Chapter 1049: Chapter 1049: Forcing You to Level Up

The mobile phone plane actually has several standards when it comes to piracy.

One is to forcibly crack your technology; that’s my badass moment–like stealing a cooking secret.

But some piracies will be actively hunted down by the original version until death, or even clan extermination–like the basic cultivation techniques of the Four Sects of Wutai.

The Simplified Version Gathering Spirit Array that Feng Jun cooperated with Wuyou Platform on was too easy to pirate, so the people from Wuyou Platform sealed it with talismans and marked it with Wuyou Platform’s logo.

The sealing talismans are useful, but for a true expert, they are not difficult to crack with some effort. However, even if cracked, the Wuyou Platform’s logo would make the counterfeiter weigh the consequences.

Therefore, after cracking the Simplified Version Gathering Spirit Array, one can only make a few for personal use. Selling it for profit would infringe on Wuyou Platform’s interests.

Luo Lieyang said that cracking lead-acid batteries isn’t hard, just time-consuming. What he needs to consider is whether it is worth the effort or not.

As soon as he voiced this thought, Feng Jun pushed back very strongly, making Luo Lieyang instinctively think of a possibility: Coveting others’ possessions could lead to being hunted down!

To be honest, he is very curious about what kind of confidence Mountain Master Feng has to make such a statement. As far as he knows, Mount Zhige has no powerful backing other than the favor from Master Busheng.

Of course, Mountain Master Zhige’s rise is extraordinarily bizarre, as if he appeared overnight, which proves that his background is indeed mysterious. However, the goods he trades, although rare, are mostly mundane items, unlike what a major power would do.

However, Luo Lieyang is not interested in judging the truthfulness of Mountain Master Feng’s words. Without going into details, just considering that they knowingly sold generator technology at risk without charging an extra five thousand Spirit Stones and sent someone to help, it shows they are considerate.

As a Thunder cultivator, Luo Lieyang should be grateful for the help, so how could he possibly steal the business?

He clarified, “I’m just saying we have the ability to crack it. Since that’s the case, why not sell us the technology? I can also guarantee that it will only be used internally within Thunder, absolutely no outside sales.”

Feng Jun scoffed, thinking to himself, without you Thunder cultivators, to whom would I sell my batteries?

At the current stage of the mobile phone plane, most people do not realize the necessity of batteries. Only those accustomed to using electricity and feeling the inconvenience of a blackout would consider the extensive use of batteries. Currently, only Thunder cultivators have a real need for batteries.

So he replied firmly, “Lead-acid batteries have low capacity and long charging times… Storage Bags also have their space limits, right? Lithium batteries are impossible for you to make, so stop dreaming about it. If you want to buy lithium batteries, I can indeed sell you some.”

Luo Lieyang immediately felt defiant, “What if I could make lithium batteries?”

He was challenging Feng Jun, hoping he would utter something like “If you can make it, just do it.”

Feng Jun looked at him with a half-smile, “Stop joking, you’re just going to disassemble my battery and then reverse-engineer it… I must declare in advance, if you completely copy my battery, beware I might turn my face on you!”

While Luo Lieyang is a Thunder cultivator, he doesn’t have a fiery temper, and sensitively caught the focus of the other party’s words, “What do you mean by not completely copying, Mountain Master Feng?”

Feng Jun looked at him with interest, “Do you know… I shared ten thousand of the twenty thousand Spirit Stones tech transfer fee with Wang Botai?”

Actually, he does not oppose Luo Lieyang’s reverse engineering of lithium batteries.

Firstly, lithium batteries have very high requirements for technology and need a mature industrial system as support–it’s not that easy to replicate. In contrast, any rural enterprise can make lead-acid batteries.

Although he is more educated in liberal arts and doesn’t know much about engineering, he is not optimistic that Luo Lieyang can achieve this.

Secondly, it’s fine even if they do succeed, but he has requirements: your battery’s unit capacity must be significantly higher than my lithium battery’s, and you can’t use similar material for the electrodes.

Basically, he is forcing Thunder to engage in secondary development–strictly speaking, battery upgrade development.

The industry of this plane is really not up to par, but the methods of cultivators should not be underestimated; who knows if they can find some kind of substitute? And if they do, he can learn and then benefit his hometown back on the Earth Realm, right?

Of course, there is also a possibility that Thunder manages to come up with an upgraded product, but that would be the method of cultivators and not applicable to Earth. Even so, Feng Jun would accept that–if they genuinely create it, it wouldn’t be considered a copy anymore.

Anyway, since Thunder is very confident in their artifact refining, Feng Jun isn’t afraid to let them mull it over more carefully.

So he brought up the example of Wang Botai–if you’re really that awesome, I’ll agree to you copying it and allow you to use it internally. And if I happen to take on some outside work using your technology, I could even share the profits with you.”

Luo Lieyang, being a straightforward person, patted his chest after hearing this, “No problem, I’ve taken a fancy to this lithium battery… As long as the materials I use are not exactly the same and can increase the unit capacity, we can manufacture it ourselves?”

“One point to emphasize is that it must be a significant increase,” Feng Jun stated seriously, “You can’t say an increase of ten or eight times is improvement.”

Luo Lieyang’s eyebrows furrowed, “Ten or eight times… that’s quite a lot, isn’t it?”

Feng Junbai gave him a look, “You’re quite smooth with your double standards… When you first met me, you wanted me to increase the power generation by how much? At least a thousand times, right?”

“Well, that’s… different,” Luo Lieyang knew inside that generators were daily necessities, while batteries were for urgent and temporary use; these two were completely different, but he was still unable to express this difference clearly.

So after hesitating, he spoke up, “If you want an increase of a thousand times, we have Yunlei Stones.”

Feng Jun sneered in response, “Can Yunlei Stones be artificially refined?”

Luo Lieyang was speechless; indeed, it was different. In the end, he nodded, “Alright then, it’s decided, but I want to buy some lithium batteries now.”

“I don’t have a single one left,” Feng Jun replied without hesitation; in fact, he just wanted to hold off for another thirty-something days to completely synchronize the seasons before heading back to the Earth Realm to make arrangements.

Moreover, this time he didn’t plan to sell in small quantities, “For a battery pack with a hundred degrees, I’ll prepare a thousand for you. How does that sound… Is it enough?”

“A hundred thousand units, preferably two hundred degrees per battery pack,” Luo Lieyang was good at calculations; he had inquired about the selling price of lithium batteries, “It seems like such a battery pack is worth only one Spirit Stone each?”

With such a deal, he wouldn’t pass it up– even if he couldn’t crack the other party’s batteries, taking so many battery packs back would suffice for a while– the key point was that they were too cheap.

“What are you thinking?” Feng Jun shook his head, “A hundred thousand units, that’s impossible. I practically give them away when it’s one or two units, but if you want to make a large purchase, it’s going to be expensive… very expensive.”

This was him taking advantage of the fact that the other party didn’t understand industrial society. Generally speaking, industrial society follows the principle of “economies of scale” in pricing, but the pricing rules in the Mobile Phone Plane are different– not just different, but in fact, the opposite.

Sought-after Natural Treasures have a set quantity; if a family has a large demand for a certain item, it will inevitably lead to a price increase– Feng Jun once defended Qiuchen Market from a beast invasion, and what happened? The market price of beast materials plummeted.

Luo Lieyang was shrewd, but he really couldn’t see this point. This was a limitation of his perspective, unrelated to intelligence.

He accepted this rationale, “So… how expensive is it? I’m asking about the two hundred degrees battery pack.”

He had studied generators for a while and was quite clear about the relationships between voltage, current, and degrees– after all, he was a Thunder Cultivator.

Feng Jun stroked his chin, pondering with a frown, “It would have to be… at least five or six Spirit Stones per pack.”

This price… wasn’t really high, considering the profit alone, the Boiler Camel Motorcycle earned more in the Cultivation World.

This was because he hadn’t received much Gold when he sold batteries before.

In truth, there was a problem with the exchange rate between Gold and Spirit Stones; on the black market, four to five hundred taels of Gold could be exchanged for a Spirit Stone, but in the Earth Realm, forty to fifty kilograms of Gold were worth around ten million, while Feng Jun’s valuation was one Spirit Stone valued at one hundred million.

There exists an interest rate discrepancy; Feng Jun had more than three hundred tons of Gold in his possession– soon to be four hundred tons. If he wanted to exchange on the black market, he could probably get around ten thousand Spirit Stones.

However, the black market was risky, and usually, people exchanged only one or two stones; ten or eight was already a big deal, let alone a transaction of ten thousand Spirit Stones. Feng Jun had no idea who to approach for such a trade.

Of course, he could commission the Tiantong Commerce Alliance to handle it, but the favor he’d owe wouldn’t be small, and in all honesty, he felt that holding onto several hundred tons of Gold reserves was also a good thing.

This reserve… might come in handy in the Earth Plane, as Huaxia didn’t have much Gold reserve, and in case of any warfare, Gold was indeed a solid currency; it wouldn’t be bad to set aside some for his country or his own family use.

Most importantly, he currently did not lack Spirit Stones in the Mobile Phone Plane, not to mention the Spirit Stones he held in his hand, just beneath Mount Zhige alone, buried quite a few “Spirit Stones in Condensation Process”; there was no need for him to rush for a trade.

Previously, the profit he made from selling batteries was indeed lower than that from the Boiler Camel Motorcycle. He hadn’t planned to rush into this business, but it led to Luo Lieyang’s misunderstanding that batteries were cheaper than the Boiler Camel Motorcycle.

In truth, in the Earth Plane, a battery pack with two hundred degrees of storage should cost at least nearly two hundred thousand. How much is a Boiler Camel Motorcycle? Less than twenty thousand.

Therefore, Feng Jun emphasized, “Don’t think it’s expensive, I’m not necessarily keen on selling lithium batteries.”

However, Luo Lieyang merely furrowed his brows slightly before clearly stating, “Since you’ve said so, then let’s go with five Spirit Stones each, I’ll buy ten thousand units!”

“No,” Feng Jun bluntly refused, “At most two thousand units, and I can’t deliver right away.”

Two hundred thousand per unit, two thousand units amount to how much money? Four billion!

Even though for Feng Jun, earning four Spirit Stones would cover the cost, such a large order would be impossible to go unnoticed in the Earth Plane!

(Updated up to this point, calling for monthly votes.)