A partnership between Aozaki Touko and Lynch was reached.
Lynch handed over the data for Aozaki Touko to research and create the puppet clone from it, while Aozaki Touko gained the rights to use and research this data, promising that the relevant technology would not be shared with others.
In fact, Aozaki Touko had her own direction for puppet doll technology research, which was different from the path of the technology Lynch provided.
However, the technology Lynch provided had high research value and could provide Aozaki Touko with a huge Helping Hand, allowing her to complete her technical research and accumulation years ahead of schedule, thereby becoming that immortal Grand Magus of Puppetry in the future earlier than planned.
For Aozaki Touko, this was very important, perhaps even a great favor.
Although Aozaki Touko was strong-willed and had her own path, she was the classic embodiment of the sentiment: “My life has been like walking on thin ice; will I be able to reach the other side?”
Surrounded by crises, Aozaki Touko actually did not have absolute confidence in her own future.
After all, in the World of the Magus, geniuses were as numerous as hair on an ox, and there were many who were not inferior to her, yet most of them fell along the way, unable to reach the peak.
Given that she was wanted by the Mages Association under a Sealing Designation, if Aozaki Touko truly had confidence and no fear of the Mages Association, she would not be holed up in Miyako City but would be wandering all over the World.
In fact, after becoming a Grand Magus of Puppetry in the future and no longer fearing the Mages Association at all, Aozaki Touko did indeed wander all over the World.
She even dared to openly visit the Clock Tower, the headquarters of the Mages Association, and the Mages Association could do nothing about her.
It could be said that this woman was inherently restless.
The only reason she was willing to hole up was that she was afraid of things going wrong if she ran around.
She was a woman like the wind; if she had had a choice, would she have been content to be trapped in one place?
Therefore, the technical data Lynch provided was akin to delivering charcoal in snowy weather for Aozaki Touko.
He even provided extra money and food, giving her the confidence to easily survive the winter.
If it were a Magus with low moral standards, they would absolutely be thinking about killing to seize the treasure right now, or simply turning gratitude into hatred, finding a way to kill Lynch directly to solve the problem of being unable to repay the favor.
While Aozaki Touko could not be said to have high moral standards, this proud woman would not harbor malicious thoughts just because she owed someone a massive favor; instead, she would try every possible way to repay it.
As for whether it might be impossible to repay…
Hmph, who does she, Aozaki Touko, think she is?
If it really came to that, she would just become a deadbeat and let things fall apart.
It is not as if she has few debts already.
Well, Aozaki Touko is also a famous deadbeat in Nasu’s writing, borrowing money and incurring debts everywhere.
She even frequently borrows money in the name of her younger sister, Aozaki Aoko, with a focus on debt freedom.
The only reason she hasn’t been caught by debt collectors and forced into slave labor is that her raw strength is sufficient.
Of course, Aozaki Touko doesn’t truly refuse to repay her debts; it’s just that because her puppet doll technology burns money like water, the speed at which she incurs debt is always higher than the speed at which she repays it, which is why she became a famous deadbeat.
In fact, even though her reputation is ruined, Aozaki Touko can still borrow money because the puppet doll technology she eventually perfects is truly amazing.
Each one is priceless and rare, and whether she is willing to make them for others depends entirely on her mood.
Although her fees are very expensive, in reality, compared to the cost of producing the puppet dolls, she only makes a small profit, making her a truly conscientious merchant.
If Aozaki Touko had been even a little more unscrupulous in this regard, she wouldn’t be the one owing money; instead, many people would be owing her.
It can only be said that, in some respects, Aozaki Touko is still an idealistic artist.
For example, right now, Aozaki Touko wants to make two puppet clones for Lynch for free to repay some of the interest.
Yes, in Aozaki Touko’s view, compared to the technical data provided by Lynch, paying out of her own pocket to make two puppet dolls for Lynch for free is just paying off a bit of the interest on the value of the knowledge.
If this were any other Magus, let alone making two puppet dolls for free, they might even demand that Lynch hand over the relevant technology for the puppet dolls directly as payment, even if they only made one.
Don’t think this is unscrupulous; this could even be considered having a ‘conscience.’ Those with even darker hearts would either kill to seize the treasure on the spot or demand that Lynch owe them money in return.
It’s all about there being no darkest, only darker.
Therefore, someone like Aozaki Touko is truly a rare breed.
Naturally, Lynch would not let Aozaki Touko suffer a loss.
Moreover, without helping her, her speed in making the puppet dolls would be very slow, as many of the relevant materials need to be purchased, and their prices are not low.
As for why the technology provided by the system can have its relevant materials purchased in the current World…
Uh, did you forget?
The prize pool of that lottery slot machine is anchored to the current World, and the relevant technology is also produced based on the conditions of the current World, so naturally, it can be manufactured directly using things available in the current World.
Similarly, for a top-tier genius like Aozaki Touko, who is a future Grand Magus of Puppetry with sufficient accumulation in related research, she only needs to read the data Lynch provided once to understand it; the rest is just practical execution.
In order to let Aozaki Touko supply the goods as quickly as possible, Lynch took out one million yen from the money he had robbed from the Yakuza, and also took out four of the six gold bars.
These gold bars were just small bars, each weighing only 250 grams, and the workmanship was relatively rough, with no stamps or markings, obviously melted down by that Yakuza group themselves.
It is currently ’93, and the island nation is in the painful period of the economic collapse following the Plaza Accord.
It hasn’t reached the future era of the great economic bubble yet, so the money Lynch gave was actually not a small amount.
At the very least, after Aozaki Touko received it, she indicated that she didn’t need to worry about the initial expenses for making the puppet clone.
Yes, it was only the initial expenses, the level where she could start working after purchasing the materials for the initial phase; later on, continuous investment would be needed to complete the production of the puppet doll.
According to Aozaki Touko’s estimation, to make these puppet dolls, not counting her labor fees and other miscellaneous costs, the cost of the various materials alone would exceed ten million for each one—and that’s in U.S.
dollars.
After calculating this cost, Aozaki Touko complained that these things were really expensive.
She also noted that although the technical content of the puppet doll was high, its practicality was very low; it could only carry some of the user’s power and be controlled remotely, but its inherent utility value was not high.
Lynch making it like this was actually quite a loss.
She even offered a suggestion: that is, to wait until she optimized her own technology and incorporated it into the process to create more practical puppet dolls.
To this, Lynch naturally declined politely.
Just kidding; these puppet dolls indeed had low value when used in the traditional way, but was Lynch planning to use them in the traditional way?
The greatest value of these puppet clones was to carry character cards, and specifically, to perfectly carry character cards so that Lynch could meet his need to have the character card transformation appear at the same time as himself.
He only needed this one function.
Therefore, although Aozaki Touko meant well, Lynch still refused.
Regarding this, Aozaki Touko did not say much more.
In any case, Lynch was the client, and since the client requested it to be done this way, she, as the contractor, would just do as she was told.
As for the money needed later, Aozaki Touko indicated she would find a way herself and began to think about how to use her younger sister’s name to borrow a large sum of money.
Aozaki Touko felt absolutely no psychological pressure about scamming her own younger sister.
However, in the end, Aozaki Touko did not put it into action.
It wasn’t that she suddenly had a change of heart and decided to be a loving and respectful sister; it was because Lynch indicated he could get the money, telling Aozaki Touko that she only needed to focus on making the puppet dolls and sell the precious metals and similar items provided by Lynch through her own channels.