Matvey's answer was not surprising, but Roland was inspired by the analysis he made next.

"Some people may ask: Isn't it a contradiction that you objected to enchanting the knife head just now, saying that it was too expensive to do so, and now you are adopting the enchantment process?"

Matvey's words speak to the hearts of most of the students, who are indeed confused by the teacher's contradictory approach. However, after some thought, the brighter students, such as Nikita and Isabel, were the first to realize that things were not as simple as they seemed.

"The teacher is against the enchantment of the cutter head for the processing of gears, because the consumption of this cutter head is very large, and the cost of enchantment is too high, but the teacher supports the enchantment of the cutter head for the processing of the cutter head, that is because the consumption of the latter is not large, so the cost of enchantment will not be too high, which is acceptable." Isabel was the first to answer.

"That's very good, the key is the 'cost', we all know that the cost of enchanting a knife head is relatively stable, the total cost of the enchantment process mainly depends on the number of enchantments, if the number of times you need to enchant is very small, even if the cost of a single enchantment is relatively high, the total cost is acceptable." Matvey further explained to those students who did not fully understand, "In the case of gears, a cutter head made of ordinary steel is enchanted to strengthen the hardness and used to cut black steel, and at least 1,000 black steel bits can be processed before it is scrapped, and 1,000 black steel bits are enough for a large gear processing factory for a whole year!" ”

Speaking of which, even the stupidest students can understand it. If you enchant 1000 bits for gears, you need to cast at least 1000 spells, which will be unbearably expensive, but enchanting the bits used for blacksteel bits only needs to be cast once, and the cost is not stressful.

To illustrate this more intuitively, Matvey picked up chalk and drew three rectangles of different lengths on the blackboard, stacked from the bottom to the top to form a third-order pyramid.

Matvey labels the lowest level of the pyramid as "gears", the second layer is the black steel bits, and the enchanted bits for processing the black steel bits are located at the top of the pyramid, representing the demand for these three products in the industrial goods market.

It is not difficult to see from this that the demand for gears is the largest, and it is the widest base, the demand for black steel cutter heads is smaller, and it is the tower body located in the center, and the enchanted cutter head is the least demanding, which is the tip of the pyramid.

"Magic is a craft that relies entirely on individual talent, and it is expensive and difficult to obtain a stable supply channel, which naturally contradicts industrial mass production, so when we apply magic in industrial production, we always want to reduce the number of spells cast as much as possible to reduce costs."

"Extending the example of machining gears, gears can represent all parts, black steel cutter heads represent tools used to process parts, and enchanted cutter heads represent the machines that produce tools, we call them 'mother machines', in these three links, only the mother machine needs to use magic, considering that a small number of machine tools can produce a large number of tools, and a large number of tools can meet the needs of producing a large number of parts, we look back at the above ideas, it is not difficult to summarize a universally applicable principle——" Matvina's whip pointed to the third-order pyramid on the blackboard, "As shown in the picture, if magic is necessary, our principle is to put magic at the top of the pyramid, and if necessary, three production links are not enough, it may take four or five or even more...... The more production links are expanded, the more orders of the pyramid be, the lower the proportion of the cost of magic at the top of the pyramid in the overall production activity, and the less the 'bottleneck effect' of the negative factor of magic scarcity on industrial capacity, which is the goal of the owners of thousands of factories and the ordinary workers in the factories who have nothing to do with magic! ”

Matvey's words were like a thousand boulders, stirring up turbulent waves in Roland's heart. When the wise warlock finished his summary, Roland couldn't help but applaud in spite of the classroom discipline.

Applause in Mr. Matvey's disciplined class is the first of its kind! The young mechanics in the classroom were taken aback at first, and their eyes were all focused on the face of His Royal Highness the Prince, and after a brief hesitation, the students, led by Isabel, were also infected by Roland, and applauded the teacher's incisive assertion from the bottom of their hearts.

The normal course of the lecture was interrupted by applause, Matvey frowned and looked displeased, but when he saw the young and sincere faces under the podium, the anger in his heart quickly subsided, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise slightly.

The applause continued. Matvey raised his hands and pressed them down, signaling for everyone to be quiet, and when the applause in the classroom had subsided, he turned to face the blackboard and continued to teach the details of the process of machining gears.

At this time, Roland's mind had drifted away from the classroom, and Matway's brilliant analysis of magic and industry reminded him of his homeland when the industrial revolution had just begun. Even in a world where there is no magic, there is also evidence for Matvey's assertion, and this is the embodiment of the "universality of truth".

Matvey's "tool machine", translated into the language of the earth, is the word that people are familiar with - machine tools!

The so-called "machine tools" are, to put it bluntly, machines that manufacture machines and machinery, such as lathes, milling machines, planers, and grinders. Machine tool manufacturing industry is the cornerstone and cradle of the entire industrial system, in the core link of the industrial chain, determines the industrial development level and even comprehensive competitiveness of a country or region.

Among the many factors that prompted the Industrial Revolution to take place in the late 18th century – rather than a century or two before – must undoubtedly include high-precision machine tool manufacturing, a small, but vital industry.

In 1774, John Wilkinson patented a lathe originally designed to be used to boring cast-iron cannons. The technology dramatically improved accuracy, and within two years, Wilkinson was hired by Boulton and Watt to polish the drum and condenser, respectively. Wilkinson and his companions were indeed able to manufacture components to the specific requirements of the inventors, and it is arguably that they created the divide between Watt and Leonardo da Vinci, making them two opposing extremes.

Machine tools such as planers, milling machines, lathes, thread lathes, etc., are capable of machining metal into precise geometries, which is necessary for machine building and consistency. In the words of one historian of technology, machine tools are "the most important step on the road to making machines out of machines"!