The first mech to appear came from Sid's laboratory.
Although Sid had repeatedly stated that he would leave the entry blank, he actually prepared an entry for the competition after communicating with Uncle Xie.
As the teleportation array glowed faintly, a lifelike puppet appeared in the center of the five-star array. Countless gears and bearings could be clearly seen rotating in the puppet's chest cavity, while its arms swung up and down, holding a small wooden hammer in a back-and-forth motion.
They're kind of adorably goofy.
But a sudden sneer broke the tranquility that followed the puppet's appearance.
Sitting next to Haines, Manglin laughed heartily, "What is this thing doing? It's so stupid and rigid."
Haines also looked disdainful and questioned, "This is your entry? To be honest, it's far below par."
Meanwhile, whispers arose in the venue as not only did the defenses take place inside, but the workshop owners outside were also rapidly exchanging opinions.
“That’s right.” Faced with others’ doubts, Sid remained calm and answered seriously, “This is the ‘Bethlehem’s Toil’ series of mechanical puppets launched by our laboratory, Silk Reeling No. 1. It is powered by light energy and can continuously repeat its work next to the silk reeling table, thereby freeing up the alchemy apprentices’ time so that they can devote themselves to more meaningful learning.”
Old Mark couldn't help but ask curiously, "But, as everyone knows, forging metal wire must be done by apprentices of the Branch of Time, because only they can discern the degree of elemental arrangement within it—oh, I see, you engraved a detection array on the surface of the wooden hammer!"
The chubby old master immediately lit up his eyes. If his employer hadn't been there, he would have wanted to dance with the No. 1 silk reel.
Repetitive work does not lead to progress; the saying "practice makes perfect" is nothing more than an excuse for mediocrity.
Most of the people present had experienced the hellish apprenticeship period, where the repetitive and tedious work did nothing but occupy their time.
The concept of mechanical puppets was first created on the Zhuyuan Continent. As long as you dare to think, many problems can be solved.
A few insightful people also realized what was going on and looked thoughtful.
If apprentices at Sid Labs could be freed from tedious and monotonous labor and have more energy for creative work—
Given time, more "masters" will surely emerge around this faction.
“That’s all.” But just then, the cardinal with the white crown spoke up, “In this mindless ‘machine,’ I can hardly see a single trace of grace from the Great Creator.”
If it weren't for that person's instructions, he wouldn't have wanted to get involved in this mess today.
The Alchemy City is full of lunatics, actually trying to replace human labor with machines!
Yorkshire looked at the tirelessly working Silk Reeling Machine No. 1 with utter disdain, but in his heart he was calculating that the scope of the tithe collected per capita must be expanded, and the machines should also pay the corresponding tax.
The missionary texts of the Radiant Church largely followed the aristocratic customs of the Second Dynasty and used many archaic terms.
Yun Wei noticed that when the bishop mentioned the word "machine," he used an even more archaic word: "machina."
Ma China, the so-called machine, is actually a mysterious craft originating from an ancient Eastern country.
So, while everyone else wore solemn expressions, Yun Wei smiled slightly.
Haines looked at Sid coldly, "So, this is what you learned from those Azure People?"
Sid nodded gracefully and readily admitted, "Of course. If it weren't for this godsend opportunity, I would never have been able to imagine how wonderful those ideas from the East are."
These ideas, which exhaust the natural world, have even perfectly integrated mathematical knowledge into the craft.
It's as if these components were born to fit together perfectly; even without nails and glue, they remain a seamless whole.
coincide!
This is a coincidence in the literal sense!
Compared to this magnificent natural universe, what is the great creator that Yorkshire speaks of?
More importantly, these techniques are all so natural...
They seemed to be treasures completely independent of the dimensional world, without any trace of magic, like a pure white canvas on which he could freely paint his magical practices.
Thinking of his countless gains in just two months, Sid's emerald eyes shone with an almost sincere fervor.
At this moment, all he wanted was to quickly end all this meaninglessness in front of him and devote his precious time to his new alchemical endeavors.
Haines looked at the other two round tables and saw that the assistants next to "Huxley" and "Forsley" had raised whiteboards to indicate that they had no objections.
“In that case, let’s vote,” Haines announced.
The defense session has ended; we are now in the voting phase.
Yun Wei immediately perked up his ears, ready to listen to the magnificent spectacle of pearls falling onto a jade plate. Before coming here, he had already listened to Qin Lushu's long-winded explanations and was familiar with this unique procedure characteristic of the Alchemy City.
Around the central area sat a total of 133 representatives from the city's workshops, each holding a pink crystal with limited magical power, which could only be used a maximum of two times.
After all, each workshop has a limited production capacity and cannot cooperate with multiple laboratories at the same time.
The voting process involves tossing a rose quartz crystal into a groove on the table, at which point a light will illuminate, extending an olive branch to laboratories interested in in-depth collaboration over the next five years.
At the moment of voting, countless rose quartz crystals will roll along the surface of the groove, and it is said that the sound is particularly pleasant, like waves of money rolling in. Qin Lushu had already done his homework for them in advance.
However, Yun Wei did not hear the rumor of "a reward of ten thousand gold coins for every dice roll".
Although he listened intently for a long time, he could only hear a few scattered sounds coming from all directions.
What he didn't know was that the interests within Alchemy City were intricate and complex, and the intelligence networks were intertwined, with a mix of truth and falsehood. Before the competition began, most workshop owners had their own limited intelligence.
While Sid's machine puppets were groundbreaking, they were far too practical and couldn't compare to those in the other laboratories.
Most workshop owners did not see any easy profits from the No. 1 silk reeling workshop. After all, labor was so cheap that they could easily hire large numbers of apprentices to work day and night at the silk reeling tables.
And where is there any need to acquire these seemingly expensive mechanical puppets?
Moreover, Master Sid has now completely broken with the Liujin family. Supporting Sid's laboratory would risk offending the Liujin family.
It takes some courage to cooperate with someone who would betray even their own family.
When the hourglass of the countdown completely flipped, the results were revealed:
Sid's lab only received twelve votes.
Of the 133 workshops, only 12 were willing to allocate sufficient production capacity to Sid's laboratory over the next five years.
This result is hardly impressive, and it also means that Sid's laboratory has been eliminated from the factional struggle ahead of time.
Yun Wei couldn't help but look at Xi De.
He felt deeply sorry for his friend.
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