CHAPTER 181: ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES

’Master finally got a grip on herself.’

Demi suddenly realized she hadn’t had a chance to introduce the two of them yet.

She hurried to plant herself between Carlos and her master, making the introductions all formal-like:

"Young Master Carlos, this is my master Pergina, an alchemical master!"

Her face was bursting with pride.

An alchemical master! Do you know how many people would kill to get in good with an alchemical master but can’t even get their foot in the door!

Hearing this, Pergina’s face showed a flash of pure embarrassment.

’Oh crap, why does this apprentice keep insisting I’m an alchemical master?’

She’d been swamped lately. Whether on purpose or not, Pergina hadn’t exactly been straight with her apprentice about everything.

If her real skill level got exposed... yikes! Just thinking about it made her want to crawl under a rock!

But things had gone this far, and Pergina couldn’t exactly throw in the towel now.

She tried to pump herself up: with those victory outfits, she might actually deserve to be called a ’master’!

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Pergina."

Whatever was going through his head, Carlos kept his cool on the outside, staying respectful as hell.

Demi kept going:

"Master, this is Young Master Carlos of the Valois family—I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He’s totally blown away by the ’Uto’ you created and came here just to meet you."

"What? Uto???"

Pergina looked like someone had just spoken in ancient dragon tongue.

What was her apprentice babbling about? Hadn’t Uto been traded off to some mysterious masked dude?

(Demi, being all caught up in meal prep, had totally spaced on telling her master this tiny little detail.)

Demi stared at her master like she’d grown a second head:

"The ’Uto’ you made! I told you about it before, when we were out in the Desolate Desert plains... Come to think of it, Young Master Carlos has saved my bacon twice now! Twice!"

Demi’s eyes practically had hearts in them as she looked at Carlos.

"So..."

Pergina’s face went stone cold.

So the masked guy standing in front of her was the ’mysterious masked man’ who’d actually bought into all that big talk she’d been feeding her apprentice?

She shot her clueless apprentice a look that could’ve melted steel: Why the hell didn’t you mention this earth-shattering info earlier?!

Right now, Demi only had eyes for Carlos and completely missed her master’s emotional meltdown.

’At this point, I gotta roll with the punches!’

Pergina immediately ditched her casual act.

She straightened her spine, sucked in her gut, positioned her hands just right, and boom—transformed into the picture of dignity.

"Greetings, Young Master Carlos."

She was like a totally different person from just seconds ago.

Her eyes were rock steady, her voice had this special ring to it, radiating that whole scholarly elegance vibe.

’Now that’s what an alchemical master should look like!’

Carlos’s doubts pretty much evaporated on the spot.

"Master Pergina, that Gauwo’s Eye you whipped up has some seriously wicked effects. Come to think of it, trading it for just some healing potions was one hell of a steal for me."

As he talked, Carlos pulled out Gauwo’s Eye.

"Uto!"

The big eyeball that had been snoozing on the disc woke up and immediately started blinking like crazy at Carlos, hoping its master would toss it some more silver coins.

That taste was absolutely divine.

"It’s Uto!"

Seeing that familiar giant eyeball—damn, how many years had it been? This was the pet that had stuck by her side for ages!

Pergina almost blew her cover right then and there.

Fighting back her excitement, she hustled over:

"How’s it been treating Young Master Carlos?"

She reached out, wanting to pet her old companion again.

Uto picked up on that familiar vibe and glanced over.

Oh snap, it was the old owner!

Then... it dodged like its life depended on it!

"Uto! Uto!"

Back off! I’m scared master’s gonna get the wrong idea!

"!!!"

Pergina’s outstretched hand froze mid-air.

Talk about awkward as hell.

Seeing this train wreck, Carlos casually flicked his finger.

"Clink!"

A silver coin hit the disc.

"Uto, mind your manners!"

The silver coin melted away, and the big eyeball practically purred with happiness.

Since master had spoken and provided grub, then letting the old owner get some pets in wasn’t totally out of the question.

"Uto! Uto!"

It scooted forward, basically saying the old owner better hurry up and get their petting in.

Remember, you’ve only got one silver coin’s worth of time.

This time master provided the coin. Next time you better learn to cough up your own!

"..."

Pergina gritted her teeth, the temperature around her dropping like a stone.

"Good... real good, Uto. In just this tiny amount of time, you’ve turned into this?"

Her suspended hand came down and started stroking (more like manhandling) this little traitor who’d found a new master and instantly forgotten the old one!

"Uto... Uto! Uto!"

The big eyeball immediately sensed danger and started thrashing around, trying to break free from this former owner’s death grip.

But Pergina knew this giant eyeball like the back of her hand—every time it tried to escape, she perfectly cut off its escape route.

"Uto... Uto..."

Feeling the pressure building on its body, the big eyeball gave up all hope of escape and frantically called out to its master for backup.

"Clink!"

Another silver coin dropped.

Carlos basically said a little rough handling wouldn’t kill it—let Miss Pergina blow off some steam.

He totally got it. If something he’d busted his ass to create acted like it didn’t know him after such a short time, he’d be pissed as hell too.

"Uto! Uto!"

You should’ve ponied up the coins sooner!

The big eyeball stopped fighting back. For silver coins, it would sacrifice its own grandmother!

After the big eyeball chilled out, Pergina got kinda bored.

That’s when she noticed Carlos’s coin-feeding routine, and her eye started twitching.

’So damn wasteful! Silver coins! That’s two whole silver coins! How about you let me pet it and just give me the silver coins instead?’

The gap between people... no, between people and pets was even bigger than the gap between people and monsters!

"Young Master Carlos, you really don’t need to be feeding it silver coins. Uto’s super low-maintenance—it’s not picky and will chow down on anything."

Pergina watched the big eyeball happily scarfing down silver coins, feeling even more ticked off.

With a ’if I’m miserable, you’re gonna be miserable too’ attitude, Pergina decided to share some feeding tips with Carlos.

"Like rocks! Gravel! Hell, even wood! It’ll eat all that crap!"

Pergina was determined to let Uto get a taste of human spite!

"Oh yeah? No kidding?"

Hearing this, Carlos was genuinely surprised. So Gauwo’s Eye wasn’t a picky eater at all.

In alchemy, gold and silver were worth way more than just money—they were must-have ingredients for tons of alchemical recipes.

Most alchemists would definitely factor that in.

"Uto! Uto!"

Sensing that its master was actually listening to her, the big eyeball immediately started shaking like a leaf, basically screaming: Don’t buy into her bullshit! Don’t buy into her bullshit!

Seeing this, Pergina cracked a little smile and pulled out several jars packed with white crystals.

"These are Uto’s absolute favorite snacks—white quartz. I’ve got no use for them anymore. Think of them as a farewell gift to Uto."

With that, Pergina shoved these jars into Carlos’s hands.