Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Dao Tian boarded the ship under construction and took its railcar to a construction site, where he met the Deep Dive Master, a seasoned Level 2 mechanic, who was overseeing the construction. The fact that he had gained the military's attention indicated that his talent was worthy of promotion to Level 3. Although this city appeared to be a capital-driven cyberpunk metropolis, its core was a highly centralized system of governance. Only by establishing connections with the government could one possibly escape their original social class.

This is also why the threshold for civilian level 2 mechanics to advance to level 3 is incredibly high. The city actually monopolizes a significant portion of important materials. These core assets can only be imported, not produced domestically. This allows them to easily control these resources through various channels, ensuring that almost no one in the civilian population can advance to level 3 mechanics through conventional means.

Although Dao Tian didn't fully understand the intricacies of the situation, having lived for so long, he could roughly guess the extent of the ruler's petty thoughts.

Meanwhile, the Deep-Sea Master awaiting him was overseeing the hoisting of a set of steam turbines—giant ships embodying a considerable amount of advanced technology. However, many of the power components were actually quite primitive; their massive size sometimes made steam power more reliable and durable, especially at the Five Realms Boundary.

"I'm thrilled to have a new mechanic joining our team. Trust me, you'll learn so much here that you'd never have the opportunity to learn anywhere else. But before that, you might need to discard some of your old ideas and clear your mind to embrace some entirely new technological concepts."

Because our ship is designed and built to sail to the East China Sea, many conventional technologies, and many technologies that rely on lethal attacks, cannot be applied to this ship. Therefore, you need to understand more of what the people of the Mountain and River Republic call classical physics, learn more basic mathematics, and industrial knowledge in the field of natural sciences in order to integrate smoothly. And these things will undoubtedly completely change our understanding of mechanics.

Besides that, you might also need to adapt to working in a team at our level. Individual strength is always limited; you need to learn to delegate tasks to other mechanics, and even find ways to teach them. How do you reasonably distribute the tasks you assign to their regular technicians?

Industry is a system; one or two people can't do it alone. However, the more familiar we are with this system, the more subtly we can integrate our abilities into it, and the greater our importance will become.

Dao Tian hadn't expected the mechanic who greeted him to be so enthusiastic. The mechanic pulled him aside and began sharing his insights, leaving Dao Tian somewhat puzzled.

"Does everyone here act like you, so... blunt? Or are these things just common sense?"

"Of course, not everyone is like me. Many people don't want newcomers to advance quickly, since the number of spots is limited. But I'm not in a hurry. Due to some coincidences, I accidentally used a 50-year-old longevity worm when I was young. The worm has now completely merged with me, allowing me to live for another 100 years or so. So I'm not in a rush to advance; instead, I want to solidify my foundation at each stage."

"By the way, I'll use my experience to train a few more Level 3 Mechanics to see how you guys advance. Having a benchmark will help me potentially advance to Level 4 Mechanics, or even higher."

The Deep Dive Master frankly revealed his plan. For a mortal, accidentally consuming a Longevity Gu in one's youth is indeed considered extremely lucky. After a period of use, even an immortal cannot remove the Longevity Gu, and the extra lifespan is essentially irretrievable. However, for a mortal, a few decades of extra lifespan may not necessarily allow them to accomplish much; more likely, they will simply waste their remaining years.

"Your mindset is very stable. I wish you can gain enough experience and get promoted smoothly. I don't know if I can mentor you; I'll see first. Now, let's talk about the work environment and the tasks we'll be facing next."

"Of course, no problem. Follow me. This ship itself is a massive factory. In order to successfully cross the Five Domains boundary, we have built ocean-going giant ships, each of which is almost equivalent to a floating city. The system it represents is extremely large and complex. Even though it has been classified into multiple regions, we still need to deal with a massive number of problems."

My task for the past few days has been the installation and commissioning of this steam turbine. Manufacturing and production have already consumed several months of my time, and now we're in the process of adjusting the parameters. If you had been involved in the research and development from the beginning, and recorded the experience throughout the process, you would undoubtedly be much more adept at handling similar independent projects in the future.

Our work going forward will be similar. Each task will yield valuable experience. However, your ability to handle it depends on you. I'll assign some of my work to you. Hmm… judging from your information, you seem to be quite skilled at manufacturing mechs or humanoid powered armor. Our section needs a single-person diving device, so I'll assign you five Level 1 mechanics. I'll also assign their workers. Your task is to lead them in setting up a production line to mass-produce humanoid diving devices on this ship. Incidentally, your material list is limited. To alleviate later pressure, the ship's materials are standardized and modular, requiring us to design and manufacture what we need using these limited resources.”

Dao Tian nodded, suddenly feeling a sense of returning to the Republic of Mountains and Rivers. It seemed he had been carrying out similar tasks when he worked a few years ago. After reaching a slightly higher position, his focus shifted from conducting his own research to assigning research tasks and forming his own research team. He never expected to be doing something similar here.

He found them quickly. The group of level 1 mechanics assigned to him. Upon seeing them, he frowned. There were five of them, all quite old, looking to be in their thirties or forties. Logically speaking, people that age, if they were willing to work hard, should be more than just level 1 mechanics.

Their skill level should be at least above average. However, the way they operated the machinery made them seem like they were just going through the motions. Dao Tian didn't disturb their work; he simply observed them from the shadows. With his reconnaissance abilities, he didn't need to wander around to figure out what these mechanics were doing.

Dao Tian pondered for a moment and quickly found the work logs of these individuals in the factory's logbook. He also checked their income. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "This seems to be a common problem in government-run factories. There's insufficient management. These workers themselves lack sufficient motivation, and they're all receiving fixed wages. There's little hope for future promotions. Even if their skills improve to the level of a Level 2 Mechanic, sending them to compete and hoping to advance to a true Level 2 Mechanic is a distant dream. No wonder these guys are just coasting along."

Thinking of this, he immediately made a phone call to his partner, the Deep Dive Master, asking, "Brother, do we have any openings for promotion to Level 2 Mechanic? I don't think the Level 1 Mechanics under me are very enthusiastic. Or are there any government-approved subsidies or bonuses?"

Deep Dive shook his head helplessly: "The quota for promotion to Level 2 Mechanic... although the government can grant special approvals, it's not something someone at our level can just apply for casually. After all, we're only Level 2 Mechanics. While there are many people who have actually reached Level 2, the quota is strictly limited, and there's no way to change it. However, you can apply for some government subsidies. You already have a certain amount of subsidy money. It could have been given to you directly as a bonus. Most Level 2 Mechanics who come here end up using the subsidies they receive themselves. You probably understand what I mean. Anyway, I can allocate this money to you. How you handle it is up to you."

Dao Tian's lips twitched; he roughly knew what kind of shady dealings were involved. The relevant subsidies had always been there. However, after layers of extortion and bribery, almost nothing reached the grassroots staff. No wonder these guys on fixed salaries lacked motivation.

The money arrived in his account shortly afterward, but the oversight of it was rather lax. If he wanted to keep it for himself, there would be no problem at all. However, this time he did gather his level 1 mechanics and the rest of the workers. In front of them, he withdrew all the allowance money.

"This is the government subsidy everyone can receive this month. However, how much you actually receive depends on your own abilities. I will now assign tasks to each of you. The subsidy will also be distributed in the form of bonuses based on your task completion."

If the tasks are completed well by the end of this month, I can try to apply to the government for education subsidies and housing subsidies for your children, but these things are beyond my control. Everyone needs to achieve something first.”

Dao Tian wasn't worried about his team's performance. He had advanced technical ideas, and the tasks he assigned were reasonable enough. As long as they utilized their initiative, the five mechanics and one hundred workers could definitely make good progress by the end of the month. Getting a batch of rewards shouldn't be a problem.

Moreover, upon seeing the large ship, he slightly altered his original plan. Since the ship was heading to the East Sea, he no longer needed to secretly contact the smugglers. As long as he could obtain the identity of a ship's mechanic, going to the East Sea with this ship would be far too safe. After all, this city was quite prestigious, its strength almost comparable to a sixth-level immortal. It was unlikely anyone would dare intercept their giant ship. This was equivalent to infiltrating a major sect, and a rather important one at that. Unlike sects that separated immortals and mortals, where there was almost no connection between immortals and mortals, the relationship between the city's lower and upper levels was extremely close. If all the lower-level mechanics and workers went on strike, the entire city would be paralyzed in a short time. Because they were needed, their status was far more important to an immortal family than that of an ordinary Gu Master. Therefore, he needed to cultivate this identity more carefully.

When the five mechanics and numerous workers heard that subsidies were available, their eyes lit up. Daotian's terms were quite lenient; these subsidies could not only serve as personal rewards, but also be applied for in advance if funds were truly needed for the experiments. These subsidies would be used as project funding, in fact, their proper use should have been as engineering funds.

Designing a set of powered armor for diving was not difficult for them. After their tasks were reasonably assigned, each person was capable of completing their task, and if they were serious, they could even do it very well.

Dao Tian's current body has limited individual abilities, but he knows all too well how to leverage the power of others to complete his mission. With the collective wisdom and efforts of hundreds of people, some ideas that previously required experimentation to verify were quickly put into practice, achieving initial results.

This already demonstrates the relatively mature operation of a small industrial complex. In fact, it didn't have to wait until the end of the month. The prototype of the new machine and the production process were already largely completed. Its performance was almost at the level of a Level 2 mechanic who could manufacture it himself. However, in reality, only a small number of parts required the Level 2 mechanic to process by hand; the vast majority of the processes had been optimized and could be completed directly by ordinary workers on the assembly line.

A work of this caliber would absolutely be considered a masterpiece on this ship. When Dao Tian reported to his superiors, he deliberately inflated the production price of this item. He gritted his teeth and doubled the cost price, which would give him half again as much funding as he could allocate to his subordinates, giving him much more room to maneuver.

His report caused an immediate stir. Dao Tian initially thought his price was too high, leading to trouble from his superiors. However, after understanding the situation, he realized that his doubled price was actually too reasonable. It made his superiors suspect that the equipment he designed and manufactured had serious quality problems and that there was shoddy workmanship.

Dao Tian: "..."

[To be continued]

Please add this to your favorites and vote for it! (End of Chapter)