Chapter 163: Chapter 161: Preparations Before the Strategy
Separated from the others, Hilia asked her school mentor, submitted an application to Abros, then left the camp for the nearest town. Following the list of materials Rose provided, she bought a few things, spending 15 gold coins.
Finally, Hilia found the town’s blacksmith shop and spent 5 gold coins to have the "legendary blacksmith" there reshape her magic staff.
With enough cash, the whole blacksmith shop moved like clockwork, and in just two days, Hilia’s staff was fully remade.
The new staff was no longer shaped like a question mark, but had become [〇—], with [〇] crafted from a magically conductive material known as Shivana Gold Thread, forged and woven into form.
In the center of [〇], extra gold threads reached out to form a six-pointed star, with space reserved for an advanced magic crystal in the middle.
[—] was made from two entwined vine materials—the original staff substance—deeply bound with Shivana Gold Thread into one whole, but only with added runes could it truly work.
And the Sea Siren’s Eye was embedded at the junction between [〇] and [—], acting as the carrier for the magic crystal and the staff body,
The staff hadn’t had runes inscribed yet. Hilia hadn’t let the blacksmith do it; she chose to carve them herself once she got it.
Following the form of the staff and the abilities of the Sea Siren’s Eye, and with Rose’s guidance, she slowly drew up the perfect fit for herself.
Once done, Rose said, "This staff will last you at least till Tier Four. Spending over a hundred gold coins is totally worth it."
This staff was remodeled from the original one she bought, adding the Sea Siren’s Eye, buying Shivana Gold Thread, hiring the blacksmith to remake it—all together, she’d spent just over a hundred gold coins.
Hilia weighed the staff in her hand and couldn’t help but complain, "The look’s so archaic, not flashy at all."
"I think it looks pretty good! Archaic means not to be underestimated. If you want flashy, you’d need to use metal, but as a staff body, metal doesn’t perform as well as plant materials."
"Alright, let me see how it works."
Hilia headed to the camp’s practice field, raised her staff, and put all the magic she’d learned to use, one by one.
Soon enough, she noticed the difference.
"My casting speed is faster, and my spells are way stronger. I feel like the Sea Siren’s Eye even cuts down how much magic power I use when casting."
Rose nodded. "When you channel magic into the staff, you also gain the Sea Siren’s Eye’s passive ability: you can see into the distance, pierce enemy moves—especially those of marine demons."
Hilia poured magic power into the staff and looked far off. At first, it seemed no different, but somehow she could see the distant scenery more clearly.
"The far-seeing ability really shines at sea. Too much blocking on land, can’t use it well."
"Makes sense, huh..."
Hilia stared at the gem-shaped Sea Siren’s Eye, forged and polished, and suddenly thought of something—
"By the way, last time when we dug deep into the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association’s base, didn’t we also get a Sea Siren’s Eye?"
Rose nodded, amused. "Didn’t you notice this Sea Siren only had one eye?"
Hilia opened her eyes wide. "Are you saying...?"
"Yep, the other eye was taken by the Mutual Aid Association as a ceremonial offering—it’s the one we used to fish for the white whale."
Hilia fell silent. "So we burned such a rare material... just to fish for a white whale?"
Rose smiled and shook her head. "That Sea Siren’s Eye was already modified by the Sect, no longer usable as a material, and lost all its special abilities. Turning it into fish bait was just recycling."
"Alright then." Hilia pushed aside her regret.
Staring closely at her brand-new staff, the girl felt a bit weird inside.
Making a magic staff out of a demon’s eyeball... not something a proper mage would do, right?
But thinking of how comfortable the staff felt, Hilia quickly tossed that thought aside.
With the staff made, Hilia began her money-making and scroll-crafting journey.
When she first arrived, she’d specially prepared ink made from Golden Heart for scroll-making, but since there were no blank scrolls sold locally, she didn’t make any scrolls yet.
Now, to prep for the final quest one month away, while making the staff, she also bought hundreds of scrolls at the local Mage Guild, spending all her money.
Once the staff was done, she returned to the marketplace, set up a stall next to Carl, and continued applying magical coatings...—uh, upgrading linking devices.
There weren’t many customers during the day, so she laid out blank runes, sketching them while waiting for buyers.
Carl watched Hilia draw scrolls with surprise. "Miss Hilia, you can make scrolls too?"
"Want to buy one?" Hilia asked without looking up.
Carl shook his head. "I don’t go on adventures. Scrolls aren’t much use to me. Unless you have Tier Four scrolls—that might make me splash out."
"Too bad, then."
Hilia had tried making Tier Four scrolls a few times, but always failed. She’d given up.
Rose had said, even at Tier Four, the success rate for scroll-making is still low—no need to force it.
So now, she focused on Tier Two and Tier Three scrolls.
These scrolls she didn’t plan to sell cheap; if someone wanted to buy, fine, if not, she’d just save them for the month ahead.
Thanks to the mercenaries who had their magic puppets upgraded the last few days spreading the word, Hilia’s device-upgrading skills were becoming known among many mercenaries. By evening, as the mercenaries returned, her little stall was surrounded, with queues for upgrades.
Their linking device runes were all self-DIY, some not even as efficient as standard runes.
For Tier One mages, the difference wasn’t big, but at Tier Two, the lag from low efficiency was quickly magnified.
Which meant the ones looking for Hilia were all Tier Two Mages.
Basically, she could finish about ten orders a day, including Carl’s.
The rest of her time was devoted to making scrolls.
The scroll business attracted attention too, but few buyers, as Hilia’s scrolls were all offensive. Most people wanted support scrolls instead.
Plus, Hilia sold them pretty expensively: 1 gold coin for Tier Two, 8 gold coins for Tier Three. That price was enough to scare most people off.
Not many sold, but better than nothing.
So, in this period before the final quest, Hilia spent her days crafting scrolls and upgrading linking devices.
When the agreed time came, she’d stashed more than 200 Tier Three scrolls and 500 Tier Two scrolls.
Meanwhile, by upgrading devices and selling runes, she’d earned nearly 200 gold coins (after exchanging with Benovia), though most of those went to buying high-quality blank runes, leaving her with only 52 gold coins and a few silver coins.
One month passed, and the day for departure arrived.
