'Only one?'
When Sunny woke up for the day, the first thing he did was check his phone. After over a week of creating countless kinds of Memories, he finally got an offer from a Premium Investor... or a test, at least.
SoundlessHeaven... when he looked it up, no results came up, implying that it probably wasn't a True Name or anything. With the way the platform worked, his sponsor would stay anonymous until they decided to reveal themselves. On the other hand, they would know exactly who he was since they had access to market's database.
Although it made Sunny a little uncomfortable, it ultimately didn't matter too much. This was something he had expected, and it wasn't as if he was trying to hide his identity. His account was literally called Sunny's Brilliant Emporium, so he certainly wasn't doing himself any favors in that regard.
...But forget about that, Sunny was going to eat pizza! In the morning!
'Oh yeah, I could already taste it.'
***
A dozen minutes later, Sunny was walking through the Express with a box radiating a heavenly aroma. Balancing it in one hand, he greeted Himeko, who was talking to Pom-Pom about something. Something serious, it seemed.
"Is something wrong?"
The redhead turned to him, before sending a reassuring smile.
"Not wrong, necessarily. It's just... we received an unusual invitation from a previous passenger of the Express. I had some questions for Pom-Pom, since they've been here longer."
She sighed.
"The invitation implied some very concerning things—"
The small rabbit-like conductor interrupted:
"Bah! Nothing bad is going to happen! There's no way Mikhail's Inheritance requires anything dangerous. It's probably just a test of character!"
Sunny blinked, immediately intrigued. An Inheritance? A grin stretched across his face.
"So? When are we going?"
Himeko sent him a look, almost like she expected him to say something like that.
"No."
"No?"
"No, as in, we're not going to put ourselves in danger for some treasure."
"We can put me in danger—"
"Also a no."
Pom-Pom huffed.
"You can't even die in Penacony. The entire world is just one big dream."
Recognition flashed in Sunny's eyes. He knew that name... after all, it was the world that the Dreamscape was based on.
In simple terms, Penacony was some kind of dream resort created by a Saint a few hundred years ago. The original Dreamscape. The online Dreamscape, on the other hand, was created by a different Saint along with a Master.
In any case, Penacony was a strange place to leave an Inheritance. Quite extravagant, actually. How many people could say that their Inheritance was left behind in a literal dream?
Sunny's grin stretched wider as he turned to Himeko.
"See? No risk."
An exasperated sigh escaped her lips.
"We can discuss it later, when considering our next destination. For now..."
She sent a strange glance at the pizza he was carrying.
"...Are you going to eat all of that?"
Sunny looked at the pizza. Then at Himeko. Then back to the pizza.
"...Yeah? I only got one box, sorry, gotta run!"
Reminded of his cheesy gift from the heavens themselves, Sunny stepped into the shadows.
***
If he had to describe what was assaulting him in a few words... he would call it a searing melt that ravishes the mind, leaving behind the soft kiss of cheesy goodness mixed with the blessing of tomatoes. All executed within a single instant denoted by a powerful crunch, sending jolts of pleasure and pain straight to the heart.
Each flavor provided a rush of information — wait, he couldn't get distracted!
Sunny tried his best to focus his mind. At the current moment, he was laying on his stomach, legs kicking up as he held a slice from the pizza box that rested besides him. Now that he thought about it, he probably looked like a teenage girl excitedly texting her bum of a boyfriend...
Cleansing his mind of such thoughts, he checked his phone. When he checked the Memory Market, he found a message coming from his mysterious sponsor.
SoundlessHeaven: "Hello! I've heard that you can make custom enchantments?"
Sunny reread the line multiple times, before nodding with a look of acknowledgement. It was a simple message, but there were layers to it. It functioned as a weak bait that would get him to disclose the details of his Aspect — or, in his case, his brand of Sorcery. Maybe not in an attempt to learn about him, but to ensure that they were getting what they were looking for.
Also, Sunny guessed that SoundlessHeaven was a woman. How? Don't ask. It involves a lot of generalization.
Sunny's Brilliant Emporium: "Something like that. Would you like a demonstration first?"
He expected to need to wait a while before SoundlessHeaven responded. After all, to be a Premium Investor, you either had to be a Saint who didn't have bad standing with the IPC, like the Stellaron Hunters, or someone with political influence on the level of a Saint. He would assume that someone of her standing would be too busy to immediately respond... and yet, she did.
SoundlessHeaven: "Yes, actually!"
She seemed to be typing another message for a while, as if she was really considering it. Sunny bet she must have deleted it a few times.
SoundlessHeaven: "Would you be able to make a Memory that allows a mute to speak?"
Sunny paused for a very long second. A Memory like that... shouldn't be difficult to acquire for a Premium Sponsor. They could easily get a healing Memory. Perhaps this was merely a test of his skills... but Sunny wasn't sure that was what she was asking of him.
Sunny's Brilliant Emporium: "I could, but wouldn't that just need a healing Memory?"
After a few moments, she responded again:
SoundlessHeaven: "Hypothetically, let's say that the mute still has to be a mute, but has regained their ability to speak. Is that possible?"
Sunny's eyes widened in understanding. An injury of a more mystical nature, then. It was possible that she was just trying to see how specific his enchantments could be, but it was also equally possible that she needed that Memory for a particular person, whether herself or others. In any case...
Sunny's Brilliant Emporium: "I can create an active enchantment that can turn thought into sound. I can also make a passive version of it, but that one will force your thoughts out whether you like it or not, so I wouldn't recommend it. Does that work for you?"
Out of consideration of the possibility that SoundlessHeaven may have been a mundane human, or perhaps someone getting a Memory for one, he made sure to include the passive version of the enchantment in his offer.
She replied even quicker than the previous times.
SoundlessHeaven: "Yes, that's perfect! My friend is an Awakened, so the active version is fine!"
'So, it's for a friend.'
The corner of Sunny's lip twitched. He had a little bit of a complicated relationship with his own friends at the moment. Well, he guessed he wasn't really friends with Seele at the moment? And March was giving him the silent treatment.
In any case, that confirmed it wasn't for SoundlessHeaven herself. Now, he could get started on the Memory... but he wanted to leave a good impression.
Sunny's Brilliant Emporium: "I'll add an enchantment that lets you control how loud it is. Would you like me to add anything else? And what form would you want it to have?"
As SoundlessHeaven continued to type, Sunny smiled and took another bite out of his pizza. He was a little disappointed that he didn't have many Premium Investors looking for him, but he supposed that just meant he had less work to do when it came to deciding.
'Stuffed crust...'