After completing a long queue of mod requests, I finally can sneak in an outfit that I have always wanted to work on. "After Midnight" does not sounds like much of a name for an outfit, but there is a reason for what it is called, just like the story behind the naming of "Ashes in the Fall".
"After Midnight" is an outfit that can be purchased from NPC vendor in the very first raid dungeon that was introduced in Blade & Soul - Midnight Skypetal Plains (MSP). Maybe now you can guess why it is called "After Midnight". π But you may ask why midnight? This has something to do with how NCSoft likes to re-package parts of the virtual world (such as dungeon or world map) and present them as new content. The Midnight Skypetal Plains is actually the night version of Skypetal Plains region in the Silverfrost Mountain map.
The story goes like this. In the day time, the Skypetal Plains is a lively (and competitive) area, where the two biggest factions (Cerulean Order and Crimson Legion) fight each other to mine the valuable soulstones. Comes night time, when human rest for the day, the creatures of Skypetal Plains and Sacred Beast Longgui roam the plains.
To earn the right to purchase the outfit, players need to defeat the stage five Longgui to attain the required achievement. The raid team of twelve players will need to defeat the creatures and giant mushrooms, in surrounding camps, to summon the Longgui each time. This process is repeated five times and the Longgui must be defeated each time to be able to summon the next stage Longgui, which will become more powerful.
The MSP raid used to be an in-thing where players farmed the first set of legendary soulshields and gears. Nowadays, the dungeon is mostly empty and it is difficult to gather enough people willing to go through the tedious process. It is even more so after the MSP legendary soulshields are now given as rewards in the main storyline and the dungeon being taken out of the daily challenge, which requires players to defeat the stage three Longgui. π§
You can check the side notes below for more information on the Longgui, which is a mythical creature from ancient Chinese myth (or maybe actual history?), if you are interested.
Getting back to the outfit, the After Midnight is colored mostly in dark and shiny blue, with gold linings, very much like the blue moon illuminating the dark sky. The base design is oriental style, and the outfit consists of top and bottom pieces, that does not connect.
The Yun version sports an arm band on the left arm and a pair of dark blue stockings. Let's take a closer look below. The screen shots are taken in MSP but are enhanced to be more vibrant and brighter. The video will show a more accurate scene.
Front View - Original Outfit
Does the color theme gives a good representation of the midnight sky?
Front Close-up View - Original Outfit
In the close-up view, we can see that the top part of the outfit is actually separate from the bottom part. The two cloth that extends downwards from the bra-top drapes over the bottom piece, giving an impression that they are one.
Rear View - Original Outfit
We can see blue dragon designs on the dark part of the blouse.
Rear Close-up View - Original Outfit
Side View - Original Outfit
Side Close-up View - Original Outfit
From the side view, we can observe the separation between the top and bottom pieces clearer.
Getting into the mod, I tried to make the separation between the top and bottom pieces more obvious. Noticing that the bra-top covers only the top and middle portion of the breasts, I begin to think what it would look like if it is modified to be like the Nirvana or Dreamcutter outfit. π
The other parts that I worked on are the leggings and tail cloth. I also trimmed the bra top to do away with the shoulder and neck portion. Let's check out the modified outfit below.
Front View - Modified Outfit
From the top image, we can see the leggings have been replaced by a pair of thigh bands and a pair of rings that connect the four blue-glowing buttons, which I kept because they look cool.
Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit
The top piece is now a strapless bra and the front cloth was trimmed. π
Rear View - Modified Outfit
I also trimmed the sides and tail cloth to reveal more of the back.
Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit
To give a no-panties feel, I trimmed the panties lines to be hidden away behind the cloth. π
Side View - Modified Outfit
Now, we have a clear view of those leggy legs... π
Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit
..and a little extra from the under-boobs, like the Nirvana outfit. π
The mesh structure of the skin layer on the entire tummy region is missing, so I have to keep almost the entire portion of the front and side cloth. π₯ But it is also thanks to this that the outfit did not get reduced to a two-piece bikini. π
Well, that's about it for this mod. Take a look at the video for all round views of the outfit.
Side notes:
Soulstones: Are valuable resource in the virtual world of Blade & Soul. These ore, when processed, can be use to power all sorts of automatons, machines, and upgrading of equipment.
The two warring factions: The Cerulean Order belief that the martial world should be led by top elites while the Crimson Legion belief in power to the people. Both factions' ultimate aim is for the good of the realm but difference in ideology kept them apart and at loggerheads.
Longgui: In Blade & Soul, Longgui is a Sacred Beast that dwells in the Skypetal Plains and has the head of a Chinese dragon and body of a tortoise. The constant soulstones mining by the two warring factions polluted the area and caused distress for the great Sacred Beast.
In Chinese mythology, the Longgui looks exactly what was described above. However, there is more than meets the eye for this creature other than its unique look. In recorded text, it is this creature that brings about the ancient Chinese understanding of Ying and Yang, the two extremes. As many will know Ying is the representation of the minus extreme of the spectrum such as negative charge, cold, moon, female and so forth. Yang is the opposite of Ying, representing positive charge, warm, sun and male.
But how did the Longgui brought about this knowledge? It was recorded that one of the eight most reputable emperors (in Chinese history), Fuxi (δΌηΎ²ζ°) who lives six thousands to eight thousands years ago, saw the Longgui in a river. What captured his attention is not just the appearance of the creature but also a set of strange inscriptions, that forms a circle, on its shell. Having memorized the symbols, he studied them and form the base logic for Ying and Yang, which is eventually used to invent the trigram (ε¦) and eight trigram (ε «ε¦), that can be used for divination. The generations after further studied the inscriptions and trigram to eventually form the Yi Jing (ζη»).
Nice, i'll give this one a try, when you post a link :)
ReplyDeleteLink added. π
Deletemuch appreciated!!
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