章節 158: “Iron” Smithy (1)
Originally when Tang San was at Tang Sect, he was specially in charge of making hidden weapons, and before he leapt from the cliff he had already reached the rank of outer sect manager. He was extremely familiar with the manufacturing process for Tang Sect hidden weapons. Tang Sect's income relied practically exclusively on the outer sect's manufacture of poison and hidden weapons, after Tang San carefully reflected, he decided to copy this method to Douluo Continent. Although some of this was already somewhat difficult, it was still possible to try it out.
Thus, Tang San decided to take advantage of today's holiday to find a smithy to cooperate with.
Entering the Spirit Elder realm, as long as he again underwent the rank test next month when he went to Spirit Hall to draw his stipend, Tang San would each month have a hundred gold coin income. As blacksmiths were a low rank occupation hiring them was cheap, he believed he was able to afford it. Furthermore with all the hidden weapon manufacturing costs split among everyone, money was no problem.
The reason why he made the resolution to find a smithy to cooperate in making mechanism type hidden weapons, was because Tang San decided he had to make several kinds of even more powerful hidden weapons. This world was after all different from his previous world, all the materials had to be collected by himself. Making even more powerful hidden weapons naturally required even more time and effort.
Of course, Tang San certainly wouldn't tell others the craft of making Tang Sect hidden weapons, he only needed to contract a smithy to make hidden weapon components, doing the final assembly himself was sufficient to maintain secrecy. More than the smiths being unable to copy, whether they could even make what Tang San wanted was impossible to know.
After asking several passers by, Tang San finally found his destination, the largest smithy in Suotuo City. This smithy's name was very simple, just called 'Smithy', without any additional words.
Without entering the smithy, he could already hear the intensive hammering noises, the sound concentrated and melodious. Clearly there were numerous blacksmiths working.
From its external appearance, this smithy was clearly much larger than the one Tang San worked at in Nuoding City. Easily five or six times larger than Shi San's smithy. In the wide anteroom were laid out various kinds of finished products arranged by type, divided into three large areas: everyday implements, weapons and armor, respectively.
Of these, everyday implements occupied roughly half the area, the remainder split equally between weapons and armor. The store's anteroom was separated from the main work area by long black curtains, the curtains were three meters wide, with a white one meter in diameter 'iron' character, looking very imposing.
In the shop's anteroom were six or seven assistants in charge of receiving customers, meeting those arriving and sending off those departing. The division of labor was extremely clear. Some were in charge of receiving customers and doing business, some were in charge of delivering finished goods. Furthermore a tall and sturdy middle aged man sat behind a counter responsible for collecting money.
Tang San stepped inside the shop, heading directly to the counter.
A shop assistant hurried over to meet him, obstructing Tang San,
"Young mister, what do you require?"
Tang San smiled inwardly. A mister was mister, but they still unfortunately added the word 'young'. Although his height still approached an adult's, a childish face showed he was a youngster.
"I want to talk about a business deal."
Tang San said with a smile.
The assistant sized up Tang San several times. Tang San's clothes were very plain, made from cloth without anything special. Appearance average. Stature well built. Looking like an ordinary person.
"If you want something made, you can speak directly to me."
Tang San said:
"You might be unable to, this is a long term deal, if possible, a permanent collaboration."
While speaking, Tang San took out a paper from his chest,
"Can you read this?"
That was a hidden weapon component design diagram. When Tang San made hidden weapons himself, he also required advanced drawings, carefully measured and calculated to later be able to make. It wasn't something anyone could remember in their head.
The assistant took the plans and with only a look was nonplussed. On the plans were drawn several complicated designs, let alone reading it, he couldn't even understand what this thing was.
"This..."
The assistant once again looked at Tang San, then said:
"I will trouble you to wait a moment. I will consult the shopkeeper at once, to see whether it is something we could make."
Finished speaking, he immediately turned and ran for the counter.
The sturdy middle aged man behind the counter quickly took the drawing handed over by the assistant. In a moment, his face was already filled with an astonished expression, saying something to the assistant, he came out from behind the counter and was led by the assistant to Tang San.
"Young man, did you bring this plan? I can't see why you would want these things made. Could you explain it?"
Tang San said:
"You don't need to know what they're needed for, I only want to know whether you can make them. They must be made from the highest quality refined iron, ideally forged from iron essence."
The middle aged man frowned,
"I'm the boss of this shop. I'm called Tie Xin. Young man, do you know the price of iron essence? Adding to the manufacturing cost that is no small amount, you'd best ask the adults of your family to come speak."
Tang San's heart suddenly shifted, from the middle aged man before him he could feel the fluctuations of spirit power. Unexpectedly the boss of this smithy was a Spirit Master?"
"Of course I know the price of iron essence, I won't hide it from you, I'm also a smith. Only I'm simply not strong enough, I can't make this many things by myself, therefore I've come to you here. The price of iron essence, by weight, one kilogram of iron essence is ten gold spirit coins, sure enough. With the the scale of your place, I trust you should be able to refine iron essence."
The middle aged man nodded, saying:
"You have the price right. But you should know that the toughness of iron essence is far higher than common refined iron, so forging it is naturally much more difficult. When using it to create any goods, the cost of processing it is equal to the price of the iron essence itself. In other words, to use one kilogram of iron essence to forge anything, we have to charge ten gold spirit coins for processing expenses. And the objects on this schematic of yours are also so complex, we must still charge another fifty percent."
If an ordinary person was here, hearing the smith speak of forging something unexpectedly weighing the price in gold coins, would certainly be greatly shocked. But Tang San knew that the price this boss Tie Xin spoke of was already unusually fair. In his heart his favourable impression immediately increased.
"Uncle, your price is no problem. If the quantity I need made is comparatively large, is it possible to have some discount?"
Although Tang San wouldn't haggle too much, he would still strive for a necessary discount.
Tie Xin muttered:
"Certainly. If you order iron essence to forge these things, even if it's our biggest customer, the material cost can't decrease, I can't lose money. But I can strike off ten percent of the labour cost for you. If your order of iron essence exceeds ten kilograms, then I can go down to eight tenths. The lowest I can go is also eight tenths."
Tang San nodded straightforward, saying:
"Then it's decided. I will trouble you to make ten according to the plans I gave you. I already calculated it in detail. Each one should require roughly two kilograms of iron essence. Altogether it's twenty kilograms."
Tie Xin looked startled at Tang San,
"You want so many? This is indeed twenty kilograms of iron essence. Including labor costs it's five hundred gold spirit coins. Even if I give you the labor cost for eight tenths, it's still four hundred forty gold spirit coins."
Seeing Tie Xin's appearance, Tang San understood he was afraid he didn't have that much money.
"Uncle, you are also a Spirit Master."
Tang San suddenly said.
Tie Xin's heart trembled, looking at Tang San frowning.
Tang San said:
"I would like to speak with you alone, is it possible?"
More than four hundred gold spirit coins of business, even if it was this Suotuo City's largest smithy, it was absolutely a large deal. One must know, their whole yearly turnover was only roughly three thousand gold spirit coins.
Tie Xin nodded, saying:
"Then please follow me in the back."
At once, he brought Tang San to walk towards the back.
Passing through the separating curtains, Tang San immediately saw an astonishing scene. This smithy's anteroom was already very large, but this rear work area was even larger, as far as the eye could see, filled with a deep furnace fire red. At least fifty smiths were working simultaneously.
Tang San's Purple Demon Eye was exceptionally acute, gaze simply sweeping across these smiths, in his heart secretly nodding. Although the smiths here were not all so robust, whether it was their expressions or their hands they were all extremely calm. Clearly all were senior smiths. Able to support this large smithy, also required the existence of this many outstanding smiths.
Suddenly, Tang San made a small expression of surprise, thinking out loud:
"Why are you also here?"
Tie Xin stopped walking, puzzled looking at Tang San,
"Young man, is there a problem?"
From in his heart, Tie Xin didn't have confidence in Tang San, after all he looked like he was too young. But the plans Tang San provided did not have the appearance of a joke. Furthermore, this was a more than four hundred gold spirit coins large order, Tie Xin couldn't let it slip by because of his suspicions. Although they were Suotuo City's largest smithy, they were in no way the only smithy.
Following Tang San's gaze, what Tang San took note of were two young smiths in the middle of their work. They appeared to be eighteen or nineteen years old, both had leopard eyes, appearing extremely similar, powerfully built, tanned muscles rising like small hills. The forging hammers in their hands were also much larger than other smiths', forging extremely steadily, even to the extent that they were more efficient than some of the middle aged smiths around them.
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