Theanore flexed her fingers and looked at the clock. The book signing was supposed to end in an hour. Her hand was getting cramped from all the writing she did. But she had to make it perfect. To an elf named Neti Zen, she wrote:

Thank you for reading my book, Neti. It means a lot to me. I hope we can be the best of friends. I will send you a paw print from both Hiss and Rip. As well as a cookie.

Much love,

Theanore the nymph.

She closed the book, and she placed it in an envelope to be sent. Then she got the book for one of the editors. A woman called Rita.

I am happy you choose to get through some of the more boring plants, Rita. But they were important for the whole book. I plan to plant them all, and I hope you do so as well.

I am ever grateful for your support,

Theanore the nymph.

The last book she was going to sign for today was the book for her very first purchaser, Rhea Bring.

I hope you have a green thumb, Rhea because I send you some deep wheat with the book. Perfect for flour for noodles and chocolate cookies. You were the first who believed in my book. The first who preordered. Thank you.

Hugs,

Theanore the nymph.

There were fifty minutes left, but Theanore stood up and pushed the trailer with the envelopes for the first five hundred buyers to the post office of the publishing house. The kind young woman there, Alena, began to unload the trailer.

“You are a hard worker, Thea. When is the next book coming up?” Asked Alena, and Theanore blushed.

“Well, I feel like I need to negotiate a little for an enchantment book. The demand is too great for Mari and me alone. But Mari doesn’t want to hear it. Although I have my father on board.”

“You tell Marinus that it is not good of him to keep such a piece of knowledge from everyone. If enchantments became more readily available, then people will have easier lives. Plus, you can sell such a book for fifty gold coins rather than the twenty for which you sold your first book,” said Alena as she kept unloading the books.

“I don’t have the money to publish another book — yet. The Emperor hasn’t put on a new commission for something enchanted. But Mari and I can get to level 9999 now, and we are looking into a way to place three, perhaps even four, enchantments on an item,” said Theanore.

After they paid the taxes on their winnings from all the money they collected for the book, which was included in the main price of 81540 coins, they were left with no money.

That has been fixed in the coming days as people wanted more cookies and the book was selling nicely. Plus, they sold their first level 9999 items for ten thousand gold coins each. The Emperor has sent them a letter demanding a refund for that, and so they send him a new ring with the same enchantments as before, free of charge.

“Hm, the way I understand it, you two can make double enchantments because there are two of you. Why not invite another person to check if you can make another enchantment? Start out with a level 100 one and recalculate from there. Lower level enchantments are very stable,” said Alena, and Theanore smiled at that. But then she frowned.

“That would cut the profit by a third. We already pay half of what we earn to the forest of fireflies’ guardians,” said Theanore. Maybe Lena could agree to enchant with Marinus and her?

“Well, do you enchant with both hands?” Asked Alena. “I heard that grandpa Thinker can enchant with a single hand. Heck, with a single finger.”

“You mean if we somehow manage to enchant with a single hand, to start with, we can place up to four enchantments?” Asked Theanore, and Alena nodded.

“It is worth checking out the theory. But since it is mine, you tell Marinus that if it works, you have to publish it in a book. Just imagine! A single item with four, twenty, and even more enchantments on it! Why enchanted items will become a common item then!”

Theanore nodded in excitement. But then their profit would dry up from the enchantment front, wouldn’t it? But if it helped people’s lives…

Besides, even though Marinus, and she has given the secret of dual enchantment to grandpa Thinker he couldn’t do it, even with grandma Thinker’s help. Possibly, it was harder than it seemed?

“I’ll tell him. And we will test the theory, Alena. If it has merit, I’ll get Marinus to help me write the book for sure,” said Theanore. Alena ruffled Theanore’s hair and showed her the empty trailer.

“Would you be a dear and get it back in its place, sweetie?” Asked the clerk. Theanore placed both hands on the handles and pushed the trailer back to her desk.

She was given a cubicle for the duration of the book signing days. Seeing as many paid extra for a personal message added to their book, Theanore was sure she would be spending a lot of time here.

It was half an hour until her work shift was over, so she sat down on her chair and got to calculate on a piece of paper. If for every full batch of crystals for two people for the higher levels had to be placed half of the amount plus a couple more, then for two people using each hand should be half plus eight more?

It was a good start. And if they started with level 100 then… Wait, did it matter which hand will have the base number of crystals? So far, Theanore has always used the base crystal number, and she sat on the left. Maybe if she used her left hand for the base number and…

Hmm, did Marinus need to use the base number too now with his left hand? There were four base combinations that they could start with, and Theanore’s head hurt from thinking about the rest.