Orion Crest, Series_1

Chapter 154: The real issue

　　"Of course, more than just interested," clearing his throat, Musk looked at Orion and said sincerely, "I have to thank you, your research has done me a great favour."

　　"...... Glad I could help." At Musk's enthusiasm, Orion wore an awkward and nonchalant smile on his face.

　　Honestly, he was still a bit confused about this one's sudden visit.

　　Even though his own research results might indeed be a big favour to Tesla, but new energy vehicles don't produce batteries, so it was reasonable that Musk had no reason to come over to visit him specifically.

　　Perhaps it was because he had been busy with patent matters lately, and every now and then someone called to ask if he was interested in selling his patents, and when he encountered this kind of person labelled as a businessman, his first reaction was to ponder the other party's attempts.

　　It wasn't any kind of wariness, it was purely a subconscious reaction.

　　"It seems as though the two of you have a lot of interesting topics to talk about, but I'm not really interested in anything other than maths and rugby," the old Francis with the white beard smiled gently, "so, enjoy your chat, and I'll excuse myself."

　　"Thank you, I'd like to talk to Professor Orion alone as well." Mask said with a smile.

　　After Mr Francis left, Musk casually sat down across from Orion and continued.

　　"...... When I was studying economics at the University of Pennsylvania, I used to think about where the future of mankind lies, and what are the problems that the world is really facing. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it was new energy, the Internet, and space exploration."

　　Looking seriously at Orion, Musk continued, "I am an engineer, and you are an academic. From your point of view, what is the key to solving these three problems?"

　　Interacting with this guy, Orion always had the feeling that he was listening to Shinichi Mochizuki giving a presentation. Both men probably belonged to the type of dreamers who were immersed in their own universes, and while there was nothing wrong with that, it was a bit unfriendly to those who tried to get to know them.

　　"It's hard to say about the internet," Orion replied casually, after a moment's thought, "but with the other two, I personally feel it's probably up to the materials."

　　The bottlenecks in new energy technology and space exploration technology involved a number of subjects, though, and it wasn't possible to categorise all of them simply as materials science. But what is more interesting is that if the problem of materials is solved, many of the originally complex problems seem to become simpler.

　　Whether it is photovoltaic or nuclear fusion power generation, whether it is lithium-sulfur or lithium-air batteries, the most difficult to deal with are the materials part.

　　Musk snapped his fingers and smiled, "It seems that we are thinking the same thing, and my team of engineers and I also agree. I intend to invest ten billion dollars to build a materials research and development base in Silicon Valley. If you are interested, I would like to invite you as the chief scientist of this research facility."

　　Ten billion dollars?

　　Hearing the number, Orion was so stunned that he didn't listen carefully to the latter half of the sentence.

　　"You do have an interesting idea, and I'm sure the entire materials science community would be overjoyed to have such a generous tycoon ...... But with all due respect, can Tesla afford to take that kind of money?" Orion remembered that he had heard before that Tesla's finances were not in good condition.