From that day on, Woody Warren noticed that Paige Summers had changed.

After receiving the list of required items, Marcus Monroe delivered everything that very morning.

The hardest woods, resilient bands, rare alloys... In short, every single item was of the highest quality.

Staring at the room, now filled to the brim, Paige Summers began to work day and night.

This level of intensity was incomparable to her time at the furniture store. She compressed her time for eating and talking to the bare minimum. It was as if she couldn’t bear to leave her room for a single second, driven by a profound sense of urgency.

Woody Warren was crestfallen.

He was nominally Paige Summers’s master, but in reality, he could do nothing but watch from the sidelines.

His sense of failure was so overwhelming that even the wine Marcus Monroe had thoughtfully sent over no longer tasted good.

However, this idle life of his didn’t last long. Two days later, Paige Summers found him, holding several complex blueprints.

"Boss, it’s your turn to show what you can do! I’ve already drawn up the designs for the Wine Pourer and all the necessary parts. I definitely can’t do this alone, so you have to help!"

The gloomy Woody Warren instantly perked up, but then he hesitated. "Can I really do it? This isn’t cheap furniture, you know. What if..."

Paige Summers chuckled.

"Come on, Boss. You have so little faith in yourself? That’s just sad! Artifact Making is something you get the hang of with practice, isn’t it? No one’s an expert from the start. If it doesn’t work the first time, you try a second time! Besides..." She winked slyly. "It’s rare to have so many high-quality materials to practice with. If you don’t practice now, you might not get another chance!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Goaded and encouraged by her, Woody Warren immediately puffed out his chest. "Don’t worry, I’ll definitely do my best!"

Once a person gets serious, they discover that things that once seemed difficult are not as insurmountable as they imagined.

Paige Summers had originally just wanted to help him learn to make things other than tables and chairs, opening up more paths for him in the future.

But she soon discovered that while Woody Warren might not become a master of Artifact Making, he could certainly become a fine craftsman. The parts he produced according to the blueprints weren’t yet exquisite, but they fit together perfectly. With just a little finishing work, they were completely usable.

He was a huge help!

Paige Summers was relieved to find she could free up more time for her own projects.

In fact, she was already doing them.

If Shawn Monroe were to show up now, she would never be foolish enough to go out with him. She had already turned the entire room into a terrifying deathtrap. From the doors and windows to the tables and chairs, and even the chandelier overhead—if she wanted, she could be completely invincible within these walls, using the weaponized mechanisms she’d installed to drive him out in humiliation.

But Shawn Monroe was out of town.

She didn’t feel any regret about this. ’That Marcus Monroe is probably no saint, either!’

Next, she began to arm herself.

’It’s rare to get my hands on metal; it would be a shame not to make good use of it.’

Before long, a beautiful new hairband appeared in her hair. The elastic band and the small flower with petals on top could be removed when needed, becoming a retractable whip. Not to mention the small barbs on the tips of the petals. If someone were caught by it, getting off with full-body convulsions and an immediate loss of combat ability would be considered getting off easy.

That’s right—all the weapons she made were poisoned.

Not with a pure toxin, but one that had been diluted thousands of times over.

She did this not out of soft-heartedness, but because she believed that killing was often not the best solution.

In addition to the hairband, there were also the bracelet and shoes.

The slightly wide bracelet on her wrist could fire more than ten sharp needles. Since she couldn’t afford to waste too much metal, the replacement cartridges were filled with wooden needles she had made. Though they were wood, the materials Marcus Monroe had provided were no ordinary stock. After processing them, their sharpness exceeded her expectations, in no way inferior to the original Crossbow Arrows tipped with metal.

As for her shoes, she had modified the toes so a sharp blade could pop out at her will.

The things she made were all small and might not cause much harm on their own, but it was a different story once they were coated in poison. And combined with the element of surprise...

Paige Summers felt like she was turning into a walking vial of poison!

The final poison was her lipstick.

In a way, Shawn Monroe had been her inspiration for this.

Exquisite lipstick was an absolute luxury in this era. Shawn Monroe had someone deliver it the day he left, supposedly as an apology for offending her. Paige Summers didn’t care if his apology was sincere or not. But if anyone ever thought of taking liberties with her so casually again, the consequences would be severe!

With this in mind, she had specifically tested the poison to confirm it was completely ineffective on her before boldly adding it to the lipstick.

Having more ways to protect herself, she felt a little more at ease.

But she knew very well that no matter how many of these little gadgets and tricks she made, they were still just minor ploys. If she truly wanted to stop being at the mercy of others, she had to rely on advancing her own superpower.

That was the only real solution.

Fortunately, she wasn’t short on Crystal Cores for the time being.

The sale of the first Wine Pourer to The Citadel was a done deal, and Woody Warren had already given Paige her share of the Crystal Cores.

He had insisted on taking only a twenty-percent cut, but she had forced him to take forty percent.

After all, Woody Warren was someone who had helped her during her most difficult times. She would never forget her roots.

Even at sixty percent, her share was still a full thirty Second-order Crystal Cores.

They were perfect for her, a Second Order with a superpower. Plus, each Crystal Core took at least a few days to fully absorb, so they would last her a good while.

After spending several days arming herself, she began to schedule her time efficiently. She’d work on the Wine Pourer in the morning, practice using her weapons and coordinating her speed and movements in the afternoon, and dedicate her evenings entirely to absorbing Crystal Cores and meditating. In less than half a month, she could feel the energy inside her had become much more substantial.

Making progress was certainly something to be happy about, but it wasn’t the only good thing that had happened.

Her little pet bird, the cute one she had taken in, had fallen into a deep slumber right after she was injured and lost consciousness. It was breathing, but no amount of calling could wake it. Paige Summers had thought it was probably crushed or hit and wasn’t going to make it. But since it was still alive, she couldn’t bring herself to abandon it.

Then one day, it suddenly woke up!

And it didn’t just wake up. Upon closer inspection, Paige Summers discovered it had grown by more than a full size. It was also in high spirits, its eyes looked much more intelligent, as if it could understand her words. The most interesting part was its wings, which had grown to twice its body length, allowing it to occasionally glide for short distances.

’A pet that can fly...’ It was only then that Paige Summers realized just how useful it could be!

’For things like reconnaissance and delivering messages, who could possibly be better than a bird in the sky?’

She resolved that once it could truly fly, she would train it well and make Sweetie the best partner ever!

Her only regret was the mark on her chest.

It seemed to have dimmed slightly, perhaps because there was no more goodwill flowing into it. Naturally, it could no longer provide her with energy.

Paige Summers felt that letting such a huge cheat ability go to waste was a real shame.

’All I can do now is hope for the future!’