Hoooom
The quill, Seraphim, began to glow with a deeper, more pulsating radiance, and the multicolored ink reservoir inside it stirred as if sothing alive were waking up. Then-drop-Robin lowered the quill's shimring tip until it gently tapped the floating pattern.
In a single breath, a wave of dense black ink spread across the golden pattern like a living shadow, coating every curve in a smooth layer. But almost imdiately afterward, the black surface began to fracture with sharp cracks, peeling away piece by piece and falling to the ground like brittle paint placed on a scorching iron plate.
Yet sothing was undeniably unusual. Among the five brilliant points glowing like miniature suns on the pattern, one point alone remained black, refusing to shed its color. And beside it, a thin thread of blackness stretched into the air, forming clear words: (Nocking Mountain Gum Sap - Concentration 7%) "What is this...?!" Shaddad and Jabba crept forward slowly, step by step, drawn in with the helpless curiosity of moths approaching fire for the first ti.
Robin, however, wore a calm smile, far more composed than their barely-contained shock.
"Nocking Mountain Gum Sap," he said, "is a compound I stumbled upon by pure accident while completing assignnts in the Truth Chamber on planet Zaron. Bitso brought it to once after I asked him to search for new, unusual materials. It's an extract from a very peculiar resin that doesn't adhere to anything except papers with an Eternal classification. But despite that rare trait, it also works excellently as a base for inks and various alchemical mixtures. Dilute it down to exactly seven percent, and you'll have the first foundation out of the five."
"Forget the sap for a mont, Master-I already know that material, I used it once before, It's a little crafty to get it, but not if one looked carefully. What I an... what is this?!" Shaddad jabbed a finger at the floating words (Nocking Mountain Gum Sap - Concentration 7%) as if pointing at a ghost.
Robin gestured toward the text as well.
"What you're seeing here ans that the ink formula I imagined trying just now failed completely-every single component collapsed-except for this one. Seraphim selected it on its own and wrote its na clearly. That ans it's the ideal choice for this exact point in the array, and, just as importantly, it will cause no interference or chemical conflict with the remaining four components."
"The quill actually chooses ingredients!?" Jabba's voice cracked as he raised it. "...?!" Even Morgana erged hurriedly from deeper inside the hangar, her eyes narrowing as she tried to make sense of the scene unfolding before her.
"Hm. Even I don't completely understand how Seraphim perceives things, or what set of laws it was originally built upon," Robin admitted as he ran his fingers through his hair. "But I've started uncovering so of its fundantals bit by bit. For example, I understood the array using the Eyes of Truth-saw its essence and ford its structure in my mind. The quill simply reproduced what I understood. Then I thought of an ink formula I had personally used before and whose properties I fully grasped, so Seraphim compared the traits of each component to the nature of the array and produced the most optimal match."
A wider smile spread across his face.
"It's hard to explain properly... it basically performs whatever I'm thinking of, but it never exceeds the limits of what I myself am capable of. It simply accelerates the process for . And it saves ti-mountains and mountains of ti."
"Were you the one who told it to write the na and the concentration like this too?!" Shaddad asked quickly, almost breathlessly.
"No," Robin chuckled. "Seraphim is surprisingly polite. Sotis it performs extra steps entirely on its own initiative."
"...?!?!"
Both Shaddad and Jabba looked as if their worldview had been rearranged in real ti.
"Alright then," Robin said, rolling his shoulders lightly, "let's try it again. This ti, I'll imagine a completely different list of materials."
Robin-who had completed thousands upon thousands of requests inside the Truth Chamber, each concerning a completely different discipline-found it increasingly difficult to encounter any substance that could function as ink and yet remain unknown to him.
Drop
And indeed, the second ti Seraphim's feather-tip touched the rotating pattern, the entire array flushed into a deep, radiant blue-almost like an ocean of ink spreading across its surface. For a heartbeat the color looked stable, then delicate fractures raced through it, fine cracks shimring before the whole layer began flaking off in large pieces. They fell like brittle paint scraped from a scorching furnace, leaving the pattern bare once more... except for two of the five luminous points, which stubbornly remained colored in blue.
Beside them, two floating dialogue windows ford out of thin air: (Ancient mory-Leaf Ash - 6 leaves per 100 liters)
(Bone-Wolf Tongue - 30 grams per 100 liters)
On the sidelines, Jabba and Shaddad leaned forward unconsciously, their eyes stretching wide as if reality had just bent in front of them. Their expressions were blank, stunned-because sohow, impossibly, they had now obtained three of the five fundantal components already.
And what made this even more absurd: none of the three were part of the 350 "essential" components listed in their original ink catalogue.
Not one.
It defied common sense. It felt impossible. Master Robin clearly knew every item on that massive list-yet the quill bypassed all of them and selected alternative substances... and not rely alternatives, but materials that were dramatically cheaper and easier to acquire. In so cases, they cost a fraction -barely a fraction-of the originals.
"Hey... are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Jabba whispered sharply and nudged Shaddad hard in the ribs, then tilted his chin toward Robin.
"...?"
Shaddad shifted his gaze reluctantly, pulling his attention away from the floating quill. Only then did he finally notice what had been right in front of him
yet completely ignored.
He had been so overwheld by Seraphim's miraculous performance that he forgot the simplest truth of all: power cos with a price.
At this mont, Robin still wore a faint smile, but sweat beaded across his forehead like rain, his breathing was ragged, and his eyelids drooped heavily as
if they weighed tons.
His body looked like that of soone who had just run a marathon around the entire planet, and his spirit looked like soone who had gone countless nights
without sleep.
One glance was enough-Shaddad understood instantly.
His master had not been "playing around" with the quill. Not even close. Ever
since coming back from the Cosmic Elder's trip, his power had surged back to his old peak. Soone like him shouldn't have been drained easily... yet here he
was, struggling to stay upright.
And ntally?
Wasn't he a Royal-rank Soul Master with multiple stars? Shouldn't his mind
have been nearly inexhaustible?
Realizing this, Shaddad took a slow breath and looked back toward the quill, but the awe in his eyes softened.
Even if he were holding Seraphim, even if the quill belonged to him personally,
he simply didn't possess the raw energy nor the soul force needed to use that
artifact the way Robin just had. It was brutal, reckless, overwhelming-far beyond what they themselves could withstand.
Drop
The attempt failed; not a single point accepted the mixture.
Drop
(Roaring tal-Breath Alloy - 17 kilograms per 100 liters)
Drop
The attempt failed.
Another failure.
A third failure-none of the points reacted at all.
Yet another failure, the quill rejecting the entire combination instantly.
Drop
(Nails of the Swimming Giant in planet Ughason - 3 grams per 100 liters)
After the ninth and final attempt, Robin finally let his arm fall, lowering the quill beside him. The crushing exhaustion weighed on every inch of his body. It wasn't simply the soul units spent-what drained him was the massive, concentrated burst consud in each single attempt.
He exhaled a shaky, worn-out breath, then turned slowly to face his two disciples who were still frozen like statues.
"Those five materials are perfect for your array," Robin said, voice tired but steady, "and they don't interfere with each other at all. I'll give you two hours to prepare a neutral dium that can rge all five elents together." "T- two hours?!" Shaddad and Jabba finally snapped back to reality. "Yes. Two hours." Robin nodded weakly, barely holding himself straight. "We're testing that array today."
User Comments
0 comments from readers