"Yes, just for one gold coin, only this once, don’t miss it," Hilia said with a smile.

"No need, thanks, one gold coin is enough for me to buy ten linking devices."

"The linking devices you buy aren’t that efficient, 50 silver coins will do!"

"Not even for 1 silver coin."

"Alright then."

Hilia regretfully stood up, looked at the other Hearts of the Magic Puppet at this stall, all of them were artificial, with linking devices having the same runes, only able to utilize about 30% of the Heart’s performance.

She had an idea, "Boss, this second-level advanced artificial Heart of the Magic Puppet, I’ll take it for a flat price of 10 gold coins, if you’re selling, I’ll buy, if not, forget it."

The factory price of this Heart of the Magic Puppet was estimated to be 8-10 gold coins. Hilia wasn’t very sure, so she just quoted 10 gold coins.

"10 gold coins, are you kidding, at least 20 gold coins, it has rare attributes."

"Then forget it."

Hilia was ready to leave as she spoke.

"Hey hey hey, wait a minute, wait a minute," the stall owner quickly stopped her.

"Anything else?" Hilia turned back.

The stall owner gritted his teeth, "10 gold coins it is, it’s been two days without any sales."

"You made these linking devices yourself, right? They’re not like natural Hearts of the Magic Puppet that can be made casually; these linking devices only achieve 30% performance, of course, people won’t buy them."

"Didn’t you buy them?"

"Boss, I don’t like hearing you say that. You need to add an Arcane Furnace, otherwise, I won’t buy it."

"Ah, aren’t you teasing me? Arcane Furnaces are very expensive."

"How expensive could it be? Your Arcane Furnace here, at most, sells for 100 silver coins. Are you giving it or not? If not, then forget it, you’re not talking nicely!"

"Alright, my fault, I’ll throw in an Arcane Furnace for you." The boss handed over the Arcane Furnace and Heart of the Magic Puppet reluctantly.

Hilia chuckled, dropped 10 gold coins, and took the Heart of the Magic Puppet and Arcane Furnace.

Then, she moved to one side, thought for a moment, and said to the boss, "Boss, may I borrow a stool?"

"Sure."

The boss brought out a folding stool.

He was curious to see what this young Female Mage was up to.

Under the boss’s gaze, Hilia disassembled the linking device, took out an engraving knife, and began modifying the runes on it.

An artificial Heart of the Magic Puppet isn’t like a natural one where the linking device gets damaged if removed. Artificial linking devices can be disassembled for repair and replacement. This is also a way to distinguish between natural and artificial ones, albeit costly.

Natural linking devices are very expensive, costing at least 100 silver coins.

The boss watched Hilia’s operations with an amused smile.

"Haha, planning to buy my Heart of the Magic Puppet, modify the linking device, and then resell it? Naive, who buys a Heart of the Magic Puppet for its linking device? Don’t they all just attach whatever and make their own at home?"

From this scene, the boss was sure Hilia was a complete newbie, unaware of the industry, not knowing that buyers usually make their own linking devices once they get home.

Few people care about the original linking device.

That’s what he thought.

But he overlooked that non-Puppet Masters, Mages unfamiliar with runes, even if they DIY the linking device, the efficiency wouldn’t be too high, at best improving by 10% over the original, with little optimization for wear.

Rose watched Hilia work on the linking device and asked with a smile, "Weren’t you going to sell scrolls? Why are you selling linking devices now?"

Hilia replied, "I didn’t see any blank scrolls for sale here. The scrolls I brought are only enough for my own use, can’t sell any."

"Simple, just make your own blank scrolls."

Hilia pouted, "I might as well start a magical beast farm to make scrolls then."

As she spoke, Hilia had already completed the modification of the linking device.

During her exams, she had engraved this type of linking device before, and starting from scratch took a lot more time than modifying.

The exams took so long mainly because she was altering fixed standard runes.

But for this Heart of the Magic Puppet’s linking device, the boss had only engraved a basic linking rune, which could easily be modified.

This type of rune is known for easy modification, without worrying about damaging existing runes. The foundation is set, so modifications are quick.

Thus, Hilia’s modifications were rapid, and she finished quickly.

She placed the linking device back, and the entire Heart of the Magic Puppet seemed to brighten up.

If you compared it to the pile of Hearts of the Magic Puppet beside the boss, you’d see the linking device’s runes had become much more complex, visibly enhancing the Heart’s efficiency.

Rose watched Hilia admire her creation, amused, "Your idea is good, but this is a mercenary camp. The people here either already have magic puppets or can’t afford them. They’re not your target audience. Who will you sell it to?"

"Someone will need it," Hilia giggled, "Besides, I’m not necessarily selling the Heart of the Magic Puppet itself, it’s too expensive for mercenaries, but there is something they can afford."

"Linking devices?"

"Rune enhancement for linking devices!"

Hilia took out the Arcane Furnace she got with the Heart of the Magic Puppet, directly connected it through the linking device to the Heart, input some Magic Power into the Arcane Furnace, illuminating both the furnace and the Heart.

After finishing, she thought for a moment and said to the boss nearby, "Boss, may I borrow a board?"

The boss casually handed her a disassembled packaging wooden board.

"Are you trying to sell a modified Heart of the Magic Puppet? It’s useless; it won’t sell anyway."

Hilia just smiled and didn’t respond.

She took out a pen and wrote some words on the sign.

[For Sale:

95% Efficiency Heart of the Magic Puppet

Low-cost Rune Enhancement for Linking]

After writing, she found a stick and a rope, tied them to the sign, and set up a stall in the open space nearby.

She checked the time.

"It’s 6 p.m. now. I can stay till 10 p.m. Four hours, I should get a sale!"

The young girl was full of confidence.

Ten minutes passed.

No response.

Thirty minutes passed.

Someone glanced and left.

An hour later, night set in.

Someone came to ask about the Heart of the Magic Puppet’s price, and after finding out it was 20 gold coins, shook their head and left.

The boss beside her laughed heartily.

"Little girl, seems like you don’t have what it takes to be a merchant."

Hilia, undeterred, said, "It’s normal at the start; everyone is coming back now, it’s definitely going to sell soon."

"Alright then, I’ll wait, hahaha!"

Two hours later.

The area became bustling, and many people came to inquire, but still no sales.

Hilia started to lose her composure.

The girl’s confidence was gradually fading.

Rose watched her with amusement.

No need to mention that mercenaries busy with tasks would hardly buy a Heart of the Magic Puppet at the camp, but offering low-cost rune enhancements was like setting up a stall outside a workplace claiming to offer cheap phone system upgrades. Who cares?

Mercenaries busy all day are looking to relax and replenish supplies. They’ll only pay attention to stalls related to entertainment and supplies.

Rune enhancements?

No interest.

The task-doing folks either had runes efficient enough or had no idea of the benefits of efficiency upgrades.

Just like people used to $10 headphones can’t imagine the difference with $500 headphones.

Seeing Hiliya’s anxious expression, Rose shook his head.

Well then, let me help you out a bit.