In the secret attic, no one spoke for a moment, and everyone focused their attention on the stone in front of them.
Shade also focused all his attention. He did not forget the rumor that the evil god Stoneheart would descend into the material world through a perfect stone carving. Therefore, before completing his work, he specially carved out the holy emblem of the ancient god, the upside-down judge, the ancient god of death, and the keeper of secrets inside the stone statue.
Because he was too absorbed in the work, Shade didn't notice until he finished carving that the stone statue of Luvia had her hands behind her back, standing on tiptoe, like a girl looking into the distance. However, Shade didn't recognize that face, and it was probably a friend of Luvia's from a long time ago.
Although Luvia could also rely on "another me" to help complete the carving, it was obvious that the seriously injured "another Luvia" was not as useful as the "her" in Shade's ear. As a result, the purple-eyed girl had to concentrate completely throughout the process, and her speed was slower than Shade. After completing all the work in her hands, she had the opportunity to turn around and look at Shade's "work".
Then she was shocked, and even suspected that Xia De had cheated and directly moved the collection of the art museum. It was a work of art beyond her cognition, and it should not even appear in such a simple environment.
As for Shade, he found that even though he had the specific appearance and details of the statue in his mind, it was still quite difficult to copy it one-to-one. Fortunately, he had the help of "her". Whenever Shade's thoughts slightly deviated, "she" would gently change the position of the invisible blade.
Although the final product was still subtly different from what Shade remembered, at least he was very satisfied with the appearance of the statue and believed that even if he tried several more times, he would not be able to do better.
The old stonemason Humphrey had already completed his work by then. When he looked at Xia De's statue, he was also surprised and didn't know how to comment on it.
The sculpture created by Xia De is a full-length portrait of a woman. The upper body is naked, and the lower body is wrapped in a loose skirt. The figure is dignified and beautiful, the skin is plump, and the beautiful oval face has a straight nose, a flat forehead and a plump chin. The calm face reveals a touch of just the right solemnity, confidence and wisdom.
The body posture is slightly twisted, the left leg is slightly lifted, the center of gravity falls on the right leg, the head and upper body are slightly to the right, and the face is turned to the left front, the whole body forms a natural "s" shape curve, making Ban Guo's body form a very harmonious and graceful spiral upward posture.
This non-existent attic secret room had a small window, and the moonlight shone on the statue, making it seem as if it were glowing.
The most noteworthy thing is not the legs covered by the expressive hem of the statue, nor the naked upper body of the female features, but the broken arms of the statue. The left arm disappeared from the shoulder, and only half of the upper arm was left on the right arm. But this did not make the statue lose its beauty, but instead gave it a sense of harmony that Luvia could not describe.
She raised her head and unconsciously took a few steps back, allowing herself to fully take in the statue with the broken arm. She even felt a strange sense of holiness from the statue. When she stared at the female statue, it was as if the majestic goddess was also staring at her.
At the end, Luvia even turned away her eyes due to the indescribable panic in her heart. She looked at Shade again, not knowing how Shade, who was in deep thought at the moment, created this stone statue.
She even wondered if Shade was being affected by something strange at the moment.
"This is really..."
The old stonemason Humphrey could hardly control his soul's ability to speak. His soul's eyes seemed to be glowing, and his originally solid spirit body actually had a translucent area:
"This is a stunning blend of noble elegance and fullness! This is the epitome of beauty! Whether it is her face, the curve extending from her chest to her abdomen, or her back, no matter where, this statue is synonymous with beauty!"
He was a professional stonemason and could appreciate the value of this work of art better than Shad and Luvia could.
At the end of the conversation, tears appeared on the face of the soul. When the tears fell to the ground, they formed the "soul tears" that Shade was very familiar with. These were precious materials that would flow out from the powerful souls that resided in the material world when their wishes were fulfilled. But the appearance of tears also meant that the old stonemason was about to leave.
The soul gradually became transparent, and light particles dissipated on the surface of the soul. The old stonemason Humphrey showed a satisfied expression and took a step closer, wanting to observe the statue more closely, but was patted on the shoulder by Shade:
"Mr. Humphrey, don't leave in a hurry. The statue is not finished yet."
"Not finished yet? You want to complete this pair of broken arms?"
The light spots that overflowed from the stonemason's body suddenly flew back. He turned around, stared at Xia De with wide eyes and said:
"It would be nice to have both arms, but I think it would be pretty good without both arms."
"No, no, it's not because of the broken arm."
Xia De shook his head and asked Luvia:
"Can you see what's wrong with this statue?"
Luvia shook her head hesitantly:
"This is the first time I know that you have such a talent. In my opinion, this is already a perfect image."
"No, there's still a problem—it's not old enough."
Xia De said with certainty that he certainly had no artistic talent, he could only imitate.
So he made a request to the stonemason statue beside the stove:
"Can you give me another big rock?"
The statue did not answer, but in the distance the harsh sound of stone rubbing against the floor could be heard.
When the new big rock stopped in front of him, Shade first put it down, then stretched out his hand and used a spell:
"Fossils to mud!"
He turned the stone into a stone jar filled with mud, and then worked together with Luvia to knock down the armless stone statue he had "carved" and immersed it in the mud.
"Start a fire!"
The two ring sorcerers summoned fire together to quickly dry the mud, but it was not completely dry. Shade asked Luvia to step back, and he stood in front of the boulder on the ground and took a deep breath:
"Thaumatology - Breath of Time!"
Shade's magic, Breath of Time, can make an object's time go backwards or forwards. He usually goes backwards in time by "inhaling", but this time he took the initiative to exhale.
As the gray smoke flew out of his nasal cavity and seeped into the huge rocks lying under his feet, the mud that had not yet completely dried changed at a speed visible to the naked eye. This time, Shade made time move forward ten years into the future, which was the limit of his ability to cast spells to change time after all his time power was enhanced.
The material for this magic is one tenth of the life span corresponding to the changed time, but fortunately he can use the Breath of Time once a month without the material. Now is the beginning of the February Starless Month, and he just happens to have the opportunity to cast the spell without the material.
After the magic had fully taken effect, Xia De and Luvia stood up the boulder again, trying to get the statue out of the hardened soil again.
The old stonemason's soul hurriedly stopped him:
"Don't mess around. Be careful not to hurt the statue. Let me help you get it out."
Although he was in a spiritual state, he could influence reality through the tools used for carving. Soon, the broken-armed statue that had spent ten years in the mud stood again beside the charcoal stove in the attic. As expected, the erosion of time gave it a layer of heaviness that was not very obvious, just as Xia De thought. Even if the dust was wiped off with a towel, the dusty statue in the mud still looked more charming.
Shade was quite satisfied with this, while Luvia continued to look at the statue with amazement, and then said to the old stonemason:
"Just now I said that carving a statue is actually liberating the statue from the stone. Look, you have really liberated it."
“I have no regrets in my life.”
The old stonemason said with emotion, but this time his soul did not show the intention to leave again. It seemed that he wanted to see how the strict stone statue would evaluate Xia De's work.
After barely cleaning the dust and mud off the surface of the statue, Shade stepped back and stood with Luvia. The purple-eyed girl touched Shade's hand:
"How did you do this?"
She had always known that although Shade claimed to be semi-illiterate, he had profound attainments in mathematics, basic physics and chemistry. However, in the fields of poetry, sculpture and music, Shade had never shown any talent or talent. It was even better to say that he did not understand these at all.
Xia De shook his head slightly, and the stonemason statue beside the charcoal stove circled around the old broken-arm statue in front of it with a slightly harsh friction sound. It didn't even look closely at the work of the old stonemason and Luvia, but just kept observing the details of the broken-arm statue. It was silent for a long time before asking Xia De:
"Does it have a name?"
"The one with the broken arm..."
This world has no original mythological stories, and because the statue has a broken arm, the name of any god cannot be placed on it, otherwise it would be blasphemy.
After a short pause, Shade pursed his lips and decided not to name it himself. With his talent for naming, using names like "Taurus with Broken Arms", "Woman with Beautiful Face Like a Leisure Cat", "Classical Woman" would only bring shame to the statue itself:
"No name, and no more needs a name than she needs arms."
Shade gave the answer, and the stonemason statue spoke slowly:
"This is a true work of art. I want to first express my apologies for offending you, and then point out my doubts: This doesn't look like a work you can carve. I can feel the most authentic thoughts about beauty and nature from it. This kind of carving is definitely not an inspiration that can be obtained in a few seconds. It is the accumulation of years and months, reaching a peak at a certain moment, and after several attempts, it is possible to create such a work."
The doubts are quite reasonable. Even if we don't know Xia De's identity and occupation, we can see that it is abnormal for him to complete such a work in such a short time.