Novel Bin Chapter 37 - Peacock Spreading its Tail
He was completely unaware that the rich and handsome golden eagle had sent dozens of messages to the store owner, Regardless of whether it was a voice, video or text message, there was no reply at all from the owner.
However, the only way for the golden eagle to contact the owner was through the communication tools provided by the Star Network’s store platform. He didn’t have any other contact information or the owner’s specific address.
“Brother, it can’t be helped. You don’t know how casual this store owner is. It is said that all buyers recognize him as the laziest store owner.”
There was a tall and handsome warrior next to the golden eagle. The man was holding the golden eagle energy stone in his hand and gazing at it with sharp eyes. “Since he opened the store to make money, the first price of 100 star coins was his prediction error. The second time, he opened a custom order and this shows that he has an economic mind. The next time the owner is online, try to give him the price of 500,000 coins and get the next order.”
The golden eagle stared at the energy stone being held by his brother. His heart jumped and he hurriedly grabbed it, carefully placing it in his armband. “Brother, grabbing his order requires being fast. It is taken in seconds and money is useless. Moreover, the store owner’s online time isn’t fixed and it is unknown what time he will open the order.”
“Give me the name of the store.”
The handsome golden eagle told his brother the store name before saying, “Brother, do you have time to grab it? Aren’t you on a mission in the capital?”
“I don’t have time so I will have others in the scouting group grab it.”
“...Brother, you’re amazing! By the way, is this carving really special? It might have a 100% activation rate and the carving is handsome but aren’t there many master sculptors in the empire?”
The golden eagle’s brother didn’t speak and touched his brother’s shoulder. “Stay in good health. I am leaving.”
How special was that carving? For the beastmen living on the peaceful Capital Star, it probably wasn’t that special.
After the power of the energy stone was activated, there would be a situation of energy spillover. The higher the activation rate, the more obvious it was. In addition, the higher the grade of the energy stone, the more obvious it was, even if the activation rate of the high-grade energy stone was low.
The most special thing about the store owner’s energy stone carving was that he completely hid the 100% activation rate of the energy stone. If it hadn’t been tested by the tester, the energy stone would be considered as not activated when seen with a sculptor’s perception.
This was too important for the empire’s scouting unit.
The empire’s biggest enemy was the zerg who invaded the Star Field for the past hundreds of years. The zerg had a special way of detecting the energy spillover from the energy stones. Thus, first-line scouts couldn’t carry energy stones with a high activation ratio. They could only use low-grade energy stones with a low activation rate.
However, this caused another fatal problem. Warriors had a high chance of suffering from trauma and their mania outbreak would head to the other extreme. In other words, they would transform into their juvenile body and they had no resistance in this state.
Therefore, an energy stone that could hide the energy spillover was really important for first-line warriors.
***
After sleeping for a long time, the little leopard woke up. He lay lazily under the comfortable sleeping lights adjusted by the housekeeper and stretched out his claws with a yawn. At this time, the curtains of the floor to ceiling window opposite the bed slowly opened and orange sunlight of the afternoon entered and slowly arrived in front of the little leopard.
Rong Mingshi’s front paws picked at the thin quilt as he turned and looked at the sun. Then he emerged from the quilt, beckoned to his spherical seat, climbed up and hugged the blue-green stone.
The custom image the buyer provided was a peacock with complex tail feathers. Each one was delicate and perfect, with the ends having beautiful eye-spot patterns. Once they were opened, they shook slightly and showed beautiful and gorgeous colours.
The tone chosen by Rong Mingshi didn’t have the same pattern as the eye-spots but this stone was also different from his usual choice. The blue-green stone had a top layer that was a green, blue and white mottled colour. From the side, it was a type of layered, page-liked structure, with layers of colours stacked together.
The top layer was thicker and it was enough to sculpt the front half of the peacock. The following layers of colours were the ones that could show the peacock’s tail feathers.
The carving of this peacock was a challenge for Rong Mingshi and required more ingenuity than other beasts that he had carved. After carefully understanding the stone, Rong Mingshi moved the stone to the bedroom table.
He first carefully made an outline of the stone. The peacock’s head, the blue body, the green wings and the light-coloured claws were carved out roughly. The rest was outlined into a fan shape. After the fan-shaped tail, Rong Mingshi used the remaining material to make the outline of a magnolia tree to contrast with the rest of the stone.
It was relatively easy to sculpt the first half and Rong Mingshi’s movements were flexible and smooth. The tail was the second half and the little leopard needed to use a lot of energy. He couldn’t make any mistakes.
The peacock’s tail feather shad hundreds of roots and each one had fine feather-like hairs. Therefore, Rong Mingshi’s actions must be careful and smooth. Otherwise, if there was a break in the middle then the feathers wouldn’t stretch naturally enough.
On top of each tail were the beautiful peacock eyes. In order to show the peacock spreading its tail, the peacock eyes were colourful and thrilling. The little leopard used multi-layered hollow carving to create the gorgeous pattern of the peacock eyes. It not only left the colour of this layer of stone but also revealed the colour of the next layer. At the same time, each layer must have fine lines that would make the colour of each layer not seem too thin.
Therefore, the whole process was like a large number of micro-carvings. The tested not only the little leopard’s ingenuity but also his carving skills and the basic skills of the leopard paw tools. Fortunately, Rong MIngshi used the tools that Aojia assembled for him and this covered all the carving tools.
It was a process that required extreme focus and the little leopard was ignorant of anything else. His entire body was in a state of great care and seriousness.
At this time, the black dragon finished reassembling the little black dragon carving and calmly sent a few instructions. The target of the instructions was naturally Duke Oran, giving a crucial threat of violence towards the baby son that the duke regarded as his heir and treated as a treasure.
Aojia dealt with this matter and returned. He gently pushed open the door to see the little leopard carving on the table. The leopard’s ears were straight and vertical and the thick tail rolled up against his body. Even the tip of the tail revealed the little leopard’s caution and concentration at this time.
He could see the image of a peacock from the stone under the leopard’s thick paws. The 3D image of the peacock that the little leopard had been looking at in the college’s warehouse flashed through his mind. He quietly stepped back, gently closed the door and turned to the housekeeper. “Stabilize the light in the room and don’t let it change.”
“Yes, My Lord.” The housekeeper responded before raising the bag of nutrients he was holding. “What about dinner?”
Aojia glanced at the bag of nutrients. “Put it away first.”
The housekeeper turned and stared at the closed bedroom door. He knew what the little leopard was doing through the bedroom’s smart system but even if the work was done seriously, the little leopard couldn’t go hungry. The housekeeper was just thinking about what to say when he saw the black dragon heading to the kitchen on the first floor.
The housekeeper followed and stared with mechanical eyes at the marshal grabbing some eggs...
The housekeeper silently turned on video mode and recorded the entire process of the empire’s marshal baking a cake in high definition. Then he tightly locked a key on it. This would be a learning material in the future!
After a while, the housekeeper followed the marshal as the marshal entered the bedroom with dozens of small cakes. The beast that his child chose was too considerate but this was also a very distressing thing.
The housekeeper who took care of the little leopard for a decade suddenly felt that he had nothing to do.
...He lost.
The little leopard had only completed a small half of the tail feathers but this was enough to see how superb the little leopard’s carving was. Without disturbing the little leopard, Aojia placed the cakes on the table. He picked one up and quickly stuffed it into the little leopard’s mouth without blocking the leopard’s gaze.
The freshly baked cake was soft and could be eaten without much chewing. The little leopard’s focus wasn’t interrupted and his paws didn’t stop at all. There was the sound of fine knives carving the energy stone as a small piece of cake was sent into the little leopard’s mouth.
As the sky outside the bedroom window gradually deepened, the little leopard’s carving gradually came to an end. He carved his signature on the magnolia tree and slowly stopped his knives. He raised his head, blue leopard eyes filled with a strange spirit.
Aojia raised out and held the little leopard. He took the tools away and slowly kneaded the paws that were slightly shaking. “Are you okay?”
Rong Mingshi nodded and the other leopard paw pushed the peacock carving in Aojia’s direction. “Aojia, good-looking?”
Aojia examined it.
A blue peacock body, proud crown feathers, flashing wings and the breathtaking open tail. The tail feathers carefully carved by the little leopard showed the haughtiness and beauty of the peacock when its tail was open. This type of brilliance wasn’t on the surface but shown in the rich layers of the peacock eye feathers. Behind the peacock was a magnolia branch. The white magnolia was clean and gentle. It didn’t take away from the peacock’s gorgeous open tail but lined up with it, making it more luxurious. Of course, this also avoided the embarrassment of the bald tail...
Aojia touched the little leopard’s chin and stared into his spirited eyes. “Good.”
The praised little leopard moved his tail and yawned, revealing sharp leopard teeth. Then he plunged into Aojia’s arms, closed his eyes and slept.