Chapter 438 - 436: Are You Guys Printers or What?
Melina was holding back a laugh.
While Boyleid’s expression was a bit awkward.
He looked displeased: "Miss Hilia, just listen to yourself, two thousand scrolls in ten days. Is that even humanly possible?"
"An average of only two hundred per person, isn’t that easy? If I were still there, I’d have you make at least three thousand."
Boyleid: "..."
Melina laughed and said: "See, you shouldn’t doubt. Hilia can indeed achieve that level."
Boyleid didn’t believe it: "Talk is cheap. Who knows if you’re just boasting? If it were me, I could say I make ten thousand in a day."
Hilia was about to say, "Believe it or not," but Melina seized the opportunity and said: "How about this? Let Hilia and her team compete with yours on production speed. Your ten versus her five. If you match their speed, you win. I’ll reduce the output requirement appropriately."
Hilia refused: "No way, I’m still working on my Magic Puppet and don’t have time."
Melina said: "It won’t take long, just a few hours."
Hilia still wouldn’t agree: "My small team is short-staffed. Phil had some issues and can’t participate."
Melina said: "The materials for the competition are provided for free, and the finished products are yours. You can sell them to me."
"Deal."
Hilia agreed immediately.
Previously, when creating scrolls for the Law Enforcement Knight Order, they provided the materials, and we only needed to contribute labor. Of course, the finished products belonged to the Knight Order, not her, and the labor fees also had to be shared with others. So the income per scroll wasn’t much. Only by making more could she save over two thousand Gold Coins.
Now, with free supplies and ownership of the finished product, resulting in pure profit, Hilia didn’t mind earning some from him.
At the same time, she thought Boyleid and his team were being unreasonable. Even with only five members working leisurely, they could deliver, so why couldn’t a doubled team deliver?
Hilia wasn’t concerned about winning or losing because she would get the scrolls either way.
Thus, she quickly called Benovia, Doris, and Encore and headed to the scroll-making house with Melina and Boyleid.
Hilia asked: "Do we need to mix the materials ourselves?"
Boyleid said: "No need, there’s plenty of Scroll Ink, enough for you."
Encore looked at the Scroll Ink and couldn’t help but shake his head: "You’ve used too much dragon’s tongue herb without strict proportions, which could lower the success rate."
Boyleid was about to say something when Melina interrupted: "Encore is a material master and potion master recognized by the Holy Master. He is very sensitive to materials. You can consult him."
Boyleid immediately shut up.
Being able to draw scrolls doesn’t mean being able to mix Scroll Ink.
Most people present were confident only in scroll drawing and wouldn’t dare argue about material proportions.
Just like a master calligrapher wouldn’t have the ink-mixing skills of a professional ink maker.
Boyleid had already informed the Curse Masters in the room what was happening.
Now, everyone was raring to go.
Like Boyleid, they didn’t believe Hilia could make that many scrolls.
Melina stood in front of all the Curse Masters and repeated the competition rules.
"So, roughly speaking, after discussing with Boyleid and Hilia, we’ve determined that the scroll creation time is 2 hours. You’ll have ten minutes to prepare, and the competition will start ten minutes later."
Hilia led Benovia and the other three to sit in the vacant area on the other side.
Melina had someone prepare blank scrolls and Scroll Ink for them.
Hilia said: "Since Phil is not here and we don’t need to mix Scroll Ink, let’s divide the tasks. Benovia will handle the first part with Magic Number 3, Encore the second part with Magic Number 2, Doris the third part with Magic Number 1, the simplest part, and I’ll handle the final fusion. Does that sound good?"
Everyone nodded, with no objections.
Encore and Doris, having participated in mixing Scroll Ink before, knew how to draw all three parts except the crucial part of fusing them, which they didn’t understand but could easily draw the rest.
Hilia looked across at Boyleid’s team.
She was curious why Boyleid and his team were so slow.
After all, they were ten seasoned Curse Masters, and logically, working together, their speed shouldn’t be slower than her team of "apprentice workers," right?
The ten minutes flew by, and Benovia and the other three quickly picked up blank scrolls and began drawing.
Hilia casually picked up a scroll to quickly draw one herself before the others finished.
Being so familiar with this scroll, she could even draw blindfolded while observing Boyleid’s team’s progress.
That observation made her pause in surprise.
"What’s going on with them? Why are they all working on the first part? Could it be..."
Hilia immediately thought of a possibility.
Her expression turned odd.
No way, right? I’ve told you to work as a team, yet you’re still working individually?
How can a personal workshop be faster than an ’assembly line’?
Hilia’s drawing speed was quick. Just as Boyleid finished the second part, Hilia had already completed one scroll.
At that moment, Benovia and others exchanged scrolls, picking up those drawn by others to continue drawing their familiar parts, slightly slower than Boyleid.
When Boyleid finished the third part and started merging, Hilia completed her second scroll and began merging the parts drawn by Benovia and the others.
As Hilia was about to finish merging and draw the third scroll, a noise came from the other side.
She saw three Curse Masters’ scrolls had failed in fusion, and they were frustratingly picking up new blank scrolls.
Hilia’s hand slipped, and her scroll failed too.
She didn’t mind and picked up another to continue.
Time passed slowly.
Melina watched the piles of scrolls accumulating on Hilia’s side, compared to Boyleid’s, where everyone worked individually, creating piles of scrolls in varying shades, and smiled.
In truth, the outcome was decided within an hour.
But besides Hilia, who could still observe others, everyone else was engrossed in scroll-making, not paying attention to anything else.
After a long while.
Melina checked the time and reminded them: "Ten minutes left until the end. Please be mindful of the time."
Ten minutes was about enough to draw one scroll.
This reminder didn’t cause any accidental failures, as everyone present was so focused that outside disruptions wouldn’t affect them.
Soon, time was up.
Melina stood up.
"Time’s up."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, didn’t care about the half-finished scrolls in their hands, and directly tossed them aside.
Boyleid stood up, collected the scrolls from his team, counted them, and smiled.
"A total of 34 successes in 2 hours, Ms. Melina, how’s that?"
Melina nodded slightly, "Just enough for 12 hours of work per day."
Boyleid: "..."
"What about Hilia?" Melina looked at Hilia.
"60 scrolls." Hilia said casually.
"What?!"
All the Curse Masters couldn’t help but stand up.