Absolute Craft-Chapter 102: Before The Storm (2)
Chapter 102: Before The Storm (2)
"We should see how I’d do with your blizzard, big bro," Joel said as he scrubbed the floor with a mop, sometimes imagining the tool as his spear.
Those daydreams brought back memories of Joel’s battle against the Rebellious Hounds. Back then, he had worked alongside two ladies—Lily Left and Beatrix. He felt a closer skill-based bond with Beatrix, whereas Lily Left opened up to him more personally.
Some might say Joel was gradually turning into a real protagonist, except Beatrix would probably cut ties with him if Blake ever ordered her to. Still, Joel didn’t mind. If Blake truly cut him off, Joel figured it would only be because of his own shortcomings or a major mistake on his part. For now, he genuinely enjoyed working with Beatrix; both of them had impressive abilities that complemented each other. Together, they created the perfect stage for Blake’s Blizzard.
Joel wanted to practice with Blake’s Conqueror Of The Winter to see how well he would perform—and just how much stronger he could get—under Blake’s influence.
Just thinking about it made Joel hold his mop like a spear, drawing a few chuckles from mall-goers. Some older folks shook their heads and muttered that, back in their day, such behavior would have earned a reprimand.
Joel took what he found useful from their comments and happily continued cleaning while chatting with Blake, who was working on the other side of the floor.
Although Joel managed to push through his sleepiness with free coffee, Blake still acted as though he needed another caffeine boost. In truth, he was lost in thought, pondering his next project and how to start it.
Cleaning the floor required minimal focus—he could do it on autopilot—which didn’t help Joel in getting his attention.
"Blizzard? Yeah, I can use that," Blake replied offhandedly.
Joel narrowed his eyes at him, figuring that such deep concentration would lead to something truly extraordinary. At this point, Blake might have been the only one capable of doing things no new player could even dream of in tutorial zones. Joel couldn’t wait to see what Blake would do.
Blake returned home.
Seeing his sleek black capsule rejuvenated him more effectively than any coffee or energy drink. He felt energized, as if he were about to reincarnate and start life anew with otherworldly cheats. After changing into more comfortable clothes, he logged into the game world.
The first thing he noticed there were, of course, his companions standing at attention. Well, only one of them was actually standing; Sol quickly rolled around for a snack.
A small red notification dot in the corner of Blake’s vision caught his eye. He clicked on it with a simple thought, and a message popped up:
<Kyria: Let’s meet in real life and get to know each other.>
Considering Kyria’s earlier, more aggressive suggestion that he’d find Blake in real life, this straightforward invitation felt like a letdown. Blake, however, simply wondered again why Kyria was so determined to see him in person.
It turned out Kyria hadn’t sent just one message, but several. Each contained meaningless filler—like asking about the weather, noting it had rained, and asking Blake if it had rained where he lived.
Later that day, while Blake was still at work, Kyria messaged him again, this time asking about his favorite dinner foods and casually mentioning what he liked to eat himself. These questions were odd, but Blake didn’t mind answering them.
What Blake didn’t realize was that Kyria was using these seemingly random questions to narrow down Blake’s possible location, hoping to find him in real life. Moreover, Kyria had also messaged Joel—and who knew what he might glean from Joel’s enthusiastic chatter?
’Joel doesn’t recognize me as Supreme Blade, so I must have neglected myself so much that not even old friends would know it’s me... I could meet Kyria in real life, but is there really a need, other than challenging myself?’ Blake pondered.
His new mindset and lifestyle nearly pushed him to accept Kyria’s invitation. Doing so could explain Kyria’s strange behavior and help Blake learn more about people. Besides, he had been cooped up in his apartment for so long that getting some fresh air might be a welcome change. He also had that Sports Park meetup with Joel in two days—chances were he’d be out and about before the boss event anyway.
Setting those thoughts aside for now, Blake decided to warm up in the game world. He prepared extra snacks for Sol to use in the days ahead, then climbed the mountain’s spire to activate two skills that would transform its summit into his personal smithy.
In a world where the blizzard bent to his will, Blake gazed at his own ice statue, clad in his armor and mask. He planned to perfect it to match his vision. But first, he wanted to see if he could design a "kingly" skill that aligned with his growing ambition.
Skill fusion was common in Ashen World Online. Back when Blake had fought Alex Red Moon, he combined two skills and formed a Blizzard Smithy far from the cold mountaintop. There, he shaped an ice statue of her and shattered its head.
That led to a unique ice-based debuff that hindered Alex’s movements and increased her stamina consumption. While it was good to know the conditions for creating such a debuff, Blake was more intrigued by the potential link between a player and their ice statue. It might bring him closer to realizing his vision of a king.
Unfortunately, he sensed nothing. When he had fought The Hounds’ Guild Leader, he destroyed her statue on instinct. Now, no similar instinct stirred as he studied his own armored sculpture. Disappointed but understanding, Blake suspected it was just the prelude to the second piece of the Lost King’s Crown—a power so adaptable it could eventually grant his wish.
With no progress on that front, he shifted to a more tangible ambition: creating wings. Thanks to the Volcanic Mold, crafting them would be straightforward. He already had a cool design in mind—an amalgam of dragon and demon wings—perfect for his current White Oni look.
Despite the fantasy style, Blake’s research from the previous night had given him a decent grasp of how wings functioned, so he knew enough not to compromise basic flight with flashy ornamentation.
Wasting no time, Blake drew up a blueprint, used Volcanic Mold to shape some initial forms, then called upon Blizzard Smithy to forge ice wings onto his armor. He began hammering in steel-like ice.
"The mantle’s in the way... I’ll have to cut openings or something..." he muttered. (If the mantle could cry, it would.)
Before long, he had a sleek set of ice wings attached to his back. Dragon and demonic influences blended together, giving them a bat-like silhouette with sharp, icy-blue tips against a mostly white surface. Faint blue veins ran across the wings for an extra touch of flair.
However, the mantle was indeed interfering—it gave amazing stats and top-tier cold resistance, almost like a Milky Way of frost absorption that only Blake could fashion into a scarf... but he didn’t feel too sentimental. To accommodate the wings, he sliced the mantle in half, which ended up looking pretty cool. Now he had two white strips fluttering behind him alongside the wings.
(If the mantle could weep, it would.)
Satisfied with his adjustments, Blake stepped out of the smithy and into the raging blizzard. He felt at home in the swirling cold, which could even lift him if he willed it. The wings, however, were meant to harness the storm in ways his katana couldn’t. He didn’t want to limit himself to just linear or circular blizzard attacks.
In this new, liberated state, he intended to make the blizzard his ultimate weapon.
Yet as soon as Blake leaped upward, reality crashed down on him. While he could move the wings with his shoulders—especially since the White Oni gear acted like a second skin—the wings themselves splintered in the blizzard, as though unworthy. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
’It’s tough to fly this way... and these wings didn’t hold up at all...’ he thought this while gazing at the broken pieces scattered behind him.
He’d believed the elongated phalanges were sturdy enough to support his weight and harness the blizzard. But the storm seemed to mock his creation.
So far, he wasn’t doing well with aerial mobility, but Blake only smiled. Trial and error was second nature to him—and any blacksmith would understand.
’I just need to change my perspective,’ Blake mused, diving back into his work.
He tried various approaches and designs to bring his idea to life, but none of them worked. It was getting increasingly frustrating, especially since Blake hadn’t anticipated so many setbacks. Still, that was the cost of venturing into a realm of fantasy—one humans could only imagine until Ashen World Online made it real.
Just then, a brilliant idea struck Blake—something he realized he should have tried from the very beginning!
