Cultivators at the Wizarding Academy

Chapter 253 The Continuously Falling Energy Prices

"Are you kidding me?"

Dorothy, fully aware of the implications, confirmed it again with a shocked expression.

"Yeah, we need money to cover household expenses," Tai'an explained, completely out of sync with the situation.

How big of a place do you need?

"The bigger the better, preferably near the new site of the Dawn Church for easy management."

……

The capital city is located to the west, in the suburbs.

Looking out, the vast expanse of hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land all belong to the Violet Royal Family.

In recognition of the Church of Dawn's contributions during the interplane invasion wars, King Alfred granted three thousand acres of land.

"That's right, consider it as our daughter's dowry."

The retainers didn't raise many objections. After all, if it weren't for the intervention of the divine being, the entire capital might not have been saved. Moreover, the Eastern Continent was vast and sparsely populated, and land was far less precious than imagined.

If it weren't near the capital, it would probably only be laughed at.

On average, about 300 acres, or 10,000 square meters, can be used to build a spirit-gathering array, with a core area about 20 meters in diameter.

Tai'an spent several days building one and is now quietly awaiting the results.

There are about 12,000 energy-storing magic stones piled up like a small mountain.

"Will it really work?" Less than five minutes after activating the spirit-gathering array, Dorothy hurriedly picked up a piece from the ground, barely sensing any change in the magical energy within it. "How long will it take?"

"Let's wait a few hours and see..." Tai'an gestured for patience. He took out a straw cushion, spread it on the ground, and sat cross-legged.

It's mainly about striking a pose and getting some sun.

The unusual meditation posture drew a strange look from Dorothy, who wondered, "Could this speed up my meditation... or is the mat he made really special?"

Hua Yun led her people to the vicinity and began setting up tents. Mercenaries from the Sakura Snow Adventurers' Guild would be stationed nearby. No one was assigned to construction at this time. The Dawn Church's residence must be completed before the cold snap arrives.

time flies.

The clouds in the sky quietly obscured the sunlight. The silver magic car slowly descended.

Taiya arrived and walked around curiously. Somewhat annoyed by the soft mud sticking to her boots, she consciously refrained from disturbing her younger brother's meditation.

"What's all this secrecy about?"

She bent down and picked up a magic stone, not finding it particularly special.

Dorothy bent down and picked up another magic stone from before, her pupils contracting slightly.

It's not an illusion! It really is charging...

The key is the effect. How many formal class spellcasters does it occupy, taking up such a large area?

Ten digits, twenty digits?

Even if it were just one person, Dorothy felt there was still room for profit.

"Should I help with the promotion?"

"Let's wait a few days. I need to see exactly how long it will take to fully charge the magic stones."

Energy-storing magic stones on the market typically come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. They range in size from pigeon egg to cuckoo egg to ostrich egg. They are suitable for both civilian and commercial use.

Larger models are mostly for military use. For example, teleportation arrays and energy-concentrating cannons.

A magic stone the size of a pigeon egg takes three hours to fully charge, with a capacity of five degrees. A cuckoo egg takes thirty-six hours, with a capacity of seventy degrees. An ostrich egg takes at least one hundred and twenty hours, with a capacity of two hundred degrees.

The business of energy-storing magic stones doesn't need any advertising. Just opening a store and slightly lowering the prices is enough to attract a huge number of customers.

Every household in the capital city needs to use energy-storing magic stones, and they usually have to queue up to recharge them.

Due to the influx of more apprentices, the Spellcasters' Guild's charging service for magic stones has decreased from thirty-four copper pence per degree to thirty-two copper pence.

The Blue Rose family offered thirty pennies and easily gained a group of customers.

Despite some population loss following the dimensional invasion, the kingdom's overall usage of inscribed items has increased. New inventions are springing up like mushrooms after rain.

A recent popular invention is the lantern for warding off evil spirits.

Numerous small, eerie entities linger in the material plane, like rats hiding in the shadows, secretly feeding on human negative emotions.

The nobles inscribed holy light purification runes on their gates. The poor, unable to afford spellcasters, yet still needed to exorcise evil spirits. So, someone devised a plan: they inscribed holy light purification runes on the lanterns carried by night watchmen.

With the addition of an energy-storing magic stone, even ordinary people can perform exorcisms. Moreover, they can also generate some income.

Anyone in need could hire a passing night watchman to exorcise any evil spirits. The fee was twenty pennies per visit.

The daily profits are considerable; some people have calculated it. It takes less than a year to break even, after which it's all net profit.

……

In about a week, the Blue Rose family's multiple stores offering energy storage magic stone charging services have accumulated a certain level of trust.

The store is packed with customers every day, and queues are gradually forming.

This naturally led to the emergence of middlemen. Many children in impoverished areas made a living by profiting from the price difference.

The market prospects for energy storage magic stone charging services are broad.

The citizens of the capital city have an insatiable thirst for energy.

With nothing else to do, Tai'an finished building a second spirit-gathering array and decided to lower the price.

The cost per unit decreased from thirty pennies to twenty-seven pennies.

They rejected all of Atayal's marketing proposals.

Tai'an believes the simpler the better.

A one-time price drop of 10% attracted more customers, several times the number of those in the past.

The small stores were no longer able to accommodate the demand, so expansion was imperative.

The former Night Whisper Hotel has been transformed into the Blue Rose Family's Magic Stone Charging Service Center.

The combined effect of the two spirit-gathering arrays operating at full capacity is equivalent to that of approximately five hundred full-rank spellcasters working tirelessly.

The Spellcasters' Association had no complaints about the Blue Rose family's encroachment on their business. On the contrary, they greatly admired it. The persistent energy shortage had severely hampered the development of civilization, leading to class divisions. Every year, the kingdom's leadership had to allocate a significant portion of tax revenue to subsidize this.

"Truly a divine being! He single-handedly rivals a thousand spellcasters."

"Extremely diligent, which is very rare."

"It's a great way to improve yourself and get a substantial reward, much more worthwhile than just meditation..."

"The price of magic energy per unit has now broken through the historical low of 28 copper coins, which is the lowest price in a thousand years. If I remember correctly, it was in the autumn of the 462nd year."

"At that time, the kingdom was subsidizing it behind the scenes..."

The unsuspecting human leaders of the Star Council believed that Tai'an was personally handling the matter behind the scenes. Little did they know that a few days later, a secret message would cause a sensation.

"You said the Guardian developed an automatic energy-accumulating inscription array?"

"How could that be? If it were really going to be developed, it would have been developed long ago. Why would it have waited until today?"

(End of this chapter)