Chapter 27 Chapter 27 - The Missing Elemen (2/2)
For the past week, he dedicated himself entirely to drawing up armor designs in hopes of suddenly being inspired. However, nearly each of his designs felt… off. From a technical standpoint, he realized, there was nothing wrong with them; they were actually rather perfect for the type of a fighter he wanted to be. Yet, he always felt something about them lacking. As headache and fatigue finally caught up to him, he picked up all of the papers on the desk and forced Qi into his fingers, transforming it into the Tri-Spirit Flame, burning all the papers to ashes. He quickly leapt onto his bed and fell asleep, figuring he needed some rest before diving into it yet again. It was a sleep filled with armors; shiny, brilliant, awe-inspiring, powerful, cool! They all had mouths and were sneering at him, mocking him, and telling him he will never be able to craft anything close to them. By the time he woke up, he felt even more exhausted and dispirited. Groaning lowly, he sat up and lowered his head, resting it on his hand. What am I missing?!! He roared inwardly as that maddening gaze returned to his eyes. Practicality?! Durability?! Seamlessness?! No!! What the fuck am I missing, dammit?!!
Jumping off his bed ferociously, he went to the drawer and took out another set of papers before sitting down and picking up the pencil once again. He first sketched out a few chest pieces on the topmost part of the paper – three to be precise. First was a rather simple-looking, full-enclosing piece of leather armor bound by stripes and belts. Second was mail armor, covering his head, neck and torso; it was rather primitive and simple, aimed entirely at efficiency. And the third was a full-plated steel chest piece. It had protrusions around breasts which sank down to flat angle at the abdomen. Backside and frontside were separated pieces linked by either flat, iron chain or sturdy leather belts. There were wide, angled gashes around shoulders and armpits designed to inspire flexibility. After looking at them for a while, he decided to elaborate on the first piece – simple, leather armor.
Taking up the central piece of paper, he first sketched it in a larger side, before taking some space to dismantle it at the side and lay it open; he then drew the belts and stripes separately, jotted down what he thought were best ingredients for base crafting as well as further enhancement, what tools he'd have to use as well as the best-suited technique for leatherworking. However, the moment he was done, he flashed an angry smile at the piece of paper and crumpled it with gusto before throwing it at the wall. He finally closed his eyes for a moment before breathing in deeply and getting off the chair. He first went downstairs and realized that neither Ella nor Eggor were in before taking off to the bathroom. Filling the wooden bucket with water quickly, he took off his stinky clothes and jumped in. Relaxing, he dozed off once again, but this time into a dreamless sleep. By the time he woke up, he finally felt rested after an entire weak. Leaving the bucket, he first tried himself with a towel before putting on a new set of clothes.
Exiting the bathroom, he headed off to the kitchen and noticed that Ella was preparing diner while Eggor was sitting down, reading some sort of a book. Ah, looks like I still have to ask the old fart what am I doing wrong… he begrudgingly admitted inside before moving over and sitting down next to him.
”Oh, thank god you finally took a bath!” Eggor exclaimed as he put down the book. ”You stank worse than a corpse of a horse! Ha ha!”
”…”
”Ah, you're really getting better!” Ella said as she flashed the two a smile.
”Of course, of course. I told you long time ago I'm quite talented at it!” Eggor said, puffing his chest out in pride.
”Old man, I've got a technical question for you.” Lino ignored everything and immediately decided to get it over with.
”Oh? What question?”
”I've been… I've been trying to fix up some designs for my armor over the past week,” Lino explained while smiling bitterly. ”However, no matter what I draw up just… never feels enough. It isn't that the armors wouldn't fit me, or that they aren't good enough, or that they are impractical or too practical… from the technical standpoint, I suppose everything is fine. It's just that… whenever I look at the designs, I just feel something's off.”
”… hmm,” Eggor thought for a moment. Wow, this brat is actually asking me a proper question for a change!! Looks like his little adventure really hit him hard… ”Usually, when something feels instinctively off rather than technically, it's because the design is lacking you.”
”Eh? What's that mean?” Lino tilted his head in confusion.
”For instance, think back to your [Celestial Rod],” Eggor said. ”You never hit a bump in the road during the design because you poured who you are into it, your own vision. However, from the sounds of it, you aren't doing the same with the armor; you're thinking of practicality – of the best way to protect yourself. While that's admirable and a core teaching I don't want you to disregard, it's all for naught if the design is lacking you.”
”… are you telling me to make a multi-form armor?” Lino asked as he looked at Eggor strangely.
”… yeah, sure, why don't you just make a multi-form house?!”
”…”
”It doesn't have to be something so grand,” Eggor elaborated. ”Occasionally, when it happens to me, it's perhaps because I forgot to include my favorite ingredient, or because I forgot to include various Void arrays for hidden weapons, or even something as simple as not including my insignia. This isn't something I can help you deal with; you yourself have to find out what is it that's missing, what of you you forgot to include in the design. Sometimes, you'll even have to craft the item itself to understand what is missing.”
”…” Lino sunk deep into thought as he contemplated Eggor's words. The latter was indeed right; he set out to design an armor that would specifically increase his defenses. His one-month-long-coma had frightened him quite a bit, and realizing that he'd be going to the Capital soon enough, he felt like he needed strong reassurance to protect himself. Though he did think about implementing various ideas, as long as he found they would downgrade armor's overall defenses, he'd abandon them almost immediately. That's it!! As though suddenly struck by inspiration, he jumped onto his feet and almost subconsciously began going upstairs. I never designed [Celestial Rod] with the damage or defense or such absolutes in mind!! I designed it with the idea of diversity; a multi-tool that can do many things that differ! That's what the designs were lacking!! All armors were just… well, armors! They offered top-notch protection and practicality but nothing outside of that! I never wanted to be that kind of a blacksmith, one that just dealt in absolutes; didn't I want to explore the craft to the very ends? To vary the very concepts and ideas that it's defined by?! Why am I restricting myself by the traditions when I never gave single fuck about them anyway?!
”…” looking at Lino storm off, Eggor couldn't help but smile faintly. ”He's come a long way, huh.”
”Are you finally starting to warm up to him?” Ella asked as she sat next to him while a kettle behind her began to wheeze.
”… are you sure about sending him to the Capital?” Eggor asked instead of answering her. ”Looks like the events shook him up pretty bad. He hasn't talked about it since, and has instead locked himself up in a room and focused entirely on designing armor to protect himself.”
”… I don't know myself,” Ella sighed, shaking her head lightly. ”I truly didn't imagine something so ominous would be hiding here. Had I known, I wouldn't have sent him to the Umbra Mountain Range in the first place. But, now, he'd already seen it. Perhaps, without understand it fully, he'd never be able to stop fearing it.”
”… perhaps.” Eggor nodded faintly. ”I honestly don't even know how he found it in himself to come as far as he did. When I was his age, I was nothing short of a scrawny coward afraid of the world… and I was even properly educated and had protection of various Elders.”
”Heh, even I wasn't any better.” Ella said with a self-reproaching smile. ”I was far, far, far stronger than he is currently and enjoyed treatment of heavens… yet, I was always paranoid, afraid, unsure of myself. Maybe it's the ignorance that's fueling his courage… or maybe that's just how he is.”
”I'd rather say that's how he is,” Eggor said as he looked at her and smiled lightly. ”Something in his eyes tells me so. Perhaps, one day, he might even give us a shock.”
”That would be wonderful.”
”When are you leaving?” Eggor asked.
”After I have a talk with him,” Ella replied, smiling. ”Don't miss me too much, alright?”
”That's impossible,” Eggor sighed. ”Keep yourself safe, alright?”
”I will, don't worry. You're the one I'm worried about the most.”
”… heh, even your Grandfather would have to sacrifice both his balls to kill me,” Eggor said as he stuck out his chest proudly. ”Let alone some half-baked Demons.”
”… why… why do you always mention my Grandfather's balls?! Do you really want me to vomit?!”
”… khm, sorry. I just really want to squash them. The guy just pisses me off.”
”Ah, it's no wonder you guys never liked each other,” Ella said, sighing. ”Every time you'd leave, he'd always come to my room and hold a three-hour long lecture over how you're just a brainless blacksmith who can do nothing but hold a hammer and how I'm ten clouds above you and undeserving of you. When he realized it wasn't working, he started saying how he 'researched' into you and learned that you're actually a very ugly woman too ashamed to admit it so you pretend to be a guy…”
”… I will kill that fucking bastard!!” Eggor roared in anger as his cheeks flushed in beet red.