21st Century Necromancer

In an exquisitely designed café, Chen Yu flipped through the designs of a robot created by the best artist from an anime design company, his facial expression indescribably strange.

Seeing Chen Yu's face, which seemed on the verge of smiling yet also frowning, made Hattori Heita and his supervisor, who had brought the design plan, extremely nervous. They were afraid that Chen Yu would be dissatisfied with their design and offend this large client, whose identity they did not know, but recognized as a prominent figure.

"Did you design this?" Chen Yu looked at Hattori Heita, who stood nervously in front of him, scrutinizing his sparse hair and eyes filled with fairy air, not rising but simply asking, "Why did you design it with a female appearance?"

Chen Yu put down the design blueprint in his hand, tapping the distinctly feminine robot appearance on the design with his finger, questioning Hattori Heita.

This was precisely the source of his dilemma.

The design itself was not flawed; the exterior optimization was well done, showing evident effort and earnestness at first glance.

If Chen Yu wanted to shoot a movie or make an animation, this design would almost need no modification and could readily captivate many enthusiasts of humanoid characters.

This had become a characteristic of Japan after entering the Heisei Era. The practice of feminizing everything became prevalent; male character gender swaps aside, everyday objects, mascots, machinery, and even military ships and castles were brazenly designed with feminine traits to entice the die-hard anime fans.

Actually, Chen Yu could be considered a fan of this culture himself; otherwise, he wouldn't have summoned a large group of ship-girls.

However, liking ship-girls aside, Chen Yu's mechanical mages were intended to form a combat unit. While aesthetic optimization was for visual appeal, it wasn't to the point of creating a squad of steel maiden warriors among a bunch of ghosts and monsters.

So, without waiting for Hattori Heita's explanation, Chen Yu told them, "Take it back and redo it. I hope you can design a more masculine-style robot appearance. This robot, in concept, is a mechanically manufactured mage meant for the battlefield. You can design it along with the equipment, and I'll add to the design fees, but I hope... no, I require you to abandon these unnecessary feminine designs."

Chen Yu's words left Hattori Heita and his supervisor in a cold sweat. Although having designs sent back for rework was quite common in the industry, facing a large client made them excessively nervous.

Hattori Heita was nervous simply because being sent back for rework might mean losing a promotion or salary raise chance, or even his job. His supervisor, however, clearly knew that Chen Yu was someone they couldn't provoke, a person whose words could potentially shut down their entire company. This made him far more apprehensive than Hattori Heita when facing Chen Yu.

So Chen Yu's simple words about taking it back for rework sent chills down his spine, fearing that a poorly executed design might infuriate this prominent client and lead to their company's closure.

Fortunately, Chen Yu wasn't genuinely angry, and after briefly reiterating his requirements, he let the matter pass, signaling that they could leave.

Hattori Heita and his supervisor were immediately relieved as if granted amnesty, quickly bidding farewell upon realizing Chen Yu wasn't actually angry, planning to return and work overtime to redesign.

After Hattori Heita and his supervisor left, Chen Yu couldn't help but shake his head with a light chuckle.

Of course, Chen Yu could see their apprehensive attitude. He had reached a point where his words could decide others' fates, even without explicit expression, making others feel like they were sitting on pins and needles in his presence.

Finding this amusing, Chen Yu showed no particular reaction, deeming such matters unworthy of his attention.

The design of female robots was not entirely unacceptable to Chen Yu, but as mages, they would seem quite out of place among the mage corps consisting of Skeleton Mages, Dragon Liches, and Dragonized Mages.

Moreover, Hattori Heita might have been accustomed to designing for anime, making the robot's appearance excessively anime-styled rather than realistic, which Chen Yu couldn't accept, leading to his decision to have them redesigned.

Having dealt with the mechanical mage design issues, Chen Yu didn't rush to leave. He was expecting someone else today.

Chen Yu didn't have to wait long before the person he anticipated appeared in front of him.

"Lord Chen Yu, I apologize for keeping you waiting." The newcomer apologized to Chen Yu and, upon receiving permission, sat down before him.

After sitting, the newcomer took a document from his briefcase and handed it to Chen Yu, saying, "Lord Chen Yu, this is the Pentagon's offer for the Dragon Blood Potion. I wonder if you're satisfied with it. If you find anything in need of adjustment, I have full authority to modify it at any time."

Chen Yu nodded slightly, saying nothing more, and picked up the document, carefully reviewing it.

The list didn't contain much but consisted of valuable items. Chen Yu could tell that this time the Americans were making a substantial effort.

They seemed to have also grasped Chen Yu's temperament, no longer presenting a pile of irrelevant items like last time when they tried to exchange for a ship-girl summoning spot.

For this, Chen Yu finally nodded in satisfaction, yet still remained noncommittal. The items from the Americans were indeed good, but none captivated Chen Yu's interest.

If not for the information the Americans provided about the Garden of Osiris in Egypt, which led Chen Yu to acquire Osiris' body, these items wouldn't be sufficient to exchange for a complete set of Dragon Blood Potion and the Giant Dragon Clan's full training system for Dragon-descent professions from Chen Yu.

The opposite party seemed to understand Chen Yu's stance as well, hence took out another document from the briefcase and handed it to Chen Yu, actively introducing, "In fact, we possess several similar pieces of information akin to what you discovered in Egypt. I'm wondering if you're interested in these ruins."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu finally showed interest in his eyes and picked up the document on the table to read carefully.

"The legendary City of Gold of the Inca Empire? Does this place really exist?" The document provided by the Americans listed several ruins and treasures discovered by them but unexplored, most of which were relics from the ancient civilizations of the Inca, Maya, and Aztec. What intrigued Chen Yu the most was the City of Gold of the Inca Empire.