Mythshaper

For my second project, Mum gave me complete freedom to create whatever I liked. She even encouraged me to use all my engraving skills and knowledge to design something great. I didn’t hold back.

Instead of making another flask, I designed something entirely different, something beyond anyone's grasp: a large cask for fermenting alcohol.

Jokes aside, a fermentation container would sell for a good amount of leafs, and that was all I aimed for at the moment, aside from gaining the learning experience. I didn’t even know how much wealth I would need to accumulate to make worthy gifts for everyone, but as with most things, the more the better.

Diana’s background as the daughter of an innkeeper and local ale brewer provided invaluable insights into increasing the utility of my product. Of course, she couldn’t explain the technicalities needed to aid fermentation, keep the alcohol cold, or optimise other aspects of the brewing process, as her knowledge of runes was only a week deep. However, she could share in-depth, first-hand experiences of all the challenges her mother faced while brewing. That was all I needed, along with a few more hints from Mum.

It also made me realise how narrow my worldview was when it came to anything unrelated to essence and the magic of the world. I set that thought aside for now and poured all my focus into designing.

It took me half an hour to finalise the design and another hour to carve the runes, as most of them were of the intermediate grade.

"Simple hardwood is enough for it," she advised, reviewing my design. "Using metal or essence-rich wood for a simple vessel like this would be wasteful."

Runes erode faster on wood, not to mention that not all woods efficiently transfer essence. The ones that do cost far more than regular iron or steel. But Mum wasn’t finished.

"Your design isn’t bad," she said, sketching over my blueprint and refining it, making it even simpler before handing it back to me. "But you need to consider usability and marketability as well."

I stared at the changes she made. The rune formation was the same; she had simply distributed it evenly across the cask, leaving the upper part empty.

"Ease of use," she explained, "is an essential aspect an artisan must consider. Two artisans could create the same product, but the one with better usability would always sell more."