Chapter 96: This Game is Not For You!
In the next few days, Baiyi spent his time leisurely. Other than modifying Mia’s equipments and ‘feeding’ the hammerhead plus.h.i.+e with more ingredients, most of his time was spent playing with Mia and Tisdale. At first he planned to use the holiday to have some extra tutorial cla.s.ses for the two of them but since it was still the beginning of the holiday, he decided to take things slow and allowed them to enjoy their free time first.
Who knew that they would eventually spend their time lazing around… And at the moment, he was worrying about the sales of the three magical gems that he had pa.s.sed to Tisdale last time.
“Why is the sale volume so low?” Looking at the account book that Tisdale handed over to him, Baiyi had the urge to frown. When he gave the gems to her as a gift, he was confident that the sales would be quite high but somehow, from the record on the account book, it was far lower than what he had expected.
“The sales are actually very good!” Satisfied, Tisdale exclaimed, “Ever since the gems are put onto the market, the profit of the alchemy workshop increased by at least 50% every month! This is a remarkable result! Now that more and more people know about this gem, they are willing to come queue for it everyday!”
“No, it’s not enough! It has not yet reached it’s full potential!” Putting down the account book, Baiyi lifted up his head to look at Tisdale but within seconds, he quickly turned away again. Would you look at this girl? Why is she wearing this super short nightdress again in front of me? The black lacy nightdress had brought out that exclusive youthful aura of hers to the point that it made her appear even more alluring. Even Baiyi did not dare to look at her in the eyes at that moment.
“Make sure you wear more clothes next time,” Baiyi uttered.
“Eh?” Almost instantly, color crept up to Tisdale’s delicate cheeks. Slightly taken aback, she asked, “T-Teacher? You noticed my body?” Instead of acting shy and trying to cover her lady parts like most girls would, she stood upright in front of Baiyi and put on a display while posing for him to see. She seemed to think that he was actually appreciating her beauty and appeared to be very happy about it.
Oh, man! I’m not asking you to show your ‘loyal puppy’ trait to me right now! Baiyi shook his head in exasperation and simply searched for an excuse, “I’m just worried that you’ll be seen by some outsiders.”
“Ah, really?” A smirk crept up on Tisdale’s face at once. It was obvious that she could see through Baiyi’s lies in an instance. The mansion was so huge that it was almost impossible for anybody to peep through and even if there was a pervert who came into the mansion compound, how could he possibly escape Baiyi’s wrath?
“Ahem, okay, okay! Let’s focus on this serious issue on hand right here. About this magical gems, even though it may look like they are quite popular right now, but if the sales continue to be stagnant and not go up soon, you would still be unable to make lots of money. Why don’t you just go search for some other business channels and contact more shops in the city. Oh, even better, go look for those big family like the Dole family and market your items through them. You need to monopolize the market for lower-grade gems as soon as you can”
Because he still did not plan to intervene with his student’s business presently, he only gave his suggestions. The rest of the decisions still lay with Tisdale.
It was not that Tisdale had not thought of that before, but… “Teacher, actually, with thecurrent production capacity of the alchemy workshop, it simply cannot achieve the standard that you’ve just proposed. We can’t even produce enough gems for the customers who came queueing at our door every day, let alone supplying to the other shops… It’s true that the formulae that you gave me was indeed profitable, but at the same time, the refining process is much more difficult and time-consuming!”
“You’ll have to rely on yourself to improve the manufacturing process and speed then,” Baiyi answered.
“I understand, but currently, our fund is still a little bit insufficient to improve the workshop so we’re still trying to solve this problem right now… It’s unfortunate that Sister Undine is not here otherwise, I could go find her for help!” Tisdale said and as a thought suddenly appeared in her mind, she clapped out loud before she said, “Oh yes! Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from her for a very long time now. I’ll go pay a visit to the Dole family then!”
Having said that, she quickly changed her clothes and left the mansion to go to the Dole family. As for Baiyi, since there was nothing to do, he led Mia to the lawn outside of the mansion and taught her how to use Wind-type magic to trim the gra.s.ses. As a matter of fact, it was actually a good training to learn how to control one’s Mana but since it was the first time the girl came across such high-precision Mana control, the result turned out to be a disaster even with Baiyi’s guidance. The lawn looked like it had been dug up by a pack of dogs, with pits and hollows all over the place.
“I might as well use my hand to trim it!” Looking at how the originally beautiful and neat lawn transformed into such a tragic-looking piece of wild land, Mia complained dejectedly. After all, it was the lawn that Tisdale usually cared for and nurtured with all her heart.
Baiyi who asked Mia to do the errand in the first place felt a little guilty too. Quickly, he rea.s.sured her, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix this!”
By the time he had returned the lawn to its original state by using Natural Energy, it was already noon. Seeing that Tisdale was not yet back and there was n.o.body cooking in the house, Baiyi had no choice but to go out and buy some packed lunch for Mia.
After lunch, Baiyi thought of a game that could help Mia to kill time while learning concurrently. The game was something like this— Mia would have her eyes covered and Baiyi would take out an item for her to guess using her Psychic Energy. If she guessed it correctly, then Baiyi would poke her soft little cheek but if her answer was wrong, he would play with her ponytails.
After a few rounds, Mia finally came to her senses and quickly covered her face to block Baiyi from poking it, at the same time, shaking her head harshly to pull her ponytail back from his clutch. Childishly, she pouted in anger, “MR. HOPE! You cheater! Aren’t you merely toying with me?GRRRR … I don’t want to play with you anymore!” She swiftly ran away to play with her hammerhead shark doll instead.
Can you not say such misleading words? Aren’t I training your Psychic Energy right now? Baiyi felt a little wronged and panicked, he yelled out loud in the Void, GREAT CRISIS GUYS! Mia is giving me the cold shoulder now! She doesn’t want me anymore! Help me think of some interesting games please!
“Huh? Seriously? You actually asked us for help? Aren’t you the one who always comes up with most of the games that we play in the Void?” Surprised, the Soul Armature Pract.i.tioner retorted.
That’s because we can use simulation in the Void! How do you expect me to create a computer in reality for her to play with?
“How about some pets then? Y’know, like Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur?” The Soul Armature Pract.i.tioner continued to suggest.
You really want to become a Pokemon Trainer, don’t you? You’re so fond of this profession just because you were once a summoner, right?
“Or maybe you could teach her how to pull these servant cards by using Saint Quartz 1 y’know ?” The Archmage chimed in.
Please do tell me where should I get a French village girl 2 for her then?
“Well, from what I can see, Mia’s body development is a little too slow, far behind that Vido girl. So how about this game tha… OOOOFF!” Before the Paladin could finish his suggestion, a Silence Spell had already been cast on him.
In the end, the Voidwalkers still could not come to a conclusion even when Tisdale came back in the evening. As usual, there were a few guys who were subjected to the Silence Spell for being too vulgar. Well, who could blame them? These Walkers spent their entire lives undergoing training instead of playing games otherwise, they would not have achieved the achievements that they had. In any case, it was better to leave the game thing to Tisdale. She would defnitely be able to come up with a suitable idea.
When Tisdale came back, her head was lowered all the way until she stood directly in front of Baiyi. When she lifted her head up, streaks of tears could be seen on her face, her eyes puffy and red, it was apparent that she had been crying over something.
“What happened? Did the Dole family bully you?” Worried, Baiyi quickly asked.
Shaking her head and biting her lips, Tisdale gripped the hem of her dress tightly, as if she was about to make a huge decision in her life, “I-It’s Sister Undine… Sniff … S-She… She was caught b-by… by the steppe barbarians. .. sniff. ..”
TSK! I knew it! That uppity brat from the Dole family! Baiyi let out a sigh of exasperation inwardly. Forcibly opening up a route at the Northern Wasteland was not something that could be done by the power of just one ordinary family! That time, when she set out for the mission, Baiyi already had an inkling that she would not be able to do it, andeverything went wrong just as he had predicted.
Since the mishap had already happened, blaming her right now was no longer meaningful. Curious, Baiyi asked, “What happened exactly?”
“The Dole family doesn’t know much about the exact situation as well. The news that they got was from the few escaped mercenaries. When they were going through the wasteland, the steppe barbarian attacked the caravans all of a sudden and looted all the goods. Not only that, they kidnapped Sister Undine too!” Tisdale explained as tears began to form in her eyes again. It seemed like she was really worried about Undine’s safety.
“T-Teacher! I’ve decided to go save Sister Undine!” She announced the decision that she had been mulling over for quite some time.
“No!” Baiyi refused on the spot without any hesitation, “I understand your feelings and I do feel sorry for Miss Undine but you’re only a feeble sorceress who just entered the Advanced level! Do enlighten me on how you plan to rescue her from the barbarian’s grasp please?”
“The Dole family is putting up a rescue team right now and they have managed to recruit many strong and powerful people! I’m going to join them as well!” Tisdale said firmly, “Sister Undine was still alive when she was caught so I believe she still is right now! I must go rescue her!”
“Strong my a.s.s! From what I can see, it’s just a group of motley crew! How do you expect to go on a rescue mission with these temporary recruits?” Baiyi’s words became harsh with his anxiety, “Tisdale, I FORBID you from going!”
Without another word, he cast a Binding Spell on Tisdale and fastened her to the ground. With a cold voice, he drawled, “Cool your head down. This is not a game for kids to play!”
Having said that, he turned around to leave the room, leaving her alone to reflect on her words. Just as he was about to step out of the room, a tearful voice could be heard coming from behind him,
“T-Teacher, if I didn’t save Mia that time, would I still be able to meet you?”
Those words stunned Baiyi to the core for a moment. Still, he steeled his heart and walked out of the door, slamming it hard behind him.