Chapter 52: Engraving

“Miss Hidden Moon, as a rare Level 10 Alchemist, we at Golden Skull are happy to do you a small favor. Just help us take on some complex, less desirable potion commissions in the future.”

The supervisor’s words were clear, and I understood his meaning.

Commissions can be submitted to multiple auction houses simultaneously. When one is accepted, a magical message notifies the Auction House Association, and other houses remove the listing.

In short, auction houses act as a third-party platform. The buyer sets a price, the house takes the payment, covers material costs, and profits from the difference, while the maker earns a modest fee.

Take Gu Xuanyun’s commission: the [Holy High-Tier Revival Potion] costs two hundred gold coins. I get twenty, and Golden Skull, after material, transport, and acquisition fees, pockets five to ten gold coins.

Each complex commission I complete nets them two to five percent of the total price—a tidy sum over time.

So, auction houses go out of their way to please certified masters like me, offering extra services as a matter of course.

“Don’t worry. If you can get me a pass, I’ll take more commissions from Golden Skull.”

I nodded, and the supervisor gave a solemn nod in return.

“Understood. I’ll arrange for your pass, but it may take a few days. The garrison commander’s furious after yesterday’s attack, so it could be a while… I need to be clear about that.”

“I get it. As long as I can get it when I deliver to Gu Xuanyun, that’s fine.”

I nodded.

I can’t leave without money anyway, so getting the pass when Gu Xuanyun returns works.

After settling with the supervisor, I left Golden Skull with my carving tools and materials, heading home to prepare my trump card.

Back home, I eyed my table cluttered with potion bottles, considered cleaning, then gave up. Instead, I cleared the dining table and started carving the crystal.

A mistake in potion-making can be fixed by backtracking, but a single error in crystal carving ruins it as a summoning medium.

Taking a deep breath, I focused completely, picked up the carving pen, and began inscribing the summoning runes.

The pen was less a pen and more a needle—finer than an embroidery needle, even.

The runes on the crystal were tinier than a mosquito, visible only with a magnifying spell.

I used my mental energy to carve while maintaining a minor magnification spell to see my work clearly.

This required vast carving experience, precise mental control, and a hand as steady as a machine.

That last part was tough for me now—

In my past life, with my immense mental energy, I carved remotely, fast and steady, like any master carver.

It’s been ages since I carved by hand.

This was a huge challenge—carving is far harder than potion-making.

My current frail body forced me to rest every fifteen minutes to relax my arm before continuing.

So, in an hour, only half was spent carving. The other half, I lay on the sofa, resting my arm and meditating to recover mental energy.

It’s been so long since I carved by hand, I’m rusty. To avoid mistakes, I had to go slow.

The progress was agonizingly slow, but I could only be patient… Luckily, patience is one thing I don’t lack.