socalfunplaces Chapter 314: Master Sculptor Ash, Misty, and Serena's Crystal Sculpture - Affection Up!
Chapter 314: Master Sculptor Ash, Misty, and Serena's Crystal Sculpture - Affection Up!
Chapter 314: Master Sculptor Ash, Misty, and Serena's Crystal Sculpture - Affection Up!
Half an hour later, Xiaoxia and her companion, who had successfully exchanged the crystal for money, arrived at the shop where Agong was.
As soon as they stood at the door, they heard Ah Gong's exclamation from inside: "Yes, that's right, just like that, control the heat, and then strike—my God, is this really your first time carving? You look like a seasoned veteran."
"That's good enough, it's already perfect, Ash. You're really discouraging. It took me who knows how long to reach this level of skill, but you learned it completely in just half an hour. If you weren't a trainer, but a crystal sculptor, you would definitely be very successful."
Xiaoxia and Serena exchanged a glance before stepping into the shop.
Upon entering the shop, the first thing you see is Agong standing next to the fire pit and Xiaozhi sitting in front of it. The fire pit that should have been occupied by Agong is now occupied by Xiaozhi. Based on what Agong said earlier, it means that Xiaozhi went to make glass products.
Moreover, judging from Ah Gong's amazed tone, it wasn't just a simple production of ordinary glass products, but rather glass products that would elicit admiration even from someone as skilled as Ah Gong.
What exactly did Ash do?
Ash heard the noise behind him, turned his head, and the sight on his face made Serena and Misty burst out laughing.
Now, Ash's face, which was originally just a little bronze, has a large black patch, making it look like someone has scribbled ink on it, which makes people laugh when they see it.
However, when they saw what Xiaozhi was holding, their smiles instantly froze.
"Ash, what's that in your hand—"
"You're back just in time. Here, these are the crystals I just learned to make. I used the crystals from the cave. It was my first time making them, and I didn't quite get the balance right, so there was a lot of waste. I only have enough crystals to make these two. I was originally thinking of making one for Pikachu too." Ash smiled and unfolded the two crystal sculptures he was holding. They weren't carved with the image of a Pokémon, but rather—Misty and Serena!
Xiaoxia's look is her classic outfit: a tank top with a cropped top and super short denim shorts, with a small backpack on her back, and Togepi standing on her shoulder. One of her jade-like hands is raised high, while the other crystal-like arm hangs down vertically. She has a bright smile on her face and looks as if she is about to jump up.
Serena's outfit is what she's wearing now, because so far, this is the only outfit she's ever worn. It's not that Serena doesn't change her clothes, but she always wears the same outfit when she does.
Trainers who travel regularly, including Ash, tend to wear the same few outfits for months on end before changing them. Serena, on the other hand, might change into new clothes sooner or later, but for now, she only has a few sets of clothes that she wears the same: a black sleeveless top, a red mini skirt, and a pink sun hat.
The pretty Serena had her hands behind her back, and a smile appeared on her face as well. However, her smile was not as bright and sunny as Xiaoxia's. Instead, it was a more reserved and shy smile, which represented the completely different personalities of Serena and Xiaoxia.
Although they hadn't spent much time together, even Ash, with his high emotional intelligence, felt that Serena was very easy to understand. Her personality was immediately predictable; she was gentle and shy yet bold and decisive. That was Serena.
Despite it being his first time sculpting, Ash accurately captured the characteristics and temperament of both girls. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that Misty's statue is more refined in its details and overall portrayal of her character than Serena's.
This wasn't something Xiaozhi did intentionally. Even though Xiaoxia was his girlfriend, he would never show favoritism in such matters. Giving his all in everything he did was his consistent principle.
The reason for this difference is simply because of his varying levels of familiarity with the two. Serena, no matter how easy-going she is, has only spent less than four days with Ash; Misty, on the other hand, has already become someone he knows intimately about her, having spent so much time with her along the way.
That's why the two statues differ in detail, but unless they are placed side by side for comparison, no one can tell the subtle differences.
Both crystal sculptures are incredibly lifelike, as if the figures of two girls reside within the translucent crystal.
"Did you carve this?" Xiaoxia's red lips parted slightly, her pretty face full of disbelief. She knew Xiaozhi very well, but she really couldn't believe it was his work—after all, Xiaozhi had never known anything about this kind of crafts before!
"Of course it's me! I learned the craft from Ah Gong. These two pieces took a lot of crystals to make. The base material alone cost over ten thousand!" Xiao Zhi had a bright smile on his face, but he didn't seem to feel heartbroken about the losses.
He can get back hundreds of times the amount he spent after a good night's sleep. Now he's a man who makes a fortune every day, so he's not short of money at all!
This is why he practiced with crystal from the beginning instead of glass. On the one hand, he was confident in the power of his waveguide ability, and on the other hand, he felt it was unnecessary.
However, if he only had one piece of material left, he would definitely have to practice with glass. Fortunately, he successfully made the sculptures of the two women before the materials ran out.
"Is this what you meant by 'Ash'?" Serena murmured.
Just now, Xiao Zhi told them to take the crystals to sell first, and then he came back to A Gong's place, talking mysteriously about doing something. They thought Xiao Zhi was going to do something else, but they didn't expect that he came back to make crystal carvings for them!
"Yeah, I was worried I wouldn't have enough time to do it well, but I didn't expect my talent to be even greater than I anticipated!" Xiao Zhi grinned, his tone tinged with relief.
Upon hearing this, Ah Gong's lips twitched involuntarily, and he managed to swallow back the retort that was on the tip of his tongue thanks to his excellent professionalism.
What does it mean to have more talent than expected? This can't be explained by "high talent" at all!
Those who don't know the situation might think that Xiao Zhi is the reincarnation of his father, who is a master craftsman! Xiao Zhi isn't learning to carve; he's clearly awakening the dormant memories of his craft within his body.
At first, he was quite clumsy, even struggling with the most basic forging. But after only twenty minutes, his movements became fluid and effortless. He no longer looked like a novice; instead, he seemed like a seasoned veteran who had been immersed in the forging craft for over a decade.
Moreover, the material Xiaozhi used was real crystal—the difficulty of melting crystal is far greater than that of glass, and the requirements for technique are much more demanding.
Even so, Xiao Zhi only spent thirty minutes carving two crystal statues that even he couldn't help but marvel at.
To put it bluntly, sculpting a human figure is far more troublesome than sculpting an elf; it's many times more troublesome.
Even with someone you see every day, you need them to be the model in person for a good sculpt; otherwise, the details will be vastly different. Human expressions and skin textures are much more difficult to depict than the forms of elves.
There are many shops in town that carve elves, but almost none that carve human figures. The reason is simple: it's a thankless and arduous job. If you spend a tremendous amount of effort carving a figure, and the customer says "not satisfied," all your previous work is wasted.
When sculpting a spirit, as long as the form and spirit are roughly the same, the key is to capture the spirit's vitality; a slightly rougher appearance is acceptable. However, sculpting a human figure is a completely different matter; even the slightest difference can ruin the overall charm.
So when Agong first heard that Xiaozhi wanted to sculpt a human figure, his first reaction was to stop him. The difficulty was simply beyond the reach of a beginner who hadn't even mastered the basics of sculpting.
But Xiao Zhi insisted on trying it, and even insisted on using expensive and difficult-to-control crystal as material. In A Gong's opinion, this was simply a waste of money!
But Ah Gong couldn't resist Ash's insistence. Ash had also caught the Crystal Onix and promised to stay there tonight so he could observe the Crystal Onix's movements closely. Ah Gong simply couldn't refuse such a deal.
So even though he knew it was a waste for Ash, Gou still taught Ash how to carve glass products.
Crystal carving and glass making are similar in principle, but the latter is much simpler. After all, the hardness of glass and crystal are not on the same level. First, you have to carve and melt on crystal, which is naturally much more difficult. This is also why Ah Gong was not optimistic about Xiao Zhi at first.
In just twenty minutes, Xiao Zhi completely changed A Gong's opinion; he had never seen anyone with such a strong learning ability!
He had already been praised by his father as a talented individual in glassmaking, but compared to Xiaozhi, he was worlds apart.
In those short twenty minutes, Xiao Zhi completely replicated the skills he had learned over the past ten years. In the last ten minutes, when he was making the sculptures of the two girls, he infused them with a soul that he did not possess.
This resulted in the two girl sculptures he created looking incredibly lifelike, which was exactly what he was missing.
Ah Gong believed that as long as he could see the Crystal Onix, he could also comprehend this profound mystery. However, there was no need to compare him with Ash anymore. How long had he studied glassmaking? How long had Ash studied carving?
The two are simply incomparable in terms of time.
While Agong was lost in thought, Xiaoxia and Serena had already taken the two crystal sculptures from Xiaozhi's hands.
The texture of a sculpture made of crystal is different from that of glass. The two people noticed this obvious difference as soon as their fingertips touched the surface of the sculpture.
Holding her own sculpture, Xiaoxia first felt the unique coolness and warmth of crystal. Unlike ordinary glass, which has a sharp chill, crystal felt like touching the ice of deep winter, yet it was also wrapped in a restrained gentleness.
She ran her fingertips over the hairline of the sculpture, clearly feeling the delicate texture of the crystal itself. Unlike glass, which is smooth and somewhat thin, it had a heavy, natural weight.
Serena also examined the sculpture in her hands with great delight, her pure blue eyes filled with surprise. Although her sculpture was not as detailed as Misty's, she was already overjoyed to receive a sculpture made by Ash.
After all, her relationship with Ash is completely different from that of Misty and Ash. One is a female companion, and the other is a travel companion. How can they be compared?
Xiao Zhi was even able to make one for her; this was a completely unexpected and delightful surprise.
"The feel of this is completely different from any glass ornament I've ever seen," Serena exclaimed, her voice filled with amazement. "Even though it's transparent, it looks gentler and feels more comfortable to the touch."
Xiaoxia nodded in agreement, her fingertips brushing against the crystal surface of the sculpture's cheek, her eyes full of delight: "Glass always feels a bit cold and hard to the touch, but this one is cool and gentle. When the light shines on it, it looks like there are stars inside."
"I'm glad you like it."
"Pikachu Pikachu~~"
"Um—you already have one, so don't hold it against Xia and Serena, okay?"
"Pikachu! Pikachu!" Pikachu looked very dissatisfied upon hearing this. The sculpture Ash mentioned was just an ordinary glass sculpture he bought from a roadside vendor.
If it weren't for the two sculptures Ash made himself, Misty and Serena, to compare with, Pikachu would be quite satisfied with his own figurine. But now—he wants one too!!
"But we don't have any extra crystals left. The little we have left isn't enough to make it," Ash said, shrugging helplessly.
It's not that he didn't want to make it, but he simply didn't have the materials!
"I still have some here. I wanted to keep this crystal because it's so pretty, and send it back to my home as a decoration. But now that I have this, I don't need it anymore!" Serena carefully held the sculpture in one hand, and raised the other hand high like a student answering a question, as if she were asking for credit.
"Eh? But that's your stuff, Serena, I—"
"What?! Ash, you've already made your share into a sculpture for us, so mine should naturally be yours! I even think the money from selling mine should go to—"
"Stop, stop, stop! I'll take it, okay? Just give me the crystals, don't mention money again." Ash quickly made a pause gesture to interrupt Serena's speech.
He and Xiaoxia had put in a lot of effort to get Serena to accept the money. If Serena returned it, wouldn't all their efforts have been in vain?
"That's right, just accept whatever Ash gives you. Talking about money is too formal, Serena. Take some money from Pikachu's stash of crystals, and Pikachu will definitely be happy to give it to you~" Misty chimed in with a grin.
Pikachu patted its little chest, indicating that it had plenty of money in its coffers. To put it bluntly, its coffers were Ash's money, so its coffers were also a big coffers.
Serena chuckled at the sight, her blush fading slightly. She tightened her grip on the crystal, finally letting go of her obsession with the money: "Then I'll accept it, thank you Pikachu~"
"Pikachu~" Pikachu waved his hand to indicate that it was no big deal. As Ash's senior mentor, Pikachu could tell that this new teammate had a special feeling for Ash and might even become his second mistress. So, since they were on the same side, there was no need to worry about it.