Dimensional Descent

Isoltihne snapped out of her surprise, subconsciously shaking her head. She had been so annoyed with Leonel all this time that she hadn't noticed until just now that this boy was quite handsome.

Wait, what was she thinking? She was old enough to be his grandmother's grandmother. She had grown out of the swooning over pretty men stage a long time ago. Though there were still some faint lines of beauty on her aged features, definitely above average for a woman as lived as her, she wasn't under the illusion that she could still attract men with her looks—at least not men who weren't at least as old as she was, that is. But, even those old bastards would prefer to chase after youthful swan meat.

It was quite the double edged sword. As a Crafter, Isoltihne's thinking speed might not match up to Leonel's, but it was still far greater than most. This was usually a good thing, but at the moment she felt like she had overthought something as benign as a smile. It was embarrassing to the point her cheeks flushed slightly.

Of course, this flushing had little to do with her attraction to Leonel and everything to do with the embarrassing train of her thoughts. After all, as she had told herself previously, she had long since grown out of such a stage.

However, before she could regain her bearings, she found that Leonel was before her, his hand having already reached out to lightly grasp the pendant that had hung from her neck. In that moment, she found herself frozen again.

This time, it was because of two things.

For one, Leonel's scent was unique. It wasn't masked by cologne and felt fresh and natural, and yet it still held an edge of intoxication to it. The best thing it could be likened to for lack of a better comparison was fresh paper. When one entered an office, especially one that had large printers blasting at full tilt all hours of the day, the first few whiffs of that new paper smell was almost drug-like.

Isoltihne felt that Leonel's scent was like this, but it was far more layered, complex and fragrant. But at the same time, it wasn't as overpowering nor was it as easy to get over as the smell of paper.

The second this that shocked Isoltihne, though, was that Leonel actually dared to get so close to her without warning.

Maybe if she still had that same hate for Leonel, she would have slapped him to death for doing such a thing. Or, maybe if he wasn't so nice to look at or smell she would have reacted in that way even if she had a good impression of him. But, for some reason, she just froze, her gaze locked onto Leonel's fingers as they twirled her jade pendant between them.

Compared to Leonel's face or his scent, Isoltihne found Leonel's hands to be the most enticing. She couldn't take her eyes off of them.

They were slender and well kempt, but they also coursed with veins that traveled up his forearm. Their beauty was beyond anything she had ever seen and the longer she looked at them, the more she felt her chest being taken over by a searing heat.

By the time Isoltihne realized that there was something wrong with her actions, a flash of silver covered Leonel's hands for a moment before retreating.

Leonel lowered the elder's pendant back down, careful not to touch the skin of her chest before taking a step back.

"You…" Isoltihne's was going to speak before her pendant began to glow lightly.

At that moment, a gentle green energy wafted out from it, pouring into her skin and coursing through her veins. In just a few circulations, Isoltihne's cheeks seemed rosier, her skin less wrinkled and she felt as if her energy reserves had been replenished three times over.

In just a few minutes, under their astonished gazes, her age regressed by at least five years. Though she still looked like she could be a grandmother, it was now to the point one might have to ask her just how young had she had her first child to still be so youthful.

Isoltihne was stunned. 'He… He actually repaired it…?'

What Leonel didn't know was that Isoltihne had won this pendant at an auction about ten years ago. It was made of a very precious jade known as Revitalizing Jade. Much like many other precious Ores, Revitalizing Jade came in several grades and this one just so happened to be of the Bronze Grade, allowing it to have great affects on helping a Fifth Dimensional existence to retain their youth.

As one might expect, it was extremely expensive. It took trading off decades, centuries even, of hard work for Isoltihne to get her hands on it. And, even then, she only managed to succeed thanks to the fact this was an incredibly small piece and the fact it was sold damaged.

If it was so easy to repair, Isoltihne would have done it herself long ago, or the auction house would have taken those steps long before they decided to auction this piece off. And yet, it took Leonel a brief moment? What kind of exaggerated nonsense was this?

The jade around her neck now was easily worth a hundred times what she paid for it. This amount of wealth dangling from her neck almost made her want to forego youth and sell it off again.

Was this really just a gift…?

No matter how stone hearted Isoltihne was, she couldn't muster up the same hatred she had before. In fact, what happened before couldn't even be considered hatred, it was more like annoyance. It was just that in her position, when someone or something annoyed her, the results would be devastating for them.

"… Thank you."

The words sounded so foreign rolling off her tongue that Isoltihne flushed red again beside herself. This Leonel was truly the bane of her existence.

Leonel just grinned. "It's not a big deal, a Metal Spirit is especially good at forging small, intricate parts and is also excellent at repairing items. It was just a small task."