Douluo Continent: I can overdraft the future in advance

Three days later, the group of four returned to Wuyun City.

Lin greeted them at the door, went inside to pour them water, asked a few simple questions, and then went back to the kitchen to busy herself. After drinking the water, Luo Yun went back inside to put his things down and rested for a while.

Zhou Hu and Liu Yue said goodbye, and Luo Xing saw them off at the door, promising to treat them to a meal in a few days.

That evening, Mrs. Lin prepared a table full of dishes, and Luo Yun ate quite a lot. After dinner, Luo Xing called his son to the courtyard.

"Yun'er, you are now a first-ring Soul Master. There are some things that I need to teach you again."

Luo Yun nodded seriously.

Luo Xing said, "The most important thing in Soul Master cultivation is perception. Before, you only had Soul Power, not Soul Rings, so you perceived 'Power'. Now that you have Soul Rings, you need to start perceiving 'Skill'."

"Technique?"

"Yes. Spirit rings don't just provide you with power; they also grant you skills," Luo Xing explained. "How did you release that ice mist?"

Luo Yun thought for a moment and said, "I was thinking of releasing ice mist, and that's how it came about."

"That's perception," Luo Xing said. "Soul skills are different from soul power. Soul power is like water, while soul skills are the methods of using water. You need to know how to use water—but soul skills aren't something you can understand just by thinking about them; you have to feel them with your body."

He instructed Luo Yun to release the ice mist.

A pale yellow spirit ring lit up, and a wisp of icy mist was exhaled from Luo Yun's mouth, slowly drifting in the courtyard.

"Look, it follows your will," Luo Xing said. "Why does it follow? Because the spirit ring connects your will with the ice mist. This is the essence of spirit skills—spirit power is transformed into the effect you want through the medium of the spirit ring."

Luo Yun seemed to be deep in thought.

"Then... what is the essence of spirit rings and spirit power?"

Luo Xing was stumped by the question.

He scratched his head, thought for a long time, and then said, "This... I really haven't thought about it. Anyway, cultivation gives you soul power, and hunting soul beasts to obtain soul rings is the norm on the continent."

Luo Yun nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

---

Life returned to its usual tranquility.

Every morning he meditates, practices his soul skills in the morning, and goes to the shop with his father in the afternoon. Occasionally he tries to figure out the principles of soul power conversion, flipping through the books about soul beasts and soul rings at home, hoping to find some patterns, but he doesn't find much of a breakthrough.

Luo Xing's shop has been doing better and better lately. Since he took his son's advice, changed the signboard, launched promotions, and started the "refer a friend" program, the shop's customer traffic has increased several times over.

That evening, Luo Yun went to the shop with his father again.

The shop had just seen off a group of customers. Luo Xing sat behind the counter, flipping through the ledger with a smile on his face.

Luo Yun strolled around the store, looking at the soul tools on the shelves—lights, heaters, communicators… they were all low-level gadgets, not complicated to make, but not cheap either.

A thought suddenly popped into my head.

"Father, where did all these things come from?"

"I'm buying them," Luo Xing said. "There are a few low-level Soul Masters in the city who specialize in this. I'll get the goods from them and resell them at a higher price."

"They do it themselves?"

"Yes, one person does it all from start to finish," Luo Xing said. "It's a bit slow, but we don't have to worry about selling it."

Luo Yun nodded and remained silent for a while.

"Father, I have an idea."

Luo Xing looked up: "What are you thinking?"

"You said, if those people were to divide the work and each person were responsible for only one step, wouldn't it be faster?"

Luo Xing was stunned.

Luo Yun continued, "For example, a lamp has a metal casing and a magic array core. Normally, one person would have to do everything from forging the metal, to polishing and shaping, to inscribing the magic array, to assembling, to finally activating and debugging it."

"But what if we separate them? We can have a blacksmith handle the metalwork—specializing in forging, shaping, and polishing. We can have a soul master handle the magic array—specializing in inscribing the magic array onto the polished metal. Then we can hire two more people, one for assembly and one for activation and debugging. Each person only does what they are best at. How many more lamps can we make in a day?"

Luo Xing blinked, his mind racing.

"Then...that would require several people to work at the same time..."

"That's right," Luo Yun said. "The blacksmith only focuses on forging iron; how many pieces can he forge in a day? The one who inscribes the magic array only focuses on inscribing the array; how many can he inscribe in a day? The assemblies and the activators each manage their own tasks. In the end, when put together, the output in a day might be more than one person working alone for a week."

Luo Xing stood up and paced back and forth in the store.

"Moreover," Luo Yun continued, "each person only does one process, so they become more skilled with practice, work faster and faster, and the quality becomes more and more consistent. Unlike one person who does the whole thing, after forging, they have to engrave the array, and after engraving, they have to assemble it. Every time they change a process, they have to start all over again."

Luo Xing stopped and looked at his son.

"What about costs? With so many people, won't costs go up?"

"Let me do the math," Luo Yun said. "A Soul Master who can do everything from start to finish certainly won't charge a low price. But if you separate the work, the blacksmith will have his price, the low-level Soul Master will have his price, and the assembly and activation can even be done by apprentices, which will cost even less. All in all, it might not be much more expensive than hiring an all-rounder. But if the output increases several times, the total profit will definitely rise."

Luo Xing was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, Dad will go find someone to try tomorrow."

---

The next day, Luo Xing went to find someone.

He knew many people in the city and quickly found an old blacksmith to specialize in metal forging, shaping, and polishing. He also found two young soul masters, one to inscribe the magic array and the other to assemble it. Finally, he found a clever apprentice to be in charge of activation and debugging.

Luo Xing offered a condition: payment would be based on the number of pieces made, and the more you did, the more you would earn.

Several people agreed to give it a try.

Luo Xing broke down the lamp-making process into four steps: the blacksmith forged the metal shell, Soul Master A was responsible for engraving the magic array, Soul Master B was responsible for assembly, and finally the apprentices activated and debugged it.

The first day of the break-in period was marred by several mishaps. The blacksmith's shells were the wrong size, the engravings were crooked, the assembly parts couldn't be put on, and the activation parts couldn't be activated. Luo Xing patiently encouraged them to communicate and cooperate more.

Things went a little better the next day.

By the seventh day, the four of them were working together seamlessly. The blacksmith could forge twenty sets of metal shells a day, the engraver could engrave eighteen sets a day, the assembler could assemble sixteen sets a day, and the activator could adjust fifteen lamps a day.

In total, we ship fifteen cups a day.

Previously, a Soul Master could work alone, handling everything from blacksmithing to activation, and could only make a maximum of four lamps a day.

Even if each item is sold at a discount, the daily profit can still double.

Luo Xing's hands trembled as he looked at the account book.

"Yoona, your brain..." He looked at his son with a complicated expression. "Okay, really okay."

Luo Yun smiled but didn't say anything more.