Spice Cadet
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 30,230 EXP, which places it 6th of the 6 Lv 35 Blacksmith tradecraft leves that record EXP. The best of them, Awl about Who You Know, returns 72,600 EXP for the same allowance, 140% more.
Across that rung the return runs from 30,230 EXP to 72,600 EXP per allowance — 4 distinct figures spanning 140%, so the wrong pick leaves 42,370 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 40 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 79,510 EXP per allowance, 10% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 30 rung behind tops out at 67,730 EXP.
At Lv 35 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 61,959 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 378,392 EXP, which puts this leve 51% below its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 298 gil per allowance is 5th of 6 on the same rung against 6th on EXP, with the best there paying 808 gil.
Heavy Steel Mortar ×1 is a Lv 35 Blacksmith recipe, 3 steps deep through 3 intermediates, costing 12 units of raw material and 21 crystals.
Handing that in returns 2,519 EXP and 25 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Blacksmith and Carpenter.