Chapter 201 - Smartphone Crash Course

"H—How do I… What is this?" Arnold, looking bewildered at the smartphone that was in Nathalie's hands, presenting it to him.

[Artifact, if you will…]

His face began to contort in wariness as he leered at it, leaving him to stammer his words. "Never heard of that— What— What— can it do?" 

For a while, she pulled out a spare smartphone that she had to give her dad, William Pierre Quinn, for the new year's gift. But then, a crazy night happened and led her no chance even to part with a gift to him.

All she thought it might be useful to Arnold, but he had to at least know how to even use it with utmost care.

Jonathan had also installed it the same as theirs, and with this, the communication would never be a burden.

[So, this is what you need to do.]

When she pressed it, a subtle beep and a bright light flashing flinched Arnold in his stance, with his grimoire hovering beside him as his fingertip went aglow with an orb of ice.

"T— T—That is an— abomination—"

Nathalie facepalmed as she needed to have patience for this, and she didn't have much time to show him every function of it.

Her hands swiped with grace through the screen like it was nothing at all, which gradually lowered his guard from it.

Then, Nathalie pulled out her phone as well, and then he was very attentive with the gadget in his hands. 

Suddenly, on his screen, popped a speech balloon of an incoming call from a name 'Mystique Blackwell' with a subtle vibration. With a tremor, it almost slipped through his fingertips but grabbed it in a nick of time.

"Arnold, you need to press that 'accept' button over there." Jonathan cleared his throat before he started to give him the cues.

Arnold gulped hard as he braced himself upon clicking it, and then the screen in front of his eyes changed to a closed angle of Nathalie's face in a glimpse of a second.

"Mystique?! Why— you are trapped—" he rattled, then arched his neck, only to find out Mystique was right there. His hands trembled, pointing back and forth, "You— Here, what is this—"

Then, he went speechless as he also noticed his reflection in it; every time he moved his head, the image changed in real-time. 

Jonathan chimed from the side, "With that, you will be able to communicate with her."

Both of Arnold's eyes and mouth went agape as he couldn't believe what he said, then Nathalie proceeded to show it to him as she pranced around, to Jonathan as they went close—enough to fit their faces fully in the screen. 

It wasn't all as she changed the view, which now faced his father, instead of a selfie. She roamed the phone around, capturing different angles and views on the private quarters she had. 

Zooming in, she saw intricate details from the gold linings of the ceiling that connected to the mosaic, then to the sturdy wall with an array of picturesque.

The camera adjusted from the brightness, even capturing Keith is quite a model pose, who casually leaned against the wall with the veil of curtain draping. 

"This… This is fabulous!" Arnold roared, and there, his eyebrows arched when he caught the sudden echo of his voice. "Wait… This is what— you mean?"

"Indeed. It should be useful, and you'd be able to keep in touch with her whenever and wherever she is—"

"This is a divine grade artifact! Who would've known!?" he breathed, with eyes almost bloodshot out of excitement as he couldn't stop trembling. 

Then all of a sudden, another message popped up, which came from hers as she typed.

[Father, you can also type here. Click this.]

When he did, a small section of the chat popped up that was her on the other side. 

[Why don't you type?]

A subtle squint in Arnold's eyes came as he followed her instructions upon clicking the white bar, leading to single letters arranged in such an order. He glanced at it in awe, as the realization dawned upon him.

"This really is an artifact… With these ancient scriptures here…" He ended up sighing. "I'm rather fortunate enough to learn of this during my early prime years."

Even Ashtra got his interest caught from what they were into as of the moment; from the back of Arnold, he leaned close to his nape with a glare.

"Oh! That is fascinating, indeed. This was one you used back then at my sacred place, isn't it?"

Nathalie gave a curt nod.

"Ahh, I see now." With a scratch of the underside of his chin, he then uttered again, "Apparently, this has so many uses. Can I have some?"

Then, she declined, which then clicked his tongue. After which, she typed, [Father, this is the only artifact, and it shall belong to you. Only you can use it as you wish.]

Thereafter, she gave some important pointers, aside from the necessary applications and special widgets installed, like charger— but an improvised version she had thought of until she had a better installation and constant resources for it.

Time flew so fast, and contrary to her belief of Arnold— like the old customers she had to test her patience— he was able to pick up the information she had given in a small amount of time. A little fumble over here and there, but he pulled it off as he asked several questions that made sense at the time.

He wasn't called a genius and a tactician for nothing.

Beyond as much as she expected for a beginner, and only had the important ones once. She had all the time to teach him after all, later onwards.

[So keep it well, father. It will be useful in the future.]

"You don't have to tell me twice about this." He raised his chin, huffing out, then he couldn't stop smirking from what he thought of at this instance. "What is it that you call again… That— up…"

"Updated," Jonathan interrupted in his trailing voice. 

"Right, keep me updated on this, My Mysti, yes?"

[That's a given to my father dearest.]

Arnold's face now brightened up, hugging her tight. "Mysti, I know once you made up your mind it's hard to convince you, and I always feel like a failure. Thank you for this…"

Then, Nathalie reached for his back, giving him a tender pat for the best support that she could ever have all this time.

"I'll come back soon," she whispered.

***