"Hey, Qiosen, long time no see, I thought you were dead."

"Oh, damn Adonis, you’re still alive? I thought you’d gone down to meet your former captain."

Outside the temporary camp at the Lost Lighthouse, two acquainted mercenaries meet and give each other sincere blessings.

Adonis, the mercenary, shook hands with Qiosen and burst into laughter: "Hahaha, not yet. How’s it going this time? Any big gains?"

"Don’t mention it, encountered a rare demon but let it escape, chased it all the way and still didn’t catch it. Even while I was eating, I was thinking about what went wrong."

"Did you figure it out?"

Qiosen clapped his hands, "At that moment, I had a flash of inspiration, realized it must be my Heart of the Magic Puppet being inefficient!"

"A flash of inspiration?"

"It’s a very peculiar feeling, you know, like a minstrel suddenly composing beautiful music, that kind of spark that lets me know how I should improve my power."

"Oh? So you’re going out planning to replace the Heart of the Magic Puppet?"

"I have that idea. I remember someone selling Heart of the Magic Puppet at the camp market, planning to take a look."

"Planning to buy a Heart of the Magic Puppet? I’m a pro, want me to come along?"

"Let’s go, let’s go!"

The two of them agreed to head to the camp market and quickly found the stall selling Heart of the Magic Puppet.

Qiosen was about to inquire about the price when he suddenly noticed a girl beside the stall with a sign. Under the sign was a glowing Heart of the Magic Puppet and an Arcane Furnace.

"For sale: 95% efficiency Heart of the Magic Puppet, low price upgrade for rune link?"

Adonis also saw the sign, exchanged a glance with Qiosen.

"95% efficiency? Must be fake, right?"

"Let’s not rush, ask about the price first."

So the two approached, pointed at the sign, and asked: "Does it really have 95% efficiency?"

The stall girl quickly nodded: "Of course, if it’s less than 1%, I’ll give a full refund. Besides 95% efficiency, it also reduces losses by 50%, extending the lifespan by at least 5 years!"

Adonis said: "Looks fake, this low-tier Heart of the Magic Puppet, how can it possibly achieve such high output efficiency."

Qiosen studied the Heart of the Magic Puppet closely, assessed its properties, and said regretfully: "Looks like the efficiency is quite high. But unfortunately, I don’t have affinity with lightning elements, quite the opposite with earth affinity, can’t use it."

Speaking, he looked at the last line on the sign, "You can upgrade the link device?"

"Of course! Once upgraded, the link device can enable the Heart of the Magic Puppet to achieve at least 80% efficiency. If you don’t believe it, you can give it a try."

Seeing Qiosen looking tempted, Adonis quickly said: "Don’t actually try it, while the link device might not be too important, if something malfunctions, like hesitating at a critical command, it means death!"

"Hey, you’re overthinking. If there’s any issue with the link device, you’ll sense it while controlling the Magic Puppet, unless someone can invade the core of the Heart of the Magic Puppet through the link device. I think it’s unnecessary to suspect such a powerful Puppet Master would use this method to target us."

Speaking, Qiosen pointed to his head, "I have a strong gut feeling, calling me to try, guaranteeing it’s worthwhile."

Then without waiting for Adonis to stop him, he summoned his Magic Puppet.

"This Magic Puppet hasn’t had its Heart properly refined up to Tier Two, the efficiency at Tier One works, but at Tier Two, it’s seriously hindering me. Miss, you need to give it a thorough polish."

"No problem, but place the Heart of the Magic Puppet out for me, or I’ll get auto-counterattacked."

Watching Hilia, who’s finally about to make some sales, handed over some disassembly tools.

Qiosen took the tools, removed the Heart of the Magic Puppet, and handed it to Hilia.

The girl beamed with a bright smile, skillfully detaching the link device, placed the Heart of the Magic Puppet aside, took out a carving knife, and began carefully modifying the link device.

As her first customer, Hilia was very serious, pouring her learned knowledge into the task, even seeking Rose’s assistance for certain aspects to ensure further efficiency enhancements and minimal losses.

Ten minutes later, the rune modifications were completed, and when the final input of magic power activated the link device, causing it to emit a gentle glow, only to fade afterwards.

Hilia reattached the link device to the Heart of the Magic Puppet, handed it back to Qiosen: "Alright, efficiency has increased from 45% to 99%, losses have reduced by 90%, calculating based on your Magic Puppet’s wear and tear, it should extend usage life by 8 years."

"99% real?"

"Real, just try it and see. As the first customer, you get a half-off discount, only 30 silver coins," Hilia smiled.

Adonis immediately shouted: "Why don’t you just outright rob? 30 silver coins could buy three brand new link devices!"

Hilia snorted: "You couldn’t buy a link device that makes the Heart of the Magic Puppet perform at 99% efficiency for 300 silver coins, unless you have a naturally attuned Heart of the Magic Puppet." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"30 silver coins surely feel like a rip-off." Qiosen somewhat regretted his impulsive decision.

Perhaps spending tens of gold coins on a Heart of the Magic Puppet wouldn’t make him blink, but facing a 30 silver coin expense on rune modifications, he felt heartache.

It’s like buying a computer for five thousand bucks, the shopkeeper offers to upgrade your system for fifty bucks, you might think the fifty bucks aren’t worth it.

Although this post-upgrade system could make your CPU performance improve 100%.

"30 silver coins are truly worth it, it was supposed to cost 60 silver coins. If you don’t believe it, you can test it on the spot."

Qiosen, half believing half doubting, reinstalled the Heart of the Magic Puppet and began sensing the changes in his Magic Puppet.

After making the Magic Puppet stretch a few moves, his eyes widened.

"This smooth?"

He quickly used a spell, even more astounded.

"Twice as responsive as before! I suspect controlling the Magic Puppet used to feel like constipation!"

Adonis was stunned too: "Then what does it feel like now?"

"Now it feels as smooth as diarrhea!"

Adonis: "..."

Qiosen controlled the Magic Puppet, moving erratically, attracting many people’s attention, who looked over thinking it might be some kind of special acrobatic show.

Elated for quite a while, he generously handed over 30 silver coins and seized Adonis’s hand, "Honestly, you’re used to the old performance not realizing the advantages of such efficiency, moreover, with such high operational efficiency, I feel the Heart of the Magic Puppet’s wear decreases instead!"

"Does it really have such benefits?"

Adonis decided to give it a try too.

After all, 30 silver coins aren’t much.

When he summoned his Magic Puppet, Hilia smiled.

"Since you’re also my first customer, it’s 30 coins for you too."

Not long after, beside the Heart of the Magic Puppet stall, two people and two puppets flailed their hands and feet.

This scene instantly drew countless mercenaries’ curiosity.

Could it really be that smooth?

So, under the astonished gaze of the shopkeeper next to the stall, Hilia’s business boomed, even boosting 20 gold coins Heart of the Magic Puppet sales!

Until stalling at 10 PM, the shopkeeper watching Hilia leave, his eyes were red.

He hastily called out.

"Wait a moment, could you also upgrade one for me?"

Hilia paused, turned back with a smile: "Of course, it’s 1 gold coin apiece, no haggling."

Shopkeeper: "???"