Mission in another world with my transformed best friend

Seeing Wang Kai acting sullenly and standing still, showing no intention of moving an inch, Zhang Lan's eyes darted around a few times. Understanding his thoughts through his body language, she sighed. In her anxiety, she had no better solution than to...

So Zhang Lan took a deep breath, immediately put on an innocent, smiling face, gently shook Wang Kai's arm with both hands, and said in a whiny voice.

"Brother Kyle, please? I hit you a little too hard just now. Can you apologize?"

"Hmph, the same trick won't work on this young Saint Seiya twice!"

"Really? Then let someone see your face, come closer and let me blow on it for you... pat it, kiss~"

Zhang Lan pretended to examine Wang Kai's face, and without realizing it, she lightly "touched" his cheek with her lips...

This was as if a switch had been flipped; Wang Kai froze, and upon regaining his senses, his serious expression couldn't hide the wild joy spreading across his face. Finally, he nodded in a mocking manner and said...

"Your new tricks are really impressive. Alright, I'll take you to see them..."

"Okay, my dear Er Gou brother, let's go!"

……

A dozen minutes later, in front of a furnace in the blacksmith shop on the third floor of the "Alchemy Pavilion".

After watching Wang Kai and Glenn demonstrate the "smelting" steps again, Zhang Lan immediately fell into a brief silence.

Glenn was naturally a little reserved in the face of the arrival of this "distinguished person." After all, being able to work in the "Alchemy Pavilion," the most secure place in the Hani Merchant Guild, was a blessing that this young blacksmith would only dream of in several lifetimes. Moreover, he vaguely guessed that the boy next to him, who called himself Kyle, had a very special relationship with the "Hermitage of the World," and that they were even "equals" in some respects.

Having witnessed the "melting" process firsthand, Zhang Lan pondered for a moment before grasping the most crucial question and asking Glenn without even looking up.

"Glenn, have you tried using wind magic to raise the temperature before?"

"I tried, but unfortunately my level is too low, and my wind magic level is not high enough. Even if I exhausted all my magic power, it didn't make much difference in raising the temperature..."

"Have you sought help from someone with high-level wind magic?"

“I once asked a magician friend to try it out, but unfortunately he couldn’t grasp the key point, and it didn’t work after several attempts.”

"Alright... Glenn, let's keep what happened a secret for now. You continue your investigation. I have other plans..."

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

Zhang Lan felt a little disappointed, so she pulled Wang Kai out the door and tossed the spring up and down in her little hand as she walked. Then, she stopped and threw it behind her, and Wang Kai quickly caught it.

"What's wrong? You were so excited before, but now you're so calm..."

"You're asking me about this? Right now, you're the only one who has the patent technology for this 'spring.' Even if I knew the principle, I could only stare blankly... Hani, that old businessman, has a really sharp sense of smell. He's trying to get you to sign the 'Contract' in the same way. This is going to be a bit troublesome."

"Could you elaborate on the problem?"

Zhang Lan walked to a window, rested her hands on the windowsill, looked at the scenery outside, thought for a moment, and said.

“My contract with Honey explicitly states that I must create six new inventions that can bring huge profits. As you saw last night, including the ‘Lafite II’ that will be released tomorrow, I’ve only figured out four of them. And you beat me to the patent for this ‘spring’. Now I have to rack my brains to ‘imitate’ other things. I really don’t know when this contract will end…”

Wang Kai found it a bit strange and immediately asked in return.

"Hey, let's take our time with the terms of the contract. Anyway, you're already a 'partner' of the Hani Chamber of Commerce, and you've earned more money than you could spend in ten lifetimes. Do you have any other new plans?"

"Nonsense, have you forgotten our agreement? You chose the second option I gave you, which even changed my opinion of you. Now you think that making money steadily gives you the ability to fight against heroes?"

"That's true. It seems that there's no such thing as 'overwhelming someone with money' in this world. In the end, it still comes down to strength and power."

"Good that you understand. I'm using 'imitation inventions' to gain commercial benefits and build connections, so that I can have the means to target heroes in the future. There are no second chances in this world; you have to take it one step at a time, steadily and surely. Even if you want to play dumb to outsmart others, you need to have absolute resources, unless you obtain unparalleled power..."

As Wang Kai listened, he nodded repeatedly like a student receiving instruction. To be frank, he was well aware that, at present, in the eyes of the four great heroes, he and Zhang Lan were nothing. Just like when he had a chance encounter with the Fire Hero Murong Tian, ​​the other party only regarded him as a pitiful, injured little adventurer who needed help.

"How about this, I'll go and refine the 'spring' manufacturing method in more detail, and while I'm at it, I'll teach the magic insights incorporated into it to others. Just like when you bought so many demi-human girls from the slave trading guild to help you improve your winemaking. When I hand this 'patent' over to you, your 'contract' with Old Man Hani will only have one invention left, right?"

Zhang Lan immediately shook her head helplessly.

"This... I'm afraid that won't work. Let alone slaves, there are probably only a handful of people in the entire empire who can create 'resonance' using wind magic like you. You yourself said that you have a good chance of winning even if you fight a level 90 adventurer head-on. Besides, people above level 90 are extremely rare on this continent. Even if I could find one, who would be willing to be a blacksmith's 'subordinate' and spend all day playing with 'smelting'?"

“Indeed, when I was working on this thing today, I didn’t consider that at all. I was only concerned with whether I could make it as quickly as possible. ‘Flash in the pan’ is the most fitting description. So… how about we just pretend that the ‘spring’ never happened today? I’ll just pretend to be stupid and act cute with Honey and let it go.”

"First, you need to understand one fact: today you're driving the first carriage on the entire continent equipped with 'shock absorbers,' test-driving it for so long in front of everyone. Do you think you can hide it by just playing dumb? That old man Hani has an incredibly sharp business sense. Even if you tell him that this thing fell from the sky and you just happened to find it, he'll definitely demand that you go back to where you found it and collect countless more identical items..."

"No way, is that old man really that persistent?"

"You may not have fully grasped his true power yet. On the surface, he's a businessman, and even by business standards, his methods are extremely extreme, provided he doesn't break the law. I don't even want to imagine how terrifying he would be if he disregarded the law..."

Wang Kai has a deep understanding of this. He came to another world and used a bug to "farm" points to what he thought was a very strong level, but Old Man Hani gave him a lesson right away. This old man could not only bypass the detection of the "Review Ring," but also possessed unfathomable strength...

The only consolation is that Hani and Zhang Lan are currently "partners," at least not adversaries. Otherwise, the main quest of the Four Heroes wouldn't have made any decisive progress before another side quest requiring them to be wary of others would pop up.