.
Thick Balke experiment notes, memorizing simple chemical formulas (at the junior high school level), identifying experimental equipment, learning mature chemical experiment procedures... and so on.
Aldoni opened a lab notebook with a torn cover, and after glancing at the numerous cases of failed experiments and the pages of text he could recognize but couldn't understand, he felt dizzy.
Aldoni's eldest disciple looked confused as he held the chemical formula notebook.
The master and the disciple looked at each other in bewilderment, thinking frantically in their hearts - this seems like a trap!
"Mr. Ayun, why... didn't you bring us here at the beginning?" Aldoni asked in confusion.
"Of course - our laboratory needs people with a more inquisitive spirit~!" Xiao Yun said shamelessly, "People who are not satisfied with the two major research projects of power devices and magical materials are the talents our chemical laboratory needs~!"
Master Aldoni
I hear you talking nonsense!
Xiao Yun smiled, and those who were proactive and knew how to get to other people's territory and bend down to work would be kept; the rest of those who lacked a spirit of cooperation, were arrogant, and needed to be disciplined would be thrown under Balk's "tyrannical power" and suppressed...
Under Xiao Yun's pressure, Aldoni gritted his teeth and worked through the boring experimental materials for the entire afternoon. By dinner time, he felt so moved that he just wanted to get some fresh air.
But after dinner, when they were taken to wash up and disinfect and deworm, and then arrived at Balk's laboratory, the master and his disciples could no longer laugh.
"I heard from Ayun that I have some new assistants. Are you the ones?" Balk looked at the six humans with a sharp gaze and grinned. "It just so happens that we still have a shortage of more than ten tons of disinfectant. Let's not be busy with other things tonight and just get this done."
Normally, Balk and the cat magician would take turns to make electrolyzed disinfectant water, but now the cat magicians were sent to two cat farms to select spellcasters, so the job fell on Balk again... He had long been jealous of Evelyn's honest way of giving the job to her assistant! He wanted to enjoy this kind of treatment too!
Fish were raised in all the canals and ponds in the tribe that could be used to raise fish. The fish were fed with poultry manure anyway, so there was no cost. They had just finished a round of fishing and were about to release the fry, so thorough disinfection was necessary... Master and his apprentice Aldoni had walked into a trap.
The next morning.
After spending the entire night charging salt water, Aldoni and his apprentice staggered out the door. The glaring sunlight made them squint their eyes in unison...
"Make way, don't block the door." Balk stretched out his hand to push away Aisha who was blocking him, walked out carelessly, turned back and smiled heartily at the six masters and apprentices, showing his big white teeth, "If you have nothing to do, go to bed quickly, and report to me at the flour mill in the afternoon."
After saying this, Balke, who had a good night's sleep, went to work in a relaxed and energetic manner...
Master Aldoni and his apprentice: “…”
"I've never seen a dragon who can talk to people so well." The dark-skinned disciple said with a pained look on his face, "But, what he said was not human language."
The dragon race is the most difficult race to deal with, no doubt about it.
The green dragon lord Balk was able to talk and communicate properly, which made the master and his disciples feel relieved at first. Unfortunately, he just spoke halfway when he started to speak nonsense, and he kept saying it...
"...Go and rest first." Aldoni said uninterestedly.
After returning to the assigned dormitory and taking a nap (still a large dormitory with different rooms for men and women), Aldoni could hardly get up at noon... The continuous release of electrical magic for a whole night was too much mental damage!
He struggled to get off the kang, staggered to wash up, gathered his disciples to have a meal in the cafeteria, and reported to the flour mill... Then the six of them worked as handymen for the whole afternoon.
Water magic washes the sweet potatoes, wind magic cuts the sweet potatoes, the magician's hands remove the starch, and wind and fire work together to steam the water...
When it was completely dark, the six masters and apprentices returned to the dormitory as tired as dogs. Even Aisha didn't have the energy to make trouble and just lay down on the kang and fell to the ground.
On the third day, the damned green dragon finally remembered that they were here to "study and further their studies" in the Fire Department, so he only squeezed them for most of the day before letting them go back to rest and get enough energy for class in the evening...
In the Fire Tribe's conference room, more than eighty human spellcasters gathered together... mixed among a group of orcs.
The orcs outnumbered them.
"The Mage's Hand is picking up starch - poof!" Alman wanted to ask about how his old friend was doing these past two days... and he almost burst out laughing.
Aldoni had a blank expression on his face, and behind him were five other equally expressionless faces.
"It's... not bad." Alman suppressed his laughter and consoled him, "In fact, it's not bad... Lord Balk is at least much easier to deal with than Lord Austin."
Aldoni's face twitched. That tiny green dragon that he always encountered in the cafeteria made him question his life every time he saw it.
What kind of character are the dragons? Being sealed is so common; but being sealed to the point where only a few remnants are left to move, and their labor is still exploited, it's... such a poor dragon.
In comparison, the occasional naked man and the terrifying white-haired giant wolf that popped out from nowhere seemed to have no shock value at all...
As for those little wolf cubs who appear every time like a tornado, leaving no grass behind - it's better not to mention them.
If they weren't worried that if they didn't work under Balk, they might be assigned to take care of children for the Snow Wolf Tribe, Master Aldoni and his apprentice would have refused to do it long ago...
"...By the way, aren't we here to learn from the sage Ayun? Why doesn't Mr. Ayun show up?" Aldoni didn't want to talk about "employment benefits" anymore and changed the subject.
Yarman said in a relaxed tone, "Don't worry, old friend. There will be a chance. This is a big class held every five days. It will be beneficial for us to listen to other people's big classes."
"…Which 'others'?"
"The grassroots chief is here to attend today's class. Don't worry, I won't let you down." Alman said with a smile.
Aldoni nodded and sat aside in silence with his arms folded.
The atmosphere in the chemistry group was depressed, but it was a completely different story in the other two groups.
Adrian and others from the pneumatic group were taking advantage of this time to discuss the cylinder model. From time to time, someone would use magic to visualize a certain part of the structure and argue with others about its pros and cons.
Mr. Sean's personal charm is unquestionable. It is a refreshing feeling for the descendants of "J" who are used to living in isolation to have so many people working together for the same goal under the leadership of such a legendary illusionist; not to mention... creating some new power machinery with their own hands is extremely interesting!
The magic application group with the largest number of people was divided into several groups. Some were discussing the cutting process of purple shellac, some were discussing whether the plastic product processing process could be further optimized, and some were talking about how to deodorize latex...
Evelyn wasn't a difficult person to get along with, and working under her was definitely more relaxing and enjoyable than working with Balke.
Aisha looked at the others with a depressed look on his face for a long time, and said to the teacher aggrievedly: "Can I change places? I think that elf sister is pretty good, much better than... "
Aldoni stared at his disciple silently.
"No way, right?" Aisha curled his lips and sighed heavily on purpose.
Veins appeared on Aldoni's forehead.
Fortunately, the grassroots chief who was in charge of the class arrived at this time, otherwise Aisha might have been punished by the teacher.
"Today I will tell you about the workers' union of our MSG factory." The management had to take turns teaching large classes and sharing their experiences with everyone in the class. This was not the first time for the grassroots chief. He came up and introduced himself with a smile, then began to speak in an orderly manner.
Initially, the MSG factory union was only used to quickly stabilize people's hearts. After the workers integrated into the new working environment, it continued to shine and serve as a "neighborhood committee": mediating contradictions and conflicts among workers; on this basis, organizing a "mutual aid association" among workers.
"Why do we need to organize this kind of mutual aid association? Because some people do have psychological trauma that is difficult to relieve on their own. Working far away from home without the company of their families, this kind of repression accumulates over time and becomes pressure, and they need to vent. As a result, private fights among workers in factories continue despite repeated bans."
Hearing a Snow Wolf "brother" who was as strong as a general analyze the psychology of human hired workers so carefully, the descendants of "J" were simply stunned...
Aldoni doubted his life again...
"Fighting will hurt you, and when you get hurt you need to rest, and resting will mean missing work. In order to prevent this situation from continuing, I thought that everyone in the tribe would only fight and play with each other, and the opposition would not be so sharp that it would require fighting, because we all know that we are all a family, we can all understand others, and others can understand us."
"I privately asked the workers who often fought, and I found that they did not regard other workers as their own family. They would distinguish others from themselves for some reasons, and then deny and exclude others. The bigger reason is that the locals of Valentine and the 'mud legs brought by Bolton' are in opposition. The smaller reason is that the people who lived on this street and those who lived on that street may also be in opposition."
"How can humans be like this?" A Yue, who is in charge of the engineering team, exclaimed in surprise. The engineering team is busy outside all year round, and he has relatively little contact with humans.
"Ayue!" Qingcao glared.
A Yue immediately shut her mouth.
The descendants of "J" are a bit embarrassed... Although I'm not talking about them, they still feel ashamed...
The Grassroots Patriarch continued, “So I thought I should get the workers to focus on what they have in common with other workers, rather than what makes them different. So what do the workers have in common? It’s obvious that they’re all poor and having a hard time in Valentine.”
The grassroots chief said this very objectively, very straightforwardly, and without any emotion - who hasn't been poor? Seven years ago, the Snow Wolf Tribe had a much worse life than these humans.
"I will talk to them first and let them talk about the pain in their hearts and the hard life they have experienced, and see if other people are in the same situation as them." At this point, the grassroots chief paused and added, "Ayun said that no matter how bad a person is at speaking, it will not be difficult to express himself when talking about his own experience, because that is what he has experienced personally and it is a deep pain. Who else knows better than yourself how painful the things you have experienced are?"
"The first mutual aid meeting was very effective. They told each other their painful experiences. I found that others had also been hungry, woke up hungry in the middle of the night, been bullied by the fraternity, and had their wages taken away by the downtown union for more than half or even not paid at all. I found that the opposition between them was no longer so sharp. Although it was still not very friendly, at least there was no fighting."
"At the second mutual aid meeting, they each told more than the first, and talked about a lot of pains hidden deeper in their hearts. When it was almost over, I told them that although our grassland tribe was not bullied by our own people like them, seven years ago, our lives were even more difficult and miserable than theirs. We lived in smelly tents that leaked air on all sides, and we were frozen and couldn't get out of the tents for the whole winter. Some soldiers went out hunting and never came back. When we looked for them, they had frozen into lumps of ice and stuck in the snow. We couldn't even pull them out..."
"We, the grassland tribes, have also experienced hardships. We know that only unity can bring us a better life. Our Fire Tribe was built by everyone working together, so we don't fight among the grassland tribes."
"If the human race wants to improve their lives, they must unite. As long as they don't treat people with the same experiences and fate as enemies, but unite, then those of their own race who bully them will not dare to bully them."
The Grassroots Chief said this, took a long breath, and smiled: " When I said these words before, they refused to listen. This time, they finally listened: we are all poor brothers, working hard together to improve our lives. If we still make things difficult for each other, how can we live a good life?"
Those who came from various tribes to learn management all applauded, and Elder Gustav from the Snake Tribe applauded especially hard.
The Snake Tribe did not catch up with the founding of the Fire Tribe. If they had moved to another place, the latecomers would definitely have been excluded by the founder.
However, the tribes of the Fire Tribe had no intention of excluding the Snake Tribe and embraced the Snake Tribe with an open mind. Having reaped the benefits of the "great unity of the people of the grassland", the Snake Tribe would certainly firmly defend the ideals shouted out by the Snow Wolf Tribe of the Fire Tribe.
Chief Arthur, Qingyan and others of the cat tribe firmly believe in this... They are trying to make their wary fellows in the cat farm accept the same idea.
As for the gray dwarves and goblin representatives who came from the Hilly New District to attend the lecture, there is no need to mention them - although the process of being "caught" and "tricked" into the Hilly New District was a bit ridiculous, anyone who mentions returning to the underground world now will be beaten up by his roommate.
Everyone in “J” had different reactions.
If you don't think too much, you will just marvel at the wisdom and broad-mindedness of these orcs. If you think too much... then you are really thinking too much.
Aldoni looked at Alman in surprise and suspicion, and Alman smiled back at him.
Aldoni lowered his eyes and unconsciously clenched his hands on his knees into fists.
Aldoni knew the human race very well. He was born in an aristocratic family, but he also lived the life of the lower class for many years. No matter if they were aristocrats, middle class, or lower class, it was very difficult to unite a group of people of the same background to do the same thing. The more people there were, the more difficult it was.
Not to mention others, many of the successors of "J's" will quietly withdrew and never contacted others again.
The Snow Wolf Clan... really knows how to unite the group and how to gain strength from it!
Sage Ayun's suggestion that "J" should win the support of 90% of the human civilians is not a castle in the air, but there is indeed a path to it!
Aldoni, who had been somewhat annoyed by the Green Dragon Lord's annoyance, gradually became determined in his eyes.
Xiao Yun went to the Blue Fruit beet (sweet red fruit) planting base and watched the beet harvest for five days. He took the canal boat carrying the beets back to the tribe and first asked Alman about the work situation of the descendants of "J".
"Aldoni has calmed down. I was afraid that he couldn't stand Balke's trouble and ran away." Upon learning the result, Xiao Yun laughed.
"Aldoni is a little arrogant, but my old friend is not the kind of person who gives up easily." Alman also laughed.
By grouping and filtering out the members of "J" with poor cooperation spirit and throwing them to Balke to deal with, Xiao Yun had discussed this operation with Alman in advance - he made it clear to Alman that if they wanted to turn Melville's ideas into reality, they must have like-minded people with extremely firm wills and who were willing to bend down to earth and put their ideas into practice, rather than those who were just boastful.
Throughout history, the only person who could succeed in a revolution by just talking nonsense was a lolita control guy named Sun... ahem, he took advantage of the right time, place, and people, and rode on the coattails of the times.
Not only are those who talk big are not welcome, but those who are "normally idling around and talking about character, but dying for the king in times of crisis" are also not welcome - Jumping off a cliff and The Water is Too Cold are both from the same source, the former is admirable, but neither is enough to accomplish anything. (I don't mean to discredit Wen Tianxiang!!)
Only by doing practical things can you achieve success! Do n't talk nonsense about character and backbone!
After explaining to Alman the harm these two types of people do to the group that works hard, and making Alman sweat profusely, Xiao Yun conveniently gave a solution...
People who only raise questions but don't solve them will only make people think they are mean-spirited. People who raise questions and come up with practical solutions will be called poisonous-tongued by people who love and hate them.
Xiao Yun's solution was to let the stupid dragon who was causing trouble drive away the people who were filtered out...
Of course, Xiao Yun was reluctant to let the spellcaster who had come to his door with great difficulty run away, so before handing the person over to Balk, he would throw out the carrot in advance...which was the same nonsense he had said to Aldoni at that time.
For those who are truly committed to practicing the "J" philosophy, it is impossible not to be tempted by this carrot, and this is the motivation to persevere and get through the Balke level.
Of course, extremely ambitious speculators will also be tempted and may be able to hold on, but what does it matter... Speculators are still "comrades" before their butts are exposed. It is not too late to kick them when their underwear falls off.
Alman's smile was genuine. He knew Aldoni's temper very well and he had confidence in Aldoni's character, but he was still a little worried when Aldoni did not choose Evelyn's magic application team.
But he couldn't break the agreement between him and Ayun. After all, Ayun had explained the reason to him very clearly beforehand. Ayun had considered and planned so thoroughly and deeply for "J" and he couldn't be ungrateful.
On the day Xiao Yun left, he specifically told him that if Aldoni's will was not strong enough and he could not stand Balke and ran away, then even if they could not become "revolutionary comrades", at least he and Aldoni would still be friends.
Yarman was happy, so was Xiao Yun. He smiled and said, "Since we have passed the 'probation period', let's move on to the next step. Revolution requires money, and you 'J' need to save up your own little coffers."
