Keqing's prediction proved accurate. Following the conference's conclusion, major shareholders publicly announced their investments in the Academy City while echoing Shen Qin's call for talented individuals across all fields to contribute to Stormterror's Lair, now the burgeoning Academy City.
With funds secured, construction commenced in earnest. Albedo, as chief engineer, led a team of advisors in refining the project's finer details.
Meanwhile, Shen Qin established a temporary workshop in the outer city, gathering a group of alchemists to manufacture automated production lines while imparting mechanical engineering knowledge.
"Primary machining processes include: turning, milling, drilling, grinding, planing, boring, broaching, sawing, casting..."
Rather than simply providing fish, Shen Qin preferred teaching fishing. While he could have handed out blueprints for assembly, like the bolter rifles production line with inspection terminals at each station, technological progression required more. The Academy City's development couldn't rely solely on him. It needed scholars and technicians well-versed in new technologies to elevate overall scientific standards.
Why name it the Academy City? Shen Qin hoped everyone contributing to its construction would simultaneously acquire new knowledge, himself included, as he continued studying Teyvat's alchemical arts.
The alchemists learning under him were veterans from Dawn Winery's factories, having personally crafted Shen-series products like gliding boards and bionic prosthetics.
After five days of combined instruction and design, they completed automated production lines for these items. Testing showed the automated lines achieved five times the output of manual labor with just one supervisor monitoring via terminal—a far cry from the dozen workers previously required per line.
Shen Qin divided the team: some continued producing automated lines to free factory alchemists for higher-value tasks; others who had participated in designing the lines began training their liberated colleagues; the remainder assisted him in developing transport vehicles.
With his blueprints and existing machine tools, the first small transport vehicle "Cider Lake" was quickly assembled, only to malfunction during road tests. Six of its ten-wheel hub motors failed, though the remaining four stubbornly dragged the vehicle back to the workshop before dying.
Alchemy apprentice Timaeus promptly diagnosed the issue: "The motor shafts' material has excellent heat and wear resistance, but when friction raises temperatures above 80 degrees, the strong magnetic field causes structural collapse. Stability plummets, leading to fractures."
Timaeus—diligent, creative, and a quick learner, had been assigned by Albedo as Shen Qin's assistant. Pleased with his performance, Shen Qin delegated transport vehicle improvements to him while attending to other pressing matters.
The initial phase overflowed with responsibilities. From heavy machinery like bucket transports for material hauling, giant excavators for land preparation, to cranes, pile drivers, and concrete mixers—only when all were operational could foundational construction begin.
Some suggested traditional Teyvat methods as stopgaps, but Shen Qin and Albedo refused. The Academy City's core appeal was cutting-edge technology. After shareholders' grand promises, reverting to old ways would shatter expectations and reputations alike.
Counterproductive!
Though time was tight, haste made waste. Countless observers visited daily, anticipating groundbreaking construction. Had they witnessed workers hauling stones manually or sawing wood by hand, reactions would have been: "This is the Academy City? This is high technology?"
Thus, training became paramount, for Liyue and Snezhnaya's personnel, for newly hired workers.
The workers rejoiced: paid to learn new skills with promises of higher wages upon mastery. Many ordinary citizens, indifferent to technology's nuances, flocked to the site lured by better earnings. Even adventurers joined, enticed by stable long-term employment over hazardous, unpredictable commissions.
Soon, one-third of Mondstadt's youth and 20% of adventurers had enlisted.
Cyrus, alarmed by the talent drain, leveraged his shareholder status to establish long-term construction commissions for the Adventurers' Guild. This preserved adventurers' guild affiliations while supporting the Academy City's progress—with the guild profiting from project margins and adventurers earning substantial Mora.
A win-win-win situation!
The shareholders' announcements had been thunderclaps; the Academy City's preparations now gathered storm clouds—soon to unleash a downpour that would revolutionize Teyvat's technological landscape!