He could earn a lot of proficiency or Fame if a work he made for the first time exceeded a certain level. However, he accumulated professional experience after making several of them, so the effect on his skill level or proficiency grew as well.
It was like how it was awkward for a Swordsman to use magic, and how Blacksmiths couldn’t make tons of different kinds of weapons. Of course, a Sculptor was the profession at the very peak of hybrid characters that could combine all of those.
“A doll of a child…”
Weed tasted failure dozens of times. He couldn’t make a perfect magnum opus, a work that looked like it was carved from the light of the heavens. He could only dream of it because he knew his own humble skills well. However, it wouldn’t do if there was an aspect that he found lacking.
“A young little girl. A doll of a lovable, bright, and peaceful child.”
Weed tore at his hair. The King Hydra and Imoogi leather that had been stacked like a mountain was shrinking. If bronze or iron had been used as materials, then he could melt them down again and reuse them, but for the most part, he couldn’t recycle the leather materials and had to discard them.
“It’s hard enough making a child that’s flawlessly bright, but darkness follows brightness.”
In the eyes of the parents who couldn’t have the child, such brightness would be pain that would chip away at their hearts. Even so, their sadness would be infinitely greater if he made a child that was shrieking as it cried.
“Magnum opus. I need to create a magnum opus…”
Weed fell into confusion. His worries on what kind of work he should to make were growing even more severe.
“Should I guess how Seo-yoon looked when she was young and make that?”
Escaping from reality!
He thought it’d be easy to sculpt Hwaryeong or Irene in their youths. However, Weed soon saw the error of his ways and shook his head.
“The player named Mandol believed in me and entrusted this to me. I can’t just do a rough job.”
It seemed like doing the quest would be way easier than agonizing over something that was so difficult to resolve.
The proficiency he accumulated while making dolls also amounted to 36% of level 7. Even if his skill level and expressiveness grew with experience, it was no good if he couldn’t decide on the right subject.
“I’m not being too greedy… I just want to sculpt the best little girl that I can.”
Weed’s worries kept deepening.
Since there was no word from the expedition that had gotten the shared quest and had left for the Embinyu underground prison, he just kept sewing dolls. As he repeatedly experienced countless failures, he was trying to make that something.
Dolls, dolls, dolls, dolls!
“Gaaaaah!” Lee Hyun kicked away his blanket and stood. It was such a big issue that he couldn’t sleep. “I thought I’d never have to suffer because of a doll again.”
The dolls of young girls wouldn’t leave his mind.
“Should I just make it as a bronze statue? If I make it using gold or silver, then…”
He came up with ways to escape, but he didn’t want to run away from it like that. Such an action would be completely betraying the trust he had gathered in sculptures thus far.
“I can’t just forget about it without even being able to make the requested sculpture.”
It wasn’t his way to give up because it was hard. No matter what, he just had to find the method!
Lee Hyun went to the market to cool his head. The dawn market was overflowing with liveliness from the people buying and selling things like vegetables and meat. But even within that liveliness, he couldn’t think of the right sculpture for the young little girl.
“Should I try going to the maternity ward or a preschool?”
He could see little kids there, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know what a child looked like.
“They’re sleepy little devils that get hungry and you have to frequently change their diapers.”
No matter what kind of little girl doll he made, he wasn’t pleased.
On his way home, Lee Hyun passed a photo studio. Photographs for the first birthday celebrations of little kids and wedded couples were on display.
As he looked at those photos for a long time, Lee Hyun gained enlightenment.