In the end, Paige Summers had overestimated herself. What she expected to finish in one all-nighter took a full three days to complete. Her eyes were sore and her arms felt like lead. One moment, she was handing the large wooden box to Woody Warren; the next, she had collapsed backward onto the bed behind her.
It startled Woody Warren, who feared the worst, but a quick check revealed she had simply fallen asleep.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
Soon enough, though, his thoughts were no longer on Paige Summers.
When he got to the shop and opened the wooden box, he was utterly stunned by what he saw inside!
It was an incredibly realistic miniature mountain, just under a meter tall, set upon a wide wooden base. A small pavilion with closed doors sat on its peak. The mountain itself was hollow, concealing a cylindrical wooden barrel. At first, he didn't understand its purpose, but a figure on the side of the mountain resembling the Goddess Amara, tilting a Jade Purification Bottle downward over a wine cup that rested on a large lotus leaf, gave him an inkling of an idea.
To test his theory, he carefully poured a bucket of water into the wooden barrel inside the miniature mountain. When he set the lid, which featured the pavilion, back in place, something fascinating happened.
Water quickly poured from the Goddess Amara's Jade Purification Bottle, filling the wine cup perfectly. Then, the lotus leaf slid silently aside. A dumbfounded Woody Warren instinctively picked up the cup. However, the stream from the Jade Purification Bottle didn't stop; it continued to flow downward. It was only then that he noticed the basin at the base of the mountain was actually an oval-shaped, artificial lake!
The lake quickly filled to about eighty percent capacity. Just as Woody Warren began to worry it would overflow, he realized his fears were unfounded. No matter how much water poured from the Jade Purification Bottle, the water level remained constant, rising no higher.
He immediately understood. The water was recirculating.
And that wasn't all. As he stood there staring at the cup in a daze, the doors of the small pavilion on the mountaintop suddenly swung open. A remarkably lifelike wooden figure popped out, bowed, and then began gesturing for him to raise his cup in a toast.
In a daze, Woody Warren drank all the water in the cup. But the little wooden figure didn't stop. Instead, it began to wiggle and squirm comically, as if expressing its displeasure.
With a flash of insight, he quickly placed the cup back on the lotus leaf.
The little wooden figure immediately threw its arms up as if in celebration and retreated back into the pavilion.
As the pavilion doors closed, the lotus leaf holding the cup slid back into place. The stream of water paused for a moment before resuming.
The cup was filled, the lotus leaf slid aside, and the whole cycle began anew...
With the table completely occupied by the device, an ecstatic Woody Warren could only slap his thigh. It turned out that wood could be used for more than just crude tables, chairs, and furniture—it could create something this intricate!
"A masterpiece! This is an absolute masterpiece!"
Once his excitement subsided, he fully understood the meaning behind the questions Paige Summers had asked him three days prior.
The thought of having to give away such a magnificent masterpiece made his heart ache, and they didn't even have a potential buyer yet. After all, he was a wine lover himself!
But... rubbing his empty stomach and thinking about the tab he'd run up over the last few days, he steeled himself, stamped his foot, and headed out the door.
Paige Summers slept for a full day and a night, and then some, before finally waking.
The sky was bright.
She shot up in bed, realizing something was wrong.
There wasn't a single sound coming from outside!
She quietly pushed the door open and peered into the shop.
No one was there. Nothing seemed out of place.
'Woody's not here…' She looked around. The Wine Pourer she had made was gone, too...
Stroking her chin, she spotted a line of text written on a piece of wood next to her workstation.
"Got a lead on a buyer! I took the device. Wait at home for good news, haha!"
Paige Summers clicked her tongue. 'Her boss's contact must be pretty influential to find a buyer this fast! Looks like we'll finally have some stability.'
A small smile touched her lips.
But it vanished just a few seconds later.
Her gaze drifted out the window, where she saw a gaunt woman walking by the side of the road. The woman's eyes, previously dull and lifeless, suddenly flashed with a greedy light as she spotted something up ahead.
The look was feral, and it sent a chill down her spine.
Paige Summers's breath caught in her throat. She didn't let out a long sigh of relief until the woman had vanished completely from sight.
'Life has been too peaceful lately,' she thought. 'I've let my guard down.'
'I was so focused on making money to equip myself, but I neglected the most important thing.'
'Even if I had weapons, they'd be useless if I couldn't wield them properly. It would all be for nothing.'
'I have to remember at all times that there are people out there who want me dead!'