Chapter 38

“Is that your new pet?” Enchanter Donnovan asked when I stopped by the Association’s Enchanting Shop.

The silver-haired Enchanter’s teal eyes lit up at the sight of the small creature who’d taken up residence on my shoulder. Though it had been a long time since I left the simulation, the sensation of having an asolade on my shoulder still felt natural enough.

It had only been a few days since I brought Aerie home, but I already felt comfortable enough with our bond to allow her to remain outside of the carrier most of the time as I walked around town.

Without the Beast Companion skill, Coco had taken months to train sufficiently to reach the same point. The discrepancy only further highlighted the convenience of having such a skill.

“It is. This is Aerie. She’s an Air Asolade if you couldn’t tell by her name.”

Though most beasts with an elemental inclination showed obvious signs of said inclination pretty much from birth, asolades did not follow the normal trend.

Like a few other species, asolades wouldn’t develop visual signs of their elemental affinity until after their first evolution. Before then, they were almost always mixtures of neutral colors like white, gray, black, and brown.

It was part of the reason why Illia had to wait until Aerie started actively manifesting signs of her element before she could definitively declare her an Air Asolade.

“Well, hello there, little cutie,” Donnovan said with a friendly smile. It was probably the most approachable I’d seen him in the year that we’d been acquainted.

“I have a couple of commissions to turn in,” I said, pulling his attention away from the young asolade on my shoulder. After handing over the items, I asked, “Are there any new commission requests since the last time that I checked?”

“There are a few,” he said, handing me a book. “Now that you’re a full member, you know you can go to the guild office to access a larger number of commission requests. You can also continue to sell your items on consignment, if you prefer.”

“I know,” I said, flipping to the most recent entries. “But it always takes forever to get in and out of that place. It’s a lot faster and easier to just come here. I’ll likely drop off some items for consignment as well the next time that I stop by.”

My eyes skimmed over the list of entries. Nearly half were for storage items with preservation – a request I hadn’t seen listed in the shop’s commission request book before.

“Well, I suppose that’s no real surprise that the guild office has been busy lately. Everyone probably wants to get to know the guild’s newest Ascended Enchanter,” he said with a knowing smirk. “You’ve already made a bit of a name for yourself, especially since word got out that you’re a Space Magi. Everyone is wondering when you’ll start producing storage devices. Specifically, ones with preservation capabilities.”

My body stilled as I looked up from the book.

“Oh, really? Is that why there are so many requests? Someone thinks it’s something I can create?”

While my party knew that I was capable of producing such items now that I’d evolved, nobody else should be aware of my capabilities. Since I didn’t think any of my friends had spilled the beans, I wondered where their information had come from.

Enchanter Donnovan laughed. “Of course! You’re an Ascender who reached Grandmaster in your previous realm. I would be shocked if you couldn’t create such an item, especially with how often the dungeon is dropping both time and space-based skillbooks.

“Everyone already knows you have an Inventory and Teleportation, so the storage aspect is pretty much a guarantee. With the Association’s preliminary findings being leaked and the number of time-based skills being reported, it seems only logical that an Enchanter like yourself would acquire the necessary skills for something like that. That’s not even taking into consideration the possibility that you wouldn’t need the dungeon’s skills to access such aspects.”

The silver-haired Enchanter didn’t look smug with his statement. It was more like he was amused that I bothered denying my abilities.

“You’re right. The dungeon has produced a lot of time-based skillbooks. I guess it is only logical to think I would have acquired one over the last year,” I said, completely ignoring his inference that I might be the dungeon’s Originator.

By this point, it really was only a matter of time before the truth got out. But that didn’t mean I wanted to verify anyone’s suspicions about the topic.

I didn’t mind if people knew that I could produce preservation storage devices. Like Donnovan said, it was only expected that a former Grandmaster Enchanter would be capable of creating such things once I had access to the requisite aspects.

In fact, it would be downright odd if I didn’t acquire such aspects, given the demand and value of such items. Glancing over the compensation being offered, I had no issues accepting the pending commissions.

“Are there any more like this at the guild office?” I asked.

“Probably, but you know the rules. You’ll have to go there if you want to accept any of the commission requests registered in the other office.”

I found it a little annoying that they didn’t link their databases since I knew for a fact that the Enchanter Guild had the technology available to facilitate such a thing.

“I’ll pass. Between these, my shifts at the medical facility, and delving, I’ll hardly have time to play with Aerie over the next month as it is,” I said, reaching up to rub the asolade on my shoulder gently.

“Well, if you’re willing to give a class to some of the Enchanters who’ve recently acquired both space and time skills, you’d be able to offload some of the demand. We both know that simply having access to an element or aspect isn’t always enough to properly conceptualize an enchantment.

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“Having a mentor experienced with both aspects would go a long way toward developing other Enchanters capable of producing such items. Even our most senior Enchanters have only managed to make spatially expanded items instead of genuine spatial items since the products and aspects are completely new to them.

“I’m sure you know how rare spatial skills were before the dungeon evolved,” he added with a sigh. “The guild wouldn’t expect you to teach for free, either. You can pretty much name your price, as long as it isn’t too outrageous.”

“I might just do that,” I said, meaning it.

I’d never been one to hoard that kind of knowledge, and I had pleasant memories associated with teaching others Enchanting. Though I’d never consider myself a true teacher, I really didn’t mind passing along my experience and knowledge if it would benefit others.

My comment made the other Enchanter’s eyes light up.

“Good. Oh, are you planning to join the Porter Guild when the local branch officially opens? I figure as a Space Magi, it would make sense for you to join them as well, right?”

“I never said I was a Space Magi, but I do see the value in joining the Porter Guild if they really open a local branch.”

“There is no ‘if,’” Donnovan said, shaking his head. “The building is already under construction, and the Enchanter Guild is already under contract to complete the necessary enchantments. They’re bringing in Enchanters from their own local guild to do the work since they already have a relationship with them.

“I’m pretty sure their local Enchanters’ familiarity with spatial expansion enchantments also has something to do with it. I can’t really say I blame them, either, considering how new the local Enchanters are to the work.”

I nodded in agreement. Given the choice, I’d always prefer to have someone experienced with a particular enchantment do the work over someone new to the process.

“Do you know when the guild will officially open?”