Volume 3 Chapter 108 Magic patent protection fee
This year’s Lampuri Kingdom Magicians Guild certification exam was very likely the largest one yet.
According to the stats of the Magicians Guild, the number of magicians that came surpa.s.sed over eight thousand!
It had to be known, there were just over a total of ten thousand magicians in the Lampuri Kingdom.
In other words, the amount of magicians that came this time was actually 80% of the magicians in the entire Lampuri Kingdom!
Even if the number of magicians that came last year surpa.s.sed five thousand and suggested this trend, there were actually over eight thousand magicians that came to the certification exam this year. It completely swamped the Lampuri Kingdom’s Magicians Guild.
If it wasn’t for president Eren planning ahead of time, the Magicians Guild would be filled with chaos this time.
But even if he had made preparations, because the amount of people partic.i.p.ating had greatly increased, the original schedule that put the exam in a period of a week was forced to become half a month.
Even if the time was doubled, the exams each day were still very rushed. It made the Magicians Guild staff work all day without any time to rest at all.
But no one complained because it was different from before. During this year’s certification exam, president Eren announced that during this exam period, due to the fact that the workload had increased, it meant that each person would receive a special compensation which was set for two gold coins a day per person.
Two gold coins a day meant that in half a month, they would be receiving an extra thirty gold coins.
For the staff of the Magicians Guild, this wasn’t a small amount, so naturally it made their pa.s.sion for work increase. Even if they were incredibly busy during this time, no one complained and focused entirely on their work. It made the certification exam proceed smoothly with barely any problems.
“I say, president Eren, these normal workers are receiving special compensation, shouldn’t we Great Magicians also receive a special compensation?” Great Magician Eisenkel teased president Eren sitting in the main seat.
President Eren laughed, “Eisenkel, don’t joke. With your wealth, do you still need to ask for a compensation of several dozen gold coins from me? Then again, it was hard enough for our Magicians Guild to create a surplus to reward our staff, would you as a Great Magician fight them for this?
The other three Great Magicians including Great Magician Camilla sitting on the side revealed smiles.
This was a meeting the five Great Magicians held for this year’s certification exam, mainly discussing the contents of the higher grade magicians test at the end.
Great Magician Eisenkel heard president Eren explain how to solve the burden on the workers and he couldn’t help cracking a joke.
“Speaking of this, why does our Magicians Guild have a surplus this year? Couldn’t we only barely hold on last year from the allotment from the main guild?” Great Magician Telucci asked in a curious voice.
“To be honest, it was mainly because of Xu Yi’s merit.” President Erne looked at Great Magician Camilla who was silent like usual and said with a smile, “If it wasn’t for his magic patent idea, how could our guild have excess funds?”
“Oh? This means that there are many magicians applying for patents?” Great Magician Torres also asked with a curious look.
“That’s right.” President Eren nodded, “According to last month’s statistics, right now there are a total of over thirteen thousand patents registered at the guild and the patent protection fees has already surpa.s.sed two hundred thousand gold coins.”
“That much?” Great Magician Telucci and Great Magician Torres both revealed surprised looks.
Great Magician Eisenkel knit his brows, “Isn’t this too little? Thirteen thousand patents and only over two hundred thousand coins. On average, that is less than two gold coins per patent, right?”
[TL Note: I know the math is wrong, but just accept it.]
President Eren said with a laugh, “Because there are some magicians who are paying low fees for their patents, which doesn’t even cost a single gold coin to use.”
“Then what did they apply for a patent for?” Great Magician Telucci said in a surprised voice, “With such a low price, it can’t protect it at all.”
“You don’t understand.” Great Magician Torres gave a laugh, “Telucci, getting a patent for your studies is a very popular thing right now, even I have more than ten of them. Of course, I didn’t pay much when it came to protection fees, it’s a total of less than a hundred gold coins.”
“Why?” Great Magician Telucci was a bit confused, “There’s no need, so why apply for a patent?”
“To be honest, it’s to give yourself face.” Great Magician Torres said, “Think about it, for two magicians, one has over ten special patents and one doesn’t have a single one. Wouldn’t you think that the level of magic for the magician without any patents would be low?”
“This……” Great Magician Telucci considered this a bit before giving a nod, “It does seem like this.”
“So that means that many magicians are creating patents for themselves as a sort of important symbol. Telucci, I suggest that you apply for some patents. Otherwise when we have several dozen patents and you don’t even have a single one, it would make you feel that something is off, right?”
Great Magician Telucci gave a bitter laugh, “That’s right, it seems like I have to consider this.” After saying this, he turned to Great Magician Eisenkel and Great Magician Camilla, “What about you guys? Even Torres has over ten magic patents, you two should have more, right?”
Great Magician Eisenkel revealed a faint smile, “I don’t have much, I only applied for thirty two patents. But I’ve paid more than three thousand gold coins to protect those thirty two patents, it’s just a bit more than Torres.”
“How could I be as rich as you?” Torres rolled his eyes.
Great Magician Eisenkel laughed before pointing at Great Magician Camilla, “If you want to talk about having money, I can’t compare to Camilla. I’m certain that Camilla has the most patents out of all of us and he’s spent the most in protection fees.”
Including president Eren, the four Great Magicians all looked at Great Magician Camilla.
Great Magician Camilla slowly shook his head, “My ident.i.ty is the top grade researcher for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic research facility. Even if it’s patents, it’s patents under the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s name and not my name. The fees for the patents are all paid for by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, it’s not related to me.”
“The Frestech Chamber of Commerce is so rich, so they must be paying quite a lot in protection fees, right?” Torres kept asking.
“I’m not clear on this because Xu Yi always had people take care of it, I never care about that.” Great Magician Camilla replied.
Everyone looked at president Eren.
President Eren gave a cough before looking at Great Magician Camilla. He said with a nod, “That’s right, all the magic patents of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magicians were all under the name of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so I don’t know what patents Camilla has developed. But I know that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has a total of five hundred and sixty three magic patents. The one worth the most is an entire ten thousand gold coins!”
“Ten thousand gold coins?” Even Great Magician Eisenkel’s eyes popped out as he had a look of disbelief, “Just for a single patent?”
“Yes.” President Eren nodded.
Great Magician Eisenkel had an idea before asking, “Then…..President, what is the patent?”
President Eren shook his head, “I can’t disclose the details, but I can tell you that if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was willing to transfer this information, I would definitely be willing to spend ten thousand or several tens of thousands to buy it.”
Great Magician Torres and Great Magician Telucci exchanged shocked looks. Great Magician Telucci’s heart couldn’t help being moved as he asked president Eren, “President Eren, I heard that the magic machine factory you made is profiting quite well, right?”
President Eren’s expression changed slightly before he waved his hand, “It was opened by that kid Anke, it’s not related to me, but the profits…..are indeed quite good.”
Seeing the slightly proud look in president Eren’s smile, Great Magician Telucci hesitated a bit before turning to ask Great Magician Camilla, “That…..Camilla, do you think…..I……can also open a magic machine factory?”
Hearing Great Magician Telucci’s question, the other four were surprised.
If one had to mention conservative, Great Magician Camilla was far from being able to compare to Great Magician Telucci.
When they were talking about the patents, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, and the new magic machines, Great Magician Telucci was always against it.
Now he was actually asking if he could open a magic machine factory? This really was unthinkable to the other four Great Magicians.
Didn’t this world change too quickly? It even changed the most conservative Telucci!
After Great Magician Camilla was surprised, he asked back in a confused voice, “Telucci, why did you suddenly ask this? Why do you want to set up a magic machine factory? Didn’t you deny these things the most before?”
Great Magician Telucci gave a deep sigh, “To make it short, I really need money right now. So can I do it or not?”
“This…..I’m not certain.” Great Magician Camilla shook his head, “Opening a magic machine factory isn’t an easy thing. I feel that…..with your personality, you might not be able to do it.”