The Saint Son of the Church of Creation and Machinery had no idea what blasphemous thoughts were churning in the mind of the Believer of Lies walking beside him. If he had, he certainly would have co to blows with Jenkins on the spot.
The three of them wandered through the forest for a while longer. Jenkins feigned curiosity, asking what was being prepared in the areas that were cordoned off. The question made the two from the Church of Creation and Machinery exceptionally tense. The awakening of the World Tree Seedling had to be kept secret from the Believers of Lies; after all, it was the only Savior qualification the Church currently possessed.
"The Legacy Sage Church is preparing for a baptism ritual. It's said to be for a major figure within their church."
Mr. Grev stated with a straight face. Seeing the other man's apparent disinterest, he breathed a silent sigh of relief and suggested they head back, figuring the wrench and the Bestowal were likely ready by now.
Mr. Grev’s timing was more or less perfect. By the ti the three of them returned to the clearing, the tables and chairs used for the eting had already been removed. The two demigods from the Legacy Sage Church, along with the other Saint, Miss Strass, had brought the wrench. The mbers of the Church of Creation and Machinery, anwhile, presented a small box that contained the Bestowal.
The Church of Creation and Machinery had already appraised the wrench recovered by the Legacy Sage Church, now designated B-10-5-7204, the [chanical Repairer]. Jenkins gave it a quick scan with his eyes and knew instantly that there was nothing wrong with it.
He then reached out and took the small box. He opened it in front of everyone, revealing a black fountain pen resting on a velvet lining.
"A pen."
He muttered, staring at it for a few seconds along with the cat peering over his shoulder, before carefully picking it up.
It was a pen of ordinary size and thickness, with a glossy black barrel and cap that had a distinct tallic sheen. The barrel was smooth and unadorned, as if it had just been polished, and felt warm in his hand. The clip on the black cap had a frosted texture, with a continuous, wave-like pattern encircling it.
Jenkins uncapped the pen to inspect the nib, then unscrewed the barrel and held it up to his eyes. He saw that the ink sac was filled with a red liquid.
"Is this blood?"
"Yes," explained the demigod from the Church of Creation and Machinery, a man whose na Jenkins couldn't recall. "The pen automatically draws the user's blood for ink. But its function is quite remarkable. When you write with this pen, your thinking speed increases dramatically, and your writing and drawing speed will be at least three tis faster. Furthermore, it can produce ink of any color the user imagines—and not just ink, but also oil paints, specialized ink for quills, and even the marks of a pencil."
Jenkins's tone was laced with sarcasm. "I'm genuinely curious why this item is in your possession and not the Legacy Sage Church's... Is there anything else?"
"Anything else?"
The demigod asked, looking puzzled.
"Any other functions?"
"That's all. But don't underestimate its value. C-11-5-0399, the [Writer's Companion], can accelerate one's thoughts and the speed of their hand. That's sothing countless people dream of."
Jenkins pulled his gaze away from the pen and looked up at the demigod, holding his stare until the man began to look uncomfortable before speaking again.
"I knew you wouldn't offer anything spectacular, but this... Very well. It's better than nothing. But I have one more question, which you can answer at your discretion."
"What do you want to ask?" inquired Miss Strass.
"We noticed several large banks of fog appearing around the city last weekend. What are they?"
"We can tell you that; you'll find out sooner or later. They are areas of spatial anomaly, overlapping with the material world. We don't yet know why this is happening—whether it's the natural collapse of spatial order as the apocalypse approaches, or the work of the Difference Engine you ntioned."
Having received his answer, Jenkins nodded. He already knew this, of course; the question was rely to maintain his persona. He slipped the pen into his pocket, calming the agitated [Creation Pencil] within his spirit, and then turned his gaze back to the mbers of the Church of Creation and Machinery.
"I'll let this perfunctory Bestowal slide. But if on Wednesday all you have for are fire-breathing tigers and rabbits that spit wind blades, I think the Believers of Lies will have to seriously reconsider whether this cooperation with the followers of the Righteous Gods is worth continuing."
After bidding farewell to the Evergreen Forest, the unicorn, which had clearly enjoyed itself imnsely, once again carried Jenkins into the sky, flying him back ho.
He arrived just in ti for lunch and enjoyed a rare al at ho. In the afternoon, Hathaway had to go out again, seemingly busy with matters concerning her fellow musicians. Briny wasn't left bored either; Marquis Mikhail had sent a note summoning her ho to discuss sothing important.
As for Julia, she left St. George Street after lunch to visit Dolores. Although the maid now spent most of her ti at Jenkins's residence, she still worried about her princess and made sure to check in on her from ti to ti.
So, for that afternoon, Jenkins was the only one left in the house. He didn't take his cat on another thrilling adventure through the city. Instead, he sat at his desk, sorting through the current clues, analyzing his gains and losses, and trying to anticipate his opponents' next moves.
More importantly, he needed to fuse the newly acquired C-11-5-0399, the [Writer's Companion], with the [Creation Pencil] he had obtained from the Mysterious Realm of the train.
Following the principle that like consus like, the two items rged. Unlike the keys, which needed to retain their distinct properties and therefore couldn't be combined, the Creation Pencil and the new pen were highly compatible in function. Jenkins wasn't worried that their abilities would overwrite each other.
The newly fused Bestowal retained the appearance of a pencil; the fountain pen's characteristics vanished completely. However, the pencil's appearance had changed slightly. It was not only thicker, but now felt faintly tallic to the touch.
Jenkins tested it by attempting to create an object from nothing, combining the [Creation Pencil] with [Psychography] and the [Book of mories]. A nine-by-nine tal cube materialized in his palm almost instantly.
"The creation speed seems to have increased."
He thought to himself, then pointed a finger at the empty space beside his desk. Dense black lines appeared, color flooded in, and finally, the texture and sheen of the material solidified into reality. An identical desk materialized in less than a second.
But that wasn't the crucial part. Jenkins looked from the desk to his own hand with a puzzled expression.
"Why don't I feel any spirit consumption? No, that's not it. The spirit consumption has been drastically reduced."
He stood up and touched the brand-new desk, confirming it was a solid object and not an illusion. Then, he walked to the window and looked out at the street below and the towering, three-story black tal structure in the distance.
"The cost of creating things from nothing has been massively reduced. I should be able to find all sorts of new uses for this in future battles. In that case, it seems the Bestowal from the Church of Creation and Machinery was a stroke of good fortune for after all."
Of course, when the ladies returned that evening, and the blonde girl he invited to spend the night asked about the new furniture in the bedroom, Jenkins's excited explanation of his abilities was another matter entirely.
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