Sofia filled the bookshelves in her palace one by one, a deep frown etched on her face. Outwardly she looked frustrated, inwardly she was almost panicking.
Too much…
There’s just too much to do!!!
Mechanically organizing books was the best she could at the moment, but she just felt like the list of tasks ahead of her was never ending. Every time she ticked down the list, a new item appeared at the bottom.
Alright so…
I need to figure out and install much needed protection for the city while fully extending the bone foundations. After that the various temples still urgently need work, especially Love’s since Ar’Zoth stays there often.
I have to finish reading the enchantments books to work on my arm.
Start to prepare the setup for her level up training, which Mr.Scribe warned would take a lot longer this time. Just what we needed.
Clean up my skills following Lady Suhen’s guidance. This is also going to take a while, and I need to do it before leveling or I won’t have the blueprint space I need for new skills…
Go on an expedited round trip to the Arege Union to test and buy one of the charms.
I need to eat the weird Kleptran fruit, which is apparently also likely to take me out for a few days…
Reviewing and testing all the new skeletons Bookie has been moving around in his pages will likely take another full day.
Periodically I have to refuel the Odalite forge and also take some time out of my day to transpose to the middle of nowhere space and back for VPPV.
Ideally I want to spend some time with Rem, too, whenever she wakes up.
I need to finish detailing and furnishing the palace before we can get more people working there…
An expedition to get Aphenoreth’s mirror before the next trial is also a priority, though at least this one could wait a few months.
Hmm, I almost forgot, I still haven’t gotten all the dead gods I need for my ring either.
Mom’s resurrection will have to happen in some months as well.
I want to check up on Chino, though I’m still unsure where exactly I should take this. She has her new life now, so…
I promised to look for Izuka as well, going to need to pay the elf diviner another visit. Rahkam was it? I wonder why he doesn’t use a traditional elven name, now that I think about it.
Oh, right, I’ll have to check out the Phageid contribution shop when the system stops being so busy and finally distributes the points for the last attack.
I suppose I also need to ask Grandma why the moon was burning when she comes back.
And it would be impolite to ignore the King guy’s request for too long so I’ll have to pay the flying fortress a visit at some point soon.
Woah. I’m starting to wish I was the one who looked into that damned mirror, I need at least another me to deal with all of this in a timely manner. Right I wanted to get Elsep a few things too. And the presents for Velania. And the shields for Pareth. And the surprise for when Bookie turns five. And the things I commissioned for Crowie and Pestle…
And that’s WITHOUT even thinking about the next Phageid attack whenever it comes.
And, Alith and Asty’s trial is going to get back on track any minute now, and I also promised to watch all of that!!!
Fucking hell! Where is time magic when you need it?! Why is Orator’s the only essence I don’t have! If I could just use a toybox and— and-!
Sofia stopped in place and sighed. “I no longer even age and I’ve never been so pressed for time… I think I get it now, why all the Ascended are always so busy… Except for Phillip, I guess. He seemed pretty relaxed on his island. Maybe I should ask him for advice…”
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“Right, I also need to start buying out all the gold rings to try and complete the Saint set. This is going to be a huge undertaking as well… It should be illegal to be so busy.”
“But Sofia, you’re the one who makes the laws here?” Bookie commented, sitting on top of a bookshelf with his legs dangling, kicking his feet.
“Yeah? Then here’s a new law, come down here, give me a hug, and help sort out those books!” Sofia ordered, poiting up at the tiny skeleton. Then she turned toward an empty shelf behind her, pointing at seemingly nothing, “and you too, you big slacker! How long are you going to spend watching me work! If you’re going to be here, at least help!”
“Ack! Pesle is discover!!!”
Sofia was about to use her aura to prevent Pestle from fleeing, but she got distracted by a falling skeleton flying towards her face. Bookie gave Sofia his lawful hug, giving the escaping fairy a not-so-sneaky thumbs up at the same time.
“You know that I can see that, right?”
“A– Aaaaah, Sofia you’re hugging too hard! Uuue, my ribs!”
Sofia grabbed Bookie under the arms and held him like this in front of her, his feet dangling far off of the ground. “It’s dawn, the sun is literally in my eyes right now, I couldn’t damage your ribs if I tried, what are you trying to pull there, huh?” Sofia teased.
“Tehe!” Bookie let the magic holding his bones together fall apart, escaping Sofia’s grasp as he quickly reformed just before hitting the ground, scurrying off out of the library.
Sofia chuckled by herself in her library, her gaze shifting to the only other entity around. “At least there’s still one of my summons that’s still loyal. Maybe you’re not so bad to have around after all.”
Under the gentle morning light, Sofia gave a few pats to the coldly spinning Abereth that had become a permanent background fixture in her life, and got back to filling the bookshelves, feeling a lot better than she did just minutes before. Pestle and Bookie ended up coming back just moments later, carrying a handful of snacks and getting to work sorting out the easier to understand books brought by Saria from her Obsidian Mountain collection.
More things that she had to deal with incessantly assaulted her thoughts, like having to carve out a spot for Everelle and Saria’s city dungeon. The to-do list truly was never-ending.
Alith slowly opened her eyes on a sandy beach, hot sand sticking to her skin, wearing nothing but a weathered white sundress.
Truthfully, this was not the event she initially wanted to pick, the slumbering god challenged sounded like a lot more fun, and surviving for a long time was pretty much her specialty. But for some reason, she felt really compelled to pick the lost island challenge instead, and decided to trust her gut.
Dopple must be fuming on the bed right now, she thought with a snort.
Stretching and getting up on the hot sandy beach, observing the calm sea and the huge volcanic island she was at the base of, she already started to feel a lot better about her choice.
“Looks like a nice vacation!”
She looked back at the even prompt, and the new additional information she had just received.
[Event: Fresh start at sea - Lost island]
[You are stranded on one of Gamma-b-13’s very peculiar magical islands without any of your magic or items, can you survive the natural disasters, the monsters and the island’s hidden dangers, and make it back to the Ark by yourself? Be wary, the sea is even more dangerous than the land.]
[Score will be determined by the time to return to the ark and Island objectives completion.]
“Sounds simple enough! Surviving with no magic is what I’ve done for most of my life, too. I ain’t scared of a thick forest or two, bring it on!”
Her eyes carefully scanning her surroundings, Alith took her time walking toward the island’s jungle, enjoying the feeling of hot sand beneath her feet.
“Hmmmmm, it’s been so long since I’ve really felt hunger. It’s a bit refreshing. What a good day."
Sofia was following after Alith, fully invisible and impossible to notice as she used the Ark’s staff spectator mode. Love was also flying around nearby, while Pareth and Bookie were watching the start of Astelia’s event instead.
“Say, Love…”
“Yeees?”
“This half of the event was also designed by Jin, wasn’t it?”
“Ahah… Well… You knoOow… Might’ve been?! I wasn’t really working for them back then–”
“But?”
“But yeah, yeah, it was mostly him, I’m pretty suuuure!” Love answered with a wide smile, twirling around in the air.
“Guessed so. It is a really advantageous one to humans and heroes in particular, from the looks of it.”
Love shrugged, “Your human bodies are still weaker when brought back to the same looow level. But I would not deny human heroes perform better in this one event on averaaage. You can’t tell anyone I said that, though!”
“You’re already bending the rules to let me here, I wouldn’t go and repeat this stuff. Right, did the Ark’s tower suffer any damage from the attack, I was surprised the trial got that delayed.”
“NooOoo, there are a lot of protections for the towers now! Especially this one is very very safe! But there are only so many system workers and the world is big! But it’ll be fine now, no more interruptions! So… How do you think your friends will fare?”
“They both get a gold pin. No need to even ask,” Sofia answered proudly with a smug smile, hands on her hips.
“Oooh? Well let’s see, this island is more than a bit dangerous!”
