"Master Craftsman Shen Bao? I never heard of that name, still, what do you think about this," the bald man said as he threw the gourd my way.
Immediately, my eyes began processing the gourd, it felt as if it was the most natural thing to do, especially after those months of work in my study.
"Pretty intricate, but faulty," I said.
"You too!" the homeless man said, "I swear I saw a man flying using it, he gave it to me in exchange for a bite. I'm not lying."
"I didn't say that I can't fly, but the one who made it actually gave it to you because he knew it's faulty. Look here," I said as I tapped at the bottom of the Gourd.
The thing immediately grew to a pony's size. Earning the gawking shocked eyes of everyone present, and it even hovered in the room.
"The one who inscribed this failed to make proper connections of the writings, thus if someone with…" I trailed as I looked at everyone, "I don't wish to offend anyone here, but I have to speak truth." I said.
The three looked at me while frowning unable to understand what I was talking about.
"Right, so as I was saying, if someone inexperienced were to look at the gourd they'd think it's inoperable and faulty, but this is of no fault of yours," I said to the three as I saw their expressions change, I don't even know them and I don't want to offend them, the last thing I want is to make enemies, I'm not here to slap faces. That stuff only works for those story heroes because they have plot armor protecting them, if I were to try my luck I'm going to end up six feet under. I'm not strong enough to start a face-slapping contest, at least right now.
The three looked at me, annoyed, but thanks to having informed them that it was not their fault that they were inexperienced I was able to continue my train of thought.
"Actually, I have to correct myself, the more masterful a person is, the harder it is for them to notice this flaw.
-I had to switch my tone, they seemed unimpressed when I first called them inexperienced-
The one who inscribed this had tried to make several inscriptions work together, but due to his lack of knowledge and his constant attempt at correcting it, he managed to cover his inscription error by sheer luck. So, the gourd will actually consume more Qi from the user than needed due to these excessive and extra inscriptions. So, this thing is faulty, and the attempt at correcting that fault further ruined this Gourd."
The bald man immediately interjected, "Ha! As brother Shen Bao had said, I told you it was faulty!" the old man started trying to curry favor with me and hide his ignorance, an attempt everyone noticed but no one spoke about it, it was a silent agreement between them all, stroking their own ego in a sense as to not appear dumb.
"Right, like Master Shen Bao had said, the more promising an Inscriber is, the harder it is to notice this flaw, it is amateurish but hidden with many other restrictions that made no sense, the whole inscription would make one see so many mistakes in it that it actually covers the erroneous primary writing that commands Qi consumption," the old hunch back inscriber added, though his statement was correct, if I didn't hint it to him, he'd never get it.
"We still have much to learn, Brother Shen Bao, a true Master Craftsman, even talented such as us should have seen that mistake, your knowledge humbles us," the younger of the three said.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you could have figured it out given more time, I think I lucked out because I came late and was out of context thus, I was able to see from a perspective you haven't seen." I continued stroking their ego, after all, a little bit of praise costs nothing, and it could take you a long way if used correctly.
"So, is this thing worth anything?" the beggar asked.
"As it is now, no, but once the restrictions are re-written, removed, and corrected, I think it would be a good flying treasure," I said.
"Yeah, and that will probably cost a lot, the type of money you can't afford." The bald man said, "I can buy it from you for twenty Spirit Stones. The bald monk said.
"I'd rather sell it to this man," the beggar said as he pointed at me.
"You're putting me in a tough spot, I won't vie for something brother…" I trailed as the girl never introduced the men.
"I'm Zian Yufan," the bald man said, "And this is Master Craftsman Han Xiao, and Gang Bei," the man mentioned the other two craftsmen by name.
"Right, as I said, I won't vie for something brother Zian has their eyes on," I replied.
"Hah! No, actually, your interjection and saved us a lot of time, I actually wanted to buy it and gift it to brother Shen Bao for enlighting us. It is only natural!" the man said, still trying to curry favor with me.
"Thank you, I won't be polite then," I said.
The beggar took the twenty spirit stones and left the store and I had a gourd for my own personal experiences.
"Would brother have some time to share a meal with us, we would like to discuss some of our concerns with you." Zian Yufan said.
Damn, everyone wants knowledge, I have to play my hand right.
"Sure, I would like to exchange pointers with masters of the trade. Still, I came here for something." I said.
"What is it you wish to get?" Zian asked.
Now, I had two options, first was to speak and show how ignorant I am "I want a pink spirit stone!" that would sound dumb as heck especially after all that work trying to make everyone think I'm actually smarter than them.
So, I took the second option, I pulled out the destroyed remains of the Pink Spirit stone and showed it to them.
"Oh! A High-Grade Spirit stone! Those are really rare! How did you find it?"
'Now, that was fregging close! If I were to show them the stone and say this was a medium spirit stone it would have immediately blown my cover, that attendant however was clueless and thought I needed a Medium Spirit Stone, and due to her words I almost ruined myself.'
"Yeah, I'm in need of a few of them. I'm ready to pay any price."
"I have a couple, I'd like to exchange them over a few pointers," the old man said.
"I have one," the dark-skinned man said, "And I'm willing to gift it to brother Shen Bao just in thanks for your enlightening session.
"I have three, and I can gift them to you in return…" Zian Yufan said and trailed off but I finished his sentence for him.
"I'll fix the gourd, re-inscribe it and show you the method," I smiled at the man who had a wide grin on his face.
The gourd would need a lot of time to repair it, and he obviously lacked the experience, showing him how it was done would be a great boon to his knowledge.
Surprisingly, these Master Craftsmen were not as talented as they give off the feeling. I only studied Inscribing Restrictions for a few months and I'm league ahead of them, and they seemed to have spent ages in this domain. Could it be the Mind's Eye? After all when I was working I had the Mind's Eye on full throttle. Anyway, my offer was tempting enough and I needed those High-Grade Spirit Stones.
"Right then, let's head to Fu Shi restaurant, it has food that can take you to heaven and back," Zian mentioned, and the two others looked as if they had hungered for centuries, the dark-skinned man even wiped some drool out of his face.
"How did brother Zian manage to land a reservation?" the old man Han Xiao asked.
"I managed to inscribe the Young Prince's sword a few days ago and he gave me a token to visit the Imperial Restaurant and I could take as many as I wish, so this one is on me!" the bald man laughed as he walked first.
'Well, I wasn't going to say no to free food, also I managed to obtain what I came for. So why not follow after these three, who knows I might encounter something interesting.'