Chapter 85: Artisan Quest (5)
"A monkey?" Aaron asked. "As if a monkey could learn anything."
Though it was surprising for a low-level player to have a summon, Jake's companion was just a monkey in appearance. He was also adorable, which obscured his real identity and high stats.
Wukong was also a nice fellow, so he didn't allow Aaron's words to get to his heart. He didn't lower his opinion of the old man just because of it.
Jake smiled, his voice showing hints of disrespect toward Aaron, "Wukong's a smart monkey. He's learned my survival skills and will learn artisan skills from me. We'll one day craft something together."
Stirred by Jake's words, Wukong nodded a few times while clinging deeper to his arm. That declaration touched him so much that he would agree to anything Jake said now.
Aaron stroked his beard, "The same rules apply to yer monkey."
"It's Wukong," Jake smiled. His smile also had a picture of displeasure.
Aaron sighed, "Wukong has to obey the workplace's rules."
"We understand," Jake nodded, and so did Wukong.
It'd have been stupid for Jake to go against Aaron and vice versa. These two needed each other more than they thought, and Wukong's presence wasn't that disturbing so long as he could behave.
Jake promised that.
That said, it was odd to see Jake risking his connection with Aaron for a mere monkey. Those hints of displeasure didn't elude the old man, as he was experienced and seen more people than Jake had met in his entire life.
The old man buried his feelings beneath questions he had sent to Jake.
Because of his rules and teachings, Jake took out his previous monkey boss's set and presented it to Master Aaron. The pieces of black leather equipment were laid out on one of the workbenches.
"A monkey leather?" Aaron sneered beneath his nose.
It was such an irony that Jake wanted his summon, a monkey, to learn artisan skills on the monkey's hide. While it was indeed called the previous monkey boss' set, it was crafted from a monkey's hide.
Jake had taken out this equipment because of Aaron's rule to craft only on the resources he had earned himself. Aaron also had a teaching method similar to Viktor's, which required him to thoroughly study items and factor them.
It meant that Jake would learn stuff on his best set.
That was Aaron's harsh teaching.
'I wish I could have brought out the wolf set… I made it all myself,' Jake awkwardly thought.
Wukong could sense that the mood had turned awkward between them, but he was too young to understand what was happening.
Since Jake acted embarrassed and looked down, so did Wukong.
The old man grinned, "Yer really wear this mask?"
Jake and Wukong glanced at the set's helmet. The mask made everyone laugh, including the understanding Richard and Robert.
If those good people couldn't stop laughing aloud, Aaron would probably cry from laughing too much.
Jake didn't want Wukong to feel wrong, however.
He extended his hand toward the mask and said, "Yeah, I wear it. Everyone laughs, but this mask completes the set and gives me outstanding bonuses. I needed to practice a lot because of the high stats. But… it doesn't suit me, right?"
"Buahahaha!" Aaron burst out laughing, his hands on his stomach.
Wukong also grinned.
Seeing Jake from so close, he could see how this mask didn't suit him. His eyes, lips, and some of his skin just looked too weird and didn't do any good to him.
Wukong agreed that this item didn't suit Jake at all.
Jake's burden had been lifted off his heart.
"I want to change it… into A Joker Mask…" Jake whispered, his hands clenching the monkey mask. He recalled his talk with Mary and how she wanted him to have double personalities based on his styles. It was such a stupid request that he had thrown it out of the window.
It just flew back to him like an annoying and talkative parrot.
This one parrot was too loud, too.
"Learning the art of changing design is a perfect lesson for a newbie like you," Aaron said after a long round of crying from laughing.
He spent a few minutes on his gift—the resident's system.
Finally, Jake received a notification from the game system.
[You have received an artisan quest from Aaron Timberart.]
[Artisan Quest #1 — An Art Of Design(Epic)]
[Turn your imagination of your desired design into words and share it with Aaron. He'll craft a path for you to turn your previous monkey boss' mask into what you imagined and converted to him. An Art Of Design is a challenging quest to change the appearance of an item without taking away its bonuses or belongingness to an adequate set.]
[Reward: Artisan Subclass, Aaron Timberart's An Art Of Design Skill(Epic), and Aaron Timberart's friendship points.]
[You have accepted the quest.]
Aaron was such a precious NPC that his quests were epic.
His artisan subclass also should be of the same grade!
This game's grading was pretty simple—common, normal, unique, rare, epic, legendary.
The common grade stuff could be seen anywhere, and so it was the lowest grade. Legendary was naturally the highest and the most difficult to obtain.
Players would sacrifice a lot to earn legendary stuff if they were not lucky enough to stumble upon it.
'An Art Of Design! This is as epic as its grade! I can create even cooler appearance stuff with this!' Jake ignored Mary's words about the Joker personality and imagined turning his monkey set into something matching his Joker Form more!
Aaron smiled, "So, what exactly yer want yer mask to look like? Think of yer words carefully."
Filled with the excitement of future prospects, Jake smiled.
His smile was so broad and crazy that Aaron widened his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds.
It was Jake's joker smile that he didn't even know he curved.
"I want a joker mask," he said.
"…ye, I can see," Aaron replied, speechless.
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