Even though recently, fourth-rank spirit ingots had seen declining sales in the underworld due to SEIU's rollout of budget-grade paper offerings, Song Miaozhu wasn't worried. SEIU's plans were never meant to be sustainable anyway.
After urging her little paper servants to continue practicing their ingot crafting, Song Miaozhu turned her focus back to designing a new paper skirt. Not having to sell unranked paper crafts was a blessing. She could finally catch up on her studies in the Secret Art of Paper Crafting.
She spent a few hours working on it. Once completed, the skirt materialized in the underworld as a finely made, elegant dress.
She took photos and printed them out, documenting the creation process. While her hands still remembered the rhythm, she made several more versions in different colors. This time, the work went even more smoothly and much faster.
But she wasn't in a rush to sell them. The ghost instructors hadn't even redeemed their fourth-rank Yin Paper Clothes benefits yet.
Since she had released a new design, she first contacted the instructors, especially Jin Meilan, who had taught her the pattern for this skirt, and invited them to the shop for a look. She wanted them to have first pick.
Due to the intricate craftsmanship, she had set the price at 500,000 hell coins, making it the most expensive of all her fourth-rank paper clothes to date. The other instructors didn't quite appreciate the Western-style silhouette and preferred to wait for new options. Only Jin Meilan chose one, a golden-pink version.
The rest were put up for sale at the ghost market the next day.
In less than half an hour, every last skirt was sold out.
Just from those few dresses, Song Miaozhu earned a total of two million hell coins.
To put that in perspective, SEIU's paper molds for spirit ingots—of the same grade as her own first-rank pieces—sold for only fifty hell coins each. To make two million, they would have to sell forty thousand molds.
Even if paper crafting masters like Geng Qiushan and Zhang Yunxi took on the task together, it would take them ages. And they still had other ranked items to make, plus constant competition from the numerous paper shops across the underworld.
This only proved what Song Miaozhu had feared before. Once you joined SEIU or handed over your rights to custom work, the more useful your skills were, the more likely you were to lose creative freedom.
No matter how generous the benefits or how high the returns, it was still a waste of time and a hindrance to her potential. True artisans, those who dedicated themselves to their craft, didn't belong in places chasing fame and fortune.
Glancing around at the sixty hardworking little paper servants scattered across her home, ghost market, paper shop, pig farm warehouse, and elsewhere—each patiently waiting to wear their new skirts—Song Miaozhu didn't have time to overthink things.
She had promised them that each one would get a fourth-rank Yang Paper Clothes skirt.
Since fourth-rank paper clothes could auto-adjust in size, it didn't matter that her models were small paper servants. She still made the skirts at standard fourth-rank Yin Paper Clothes proportions, which in their case were only palm-sized.
She had just finished one skirt, cutting and gluing it together, when it was time for her lesson with Jin Meilan. At the private activity room in the ghost market warehouse, Jin Meilan unfolded a blueprint.
"This time, let me teach you how to make an even more beautiful skirt!"
The blueprint revealed a design that was far more elaborate and luxurious than the last. The little paper servant who had led her in stood stunned. After the lesson, Song Miaozhu found herself surrounded by idle little paper servants. They shared a mind with her, so when they stretched out their arms and legs, she understood exactly what they meant.
"You only want one dress each? And don't care about the rest?"
"Planning to take turns wearing a single dress? You want sixty different designs instead?"
The little paper servants all nodded enthusiastically.
What joy was there in sixty identical skirts when they could have sixty unique ones?
After all, they were all connected. Taking turns wearing different dresses was even better.