Chapter 5 - Nature Sculpting

The grey mountains were dangerous as many monsters were breeding at this time.

Without a skilled ranger in your party to safely navigate through the mountains, it was close to suicide.

Because of the steep slopes, monsters could surprise attack you at any time.

Weed was riding one of his Wyverns in large circles.

“It really is a huge mountain range.”

When he fought with the Orcs and Dark Elves in the Yuroki mountains, he thought that was already considered a huge mountain range.

“The sculpting master should be somewhere at the foot of the mountain!”

He was expecting to find a wooden house.

“Though, a nature lover might be opposed to building a wooden house.”

Sculptors excel at handling stone and minerals, however finding such a house seemed unlikely

“A poor hermit would obviously live in the mountains!”

Weed was convinced that such a poor man would be living in the mountain wilderness.

He opened the quest information window to check the quests remaining time.

“Quest information window!”

Bar Khan’s summons

The undead’s Bar Khan has called for a demonstration.

Many undead will surely follow his orders.

Days remaining “84 days”:

Quest difficulty: C

Compensation: Chain quest start, meet with Bar Khan

You are now an undead and may not cancel the quest..

Anyhow this quest which would normally only be granted to the Lich s.h.i.+re, was obtained because of shape-s.h.i.+fter sculpture.

There was no need to rush the situation as he would much rather take his time and come up with a favorable solution.

Instead of hunting, he would take his time and learn about natural catastrophe sculpting.

“Which direction should I go?”

Weed had to follow his instincts. The bottom of the mountain just didn’t seem right.

“That area just doesn’t look right!”

He wanted to go at least halfway up the mountainside!

“He’s looking for an ideal high cla.s.s view.”

If you wanted a home you would look for somewhere with an un.o.bstructed view.

“A place where the valley water was nearby.”

Weed on the Wyvern, flew in close proximity to the mountains.

The mountain was huge and lush with trees.

Long tailed monkeys, and other monsters were shouting and waving their clubs but they were not able to reach them.

Diving through the long arms of the branches and vines. Picking up various kinds of fruits such as bananas and chestnuts along the way.

Sometimes unusual metal items could be worn on the body depending on the circ.u.mstance and when he was extremely low, he could grab strong monsters off the ground.

“There is nothing here for me. From the perspective of a sculptor, this place is filled with loud and annoying monsters. If I was to work here I would constantly be disturbed, we need to find a quiet place.”

Weed was very close to the monsters in the area, except he couldn"t see how people could live in the tough rocky area as he pa.s.sed by.

Dekarte was an enormously huge mountain by any standard, the possibility of finding DayCram in such a place was small.

You even had to look through the leaves of the forest, trying to scour the woods looking for some obscure target could take quite some time.

So Weed made a decision!

“Golden Bird, Silver Bird, and Wyverns.”

Kkiya Aaaah!

Weed followed Golden Bird and Silver Bird on his Wyvern. They gave out a long cry.

“From now on, you search!”

To supervise troublesome work like this, he had to distribute the workload.

"Keep looking until you find him, even if your search leaves you wondering all night long, find him."

At this point he didn’t mind pus.h.i.+ng his minions to obtain the results he wanted.

The Wyverns, Golden Bird, and Silver Bird were dispersed throughout the Great Mountain Dekarte. The Golden Bird brought back results within 30 minutes.

He worked a lot more effectively now that he had been beaten.

“The human lives near the big tree.”

“DayCram, right?”

“There are many sculptures in the area. The sculptures are all amazing.”

“That’s right. Let’s go!”

Weed rea.s.sembled the Wyverns, and headed towards civilization.

Both hunters and rangers carefully stayed away from Tebkart as it was a very dangerous place.

Due to a lot of monsters and dangerous terrain, the isolated grey mountain range was considered a bad place by users too.

“It’s that house!”

Looking down from the sky, through some trees, he could see the house where DayCram lived.

The house was made from weaving branches together.

The roof was made of dry gra.s.s, held together with vines and covered with wide leaves.

It didn’t seem like a house from a fairy tale, but it looked like a thatched cottage.

Weed got down from where the Wyvern had landed and headed for the house.

“Is he still alive? If he’s already dead, then the helium would be mine……”

Hopes for meeting a Sculpture Master!

Since a large amount of time had flowed by on the Versailles Continent, DayCram could be dead.

Like the seven angels he made from mithril, could he not have made a sculpture and pa.s.sed away.

‘Since there are a lot of monsters on this mountain, it would not be suspicious if he had died.’

Weed went to the house full of hope.

Near the white bearded man’s house, there were sculptures of deer antlers.

As if they were alive, they stood there patiently.

Just by looking at the carving of the elaborate horns, he could feel that they were made with great skills.

The moment he saw DayCram, he knew why he was called that. From the clothes he wore, he looked awfully poor.

‘If I sell the clothes I am wearing, it would certainly help. Even though he would not be able to wear them while was cooking.’

He was wearing such dirty clothes that it would have had an adverse effect on the cooking he did.

DayCram didn’t even look at Weed and started speaking.

“Are you the sculptor that has come to find me?”

Weed politely replied back.

“Even though I am insufficient in a lot of areas, I am a junior engraver walking down the path of a sculptor.

I saw some writings that were left by a senior in Jigolath, and made my way here.

Even though it was a long journey, to see you alive, I am thrilled.”

“I see, I was waiting in this mountain for an engraver to come and learn my skills.

What do you think engraving is all about?”

“Engraving is about……”

He could think of a lot of flattery words about engraving, but had to take his time to rearrange his thoughts.

“It is to show the natural beauty of something.

In fact, there is nothing as beautiful as natural beauty.”

DayCram nodded his head.

“Engraving is a skill to bring out the beauty in the earth, water and wind.

Nature sometimes becomes violent. Even when doing such violent things there is still beauty in it.”

“Of course, I even love those violent behaviors.”

Weed could empathize with those words, had he not been affected by snow storms, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes! If only he wasn’t affected by it, it would have been very beautiful.

“My skills would be able to show the ruthlessness of nature. Even so, do you still want to learn my techniques?”

“Of course, in order to become a better sculptor, I believe your techniques would be required.”

Now He can learn the catastrophic expectations of nature!

A ma.s.sive attack skill.

But I have to use it first to know how much I can use it!

After leveling the skill a bit, the problem was whether it was to be used on a monster or landscape.

“However, you have yet to see the beauty of nature with your own eyes.”

“Am I still lacking in skill?”

“When you are enlightened of your true strength, only then will you be able to learn my techniques.”

“How am I able to get enlightenment? Please tell me the way.”

“You would have to make a lot of nature sculptures. Would you like to learn my teachings?”

Ttiring!

Only an idiot would refuse this quest!

Of the four engraving skills pa.s.sed on, the last one would have to be the best.

Furthermore, while learning shape-s.h.i.+fter sculpture, he learned many other things working next to a master.

“I want to accept the teachings of great master DayCram.”

-You have accepted the quest.

“Let’s start immediately.”

Creating a sculpture of nature was not a tremendously ambitious idea, anything could be used, falling leaves or petals in the wind, anything could be used.

Nature’s own byproducts could be used for the job!

Because nature sculptures can bring the overflowing vitality out, the petals do not dry or rot.

Bees and b.u.t.terflies flew to the sculpture that Weed and DayCram made.

-Affinity with creating nature sculptures has increased by 2.

It was his first successful attempt.

Far away from the water and on dry land, birds collecting branches to make their nests

-Affinity with creating nature sculptures has increased by 4.

DayCram was really familiar with beasts, He lived together with nature and was very friendly with the wildlife, it was as if the deer came along to eat and play. Weed soon became friendly with the deer as well.

“That looks nice. I think I’ll start with the horns.”

‘It looks delicious. If I sell the horn, I’ll be able to get hundreds of gold!, If only DayCram wasn’t here, then I would have cut off its horns because it would be able to buy meat for the family! If you light a fire, cook it whole with a clear drop of oil and a bit of salt…’

DayCram didn’t eat meat, he lived off fruits that dropped from trees, gra.s.s, or tree bark.

“He likes people who don’t hurt nature.”

Even though he didn’t achieve high level cooking skills, like a rabbit, he lived eating gra.s.s, and by doing this when he sculptured he was able to be in more affinity with nature.

***

Winter was closing in, and the end of the semester of Korea University was coming to an end.

“Fleeting Tuition, … Like this I’m totally letting you go.”

The students had many reports that they had to turn in as the professors got more and more enthusiastic.

It’s more about the theories of virtual reality in first year, but they have the chance to experience with the virtual reality equipment after they start their second year

‘The more difficult the lectures get, the more time I have to spend in school’

Lee Hyun was unable to achieve his goal to collect money due to his studies interfering ..

“Haaahh...”

Lee Hyun sighed and stretched, Seoyoon who was seated beside him was in deep thought.

‘Winter vacation will start in about two weeks...’

She would not be able to meet Lee Hyun every weekday like now.

Even in Royal Road, they remained apart as Weed went to Great mountain Dekartel

Though Seoyoon had spent a lot of time without words, she wanted to spend more time with Lee Hyun.

She plucked up her courage, and wrote something on a piece of paper.

Would you like to go to the beach with me?

Seoyoon displayed real courage in suggesting that they travel together considering her situation

If it was another man, they would have made done a happy little dance, and doubted whether it was a dream or not, but Lee Hyun was apathetic

He didn"t understand going to the beach in the middle of summer, so there was no way he would understand going in winter

“It"s cold so wouldn"t staying in home be more comfortable than going to the beach? There’s no need to worry about catching a cold and there’s no need to worry about health insurance”

"......"

The att.i.tude of a man who has no comprehension of romance!

“Traveling takes a lot of money, do you have any idea how harsh it is to go to an overpriced place”

Money. Money. Money. Money.

Traveling will cause him to spend more money

Going to the beach in the summer or not, it still costs money.

However, the idea of Seoyoon traveling by herself was not allowed by her father.

Seoyoon wrote another message

“I’ll pay for the travel costs.”

Lee Hyun shook his head.

“Did you earn the money yourself?”

Seoyoon was a student, and as far as he knew she never had to work in her life.

-No.

"Money in this world is something terrifying. The costs of movie tickets for the theater rise every year, and public transportation is even scarier."

"......"

"If you have never earned money yourself, then you have no idea what it is worth. Do not carelessly offer money."

Lee Hyun had never voiced it, but he was jealous of them.

Rich college kids!

They were families which he envied.

Lee Hyun spent his childhood delivering newspapers, he worked hard at his part time jobs delivering milk, something rich kids would never experience.

-Mom, please give me some pocket money, last month you only gave me 50 million won.

-I"m putting together a trip to go overseas soon.

-Mom have you forgotten, I want to go to France. Tell your secretary to make it 100 million won. We don’t want to eat only packed dinners after all.

That’s how the conversations worked for the rich in Lee Hyun’s head.

Either the successor of a rich company or the inheritance from a rich family and they never knew the hard work that was involved.

Like that a heroes" personality was that of an ordinary sc.u.m, complicated relations.h.i.+ps with women, and being poor as well.

Of course, they too were human and must have suffered once or twice.

With bad parental relations.h.i.+ps or a couple of wishes that had not come true, different degrees of anguish occur.

But without that anguish, few people would survive in the world

Like a sudden twist in a good daytime drama, the show is then well received by the public.

Eventually the sons and daughters of rich families can never be hated

If you anger the public and swear at them, all you have to do is show them money, and their forgiveness will show.

Until the end of the lecture, Seoyoon was in deep thoughts.

‘Looks like I really don’t know about the value of money’

While Lee Hyun lived diligently, she never seriously thought about it.

Just as Lee Hyun imagined, she had lots of real estates, trust funds, funds, stocks, and many others, therefore she was never inhibited when it came to money.

Seoyoon wrote her thoughts on the piece of paper while reflecting on her actions.

-I will work and earn the money, will you travel together with me then?

Lee Hyun didn’t expect this reaction.

‘It’s winter vacation soon’

Less than three weeks were left till the end of the semester.

“How much will you be able to earn?”

I never tried it so I still.... How much do you think I need to gather?

Seoyoon’s eyes were sparkling as she was expecting him to answer.

She did not understand society and being unfamiliar with the world she would receive the bitter taste of the world

Lee Hyun, emphasized on an ordinary travel, and replied

“If we’re talking about the sea it will definitely be in the South or Jeju island. In that case transportation will take at least ₩450000 while food should be about ₩800000. Are we gonna stay there?”

Even if they ate sas.h.i.+mi every meal, it was highly unlikely it would cost ₩800000, regardless Seoyoon nodded. Since they couldn’t just spend their time just traveling there and back. She wanted to spend the night talking while drinking wine.

“The hotel room would probably cost us ₩50000000, we’d have to grab two rooms. Also, if we were to eat Cider(Sprite) and eggs on the train as well as get some souvenirs, we would need at least ₩5000000 or ₩6000000.

Lee Hyun suggested an amount that was absolutely unmanageable.

‘A part time job over the winter break will not be enough to collect that amount’

Even though the said amount was ridiculous, Seoyoon nodded anyways.

Lee Hyun had said, in order to make a promise. “You have to earn the money by yourself through hard labor, otherwise it doesn’t count.”

-Alright.

***

Weed spent the last 20 days making nature sculptures in the mountains of Dekarte.

“I’ve spent a long time just focused on sculpting.”

The quest didn’t let him hunt, he could only create sculptures, now he was running short on time.

Alone in this environment he could create many great sculptures, however he couldn’t create cla.s.sic or masterpiece sculptures without taking his time and working at a relaxed pace.

“A sculpture made of Dew!”

Weed made sculptures early in the morning.

He collected the basic materials needed for the sculpture.

While squatting down he ripped up the gra.s.s to collect the dew off of them.

With his ever growing nature affinity, he could make a much wider selection of nature based sculptures.

Weed made a water elemental, this was his first masterpiece made from nature sculpting.

Masterpiece! A water elemental made with Dew

Creation and nature was a means to improve the level of sculptures, so he only collected clear dew.

In the trees and on the ground, mixed with the scent of flowers, he was actively playing with the different methods of creating the water elemental. It was a lively expression and deserved high praise.

Of the sculptures within the Versailles Continent, very few depict nature!

However, because he was an undead sculptor his work suffered and he was going crazy.

Artistic value: 898

Special options: People who see the water elemental made of dew will have their health and mana regeneration increased by 12% for one day.

-Reduces mana needed to summon water elementals.

-Will satisfy your thirst for a long time.

Does not overlap with other sculptures.

Number of Completed Masterpieces: 89

-Sculpting proficiency has increased

-Dexterity proficiency has increased.

-Nature Sculpting proficiency has increased

-Reputation has increased by 263.

-Stamina has increased by 1.

-Intelligence has increased by 1.

-Art has risen by 8.

-Creating a masterpiece has increased your nature affinity by 9. Increasing nature affinity will improve the scope of nature sculptures you can carve.

Due to creating a pure sculpture, the power of undead is purified and reduced by 6.

Weed was committed to working on his sculptures.

He gained proficiency with animals and plants, particularly with the plants.

While in his undead form, he worked hard. As a side effect of being an undead he could work without rest.

However, as good as that was, nature sculptures had purification properties.

“Divine power reduces the power of the undead.”

One good thing was that he didn’t have to give as much money to the Freya Religion’s Pope Candidate Alveron.

“Unfortunately, this sculpture is a masterpiece.”

He had collected Dew to make a water elemental sculpture.

Owing to the natural heat granted by the reflected sunlight, it would soon be ruined and disappear.

But it was too wasteful to leave the Sculpture in its place at Daesan in Tebkart.

There was no raw material cost, but it had been very difficult, collecting the dew had taken a lot of time

”Creating a natural masterpiece for the first time, I’m not able to leave the sculpture.”

Free sculpture!

Weed decided to write on the water elemental sculpture.

By releasing the water elemental, it could be summoned by writing, there will also be an increase in the degree of affinity with nature.

Elementals also help with growth, though currently useless, after a while, by managing a few, one or two could be formed on the ground as food to eat.

Weed uses his skill on the sculpture.

“Create Elemental!”

Ttiring!

The cute looking water elemental growled loudly

“You are the sculptor who made me! How dare you make me look this weird, are you prepared to die?”

It was the most spoiled sculpture ever created by Weed.

He acted like a little kid, a jigging kindergarten.

“Identify!”

Name has not been given yet

Water Elemental.

He was born as a nature sculpture.

Created with a bad att.i.tude. The water elemental has no patience.

Looking at him from top to bottom he didn’t understand.

Can exert 71% of its power from the elemental plane.

It is possible for it to become a greater elemental.

Through the Elemental Shaman’s summons and earthly life activities, summons more elementals as well as increase the force exerted.

Specialties: Water s.h.i.+eld, providing purified water, has extraordinary intellect.

Creating the elemental itself was successful. He didn’t feel that the personality was a big issue.

New born elementals have to learn a lot of things when they first come to life, simply talking with it a little should win it over.

“I suppose we should talk a little”

The elemental was completely ignoring him!

Weed gently pulled out his Saint Staff.

Peobeobeobeobeok!

Painful, fast, and efficient.

Hitting and smacking it over and over again, he lacked any sympathy and continued hitting the same sore spot.

“You’re supposed to say thank you to the person who made you.”

Puck peok peok!

“Apologize for a minute ago......”

Puck peok peok!

“MY HONORABLE MASTER!”

There was a sudden change in the water elemental"s att.i.tude.

Weed put the Saint’s Staff away in his backpack.

“I will become your teacher so you will have good education.”

His personal thoughts were that he was a fine educator!

The water elemental was the unlucky student of Weed’s Elementary School.

“Your name is Droplets.”

He named the elemental Droplets because it was an elemental made of dew

“Thank you for my name, my honorable master.”

A slim and cute water elemental was summoned and tempered by Weed like a blacksmith using a furnace

“I’ll need to grant life once more to the Geumini.”

He was not confident he would be able to grant him life.

Be that as it may, to keep putting it off was only delaying it. Someday he would have to try.

The sculptures were created at Tebkart in Daisan. In his current situation where his sense of sculpting remained high with water, he decided.

“Let’s go and try now.”

DayCram was going someplace to create nature sculptures.

Weed collected fallen branches to light a fire in the furnace for heat.

The Masterpiece Sculpture Geumini was created from melted gold.

“To make and form...”

The mold of Geumini’s body was simple as it was formed by putting together soil

Art found in the city of Rhodium were detailed memories that remained, but as for Geumini, it was a memory that would last for a long time.

Pouring the gold onto the mold, waiting until it was sufficiently cooled, Weed was impatient to make other sculptures!

Worries often emerged thinking about the operating design of Geumini.

“Geumini does not listen well to words and he is also not that pleasant. Having so much work, how am I going to manage...”

Waiting for gold to pour into the mold took a while.

“It’s done.”

Removing the mold by breaking it out from its place, Geumini’s appearance was formed once again.

Weed’s memory was extremely accurate. Comparing it to the original, he felt that it was a waste that the new Geumini was cracked and a little short, but otherwise it was still the same.

‘It’s fortunate Geumini was created using gold. Granting life to wood or stone, the physical materials would have to be gathered, the hold on the original body would also be very weak.’

Weed’s eyes, nose and mouth were meticulous after the repair skill was cast.

“Grant life to sculpture!”

Stats have been reduced, 2 levels have been lost, and 6 art points have been consumed.

-The Sculpture with life has obtained the use of its body. Due to the water attributes possessed and found in life, new life will be gained.

Memories of Sculpture skill is invoked.

Sculptures will regain memories of their life, but will be confused.

Again, at that point in time, the increase in Art stat and sculpture effects did not apply. The Sculpture before, would have had a 5% level decrease.

Sculptures that are granted life slowly awaken, but unlike them, Geumini instantly opened its eyes.

When Weed was looking at him, Geumini shook his head and started talking.

Please give me my name.”

A dry and rigid tone!

“In the end you didn’t recover your memories.”

The friends.h.i.+p they had cultivated was over, this was Geumini’s eternal goodbye.

“Rover will grieve a lot. So will Seoyoon.”

Rover treated Geumini like family. Seoyoon would be sad and shed many tears.

Hwaryeong and his other friends will be saddened as well by Geumini’s death.

“Your name is Geumini”

“Yes, master.”

“Sleep comfortably”

“Yes.”

Once again Weed began making nature sculptures.

In the trees far above, Wah-il, Wah-thul and Wah-sam were sitting.

Geumini was diligently trying to shake hands with all of them. They all burst out laughing.

“Golgolgol!”

Weed inquired.

“You are Geumini right?”

Geumini shook hands and bowed respectfully.

“A little while ago I was given that name, master”

“That’s a bit weird.”

Weed was feeling awkward near Geumini.