BXBX NOVEL Chapter 84: Who knew that crafting requires creativity and inspiration?
And yet, such was the truth, for just by stepping inside this so-called workshop, I felt as if I'd returned to a long-lost home.
This place alone was at least twenty times bigger than the place I formerly called my home. And even though it was choke-full of equipment, tools, and all sorts of different workspaces, it didn't feel cramped in the slightest.
"Wait…" As my eyes caught a glimpse of something that didn't fit the general vibe of the room, I rushed across the place, eager to find out whether it was just an illusion or an actual, solid truth.
"Don't you fucking tell me…"
I could barely mutter when I cast my glance down the stairs only to learn that they've led to the basement.
No, that's the wrong way to put it.
Those stairs, they've lead to THE basement.
Even though my perspective was fairly limited, I could already see a full-sized pool table and a set of gaming machines aligned over one of the basement's walls. There was also a hint of a massive fridge and by moving to the other side of the stairs I could see the corner of what appeared to be a massive, wall-fucking-sized television!
"Looking at this, I'm not sure if they want me to work or just laze around all day…" I muttered to myself before gritting my teeth and turning away.
It would be some time before Claire would wake up… a time I was set to spend properly. And wasting it on games, however great they could be, or even something as simple as touring what appeared to be the top-tier mancave…
"A waste of time is all it would be," I spoke out loud mostly to convince my very own self. And with those words in my mouth, I turned my back to the stairs before moving back to the workshop proper and taking a proper look around it.
Even though the delivery of all the things we've ordered with Clarie only came this morning, there were already several open boxes filled with all sorts of stuff for me to play around with, all neatly stacked in a place where they wouldn't obstruct my way regardless of what equipment I needed to use.
They weren't all that far from the center of the room either, saving me the time on the trips necessary to grab whatever parts or ingredients I needed.
"This place is fucking insane…" I was so shocked I just couldn't help but curse, feeling as if using just plain, cultured words wouldn't give this massive room… No, this workshop hall has proper justice!
Yet, as massive and full of useful tools as this place was… it also made me feel quite overwhelmed.
What should I start with? Which tool would be the most helpful? Maybe I should begin by learning how to use all of them from scratch, lest I was willing to pay the bloody price of making a careless mistake?
With so many options at hand, I simply couldn't decide where to start!
And so, rather than focusing on the things that were new to me, I opted to do things as usual.
"Let's see what I have, try to think of something I can craft, and then go from there."
This was where I made my first mistake… albeit it took me quite a while to even realize it.
For sorting through the accessible tools and resources back home took me a mere hour, it's already been ninety minutes before I realized that while I'd managed to bring out one piece, vial, or a small box of everything that the house staff prepared for me to craft with… I still had yet to even think about what I could do with it!
"Maybe I should try crafting a weapon or something?" I thought to myself, learning of the one true hardship of creative arts for the very first time. For as it turned out, getting an idea of what I wanted to craft wasn't always going to be as easy as it was in all the instances of it happening before!
But a weapon?
It wasn't an idea born out of what should be the traumatic experience of being a victim of an attempted kidnapping. Sure, it wasn't a nice memory to have, but somehow, I came out of that event without any major emotional scars.
No.
The idea to craft a weapon was merely a part of a male fantasy… or rather, the calling of a man's soul, a basic human need so effectively curbed by all the laws and limitations imposed by the government to neuter the citizens and establish a monopoly of violence in the hands of the government services… and all those came closest to the law when they took a piss on it.
But while pretty much all the firearms were now a heavily and strictly regulated commodity, be it a full gun or parts one needed to make it…
It wasn't a gun that I had in my mind when I thought about making a weapon!
"Should I try starting with a sword?" I muttered to myself, only to quickly gave up on the idea.
Sure, it sounded fun both to craft and then to wield. Who knew, it could maybe even have some beneficial effects on my cultivation, but…
But a sword was a weapon used by nobles rather than your everyday soldiers in the annals of history not only because it was one of the more complex weapons to learn how to handle, but also because it was something that could cost one hell of a pretty penny to make.
And while sure, in my current situation, money didn't seem to be an issue when it came to anything short of buying entire companies or investing in the stock market or real estate… The high price of a sword didn't come around just because, but due to just how hard it was on craftsmen to prepare a proper blade for it.
"Maybe I should go with something simpler, like an axe? Or maybe a spear?"
Those two were much easier both to wield, as proved by how commonly those two were used in history, but also to prepare, given how the generals of the past didn't seem to mind throwing thousands of those at the farmers they would conscript for their wars.
And given the skill and the mortality rate of those conscripts, a spear or an axe appeared to be a weapon cheap enough to match the cost of their lives, thus making it a weapon extremely simple to prepare.
Yet, while I opted not to try making a sword for practical reasons when it came to spears and axes…
"I just don't feel it, huh?" I muttered to myself, almost feeling like crying over the emptiness that replaced the creative center in my brain.
And then, it dawned upon me.
A single historical episode from the past so far down I couldn't consider it anything more but a fairy tale… but recent enough for there to be proper historical records about it.
One instance when a certain nation rose up against its oppressors and included in their army the unit of scythemen, former farmers who took the tools of their trade to go and cut a bloody path through the occupying soldiers to their freedom.
A weapon that was perfectly impractical if not outright nonsensical, given the immense casualty rate that historical unit suffered… But a weapon with a cool factor great enough to get my creative juices flowing again!
"So, I'm going to make a scythe, huh?" I spoke to no one else but myself, finally allowing my eyes to move back to the selection of the materials accessible to me that I'd worked hard to neatly display directly on the floor.
"No, you are going to go and get breakfast with me," Claire said, proving that my ability to sense others was extremely subpar when compared to my ability to come up with random bullshit I wanted to craft.