Saintess Summons Skeletons

The contents of the package were relatively sparse, arranged cleanly in a line. From the left to right, there was: A leather binder containing about fifty to a hundred sheets of paper; two rolled up scrolls; a very thin and old looking book; a crystal flask containing about one spoon’s worth of cloudy gray liquid; and a stubby purple fruit.

The book is in ancient human?

Scarring unto the fabric circulation technique by Gray Sunset Immortal Venerable.

That is certainly a name. One of the ancient human mana circulation methods by the looks of it? Wasn’t the deal with those that they are powerful but extremely slow?

And Mr.Scribe has already been incorporating the concept into our leveling…

Sofia focused back on the real world, glancing at the seat to her left, which was already empty. It seemed Suhen had gone off to nag someone else.

Everyone looks quite busy already.

Looking up at the second floor guardrail which overlooked the table, where some Apostles had already moved, Sofia’s eyes met someone else’s.

A quick [Summon Self] later, Sofia went from sitting on her chair to sitting on the rails.

“Cinthia!” Sofia greeted with a surprise hug.

“Long time no see, Sof! I saw the green rune in your hand. I was worried that you had a mithril one for a moment!”

“Ahah… Thankfully it’s not. How are you doing? Saria was starting to wonder why you weren’t back already.”

Cinthia awkwardly scratched her hair, “It’s uh. There’s a lot happening in my family,” she answered, taking a slight step back.

“Oh… Do you need any help?”

“No, no! It’s not like that! It’s good news! Kind of. A bit tiresome to deal with, but good things, don’t worry. Mostly done now, too, see, I found time to come here!”

“Alright then… It goes without saying but if you ever need our help just say the word, alright?”

“I know, I know, I heard that enough from Saria already! Besides, I have plenty of people ready to offer guidance when I need it these days,” Cinthia answered, glancing off to an invisible system window.

“I imagine the chat is hard to follow today?”

“Very much the contrary! They’re already all watching through the headless one so they have no need for me. I think– Yeah Hatred and Sorrow are the only ones connected right now, but they’re not even writing anything.”

“Busy times… Did the sect have a problem handling the Phageid?”

Cinthia shook her head, “We got help from a group of Kleptra that lives relatively close by, it was scary but we basically didn’t have to do anything. Hmm… Oh, I got a message from Hatred. He says… ‘The book is from Isolation’s first Son, wish her good luck’. No clue what book he means though.”

“Oh, I know, it’s in there,” Sofia said, holding up the package cube, “does he know what the other things are?”

“I’ll tell you if he answers, but it looks like he’s pretty busy.”

Sofia nodded along, “That’s everyone right now,” she commented, watching Zerei and Ihuarah having a discussion on the opposite side of the room. In moments the serious assembly seemed to have turned into a light-hearted social gathering. “Hmm… Velania definitely deserves to be here, but she’s not. Want to come with me and pay a visit to Sorrow’s palace after this? I should be able to get access to the Library this time, I feel like you should be entitled to have a look at the books there too.”

“Really? Thanks for the donation then,” Cinthia accepted with a wink, “I’m sure this will get good viewership too.”

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“... I heard from Saria you were training very hard to keep up but have you just been trying to collect more essence tokens?”

“Hey what?! Of course not! But you know. They definitely help. And…”

“More messages?” Sofia asked, seeing Cinthia looking a bit distracted.

“Hmm. Cryb- I mean Sorrow is saying that she had prepared a way for Velania to participate but that ultimately it was her own choice not to come.”

“Oh… That… All the more reason to go check up on her. We shouldn’t be too far I think? Guessing from my distance with Pareth.”

A tall figure walked up from another group to stand near Sofia an Cinthia. The oppressive presence of the demon king was impossible to miss even if he had moved without a sound.

“Barely arrived and already planning to leave?”

“Not quite yet, I fear I have a meetup planned with lady Suhen before that…” Sofia answered, looking back at the tall black armor with no head.

“Good; many here would be quite disappointed if you left before they had the chance to at least introduce themselves. And that goes for both of you ladies.”

“No one has really tried talking to me though?” Cinthia wondered out loud.

“You are an intimidating presence to many ever since your passage on the Ark. Now that the nature of your class is known, some are even calling you the surrogate demon king,” the giant headless armor cheerfully explained.

“Eeeeeeh?! They have a very, very, very overinflated opinion of my influence, then! I’m just an entertainer.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Cin. Surrogate demon king is a bit much but it’s impossible to deny you’re helping the communication between Recessed and to our side.”

“That is so,” the demon king confirmed, “you are an invaluable asset of ours now. Just keep doing what you do best. I shall go check up on someone else, have fun, ladies.”

Sofia watched the giant armor walking away with silent steps. She would soon regret letting him slip away so fast, as she then spent the next ten hours greeting and getting to know an endless wave of Apostles and ‘allies’ coming her way. Her renown, she thought, was starting to become a bit overwhelming.

When Sofia managed to slip away from the assembly room and retreated to a random external balcony on a high floor of the demon king’s castle, she almost passed out on a random chair while watching the sun set over the treeline surrounding the foggy city down below. She felt so mentally exhausted that her demon form just ended by itself.

After only a few minutes of peace, relaxed heavy footsteps came from behind, and someone else stepped on the balcony, closing the window behind them. Suhen walked past Sofia leaned over the railing, silently watching the sunset alongside her until the sky was dark. The military cape-like flesh hanging from her shoulder gently waving in the wind.

“Beatiful moments are always fleeting,” she said out of nowhere. “I see someone is a better fighter than they are a socialite.”

“I have always been introverted. Even if I hardly ever get a moment alone these days…”

“Should I leave?” Suhen seriously asked, to Sofia’s surprise.

Sofia frowned, “After you called me a mess in front of everyone earlier? You want to leave without even explaining yourself?”

“AHAHAH! Kids these days; can’t handle a bit of tough love. You are a mess, however, would you dare contradict me on that?”

“...” Sofia sighed. “An effective mess,” she argued after an awkward silence.

“Nobody would put that into question. But it remains so, your fighting style, your spell selection, even the organisation of your mana circuits. It’s all a giant mess. There is hardly another way I could call it. Now imagine what you could accomplish if you had all of this in order. A well-oiled machine, direct, efficient, terrifying. There is a lot to learn from the Dark Epoch.”

“Oh I think I have had more than enough of that… What do you suggest? Are you going to train me?”

“Hmm… Perhaps. I could give you some pointers. I recognise your style. Learned some things from Sun’s guy, have you not? You have the same flaws in your movements. And you use mostly Avian flight techniques, but your wings are dorsal unlike them, teaching from another winged race would do your aerial mobility a lot of good.”

“Have you noticed all that by just watching me on the Ark?” Sofia asked.

“Mostly. And before you ask, yes, I can see your system status;” Suhen preemptively said, still staring in the distance.

“I had guessed that much. Shocked by what you found there?”

“No. It was about what I expected. Looking may have carried some risks, but it always does. Never stopped me. I have a few suggestions, if you care to hear them.”

“From your tone earlier, it sounded like a mandatory thing,” Sofia quipped.

“Hardly so. I strongly pressure people into choosing what is best for them, but I never force anyone.”

“Alright. I will be looking forward to your recommendations, then.”

Suhen finally deigned looking back at Sofia, her eyes narrowing into a smile. “Perfect. Let us start with some theory.”