Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 150 Battle Breaks Out (Two in One)

This design immediately caught Roger's interest.

This is exactly what he expected!
As expected, Mr. Leppard said excitedly:

"Inspired by my last conversation with you, I changed my mindset. Instead of blindly searching for existing phonograph designs, I found a lot of information on component design and metal smelting processes in Emperor Roselle's manuscripts, including designs for clockwork.

"Then I was surprised to find that there were a lot of things in there that could be used in the new phonograph.

Then he pointed at the small phonograph with both hands with a serious expression:
"Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce this new wind-up phonograph!

"This is a design based on the original phonograph, with a miniaturized design and simplified internal components. Compared to Madison Industries' ridiculously complicated product, its overall weight is reduced by 70 percent, while the sound quality and reliability of the music playback are still on par, and it can be adapted to all common wax discs and records!
"Not only that, it also uses an unprecedented spring design, which guarantees nearly 5 minutes of playback time with just one full wind!"

Roger and Klein both opened their mouths wide, and it took them a long time to react.

It was not because of anything else, but because the appearance of Mr. Leppard's phonograph was 90% similar to the information pictures of the small phonographs they had seen in their previous lives!

Mr. Leppard's words can be summarized as follows: This phonograph has three major advantages:
Clockwork structure, lighter weight, no difference in function!
In this era when electricity was extremely scarce, the clockwork phonograph that could replace the hand-cranked phonograph was undoubtedly an unprecedented liberation of manpower and greatly lowered the threshold for people to enjoy music!
Although it can only play stably for 5 minutes at present, Roger thinks it is enough.

After all, if my own "Four Seasons · Autumn" is played at normal speed, it only takes about 5 minutes, which means that you can enjoy the whole piece of music without winding it up twice!
The clockwork structure can be further improved in the future, so this is not a big problem.

Even when battery stacks and dry cells become miniaturized and portable, a battery-powered phonograph will no longer be a dream!
No, it probably wasn’t called a phonograph at that time…

Roger couldn't help but feel happy in his heart. He took out a record of his own composition "Four Seasons Autumn" from his bag and said to Mr. Leppard:
"Mr. Leppard, this record contains music I composed. Could you please demonstrate how to use this phonograph?"

"The music you composed?"

Leppard was surprised.

Having read the report about Roger in the Backlund Daily, he naturally knew that Mr. Benelux Jones had switched to music creation.

But he didn't expect that the other party had created his own music so quickly!

In fact, even Klein, who lived under the same roof as Roger, had never heard this music before, and the latter was also full of curiosity at this time.

Mr. Leppard solemnly took Roger's record, placed it on the phonograph, and wound it up.

When he loosened the hairpin, the melodious violin sound of "Four Seasons Autumn" immediately came out of the phonograph.

Because Roger was in a hurry when recording and did not record under professional conditions, there are occasional noises in the record.

However, this did not prevent Leppard and Klein from listening intently.

They were all immersed in the cheerful and simple harvest scene conveyed by the music, and at the same time, influenced by the "positive energy" rules engraved in the music, they smiled unconsciously.

As Clockwork ended, the playback of "Four Seasons Autumn" also stopped.

"Mr. Jones, you are truly a capable artist."

Leppard finally came to his senses and praised him highly.

"In fact, although I'm an engineer now, I also thought about applying to a music school when I was in my early teens. I've listened to a lot of violin music.

"Your violin piece is undoubtedly of top quality... Has it been performed yet?"

Roger scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed by Leppard's praise:
"The Royal Orchestra will likely hold a performance this month. If nothing goes wrong, this will be the first public performance of this piece of music."

"Congratulations."

Leppard spoke up.

"Yes, Mr. Leppard."

Roger thought of another key question:

"The cost of this phonograph... I wonder if it can meet my previous requirements?"

Mr. Leppard gestured "wait a moment" and then took out a stack of documents from a bookshelf behind him and began to rummage through them.

Soon, he pulled out a piece of paper:

"Not counting the Madison Industries phonograph I bought for reference, the corresponding tools and documentation, the loss of raw materials, and the records used for testing... this is the total cost of this phonograph. It cost a total of 79 gold pounds 10 soli 5 pence, but more than half of this was the cost of trial and error.

"Now that the design is mature, if I were to make another phonograph of the same quality, I would be able to reduce the cost to less than 30 pounds.

"Taking into account the amortized costs of factory production... I estimate that it is entirely possible to control the final cost to around 15 to 16 pounds."

Roger took the document and glanced at it.

It was a very detailed account book, which recorded every expenditure in great detail.

When he had finished reading the account book, Leppard continued:

"But this does not include patent registration fees, promotion costs, and sales channel costs.

"Recently, I've been in talks with three factories that can do OEM... One of them has made products for Madison Industries, has mature technology, and offers a reasonable price. Most importantly, they have a lower-priced supporting supplier that can provide finished records.

"I estimate we'll need to spend another 5000 gold pounds to put this phonograph into mass production. Taking taxes into account, it's expected to take about six months to break even..."

Roger listened carefully and weighed it in his mind several times, and basically concluded that Mr. Leppard's estimate was conservative and reasonable.

As for the break-even period of about 6 months, he is more optimistic and thinks that this goal can be achieved in about 4 or 5 months.

"Well, thank you for your hard work."

Roger then discussed the details of the subsequent plan with Mr. Leppard, and then moved on to Klein's bicycle project.

Compared to Roger's phonograph, Leppard was obviously less excited when talking about the bicycle project than when talking about the phonograph project.

Because although this project obviously has a wider audience and the relationship between cost input and output is more "asset-light", the technical challenges it brings to Mr. Leppard are far less than those of the more complex phonograph.

Even so, he still diligently followed Klein's previous suggestions and made a series of adjustments.

"Well, I think this will finalize it."

Klein felt that the bicycle in front of him was not much different from the old-fashioned bicycles he had seen in his previous life, and nodded with satisfaction.

Afterwards, like Roger, he discussed the subsequent production and distribution matters with Mr. Leppard.

After everything was negotiated, both of them left St. George's District with satisfaction and boarded the carriage back to No. 15 Minsk Street.

Nearing evening, Klein said he was going out to investigate a case, while Roger stayed at home to discuss astrology with Bandit.

Since Bandit had just acquired the ability of "astrologer", he was very enthusiastic about the discussion and asked many specific questions, which Roger answered one by one.

By the time the man and the cat came to their senses, it was already past eleven o'clock at night.

"It seems like Klein probably won't be going home tonight... Well, let's get some rest."

Roger stroked the yawning tabby cat, which had clearly used up all its brain cells, poured it a small bowl of milk before bed, and sent it to drink and go to sleep.

He also walked upstairs to wash up and rest.

At this moment, Roger suddenly heard the sound of a door opening on the first floor.

He bent down and saw that it was Klein and Sharon who came in.

The former looked a little embarrassed, while Ms. Sharon looked normal, but Roger could see that she was a little nervous.

"Roger."

Klein said:

"Come down, there's something."

Hearing this, Roger returned to the living room with a puzzled look on his face and sat on the sofa.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Let me explain."

Sharon, with a pale face, said:

"Tomorrow night we will most likely have to fight the hedonistic demigod who is chasing us." Zatwin?
Roger thought to himself, nodded, and glanced at the somewhat embarrassed Klein:
"So, did you just fight with his Mid-Sequence Beyonders?"

Sharon shook her head.

"No, we were just chased by Nighthawk and Mechanical Heart for about two blocks."

"..."

Roger rubbed his forehead.

"Okay, I know."

He nodded and said, "Just make adequate preparations. I'll be there to join the battle tomorrow."

Roger's attitude was calm and composed, without any ripples. His tone was so calm that Ms. Sharon and Klein were both slightly stunned.

However, Roger seemed to pay no attention to their situation and went straight upstairs to sleep.

The next evening, Klein and Sharon met Maric in West Balam.

Thanks to Ms. Sharon's advance warning, Klein had already made sufficient preparations for this battle. He understood the pursuers' abilities and the extraordinary items they possessed, and he had discussed the battle plan in detail with Sharon and Maric.

The same was true for Maric. He had laid numerous traps in the dock that had been abandoned for a year. That would be where they would fight the pursuers from the Rose School and the Hedonistic Faction.

Not only that, he also deployed zombies at the battle site in advance to scare away homeless people who might stay here, prevent them from destroying the traps on the scene or being involved in the battle.

According to the previous consensus with Roger, Klein, Sharon, and Maric were responsible for dealing with Sequence 5 "ghost" Steve, Sequence 6 "zombie" Jason, and Sequence 7 "werewolf" Tyr.

As for the Sequence 4 demigod "Puppet" Zatvin, Roger will fight him alone.

According to Roger, neither side was more important than the other in this battle. He had to use all his strength just to deal with the "puppet" Zatwin, and he didn't have the ability to deal with a Sequence 5 or Sequence 6 Beyonder.

So as long as one side wins, the other side will naturally win as well, otherwise their four-person team will definitely be wiped out.

In fact, the reason Roger said this was because he wanted to challenge his own limits and see how big the gap was between himself, a double Sequence 6 Beyonder, and a demigod.

Therefore, he hoped to eliminate other interference factors as much as possible and feel Zatwin's combat effectiveness more directly.

Roger was not here at the moment, but waiting somewhere nearby.

The presence of only one Klein was already strange enough. If another Beyonder appeared here, the Rose School's pursuers would consider the battlefield situation more carefully, even with the assistance of the "Crimson Moon Corona," a seal that could strengthen the Beyonders of the "Indulgence School" and suppress the Beyonders of the "Temperance School."

After making sure there was no problem, Maric left first to lure out the pursuers who were roaming nearby.

In order for Maric to successfully lure the enemy over and avoid being killed in advance by Zatvin, Roger specially prepared a "celestial" talisman for him.

Unlike ordinary "celestial" spells, this was a special edition spell that he had prayed for from the source of Ghroth, and it could emit a short-term explosive sound that affected a Sequence 4 level demigod.

Of course, this spell will also have an impact on the other three mid-sequence extraordinary people, and may even cause mental penetration.

But it cannot be ruled out that Zatwin will provide them with assistance, so this can only be used as a surprise move rather than a means to victory.

As for those who pronounce the word "celestial body", they will be briefly regarded as believers of Ghros, so they will not suffer equal attacks.

After a while, Klein and the others indeed heard a deafening explosion in the darkness not far away. Even though they were hundreds of meters away, they could still hear it!
Then, they saw Maric running towards them desperately, his face distorted by the oncoming strong wind, and even his hair fluttering wildly backwards.

His speed was comparable to the fastest steam train, and he arrived at the entrance of the open space in front of the dock in an instant!
After a brief silence, several people came chasing from the direction where Maric was running!

One was a man with the same "zombie" characteristics as Maric, but his state was more wild, and his face was full of traces of rotten wounds that had healed.

And there is also an extraordinary person with obvious "werewolf" characteristics, black claws, and eyes full of bloodthirsty desire.

These two people are Jason and Tyr!

As for the "ghost" Steve, he is in invisible state and cannot be easily detected.

Klein already knew this, so he had already prepared the iron box containing the Beyonder characteristics of the "Master of Secret Puppetry" and planned to use the "Spirit Thread" to make the other party visible.

As the "Crimson Moon Corona" was activated, the battle on the scene was about to break out!
In a small alley not far away, a man in a red robe, with a pale face and a mannequin-like temperament at first glance, had just recovered from the shock caused by the "celestial body" spell.

This is none other than Saint Zatvin of the "School of the Rose".

Earlier, when he saw Maric throwing out that strange spell, he subconsciously protected his three men based on his intuition.

But to Zatvin's surprise, the spell from Maric seemed to be thrown into the crowd, but it was actually only aimed at him!
After thinking this through, his heart was filled with disgust towards Sharon and Maric, and he chased in the direction where they disappeared with a somewhat stiff but extremely fast speed.

However, just when Zatvin was halfway there, he suddenly saw a ball of black mist slowly emerging from the shadows and transforming into a tall and thin man wearing a beige windbreaker and a wide-brimmed hat of the same color.

"Sharon's helper? A hermit?"

Zatvin frowned slightly, looking at the man in front of him and the curious look on his handsome face under his hat.

This is exactly Roger.

"Zatwin, huh?"

he asked.

Before Zatwin could answer, Roger had already confirmed the other party's identity from the other party's slightly changing expression.

So he clapped his hands lightly, and a moment later, five pale figures suddenly fell from the heights of the surrounding buildings.

"You don't think you can use a few zombies to deal with me, do you?"

Seeing this, Zatwin almost laughed out of anger.

After all, he is a Sequence 4 level "alien", and using this kind of power to deal with him is completely a waste of time.

"Who knows."

Roger smiled slightly.

The next moment, five zombies surrounded Zatwin and rushed towards him at the same time!
Zatwin chuckled.

He just looked at the zombies and they stopped at the same time!

Almost in an instant, the zombies exploded and turned into a large piece of flesh and blood filled with the stench of decay.

Zatvin used the lifeless blood that was no longer flowing in these living corpses to control the completely dead cells to drill out from the inside and destroy them from the root!

But this "demigod" also became aware of the living flesh and blood fragments buried in those living corpses.

This is the ability of the "Rose Bishop".

"This guy must be a Beyonder of the 'Secret Prayer' path..."

The "puppet"'s mind raced, and he had an idea in his mind.

The next second, he rushed towards Roger, extending his gloved hand forward.

But soon, Zatvin became keenly aware of some kind of horror.

This made him give up using the glove's power and instead reach out his other hand.

The second joints of the fingers of that hand were strangely turned up like a real puppet, revealing five holes and spikes inside that flashed with cold light.

Sequence 4 Demigods of the "Alien" pathway can render a portion of their body lifeless, thereby completing the weaponization of their internal structure.

Including but not limited to spells containing poison, weapons, and buried strangeness, etc.

The current situation is that Zatwin should have made some kind of modification to his fingers similar to a hidden weapon launching mechanism.

These spikes shot towards Roger, but were blocked by Roger using the flesh and blood shield of the "Rose Bishop".

In order to prevent the spikes from carrying toxins or curses, Roger immediately separated the flesh and blood that had come into contact with them and dropped them to the ground.

As expected, the flesh and blood quickly decayed and collapsed, turning into powder in almost an instant!

(End of this chapter)