NOVEL NEXT CH.512 Delivering Phones
Again, you read the title.
Since I got the Global Celfon Network running, I was making multiple phones that I could deliver to people I wanted to have instant access to. And I’m planning on delivering them to the people.
Oh, I guess I should talk a bit about the phones. I currently have two models.
The first one is one of those sliding phones, where by sliding it, you reveal the buttons.
The second model is a flip phone.
I decided on these two models because they are simple, but still keep the number pad covered, so there are no accidental calls.
Yes, I do have a prototype touchscreen phone based on Morphtronic Smartfon, but it is more expensive to make, and it doesn’t offer anything the regular phones can’t do until I have the magic Internet running.
And besides, by only giving away the basic phones, I can later sell people the smart phones.
So after manufacturing a sufficient quantity of both phones, in a nice array of colors as well, I headed out so I could deliver them.
Oh, and the phones are Tahlia Industries items. You remember that fake company that I came up with, right? Yeah. I still mark all my technology with that, so that is the branding on the phones. That brand/company is listed under my name, so no one else can use it.
Not that I’m expecting any copies any time soon. The pieces in the phones are tiny and very difficult to produce without a Chaos God Dungeon.
And yes, I confirmed that a regular dungeon cannot produce them. They have too many small parts for the dungeon analysis to be able to analyze them.
I suppose you could take one down to the smallest pieces and produce every individual piece with a regular dungeon, but then you’d have to assemble them by hand. So probably not impossible, but just difficult.
And no, I don’t know for sure, because I never tested.
The phones run on mana, in case you couldn’t guess. They absorb it passively from the air, but they can also be charged by flowing your own mana into it. The passive absorption is enough to keep the phone on so it can receive calls, but if you want to make or answer a call, putting some mana into the phone is … it isn’t technically required, but highly recommended or the phone might die out mid call.
As I was delivering the phones, I delivered something else. Or more like someone else. That someone being Nevelle.
The Princess had stayed on HomeBase for the past months, practicing Soul Magic. And while she cannot fully use Soul Magic to transfer her soul into different realms, she learned enough to where she can move her soul to things she touches, like the dragon avatars.
She also learned how to make an artificial duplicate soul, which she can use with her unique skill. That way, when she ‘splits’, she doesn’t have to divide her skills and status points between the two ‘hers’.
And technically, she was also staying on HomeBase. One of her duplicate selves was. I was just returning the original to the Capital. … at least I hope this one is the original, but there is a chance she decided to trick me and left her original self on HomeBase and sent a clone home instead.
Not that I really care. Both the HomeBase Nevelle and Capital Nevelle have phones, so they can call each other to share what they did. And no, they cannot yet share memories over long distances like the ‘scale copy Janina’ can do with her real self.
After giving phones to the members of the Royal family, luckily Nevelle could teach them how to use them. I was off to deliver the rest, while also instructing the new owners on how to use them.
While I was on that trip, I began receiving calls from the new phone owners, and while it was a bit annoying, because I was busy, I was also glad that they were learning how to use the phones.
Also, in case you were wondering, red was the most popular phone color. Followed by blue.
Something else new also happened. The first Card Summoner skill orb had been gotten out of TinaWood. Well there was the one I got, but that doesn’t count, because it was for private use.
The one gotten now would be going onto the open market. I naturally heard about it, and promised that if the adventurer and their party wanted to travel somewhere to auction off the orb, I would give them a ride there and back.
They quickly accepted my offer, which led me to believe they are someone who is native to the town. Because while outsiders would have heard of me, they probably wouldn’t trust me quite so blindly.
But for the locals, I saved the town from wyverns, saved the lord from sprites and helped with the behemoth. I even take part in celebrations and offer free dragon rides.
But the outsiders might not believe all of that, so they may assume I’d try to steal the skill orb.
I met up with the adventurers that held the orb and I was met by a young adventurer I’ve ran into a couple of times. His name is Kurt.
You don’t remember him? Don’t worry, I can remind you. He had his hand burned by my Dark Magician card and he was one of the first ones to get the Card Summoner skill.
And now he is the first one to get the skill orb. He really is a lucky kid.
… Can I call him a kid when he is 15? He is technically an adult according to the local laws.
Well, whatever. He had been on and off of parties for a while, but he didn’t have a permanent party, so he was selling his skill orb. And while the town had plenty of interested parties, Kurt’s dad told him the capital would have more money, which is why he decided to sell the orb there.
And since there was a more than 0% chance of the orb getting stolen, I offered a room on HomeBase to Kurt, so he could sleep peacefully.
I then made a few calls to the capital, informing people of what was likely going to happen. I didn’t confirm it for sure, just in case Kurt decided to keep the orb, but by telling it will likely happen, I got the info I needed to help Kurt get the orb into auction.
Seeing Kurt’s reaction to HomeBase was as fun as it always is with new people. They live in a magical world, but every time they are blown away by the fact that I live on an invisible (from the ground) floating island.
Yeah, it is really cool, but when you get used to it, it just becomes normal. Besides, I can see HomeBase from the ground because I have access to it.
While I was just showing Kurt around, yes I did it myself because I had the time, he spotted our current set of dhampir students learning magic. He asked if I was running a magic school, but when I told him the students not only were dhampirs, but were also studying for free, he seemed blown away. Like no one would ever teach something like this for free.
Which admittedly, most wouldn’t. We do it because we can, and because the System did give that teach dhampirs mission to Lua.
Kurt wanted to join in on the lesson, but since this group of dhampirs is almost done with their stay on HomeBase, it might be a bit advanced for him. But I told him if he was interested in a one month course, which is about how long we keep a group of dhampirs, I could reserve a spot for him.
I then told him that we offer weapons training as well, and while Kurt already had the Sword Technique skill, you can always get better.
We then talked a bit about what he was planning on buying with the money from the skill orb, to which he answered he wanted a new sword, and maybe some nice armor. Which naturally led to me offering that we could make it, and it would be better than what he could buy in the capital. And that is the truth. You can get some nice swords from the capital, but good luck finding anything made from one of the legendary metals.
Meanwhile, for us, star titanium isn’t that expensive. Thanks Quasar. … I’m saying that ironically, but I do love my Shooting Quasar Dragon.
We can also cook up orichalcum, but that is a bit more expensive. And while I’m speaking of it, Wilma can nowadays produce it all on her own, but it comes out poor or low in quality, so we still rely on Athena when we want the good stuff.
Oh, and no. I won’t be making Kurt’s sword and armor for free. I’m not that generous. We will just make it cheaper than what he could find high quality stuff from the capital, and we will make it near legendary level.
Am I too generous? Maybe. But at the same time, it is good practice for us. We have plenty of practice pieces Wilma has made that will never leave HomeBase, so it is nice to make something that will actually see use.
The auction in the capital was something. I knew they held monthly auctions for rare items, and plenty of nobles or their proxies would take part.
I was honestly quite tempted to bid on the skill orb, just so I could drive the price up, but I didn’t need to. The place had already turned into a bidding war, because a representative from the Hero’s county was betting against the Ruiso Kingdom prime minister.
I need to ask who from the Hero’s country wanted the skill orb so much that they managed to send a representative in the few days they had. Because if it is Wendy, I can always just give her an orb.
The Card Summoner skill orb ended up getting sold for 3100 gold coins. For comparison, a Sword Technique skill orb generally sells for 700 to 800 gold coins. More rare skill orbs like Mana Flight and Telekinesis sell for 2000 to 2500.
I also quite enjoyed the part of the action when one of my fake tournament cards came for sale. By now, everyone in the capital knew they weren’t actual summoning cards, so the few cards that were stolen after the Fusion Gate tournament are sold for small change.
… well, change compared to everything else. They generally sell for one to two gold coins.
That was generally, but when I threw in a bid of three gold coins, I managed to start another bidding war. I think people assumed the card was real because I bid on it. I just held back my laughter, because with just a few words, I managed to price inflate a piece of cardboard from two gold coins to over 300.
Did I feel bad for it? Absolutely not. That is what they get for buying and selling fake cards. It was even sold as a fake. Everyone knows it was fake. Why would me bidding on it make it real?
After the auction, I made contact with the prime minister, who ended up being the one to win the skill orb. I asked him about his intentions with it, but he said they hadn’t confirmed it yet, but it would most likely be given to the crown Prince.
I just reminded him to call me after they decide who will use the orb, so I can come by and hand them a few cards, so that they can actually use the skill.