A Hospital in Another World? C.220

"Mr. Garrett Nordmark is responsible for providing the design scheme for the microscope, usage recommendations, and improvement ideas."

"The Alchemy Guild enjoys exclusive rights to production and sales. It can authorize others for distribution."

"The Alchemy Guild pays Mr. Garrett Nordmark a compensation of..."

In the meeting room, the two parties sat across from each other, setting up a negotiation stance across the long table. The seasoned worker narrated methodically, while a 13th-level grand mage—also qualified to attend the review—sat to his right, clasping his hands together. A feather pen hovered over the notebook in front of him, automatically recording every word.

As it reached this point, the silvery feather pen suddenly paused, stopping at the last circle. The seasoned worker smiled and raised his head:

"Garrett, how much do you want?"

Garrett gave him a puzzled look. He wasn’t sure about the patent licensing fee. As a former clinical doctor, he was more familiar with end products than the front-end patents...

Of course, as a cutting-edge technology in this world, the patent premium for a microscope would undoubtedly be substantial. For example, when coronary stents first entered the market, they easily fetched over ten thousand gold coins each. But after the patent period expired and they were heavily imitated, the price could drop to as low as seven hundred gold coins each. Undoubtedly, a significant portion of this difference came from the patent premium.

But how much does a microscope cost? What are the costs? How many units can be sold annually? What percentage is high-end, middle-end, and low-end?

And, how did the Alchemy Guild handle similar cases in the past, and how did they split with the mages?

Garrett knew nothing about all of this. With no sources of information, what could he use to negotiate a price?

"How much are you planning to offer?" he threw the question back. The seasoned worker remained silent, and to his left, an 11th-level grand mage flipped through a page of documents, smiling kindly:

"I just asked. The price for purchasing this microscope by the gentleman who just won the award was 500 gold coins. Considering the cost of the lenses and labor, if the Alchemy Guild produces them in bulk, the cost can be reduced to around 300 gold coins. Splitting the profit in half, the Alchemy Guild will pay 100 gold coins for each microscope. How about that?"

Splitting the profit in half as a licensing fee sounded quite generous. Especially considering it was only the profit after deducting direct production costs, without considering marketing, transportation, management costs, and other miscellaneous items. It seemed the Alchemy Guild was intending to take care of everything directly.

And a hundred gold coins for each unit! In other words, as long as he sold sixty microscopes, the compensation from the Alchemy Guild would be enough for Garrett to buy that Everlasting Flame he desired!

Is it difficult to sell sixty units? Aurora Worton patted her pockets, thinking that buying one herself and persuading her teachers and senior brothers and sisters to buy one each would be a breeze. Not to mention those under the tutelage of her senior brothers and sisters, those mages already at level five...

Easily, she could sell twenty or thirty!

She smiled with joy, sneakily glancing at Garrett and nudging him with her elbow. But Garrett didn’t immediately agree. He pondered for a moment before earnestly asking:

"Besides this cylindrical microscope, what about other models? How about those with magnification up to 1000 or even 10,000 times? What about those with light sources below? What about those with three objectives under, rotated by a disc? Two eyepieces side by side, for simultaneous viewing? Sealed barrels with protective gases?"

"That..." Aurora Worton froze. The grand mage beside her also stiffened. He pondered for a moment, sighed, and began to express his difficulties earnestly:

"Mr. Nordmark, the models you mentioned... we do have plans to produce them. However, no one has ever done these things before. We need to gather the best craftsmen and alchemists with expertise in item production to conduct research together.

But research takes time and cost, and the specific pricing after production still needs to be studied..."

In other words, high-level microscopes wouldn’t sell so cheaply! By then, if the commission was still 100 gold coins per unit, it would be a loss!

Aurora Worton finally realized, clenched her fists, and quickly put on a serious face again. She tried not to reveal her emotions, but Garrett smiled sincerely, leaning slightly forward, and asked earnestly:

"And, for higher-level microscopes, will they also be traded for gold coins? Or will it be exchanged for contribution points?"

At this point, the seasoned worker also had to cough and shoot a reproachful glance to the left. Higher-level microscopes were more targeted at major mage towers and high-level mages. In such scenarios, the majority of transactions were done through contribution points, with very few exceptions.

The problem was, the exchange rate between contribution points and gold coins in the Magic Council was officially one-to-one, but on the black market, it could go up to one-to-four or even one-to-five...

Paying licensing fees in gold coins would be blatantly ripping people off.

The seasoned worker had initially planned to let his subordinates negotiate a lower price and then personally offer some benefits—such as a nice piece of magical equipment—to make the deal sweeter. But now, with his subordinate overly generous in offering a low price, the other party smiled genuinely, yet pointed out all the traps...

This wasn’t easy to negotiate anymore!

The seasoned worker had to step in himself. He first sent the guy on his left out, called for a tea refill, and some snacks. After a big round of fuss, seeing the atmosphere in the meeting room relax a bit, he tossed the ball back:

"So, Garrett, how much do you want?"

"I really don’t know about this." Garrett looked at him with sincerity: "Master, you see, I don’t understand the production cost, the selling price, the sales volume at all. If you’re not in a hurry..."

He paused, glanced at his followers:

"Aurora, could you please introduce us to your teacher for advice?"

"Of course, no problem! My teacher loves me the most!" Aurora Worton puffed up her chest, trying to appear reliable. The seasoned worker’s eyes shifted slightly, asking casually:

"Is he your friend?"

"No. I am his follower." Aurora Worton replied nonchalantly. After half a month of hanging out with Garrett, she no longer felt embarrassed saying such things. Well, as long as I have thick enough skin, awkwardness is for others!

The seasoned worker was surprised for a moment. Just about to say something, a young mage entered, quickly handing him a piece of paper. The paper was densely filled with Garrett’s resume, submitted achievements, and projects he had done for the Magic Council, from top to bottom, without a single line of space left. The seasoned worker quickly scanned through it, then looked at the two with eyes that changed repeatedly, finally sighing to Aurora Worton:

"Your teacher is really good to you."

With Garrett’s abilities and personality

, he managed to become his disciple when he was only a second-level mage. The audacity, decisiveness, and sincerity—Carlisle, the grand mage whom he was vaguely familiar with and hadn’t interacted much with, was indeed someone!

"Well, yeah..." Aurora Worton raised her head high, looking entirely justified.

"..." You didn’t understand what I was praising, did you...

The seasoned worker suddenly didn’t want to talk to this guy anymore. He turned to Garrett, stroked his beard, and smiled kindly:

"Garrett, there are generally several ways for the Alchemy Guild to handle the production of a mage’s invention. Listen to them and choose the one that suits you:

One is for the Alchemy Guild to pay a sum of money, buying it outright, of course, this mainly applies to simpler inventions without subsequent improvements; 𝓯𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝙗𝒏𝒐𝓿𝒆𝓵.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Another is to split the profit by a certain percentage, with the mage getting anywhere from thirty percent to half;

Then there’s splitting based on sales amount, of course, since it includes costs, the mage’s share won’t be that high, mostly around ten to fifteen percent.

Considering the significance of this microscope, I can offer the highest percentage split, and of course, magical equipment will also be provided, ensuring you won’t be at a disadvantage compared to the one who received the award..."

He elongated the last syllable, eagerly awaiting Garrett’s decision. Well, no matter how you choose, the Alchemy Guild will benefit.

Actually, splitting half the profit or fifteen percent of the sales isn’t the upper limit. For some products with particularly low costs and high profit margins, it could even be two-thirds of the profit or one-fourth of the sales. For example, some luxury items aimed at the mundane...

But Garrett was still a low-level mage. Even with a faint legendary shadow behind him, he was still a low-level mage. The upper limit of the usual ratio was already very generous...

"Twenty percent of the sales amount. And give me a free sample of each model." Garrett answered without hesitation. Who has time to worry about how much profit? Material procurement, labor costs, marketing, discounts, when everything is calculated, it’s enough to drive one mad!

Hmm, he just wanted a high-precision microscope... All this splitting was just extra, a bit more or less didn’t matter, as long as it didn’t drain his energy...

The seasoned worker was about to refute. Garrett had already raised a finger:

"For the production of microscopes, most of the processes can be handled by ordinary people. In other words, as long as we hire more jewelers, we can increase production. And, the higher-end models, the higher the profit— I can provide technical guidance, publish papers, and provide as many application scenarios as possible."

"Application scenarios..."

The seasoned worker chewed on this new term. He supported his chin with a hand full of calluses, his eyes flickering: "Like?"

"Like the Necromancy faction." Garrett smiled:

"Believe me, even if it’s just to see the truth of a plague, buying ten or twenty microscopes, they would pay with their eyes closed. For details, you can take a look at the paper on dysentery, and for similar plague sources, I can provide more than ten varieties."

He pulled out the stack of papers again and slid them across the table. The seasoned worker read through it with narrowed eyes, quickly scanning the resume beside it, then looked up, carefully examining Garrett:

"More than ten varieties of plague sources?"

"No problem."

"Can you publish papers?"

"No big deal. Um, experimental expenses, like buying dyes, purchasing experimental animals, you’ll need to cover that." Under the microscope, identifying ten types of pathogenic bacteria is child’s play!

The seasoned worker smiled happily. Lines of wrinkles unfolded on his face, and deep within those wrinkles, it seemed as if magical dust was gently falling:

"So, deal?"

"Deal!"

"Clap!"

Their palms met with a crisp sound. The seasoned worker got up, walked to the wall, took a large sheet of paper, and laid it out on the table:

"So, let’s see what kind of magical tools you want..."