I've kind of knocked it out of the park with the first two, so it only made sense that my first attempt at Lan'er's art was a complete and utter dud. While it did what she asked very broadly, it was slow and kind of... off? I don't even know how best to describe, honestly, as I'm not quite sure what kind of an 'internal' art would be best suited for her.
She was a body cultivator with doubly reinforced meridians that could take a pounding like no other, and the way she fought kind of reflected all of her characteristics; even Dai Xiu thought more about her actions during a fight, while Wan Lan just... rammed. Through and through.
Which meant that the 'internal' art cannot be something that required an intent. It had to be something that would passively be there, and that would do its thing regardless of what she does. Because if the battle stretches out long enough, she will lose herself to that fire in her. And if she thought little before it, she'll think none during it.
I mean, it should be possible, but also there's only so much I can do with 1,000 points. The thing I noticed was that I can, generally speaking, make almost anything, really; it's not so much that the idea itself was restrained, it was just that the scope was so limiting it was sort of the case of, 'Well, what's the damn point?'.
Kind of like when I made that flight art for Light; it was borderline unusable, but it was technically possible.
Opening up the creator's window yet again, I began shuffling around and perusing the parts that I've yet to fully internalize, mostly the ones that I've unlocked later down the line. There were quite a few options specifying the passivity of the art, but that's not actually what I needed, specifically.
It had to be both--it had to passively pool, but it also had to actively discharge in some capacity. But try as I may, I wasn't actually able to marry the two in a cohesive structure.
I tried--spending about 4,000 points in almost unusable arts--but nothing came of it.
But I can't give up. Of all the kids, Wan Lan received the least from me, I'm pretty sure. What if I create a duality of Demonic Qi and ordinary Qi?
Have the core be passively 'filled' by Demonic Qi, and then use ordinary Qi as a 'trigger' point. So, once the 'pool' is 'full', it somehow balloons to just the right side to trigger itself through Qi?
... no, that's just dumb.
I wrecked my little dumb head trying to think of something, but nothing was coming to it just yet. It looks like Lan'er's gift will have to wait a bit.
One art that I was actually pretty confident in making was Feng'er's. Multi-mastery of the weapons was his bread and butter, and he's been pretty much improvising it all this while, but I did try to make something that fit him quite some time ago and got pretty close. The issue was--and still is going to be, I imagine--that every additional weapon added also adds a decent amount of points to the total.
Even fully optimized, and even using the drawback of it being extremely difficult to comprehend which added another 200 points to the total, I could only make it for four weapons.
There was some good news--I could actually make two separate arts to cover all seven stances of his weapon, and I could then hope that, someday in the distant future, once I've leveled the system up enough, there will be a way to combine compatible arts into one.
With that hope in mind, I quickly shuffled through the options and made the first one, covering the four weapons I'd seen him use the most: Sword, Spear, Polearm, and Bow.
The total cost was 1195, down to 995 with the drawback.
[--Congratulations, Host, on creating the 'Way of the Weapon Master' Weapon Art]
... right. How did I forget to name it? Again?!
[...][Way of the Weapon Master][Type: Weapon Art][Rank: middle-Myth Tier][Host Comprehension: None (Fails to meet minimum requirements)][...][Those willing to pursue the Many-Weapons Path are few and far between. Even mastering just one is akin to summitting the heavens, and pursuing any more than that is often seen as an act of lunacy. However, there will always be those who are either foolish or brave enough to attempt it. Succeeding means becoming the mountain others cannot conquer, but failing means existing in perpetual mediocrity until death. As there has never been anyone who truly succeeded, there are no high-rank arts for anyone to follow, making the path easier. While this art fails short of being path-illuminating, it is good enough of a hammer to tear down the first hurdle and allow one to comprehend the Many-Weapons Path to quasi-Imperial Realm][...][Creation Points Value: 995(1,195) / 1,000][Comprehension Difficulty: ???][...][Creation Bonus: Gloves of Enu (Legendary)][...][Gloves of Enu (Legendary) -- said to have been worn by one of the earliest Child of a Dragon and woven by a Draconic Tanner, the gloves contain incomparable capacity of grip, allowing the wearer to hold onto their weapons no matter what]
... alright. That's actually pretty good. The other one was practically exactly the same, just without the creation bonus which, on its face value, wasn't that good. However, it was quite case-specific, as it was probably kind of godsent for Xing Feng. He has to swap weapon stances somewhat slowly as the changing of the shape runs the risk of the weapon slipping through, but if these gloves just magically guarantee the weapon won't drop... can't he just disregard everything else and go for speed?
We'll find out, I guess.
Stretching, I glanced out and saw a quite comedic scene--all the kids abruptly whipped their heads away from me and immediately looked as though they'd been engaged in the best conversation of their lives.
Was I so engrossed in my shit that I didn't even notice they've been staring at me this whole time? Yeah, probably. What did they think I was doing, though? Like, literally searching through the 'coffers' or that I'm making their requested arts on the spot?
Huh.
Well, it would be odd if I magically pulled all of their requests at once, so it's a perfect time to take a break from creating and finally leave this godforsaken place. After all, there's a mountain a-waitin', and an old acquaintance that might be joining us.
"Alright, everyone," I announced. "Pack your things and let's leave."
"What about our rewards, Master?" Long Tao asked with a smile.
"They'll come when they arrive," I shrugged. "Until then, they might not even exist. Alright, let's go, let's go. We have places to be and things to see, and time waits for no man. "