God Of Crafting

Chapter 96: But making a boomstick was never my idea!

"It is done," I muttered as I lowered the phone away from my ear and heaved a long, exhausted sigh.

By all means, I had every right to be exhausted after this short call that didn't last longer than just a few minutes.

It was a call that I made to my uncle, after all, a call that broke the unspoken vow of silence between the two of us that lasted for years.

"When?"

Hardly giving me any time to breathe after this taxing call, Chihrio asked shortly, sparing no effort to make his question fanciful or, in fact, using more than just one, absolutely necessary word.

'I wonder if he would speak at all if he could ask without raising his voice...' I thought as I turned my eyes to the man.

"Either today after the closing of his office or tomorrow before it," I reported dutifully, only to watch Chihiro nod his head with a profound expression on his face... and then turn his eyes over my shoulders, to one of the tables behind me.

"That's good," he muttered while rubbing his chin, only to continue his gesture for just a little while longer before properly locking his eyes over on the object that clearly caught his eye.

And even without turning back, I could tell just what was so likely to be the culprit of snatching Chihiro's attention.

"It's not a product I'm trying to sell. In fact, it's nothing more but me trying to learn something new while doing whatever it was that my creativity pushed me to do," I explained while holding back a sigh of defeat, turning around not to confirm my suspicion, but to grab the long, wooden rod nearly as long as I was tall.

"A stick?" Chihiro asked as he took the would-be handle out of my hands and took a moment to inspect it before raising his eyes over to my face and then lifting his left eyebrow to make a slightly doubtful expression.

"A boom-stick," I corrected the man only to put a small smile on my face. "But it's not even finished yet. I'm still waiting for the glue to settle before doing the last and most crucial step."

Even with the time I spent just cuddling around with Claire, sleeping through the night, or eating breakfast in the tense atmosphere, I still found just enough opportunity to add high-grade glue to the parts of my handle and then stick all of the carved blocks together.

Yet, even with all the time that passed since I added the last part, I still had to wait at least a few hours more.

After all, there were more than then blocks that had to be glued together... each of which consisted of two parts that I too had to glue together in order to let go of the strings that I used in lieu of said glue before.

The amount of the high-quality glue used made it rather hard for it to settle quickly... which was absolutely necessary before I could move to the next and pretty much last step of preparing the handle - pouring purified mana dust into the carved-out insides of the stick.

After all, wasn't he the one who suggested it to begin with? To turn what was merely an overengineered handle for an unnecessary and likely unwieldy scythe into a stick with actual purpose all in itself?

"Oh right," Chihiro suddenly yelped while his eyebrows shot up his forehead. "I called it out myself, didn't I?"

"Thank you!" I rolled my eyes as if the man's words just absolved me of...

Of what exactly? Of having yet another good idea of what I should make in the future?

"Oh right, I'm sorry for changing the topic, but now that you are here, sir," I spoke while shaking my head as if to indicate just how different my next thought would be in relation to everything we discussed prior. "Would you mind sharing your insights about the sixth stage of cultivation?"

Chihiro's face darkened a little while his eyes filled with worry.

"I appreciate your eagerness to grow stronger, young man, but..." the man hesitated for a moment only to glance over at Claire as if to seek support in that direction...

Only for his face to grow still and his look to sharpen up, gaining some mystic undertones as he looked deeper and deeper into his daughter's face.

Then, finally, he took a step back while raising his eyebrows again and heaving out a small sigh of exasperation.

"You advanced so soon?" he mumbled as if he was not yet done showcasing just how surprising news it was to him.

Claire's dad then turned his eyes to me, giving me a similar stare... Only to take another step to the back before averting his eyes a bit.

"I see, if you both grew so quickly, then it could only be... this..." he mumbled under his nose in a voice just on the edge of what I could hear and what would turn into a mere background noise.

"I think I know what you are thinking about, father, but I can assure you," Claire suddenly took a step forward, as if to pursue her father with a determined and somewhat insulted look on her face, "It's not what you think. I've broken through because Tim helped me out with the enlightenment!"

"Is that so?" the weirdly young-looking man looked over at me again before using his hand to push aside his long hair, as if he couldn't bear the thought of them covering his handsome face. "And is that why you asked about the sixth stage?"

I took a deep breath to calm down.

It wasn't every day for one to get a chance to ask an actual expert for advice. And given how Claire couldn't really talk about anything beyond the fifth rank from the standpoint of someone that actually experienced it, the insights someone of the ninth rank could offer...

"Well, it's not like I ever minded it, I was just surprised... And worried," Chihiro sighed out. "Worried, because it would do you no good to study the upper stages that you are not ready to challenge yet. But, given how you both broke through already, let me indulge you a bit."