Chapter 28

After a couple of minutes I heard a dull thudding noise as the door leading into the backrooms was opened up so I looked over expecting to see the boss of this store.

And as I looked over there I blinked as I recognized the short girl that had vibrant pink hair and a set of Arabian dancer's clothes on her but besides exposing her stomach the clothes covered up everything else thankfully.

'Huh. I wonder what Dori is doing here in Liyue?' I thought before standing my ground as the child grinned as she met my eyes. "Oya so I here you wish to purchase my wares a discount for merely buying in bulk?" She questioned in her teasing sarcastic tone.

My lips twitched at how she put it so I put on a smile and said honestly. "Indeed, I imagine ninety recipes even for a businesswoman like yourself is a decent profit."

Dori made a groaning noise and with a put-upon expression, she responded like it was truly a great effort. "Young man, you gotta realize that these recipes are the lifeblood of Sumeru! Not only is it the sweat and tears of countless researchers but dozens of our warriors die bringing them here to Liyue!"

My eyes went dull at the bullshit I was hearing. "Not only will I not offer a discount, but if anything. You should be charged even more ,as more copies of these recipes will need to be made and shipped over from Sumeru with lives undoubtedly being lost in the shipment!"

I brought a hand to my face as I groaned and said flatly. "This is the first time I heard of a merchant trying to charge more for a bulk purchase... Why shouldn't I got to a different store then?" I asked blankly.

And Dori's smile became evil as she grinned and said with zero shame. "Because you have no choice haha! I have all the best products with the best guarantee of its quality after all! But... We can come to an alternate agreement for even more recipes if you are willing?" 

Keqing's ki flared to life as she ground out flatly with Dori flinching as the guards behind her lifted their curved swords in readiness. "Out with it Dori Sangemah Bay... Attempt to cheat the Liyue Qixing at your own peril."

Dori's face went from an evil grin to a pout as she looked between me and Keqing with almost childish petulance before she shrugged and said straightforwardly. "The Sages of Sumeru have ordered me make contact with you Jake Bariss, we also want our own flying vessels." 

Dori waved at the surrounding wares in the glass cases and as I looked around at what she was offering I stilled as I realized that all the other customers had... Disappeared. But even as I made that disquieting realization Dori wasn't idle.

"So yes, in turn for giving us a match of the flying vessel you made for Lady Ningguang you can have whatever you want in this store. As such a flying vessel will greatly help Sumeru in dealing with the Everblight." Dori said gravely.

I considered her words and after a bit I nodded making her blink in utter surprise along with her guards actually twitching at my nonchalant nod. "Alright. I want all your latest recipes for tier 1-4 in the store, along with young healthy herbs, and any blueprints for tier 1-3 arrays you have for sale." 

At hearing my demand they actually looked confused so I finished off with what I would pay in return. "In return for these, I will give three of those same vessels I made Lady Ningguang and teach six people how to fly them of your choosing with the ships taking Medium Quality Spirit stones as fuel by the way." I finished as an afterthought.

There was silence as everyone looked at me in confusion before Keqing groaned and said flatly. "Jake... You know this is going to piss off Ningguang that you are giving a foreign nation such a precious thing. Especially when it hasn't even been a full day that she has had the one you gave her!"

To that, I was honestly just confused and I responded in that same way as I looked away from Dori and said to Keqing. "Uhh Keqing, the Pelican is just the scout/light transport ship. I have much bigger ideas in mind for when Ningguang gets the next factory and airstrip cleared out for me to build." 

Sure the Pelican was great for small-scale transport for things that could fit in spatial storage. But they A couldn't hold many people and B there were a great number of things that couldn't fit in storage rings or devices. To say nothing of how its spirit stone engine batteries couldn't support that powerful of weaponry and shielding.

No, my plan was to build something to match the Jade Chamber in scale, I wanted to make atmosphere-exiting Halo Frigates with their MAC- Cannons. Let's see how impressive a Nascent Soul is when a laser being shot at the speed of light hits them along with the ship MAC cannon to deal with shields and armor.

Because Halo proved that just because you have energy shields of some sort... When a mass hits that shield going at a fraction of the speed of light that shield isn't going to matter for shit.

But Keqing and Dori just looked at me in confusion making me shake my head. "The deal is what it is. I get what I want, and by the end of this month or in other words two weeks from now you can have your people pick of the ships." I finished.

This Pelican's no matter how revolutionary for these people, in my own mind could be improved or just be phased out for something better. But the knowledge of alchemy and arrays to bend reality to my will? That was something I would happily trade a couple of ships for.

I smiled and then held out a hand to Dori and spoke. "So Dori, do we have a contract?" 

To which Dori stilled as she seemingly realized that to me. Those ships were just prototypes to me making more flying contraptions. But unlike Cloud Retainer who had made a massive flying castle along with Ningguang that required the owner to stay on the structure the vast majority of the time to keep it from breaking down. My machines could literally fit into spatial storage rings.