.
Benjamin returned the wolfskin to the boss lady after another round of petting. In contrast, the boss lady behaved differently from Benjamin; her stance was professional as she tugged and pulled at the cloth. Sporadically, she even nodded impa.s.sively, as if she was judging a cloth.
"Hm, the softness is excellent, and it is pleasant to touch. However, it was also extremely durable and breathable. If this was used to make clothings…."
Benjamin wiped off some sweat. This magical material that they poured so much effort into getting can never be taken away by someone else to make into clothes. No. The boss lady understood this without needing his reminder. After some exclamations pertaining to her career as a tailor, she took the ice needle and the thread she made earlier to prepare for the next procedure.
At this, Benjamin became alert and ready.
This step is the most crucial one in the production of the Hurricane Cape - they were required to follow certain steps, sew the thread onto the wolfskin to make an intricate design, cross-st.i.tch style.
Originally, Benjamin planned to take over this job by himself. However, his eyes were blurry after tr.i.m.m.i.n.g so many feathers, and the lady boss was indeed full of experience in this area. She offered her service, and her words were ‘I’ve sewn more things than the roads you’ve walked’. Benjamin decided to just hand the job over to the expert.
The lady boss sat on a chair, the wolfskin and fabrication drawings draped on her lap, needle in her right hand while her left guided the thread as she sew it, one needle at a time. Her movements were precise from the start, and her whole being exudes professionalism.
Benjamin was initially very worried that she might make a mistake since the design was incredibly complicated, but he relaxed after a short period of observation; there was no way that she would trip over something like this. Honestly, if this was not her first time sewing this, Benjamin would expect the boss lady to be just like the knitting elderlies, who knit while they talked, their hands never stopping while they chatted away.
Pa.s.sing this job to her was such an efficient business decision!
At this point, Benjamin realised how great a thing it was that over half of the mages in the group had their own occupation before their lives as mages. Each and every one of them had maintain years of skills and expertise. Their group now possess a variety of skills, which was a huge advantage to them.
Based on the fabrication drawings, it would normally take up to a week to sew the design, much alike to knitting. However, judging from the boss lady’s expert handiwork, she could probably finish this in 3 to 4 days, tops?
In this process, a mage was required to chant a spell to add Wind Elements to it whenever a part of the design was completed. A total of 80 incantations will be needed for the design to be complete. After the design was done, they would place the trimmed feathers at the predetermined place for the Cape to finally be done.
The arduousness of the whole process was evident, and the mage poured blood, sweat, and tears into making the Cape. As Benjamin went through the procedures, he gradually understood why the producing of magical instruments did not catch up throughout the years. It was not only due to the church, per se; the production was too perplexingly difficult. As mages, everyone took much care of their own status that no one was willing to spend such a long time and effort sitting and sewing clothes.
Both of the economic factors and the troublesome production caused potions to overtake the status of magical instruments. Potions were quick to make, suitable to be used by a wide range of consumers, and people would return for another purchase after the potions were used. Magical instruments, on the other hand, might not have as good of an effect like potions, and they could be used continuously for a very long time that the sellers could not have a sustainable income. That was why they were not favourable among most mages.
Of course, as magical instruments were almost extinct in the market nowadays, a Cape like this would cause a monopoly, and thus could be sold at an incredibly favourable price. The Mages Freemasonry’s efforts in preserving books were not enough in this aspect; they only managed to protect the Forbidden Spells that were worth researching. They had none of the production procedures for magical instruments. No one knew what they were thinking.
"This cape will need a long time to sew. It’s better if you pa.s.s everything to me, so I could slowly sew it at home. I’ll inform you once the cape is done?" The boss lady asked as she rubbed her eyes as she finally raised her head after an hour.
Benjamin was nodding off. He jumped awake at her question, then nodded immediately. SHe then picked everything up and prepared to return to her quarters. Benjamin thought for a moment before pa.s.sing another two books to her.
"Here, these two books are all about things like this. Capes aside, they also have drawings for clothes and robes. Take it and read it if you can," Benjamin said, "Will it be a bother if I hand this over to you? Will this interrupt your cultivation progress?"
The boss lady barked out a laugh as she waved, "Of course not! I’m not familiar with this now, but once I grew familiar with making it, the process would be much faster. Still, you would need to hire me some helpers. Not mages, mind you, just basic tailors would do; I just need them to help me in minor things, else it would indeed be a painstaking job.
Benjamin laughed as he nodded. He would need to hand the making of magical instruments to someone else anyways. This was the boss lady’s profession, hence he had no need to worry about this anymore. He would also find a way to hire the tailors that she require, but he would need to think of a way to ensure that the hired hands would keep the fabrication drawings a secret from the outside world.
All in all, the prototypes of a Potions Workshop and a Magical Textile Factory are gradually setting into this house of theirs.