Bev’s fantasy of wealth was quickly interrupted when she remembered that she had to pay a tax on all guild related business. But she would still make a tremendous profit.

  “So kid, here’s my contact info. Bring four more daggers as soon as they are ready.”

  Sidera wishes to swap contacts. Agree?

  Yes

  “Good, my first piece of advice, stop working on such cheap materials. Buy the best you can afford and enchant that. You clearly have the skill to not waste it. Second piece of advice, decide what you want. You are young. So it may go over your head. But you can spend the rest of your life pumping out these daggers. If that is what you want then great. If you want more, figure it out.”

  With that Sidera got up and left.

  Senec said, “She got burned out by the business side of forging. Chose to become more of a merchant with a side of researcher. I knew she would help a young lady with potential.”

  He stood up and said, “Well, our business is done. Unless you need anything else I have other work to do. Feel free to browse.”

  They said their goodbyes and Bev went back to the shop. Daggers weren’t her thing. Not for personal use. But Kennon specifically asked for a staff. And maybe they would have something that interested her. Or at least spark her imagination.

  Walking down the staff aisle she was shocked at how little mundane and T1 material staves there were. And they were all so basic! There was only one person selling anything with Mana conductivity. And he had a sold out sign along with a form to join a waiting list.

  Bev talked to the merchant selling T1 mana store staves. Something that she saw little use for. Sure it would help in an extended engagement. But mana conductivity was so much better in every way.

  Bev said, “Why is the selection of staves so barebones?”

  The man looked her over and asked, “Smith? Or are you a mage in armor? Buying for a friend?”

  Bev smiled and said, “A little of all of that. My brother wants a staff though.”

  “With your age I guess it makes sense not to know. Anyone that can inscribe mana conductivity or better tends to work on higher tier materials. It really starts to open up at T2.”

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  Looking ahead Bev could see that a crowd was gathered not far ahead of her.

  The man continued, “there is also the fact that the most requested staves and wands are prescribed spell shooters. As a smith you can make a fortune selling fire ball staves.”

  Bev was slightly confused.

  “Why choose that over plain mana conductivity? It can’t be more efficient.”

  The man laughed and said, “Simple, it would be useless for any mage without high level spells. And casting is slow. They couldn’t use it more than once in a fight. Unless they were a true archmage. But they get their stuff custom made.”

  Bev found that hard to believe. Kennon could cast fire ball in seconds. And surely even slow casters could have it inscribed on their core.

  “Do those staves have gathering arrays? To help them charge faster?” Bev said.

  That was the only thing that made sense. If it gathered on its own, and weaved the spell on its own. That would explain why it was in such demand. And why it needed higher materials. Gathering arrays had to be big to have any reasonable speed.

  The man stared at her like she had grown a second head. “That kind of thing is for archmages and city fortifications. You must be very new to the industry if you think any random person can make a control array capable of handling a self casting fire ball.”

  Bev nodded and politely excused herself. The thing was, she knew she could make such an array. She would need a little help from Tutor on the specifics. And the spell would be rather weak to be self firing. But the basic design was already taking form in her head. Was she really that advanced?

  Or did people with those skills just not sell here?

  Either way the man was right. The available staves were about as he described. There was one design that caught her attention though. It seemed unpopular. But it could hold several different spells of various strengths ready to fire at once. It seemed perfect for Kennon. Sadly it was one hundred gold. And Bev was certain she could make it herself soon enough.

  Polearms went much the same as daggers. Plenty of high quality goods. With prices to match. She took a peak at T3 polearms and was shocked by the power some displayed. There was actually one with a life steal enchantment. She wanted that one. Badly. But she could tell it was far too advanced for her to make. And it cost a thousand gold.

  It did give perspective on the skill of the average enchanter though. Her array in the dagger was hardly unique. But every time she saw a weapon that would have had it, or something like it the weapon was over priced. And they only tended to be on higher tier gear. Her dagger was hardly unique. The unique thing was that it came from an initiate working on T1 steel.

  It made sense she supposed. Having more complicated enchants on higher tier materials. Sidera suggested that she do that herself. But what would the poorer adventurers use? Wealth came with power. This was a universal fact. But the powerful didn’t need weapons that shot fire balls for them. They could do it themselves. It was a little different for melee fighters. But generally stronger weapons would do more good in the hands of the weak.

  A sad fact of economics she supposed. There wasn’t much she could do about it. Not if she wanted to afford better things herself.

  It still rubbed her the wrong way. She was done here.