Chapter 267: Money Is the Way to Go!

Grete dragged Aurora straight to the Tower of Babel.

Fortunately, he caught the last train, and fortunately, Archmage Carlisle stayed in the mage tower day and night. When Gretel arrived, his office was like a specialist clinic. A disciple was asking questions inside, and a group of disciples and disciples were lining up outside the door...

Aurora poked her head at the door frame and looked around. Archmage Carlisle saw him at a glance, beckoned him in, asked a few questions, took out a seal, and greeted the disciple in front of him who asked questions:

"Rodrick, take them there. - Don't be in a hurry to buy calculation time. Chat with Talling first and see if Talling can fulfill their requirements."

"Okay! Don't worry, teacher, I will take good care of them!"

Roderick took the order and left. Some time ago, they followed Gretel Company to do several big projects, including electrolytic smelting, compressed and separated air, and everyone made a small fortune. Gretel was generous and gave them half of the research points and contribution points for the entire project.

——Contribution points are secondary, the most important thing is research points! That thing is so hard to earn. Following Grete, you can earn one or two hundred points, or two or three hundred points. It’s just a matter of chance!

More importantly, in the follow-up research, Grete did not restrict them at all, nor did he ask for a share. After the project was completed, several fellow students conducted in-depth research and published two large articles...

With such a connection, Roderick became very close to Grete and the others. As he walked and explained, Grete realized that before applying for calculation, he could communicate with the tower spirit outside the computing center to ensure that the tower spirit could understand and fulfill the magician's requirements.

"You have to start paying when you step into the calculation room. 1,500 contribution points per hour is very expensive. It can last for a day and a half in an intermediate meditation room. No matter if there are large-scale magics to be calculated or high-level magic weapons to be designed, no one will pay. Can't afford this money!

——Last time, there was an unlucky guy who came from another province. He didn’t know this trick and just paid for it. I burned 1,500 contribution points in vain, and Ta Ling said it couldn’t be counted at all, and I cried so miserably..."

Is it a reasonable price to rent? It must be expensive. Grete understood. Moreover, when renting a supercomputer, you must write a program in advance. Who would write a program temporarily when the calculation time has started?

"——Oh, by the way, if you really want to save money, you can come in the middle of the night. Magicians have to meditate in the middle of the night, and from 00:00 to 6:00 in the morning, the calculation fee is 20% off!"

Hey, super computing, ah no, what about Talling’s computing power, and its peak and trough prices? Who runs this computing center? The power company?

I really have so much to say...

After chatting and explaining all the way, we soon arrived at the computing hall on the 15th floor of the Thunder Tower. The person working the night shift in the computing center is an old man with a snow-white beard. Judging from his badge, he is only a level 5 magician. It is obvious that the council arranged for him to retire here. Roderick did not bother him, and took Gretel to the corner of the computing hall, took out the seal of Archmage Carlisle, and flashed it into the air.

"Hello, dear Mr. Mage. Taling Gregory is at your service." A vibrant young voice said cheerfully. If it weren't for the sizzling sound of electricity in his voice, Grete would have almost thought it was a living person. He coughed lightly and took the seal from Roderick's hand:

"Mr. Gregory, let's apply for the use of computing power. - I would like to ask, can you scan, enter and make statistics on the existing documents?"

He unfolded both documents. One is a copy of the death record, and the other is a form made during the day. The blue light shone brightly, shot down from the air, and scanned the two documents respectively. Gretel pointed at the form and said:

"That's it, fill in each death record separately in the form, and count it as 1 in the corresponding column. Finally, add up the numbers in the corresponding column -"

His fingertips slid down the vertical columns:

"You can get the total number in each category. For example, last year, the number of deaths between 0 and 6 years old, the number of female deaths, and the number of epidemic deaths - can it be done?"

There was a moment of silence in the computing hall. The blue light flickered, as if the Talling was squatting there and blinking, thinking about what Gretel meant. After thinking for five or six seconds, he said loudly:

"How to classify income?"

"According to occupation. I will give you the form later."

“What about residence classification?”

"Mr. Gregory, can you call the map of Nevis and surrounding areas to determine the location of your residence? Let's go back and delineate the area on the map..."

"Then, it can be done."

yeah! Gretel waved his fist slightly and smiled happily. No more messing around with those apprentices, no longer having to endure manual entry and ridiculously high error rates!

Data entry, storage, and calculations can all be handled by TaLing!

Mage Roderick coughed beside him. Gretel came back to his senses and looked at him, only to see Master Roderick gesturing and mouthing:

money!

money!

"So, how long does it take to complete data entry and analysis?"

Gretel came back to his senses and asked. The blue light shot down, swept across the paper line by line, and disappeared instantly. The clear voice of the tower spirit sounded:

"How many pages are there in this information?"

"A total of 20 years of information, one for each year, each between 700 and 800 pages." Grete recalled. Tarling quickly gave feedback:

"It takes 12 seconds to scan and enter each page, 2.3 to 2.6 hours per page, 20 years, a total of..."

"Stop!" Grete sweated profusely. In 2020, it was 46 to 52 hours, with 1,500 contribution points per hour. He was so bankrupt that he could no longer go bankrupt! "Is it possible to scan and enter 20 books at the same time?"

"..." Another moment of quiet calculation. Ta Ling spoke again:

"It can be done. We also need to call 20 invisible servants to control page turning, the rental fee of invisible servants, and 10 contribution points per person per hour..."

"Can I find someone to turn the pages?"

"Can."

Gretel breathed a sigh of relief. It takes 12 seconds to scan and enter each page, including the page turning time, which is between 13 and 14 seconds. It takes 3 and a half hours to flip through the thickest book of records, and with subsequent data processing, it takes at least 4 hours...

Even if he works in the middle of the night, he must prepare at least 4,800 contribution points...

However, 5 days of data were entered at once, plus the subsequent days of data sorting, and the time was compressed to 4 hours. By the way, the accuracy rate has been greatly improved... Sure enough, when it comes to doing research, is krypton gold the right way to go?

"Ta Ling, how many contribution points do I have in my account now?"

Grete asked aloud. The blue light scanned the badge on his chest and immediately gave the answer:

"2998 points."

It was a lot more than last month, probably because the profits from selling the microscopes were recorded, but it was still not enough. Aurora saw Gretel frowning in deep thought and touched him carefully:

"Hey, I still have 1,500 contribution points here, which are yours too. You can use them. If it's not enough, can we find a way to borrow some?"

"What can I borrow?" Gretel took a deep breath. When doing research, you should spend research funds, never out of your own pocket!

The next day, he asked Aurora to take charge of the entry work, and he asked to see the review committee member of the Department of Protection. With the record book in the left hand and the table in the right hand, after stating my research ideas, I confidently made the request:

Grant the right to use computing power!

Or, additional project funding!

"Authorized to use the computing room?" The white-robed mage shook his head repeatedly:

"The Parliament does not have this rule. Gretel, you have to know that almost all high-level mages are responsible for the research tasks of the Parliament. If you hold the Parliament's projects, you can use the calculation room at will. The result will definitely be that everyone will huddle together, and in the end We can only rely on robbing.”

“What about additional project funding?”

Grete asked. The white-robed mage continued to shake his head:

"Generally speaking, it's possible, but Grete, I don't know yet whether your project will be successful or not. It's basically impossible to convince the reviewers that you'll overdraw such a large sum of money."

"That--"

Gretel was a little anxious. To be honest, no one who has tasted the taste of krypton gold wants to go back to the era of hard work and life-threatening. Besides, if you process data manually, accuracy and time efficiency are both issues——

The white-robed mage smiled:

"But it's not impossible. You can advance the payment yourself first. If the public health institution is successfully established, I will be sure to convince the review committee to include the calculation cost in the research funding, and then we will reimburse it together."

"...No money!"

"You can get a loan!"

The white-robed mage smiled confidently:

"The Magician Management Department has a special loan institution. A loan of 5,000 contribution points - well, you can borrow more - is designated for this research project. If the project is successful, the council will pay for it. If the project is unsuccessful, you will repay it at your own expense. The evaluation committee will issue a certificate, and if you take it to the management department, they will definitely lend it to you."

"...Isn't the Council worried that I can't afford the repayment?"

Gretel couldn't help but complain.

I'm really not worried. The Dragon's Breath Hand alone is not open for redemption right now. Once it is open, it will only take half a year to reach 5,000 contribution points. The white-robed mage shrugged and did not want to explain to Gretel in detail. He just smiled and said:

"Can you use your mage tower as a mortgage? Well, it doesn't matter if the repayment period is longer. Let it be three years. The interest-free period is half a year. The repayment will start after one year. The annual interest rate is 5% - this condition. Isn’t that considered bullying you?”

Use the Mage Tower that has not yet been built and only exists on the drawing board as collateral - it is very good and powerful. Except for the members of the review committee, probably no one can approve this kind of policy loan. Gretel lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his palm:

"make a deal!"

"make a deal!"

With a snap, the palms of the two mages struck together in the air.

It is impossible not to pay back the loan! I will definitely win this project, even for the workers who died of poverty and illness, I will definitely win it! In order for the data to be accurate, to be convincing, and to be able to help them as soon as possible——

Let’s spend money first!

At midnight that night, 20 Necromancer apprentices lined up in a square formation, each holding a record book, and stood in the calculation room of Thunder Tower.

"Everyone, please pay attention. The blue light flashes twice to indicate that the scan is complete. Just turn the page and wait for the blue light to flash again... One, two, three! Start!"

***

Today there are another 6,000 words...three thousand at noon and three thousand at night...but after finishing today, it will be paid off with rewards and updates!

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