Only the Experiment Remains

‘This is a bit burdensome...’

The money was straightforward, but the items were trickier.

Still, I wasn't in a position to refuse, so I read through the list of gifts carefully.

The gifts were impressively generous.

The gold was nice, but the high-grade magi-stone powder and mithril ore were especially premium materials.

“To give us something like this...”

“It seems the lord holds your potential in high regard. Be proud.”

I bowed my head at Seize's words.

It was a reward beyond my expectations.

The only burdensome part was that last one—the rare reagent storage box.

It felt like silent pressure, as if saying, We know everything you've done.

‘Since they included this, they must already know about the stuff with Stain.’

Baron Sellevan hadn't said it outright, but including this gift was as good as a hint.

In fact, during my fight with Gaiyon, I'd vaguely mentioned the potion experiments with Stain.

That must have reached the baron's ears.

It was a refined way to apply pressure.

‘For now, it's time to make reconnaissance puppets for gathering intel.’

After Seize left, I sorted my thoughts.

Pretending not to know about the Stain potion experiments for the time being was best.

My tasks were clear.

Information was lacking.

On the territory, and on the key figures here.

I got straight to work.

The magic circle on the workbench had been drawn up until late night, so preparations were complete.

Only the experiments remained.

I spread the materials on the workbench.

Mid-grade magi-stone, and transparent silk fabric from the artisan district.

It had cost a pretty penny, but I'd prepared it specially for the experiment.

‘Start with the basic structure.’

I ground the magi-stone into powder.

The glowing blue powder began reacting with the transparent silk.

“So it reacts like this.”

“Perfect. Now for intel gathering...”

I figured the Seal of Preservation could be useful too.

I had to make use of everything available.

In this world, magic shattered concepts.

It expanded common sense.

If magic could preserve contents, couldn't it preserve information too?

Conclusion reached.

The rest was just repeated experiments.

The puppet began taking shape.

A palm-sized doll wrapped in transparent silk.

‘Now for the final touch...’

I slightly modified Hand of Purification.

Instead of detecting and purifying ambient mana, it would just detect.

The result:

Unlike previous items, crafting took over two hours.

It succeeded just before my mana bottomed out—lucky.

Without the Necklace of Soul Resonance, it might have failed.

“Whew, that was exhausting. But... not bad at all?”

A smile tugged at my lips.

Applying what I already knew was far more efficient than inventing complex magic from scratch.

I smiled contentedly at the rising messages.

Glancing at Lena, it seemed personal messages like these weren't shared.

Probably only item info gets shared.

“Theo-nim! It's so cute! You really made this yourself? A puppet that moves on its own... I've never seen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or even heard of anything like it!”

When Lena first saw the reconnaissance magic puppet, she grabbed a Sunogi.

She thought it was a monster infiltration and tried to shoot it down.

I barely stopped her and explained it was a crafted item—since then, her mouth hasn't stopped talking about the puppet.

“What do you think? Won't get spotted, right?”

“I can barely see it even right in front of me? And if it does get spotted, so what? No one would know who made it.”

“Oh, yeah, true.”

Come to think of it, she was right.

It was an item I hadn't shown anyone yet.

Only Lena and I knew about it.

So even if it got caught somehow, it shouldn't matter.

I made it, but these functions... magic is really scary. Terrifying.

In hunter terms, it was like a cloaking drone.

Silent flight, auto intel gathering—the works.

And I whipped it up in a few hours.

Even I'm amazed.

If I'm amazed, Lena—who grew up in this world—was beside herself.

“As expected of Theo-nim. What an incredible invention! If we had these, wars would... no, never mind.”

She started to say something but changed the subject.

“But will this little thing really gather intel well? It just looks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cute to me.”

Lena fussed over the reconnaissance magic puppet.

Honestly, I didn't know exactly how it would deliver the intel either.

But yeah, it was cute.

The puppet wasn't big.

Just a palm-sized swath of transparent fabric fluttering gently.

It was even more transparent than the original silk—impressive.

At a glance, it looked ghostly, but it was a totally different concept.

Better than hunter-era drones. But one won't be enough.

One couldn't gather intel fast.

I repeated rest and crafting to make a few more.

More was always better for these.

“What to make next...”

I holed up in the workshop for days making puppets.

Made five in total, then released them into the streets for testing.

The puppets fluttered freely through the city.

Will they gather the intel I want properly?

Doubts arose, but I decided to stay optimistic.

With the puppets out, I pondered the next item to craft.

I need money...

Current funds: about 73 gold.

3 from the village chief's son quest, 70 from Baron Sellevan's gifts.

In hunter terms, around 73 million won.

Awkward amount.

Big if big, small if small.

I needed to save up.

Enough to scrape by... but magic costs money.

Right now, just a 1st-class enchanter mage.

But not in the future.

So, hoard gold.

A lot of it.

To make money, first assess my resources.

What set me apart from others.

Pinpoint the differentiators to nail the sales point.

Magic enchantment isn't heavily material-dependent.

I pondered at the workbench.

Typical enchantments needed expensive magic reagents and materials.

They ate over half the total cost.

That's why alchemist Stain took interest first.

Enchantment magic and alchemy overlapped somehow.

But I operated differently.

Simple enchantments meant pure profit.

That was my edge.

In that case...

A useful spell came to mind.

Hand of Purification.

Rings using that.

Undead worries are growing by the day.

Since the mine incident, mercenaries sought holy water more often.

Seemed undead sightings were up around the territory.

“Lena, any idea how much a purification ring goes for?”

“Purification ring?”

“Ring with purification effects? Or something similar.”

“Oh, that... wait a sec?”

I tasked Lena with market research.

She'd been busy in the artisan district lately and had prices down.

“Not exactly purification rings, but anti-undead rings are selling well. Around 45 silver each.”

“Yeah? 45 silver...”

I could make one for under 5 silver.

Just base ring material cost.

5 silver is generous... this has real potential.

Conservatively promising—actually market-crushing pricing.

I could even charge more.

Half market price still left plenty profit.

Plus:

This is straight-up broken.

Mass production sequence would cut time even more.

Practically a factory.

This workshop might as well be Theo's Ring Factory.

A smile crept onto my face.

Higher success rates meant another bonus: fewer failures.

Minimal material waste.

“Let's make a sample.”

10-use limit.

Limit from being 1st-class magic.

But limits were good.

Eternal use would hurt repeat sales.

Sorry, but customers needed to keep buying.

Basic business.

Even as a hunter-mage, I thought like a merchant.

But I quickly dropped the arrogance.

I'm no rich noble—who's looking out for who?

Still, I'd come far.

Used to craft slave brands and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠submission rings for the trader.

Now making helpful items.

That was enough.

Whether this ring truly helped people, who knew.