“Oh… S- Sorry,” the golden pen in Sofia’s hand shyly apologized, “It has been a while since anyone used so I may be a bit sensitive…”
“Don’t worry about it…” Sofia said looking at the pen, holding it lightly, “You wouldn’t happen to know a black chestpiece, would you? He likes to nap for days at a ti and has a sweet tooth for chainmail.”
“Ah?! You know Guardian Angel?!” the pen excitedly asked back, slightly shaking in Sofia’s hand, “I’ve had no news in centuries!”
“Huh… He’s, huh… ‘Alive’ and well. Guardian angel hmm, that wasn’t one of the nas he gave us.”
“Eheh… Since we were left behind, the nas we were given are a bit of a sore point for so of us, but I don’t mind, you can call Delicate! It’s nice to et you all! I specialize in– Ah wait no, I’m supposed to show you the page, wait… How did it go again… Uuuuuuuu… Oh! There!”
With a cute chi sound unlike the usual system notifications, a flowery pink system window appeared for everyone to see.
‘Na : Delicate
Age :3681
Class : [Enchanter]
Level : 450
Health :9 999 999 999 999
Personal Skills
[Resize]
[Replicate]
[Error Prevention]
[Depth Offset]
[Universal Eraser]
[Owner’s image]
User-side Skills
[Steady Hand]
[Saved Patterns (3/100)]
[Planning lines]
[Heightened Focus]
[Atomic Splitter]
[Autofill]
Hobby Skills
[Floral patterns]
[Embossing]
[Speed Writing]
[Mana etching]
[Auto-Inlay]
[Engraving]’
Level 450?! And it has more health than Pareth?!!!
“Are you… A person trapped in a pen?” Sonia asked, surprised to see a level and class on the status sheet.
“Oh, no! That would be very sad. I have always been myself!” Delicate answered. She seed to see or at least sense Sonia’s uneasy expression, and so she continued to explain, “Our creator had similar moral concerns but I assure you that all of my kin are perfectly fine with the way we are. If anything, we feel sorry for you people. To think you will never know the joy of our simple way of life…”
“Hmmhmm, ‘Guardian Angel’ has the sa outlook on ‘life’,” Sofia added, “As long as he can be a proper shirt and eat his fill he’s happy. Speaking of which, do I need to feed you pens?”
“No, no, I am perfectly self sufficient,” Delicate answered with a hint of shy pride, “I only ask that you handle gently and– as often as you can.”
“Hmm I guessed as much, but it looks like the title to make you compliant is wholly unnecessary,” Sonia comnted.
“Hnnn, it would have been another story for so of my kin but I am quite eager to work on new projects again.”
Sofia nodded, “I may be a diocre enchanter right now but I hope I can improve quickly with your help.”
The pen shook in excitent in Sofia’s hand, its golden shape rapidly shifted, taking on a deep blue color and shiny luster just like the dragon scale of the gauntlet holding it. In a matter of seconds, it took the appearance of a pen made of tiny dragon scales, golden bloodlight shimring from the joints. “Excited to be working with you,” Delicate answered after her transformation finished.
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Pestle jumped on Sofia’s wrist, crouching next to Delicate with a curious expression, “Am curious, you is enchanting, what is do rock?”
“You an to ask about Normal? He is our elder, of sorts, and an excellent butler and counselor.”
Pestle nodded, although confusion was clear on her face, she flew away back to Bookie’s shoulder, muttering to herself about butter, rocks, and leg.
Sofia had to shake off the image of a rock with a bowtie in her head to ask another question, “Since you are level 450, can you defend yourself? Do you have a mana heart?”
Despite having the pen in her hand, Sofia’s mana senses couldn’t quite make sense of what it was she was holding, but it certainly did not seem like it was producing its own mana.
“The answer is no to both of those questions but I am sturdy to a fault, physically speaking. I think Jin said what we have is a mixed core? You would have to ask Normal for details…”
“Extrely sturdy but delicate,” Sonia lightly comnted from the side, prompting the pen to give more explanations.
“Enchanting work requires precise input and a very high touch sensitivity to properly handle fragile materials…”
“I get it, no need to justify yourself, I just find the contrast a bit funny,” Sonia said with a raised hand, “Well… It’s probably about ti I go up before I get an earful for slacking off.”
Sofia nodded, “Probably won’t be anyone there waiting for but I’ll see you off at least.” Then she looked at the pen in her hand, “Are you fine with staying in a storage item for a while? Or do you want to be in soone’s pocket? Any preferences?”
“Ah– Anything is fine as long as you do not forget about … Though if you would happen to have a small box with a silk cushion, then…”
“Oh, you’re in luck, I think I have just that, give a second…”
Sofia scanned through the ss in her storage ring, it had been undisturbed for a while, but she still knew more or less where things were. After a bit of digging around with her mana senses, she found a rather small and long box, still much too big for a single pen, but probably acceptable.
She took it out and opened it. It was one of the boxes she had stolen from Domination’s pyramid years ago, it contained a map to a ‘Bastion of Domination’ rolled in premium silk that she had planned to but actually never used. She tossed the map scroll back into her storage and rolled up the long silk sheet in a corner of the box, filling up the other half with a bone block. Delicate fit snugly in a crease of the rolled up silk.
“Good enough?”
“Uuuua… This is like heaven…”
“I guess that’s a yes, I’ll bring you back out soon when I’m ready to work.”
Sofia closed the box and sent it back into the ring, although she placed it in a clean and visible spot instead of the ever growing ssy pile that now occupied a good three quarters of the entire space.
After so quick farewells, the group flew back up together, exiting the Ur Ur Tree. The hobgoblin guardian of the tree was waiting near the exit, only wordlessly nodding at them on their way out.
Outside, in the underwater hobgoblin city, two n in heavy armor were waiting for them.
One of them was Eternal Mountain. He greeted them hurriedly, and imdiately took Sonia apart to the side. While the other armored figure stood awkwardly in the sa spot.
After a quick exchange that Sofia could not hear, the elf and Sonia returned. Eternal Mountain unexpectedly gave Sofia’s group a light bow, “Thank you for your cooperation. We must take our leave right away, but I sincerely hope we may collaborate more in the future. Paynt will reach you directly in at most three days’ ti. Is that all good with you?”
“Fine by . We discussed everything with Sonia already.”
Eternal Mountain straightened his posture, “Perfect. Then we shall take our leave. Farewell.”
Sonia just had ti to smile and wave, and both she and the Mithrium-clad elf were gone.
Just as she predicted, in quite a hurry. Then again, I understand why. Hopefully this isn’t the start of another warped moon disaster… Thinking this, Sofia looked back up at the other armored man that had just stepped up in front of her and had yet to say a single word.
“And you are?” Sofia asked, warily eyeing the six dragon horns that conspicuously poked out of the man’s helt.
“Edissius of the Flying fortress,” the man answered with a nod from under his heavy helt, “Apologies for the late introduction; our Lordship would like to invite you all to be a part of our community once more. He has prepared you a house containing a few presents as a gesture of goodwill.”
Oh… Did they think I rejected them because I never answered the previous invitation to visit the city?
“If you do not mind… What do you an by ‘part of the community’?”
“Nothing binding,” Edissius imdiately clarified, “inhabitants of the flying fortress simply convene every so often to exchange services and ideas, and many have expressed a will to invite you to take part. Participation is of course free and not mandatory in any way. And because our King is inviting you himself, there are no taxes and no upkeep on the house either.”
“That… Sounds almost too good to be true. I’ll have to discuss that with Erredis first.”
“O- Oh… Yes, yes… Well.. Humm… I should go, here are your keys,” Edissius said, handing out a keyring with three identical orichalcum keys on it, “Imbue them with so mana and they will point you toward the door they open, no matter the distance. I- I should not take up more of your ti. On behalf of the Flying fortress, we welco you to co any ti you see fit. Have a pleasant day.”
After an awkward bow, Edissius hurriedly flew away.
Pestle’s laughter broke the following silence, “Pffft, dragon so scare. Grandma is too much power.”
Sofia looked at her, then Bookie, then Pareth, then back at the keys she was holding. “Well… We just got a free house, I guess? Another one.”
“We’re starting to have too many houses!” Bookie said in shock, “too too many!”
Sofia chuckled. “So… Zangdar’s castle. Our little hidden mountain base near the skyreach border that we can’t return to because of scripture, the semi-permanent room Kuli keeps for us in Drakron’s adventurer’s guild, Jin’s margin penthouse, our half-built castle-mansion in Ser’Extra… And now a house in the flying fortress where a third of the ascended live, I guess? That is a lot.”
“You forgot the halls!” Bookie added.
“The halls? I guess you three could call that a ho but really it’s still just the bone storage to , even if it’s fancier than before.”
“I say it counts!” Bookie continued, “Let’s all go in! I want to go back to the city and see everyone!”
“Alright alright. Get in everyone, we’re out of here.”
The skeletons all joined Elsep inside of the painted halls, while Sofia gave a last glance to the hobgoblin city and the huge Ur Ur tree. After so deliberation, she hid a small statuette of herself in a corner, adjusted the shape of her armor to a unique one that only existed as a statue in her city, and disappeared without a trace.
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