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Kisha raised an eyebrow at 008—give it an inch, and it wanted to run a mile.

Still, she had to admit she had more than enough system points to burn, so upgrading 008 wasn't really an issue.

Besides, she could manage without it for a while.

With a sigh, she nodded in agreement. It would ultimately serve her better in the long run anyway.

[System Upgrade to Level 7 Authorization]

[Cost: 50,000 points]

[Accept] or [Decline]

'Hmm, this system upgrade sure costs a lot,' Kisha thought, eyeing the steep point deduction. 'Maybe it'll unlock new system features after the upgrade?' She wasn't entirely sure, but it was possible, just like how 'Smelt' and 'Synthesis' were unlocked back when her system reached Level 5.

Still, this was uncharted territory for her. She'd never upgraded the system this far before. In her past lives, she had relied on free upgrades from completed missions. Only now did she finally have the confidence—and enough surplus points—to invest in such a major upgrade on her own.

As soon as Kisha clicked 'Accept', 008 went completely silent.

She didn't dwell on it. Instead, her focus shifted back to the marble table where the potion continued to brew.

Then, feeling a spark of inspiration, she returned to her own worktable and picked up a fresh parchment.

She began the inscription process again—but this time, she subtly altered the elemental properties.

The change was small, almost imperceptible, yet significant enough.

This time, she completed the inscription two seconds faster than before. She was starting to get the hang of it.

One of the advantages of crafting magic scrolls was that the user wouldn't feel any burden of using their own mana to chant a spell.

That responsibility fell on the inscriber.

During the creation process, the inscriber infused the scroll with their own mana, so the scroll only needed to be activated later. It was built purely for convenience.

After some time, the parchment glowed softly—another sign of success. The Magic Scroll was complete. With a satisfied nod, Kisha opened her store interface and accessed the Sales Channel.

[Would you like to list the Combat-type Wind Magic Scroll (Beginner) on the Sales Channel?]

[Yes]?[No]

She tapped [Yes], and another familiar window popped up.

[Please Set the Price]

[4,999]

[Done]?[Cancel]

Kisha confirmed with [Done], and just like that, the scroll was listed.

Almost instantly, followers of her store—eagerly waiting for restocks—appeared in waves.

They spotted the new item sitting at the top of the list. Within a second of listing the scroll, Kisha's inbox was flooded with messages.

Curious, she began checking them one by one.

[Dragon Slayer: Merchant, is this a joke?

Are you crazy, or just unaware? Are you trying to extort your customers, or do you honestly not know?

Low-tier Magic Scrolls don't go for that kind of price.

Usually, they're around 100 system points.

A scroll priced at 5,000 system points should at least be mid to high-tier, depending on the magic inscribed.

But the one you listed seems to be a mere 1st Circle wind spell. ]

[Dragon Slayer: You'd better take it down or adjust the price before someone reports you for price gouging. If you made a mistake, fine, just check other stores before setting a price like that. I'm just trying to save you trouble.]

[The Clown of the Abyss: Hey Merchant, is this scroll for real?]

[The Clown of the Abyss: If you're messing with me, I swear I'll curse you to death.]

Kisha stopped reading the messages and left the Magic Scroll listed in her store, unfazed by the complaints. She wasn't worried about whether it would sell. Even if no one bought it, she could simply take it back and use it herself.

With this scroll, she could cast an elemental attack even without having awakened an elemental ability—who wouldn't want that kind of advantage?

Besides, in her world, this kind of scroll was extremely valuable. She could easily trade it for something worthwhile if needed. The only real drawback was the cost of creating it. Because it used an advanced arcane magic circle, it required significantly more mana than usual.

With the sheer number of strokes involved in the inscription, she had already used up nearly 100 mana points. Fortunately, her healing dome had leveled up, accelerating her mana recovery, so it wasn't much of a concern.

With both potion-making and magic scroll inscribing happening simultaneously, Kisha was consuming a total of 125 mana—100 for creating the Magic Scroll and 25 for the potion.

However, with her mana pool already exceeding 700, and a recovery rate of 2 mana per minute, she wasn't at any risk of running dry.

Even with the continuous drain, she was comfortably keeping up.

On her third attempt, Kisha successfully completed a Combat-type Lightning Magic Scroll (Beginner).

Through this, she realized that as long as she fully understood the concept of elemental magic—and knew how to properly align the four cardinal directions with the elemental properties—she could create any type of scroll: fire, earth, water, even ice.

Once she gained greater control over her mana, she could eventually combine two elements to craft more powerful spells and inscribe them into advanced scrolls.

Remarkably, every scroll she had completed so far contained a 3rd-circle spell, while her own mana heart currently supported only up to the 2nd circle.

That meant the scrolls she was crafting were already more powerful than her own direct casting ability, assuming she were to learn spell chanting like a traditional mage.

Once she was done, Kisha listed more of the finished Magic Scrolls in her store, keeping the price steady at 4,999.

Then suddenly—

Ding!

[The Crusader has bought Combat-type Lightning Magic Scroll (Beginner) ×1]

Kisha blinked in surprise, then let out a small chuckle. Judging by the name and the timing, this customer was either curious… or just had way too many system points to burn.

But in reality, the customer wasn't just casually browsing—he was in a desperate situation. At that very moment, The Crusader was on the front lines of an alien invasion in his home world. He had been assigned to lead the cleanup operation while reinforcements were still en route.

Surrounded by hundreds of grotesque aliens—creatures that resembled one-eyed octopuses with slanted mouths full of jagged teeth—he was the last one still standing. Most of his subordinates had already been shredded into mincemeat and devoured by those nightmarish maws.

Desperate for any kind of help, he scoured the sales channel for a lifeline. In a panic, he accidentally clicked on Kisha's Magic Scroll. By the time he realized it wasn't what he intended to buy, it was too late. He had no time to request a refund, and no system points left to spare.

"Shit! Just my damn luck!" The Crusader growled. "I was aiming for a 2nd Circle high-tier Lightning Combat Magic Scroll, not this low-tier trash!"

He stared at the scroll in his hand, his face twisted in frustration. "Why the hell was this thing priced like a high-tier scroll? And why was it the first damn option?!" He punched his thigh over and over, cursing under his breath. "Damn it! I clicked the wrong one!"

There was no time to fix his mistake. Behind him loomed a steep cliff. In front of him, an ocean of one-eyed, jagged-toothed alien horrors.

No escape.

___

Thank you, BlueJen and opallibra, for the Golden Tickets!!!