It's Not Bad

Lin Ke, who had been watching the entire fight closely, couldn't help but be blown away by the scene before him. He had forgotten his purpose here was to find inspiration. He was too engrossed in the scene that had occurred.

As the dust faded, Lin Ke looked down at the aftermath of the fight. Yol was no longer alive, his body completely washed away by the power of the golden sword.

All that was left behind was silence and the whistle of the wind, blowing through the empty lands. Previously, there were many people who had fought on the ground, duking it out in a clash of steel and might, but all those people were gone, their corpses erased, their existence vanquished, wiped off the face of the Earth.

All that was left was a man and a woman, one barely conscious, and the other with a pained expression on his face.

Slowly, slowly…. The scene faded.

Lin Ke blinked his eyes to realize he was back in the forest. Lily was standing on top of the array core, watching him. The equipment for painting was all prepared, right in front of him.

"Wait, Lily! Why are we back? What happens next?" Lin Ke asks, slightly disappointed the scene ended there.

Lily shook her head. "That's it. That's all I can show you. Instead of focusing on that, you should focus on becoming a B-tier Artist right now."

Lin Ke nods upon hearing that. It was true. The point of Lily showing him that was for him to gain inspiration, and after those series of fights, he had nothing but inspiration.

Lin Ke feels his blood boiling and excitedly. Rubbing his hands together, he knew exactly what he was going to paint. The image was coming together in his head, blending together in all its colors, taking form.

Sitting down on the stool, Lin Ke wills the semi-divine tool to come out and, grasping it in his hand, he immediately began to paint.

As he paints, a smile flourishes on his face, slowly getting bigger as he continues to paint. His brush flows across the canvas not pausing for a second.

As Lin Ke watches his painting come together, he feels an aching, melancholic feeling in his heart, one he wasn't fully about to explain. While he drew, he felt the feeling grow stronger and stronger, and even affected his brush.

Finally, he had finished. Unwillingly, he sets down his brush and steps back to admire his work.

The image was of two men, facing each other in the great battlefield, littered with corpses, weapons and other garbage. One had his hand on the hilt of a longsword embedded into the ground, the other was on his knees, looking up at a gorgeous sword appearing from out of the sky.

The sword wasn't extremely detailed, but in fact, drawn a little blurrily. However, Lin Ke did this on purpose, he wanted to show the might and the otherworldly nature of the sword, and gave it a mystic and mysterious appearance.

The man kneeling on the ground was riddled in holes looking up at the sky sadly, bitterly. The man with the longsword stood there, looking at the other in pity, in sadness, and in anger. Lin Ke tried hard to portray Yal's complexed emotions and filled in the scene with some speculations of his own.

Anyone who looked at the image would be blown away by its detail. Not only that, but they would find themselves assaulted by a wave of complex emotions, the emotions of the man behind the brush, the one who painted this picture.

One could feel the awe, the marvel, the excitement of the person who painted this. One could feel their pity for the ones in the drawing, his sadness that it had to end that way. According to what Yal and Yol were saying, there was no cure to that World Snake Venom thing, which meant that the lady was meant to die.

He also felt it was quite sad that two brothers would have to face each other on the battlefield, fighting to the death in this cruel world.

These emotions whirled together, blended and produced this artwork.

Lily, upon seeing Lin Ke had finished, floats floats over elegantly. Looking at the artwork, Lily nods her head a little.

"It's not bad… However, it still hasn't reached the prerequisite for B-class. While you were able to capture the scene and were able to embed some of your emotions into the artwork, it's not enough. I can only faintly feel the emotions, whereas a true B-class's artwork tug at the audience's emotions just from one look." Lily explained.

"As for how to do that… Usually, one would pick a scene that they themselves have seen, so that their emotions are stronger… Due to you not being directly involved in any way, the feelings you have might be limited…" Lily mused.

"Hmmm. You should try again, but draw something else. I think that you might be able to accomplish it now. The first one you drew can serve as your foundation for your next one. After all, you should have gotten an idea of how it goes."

Lin Ke nods. "Alright…"

Lily, hearing his answer curled up on the array core again and immersed herself in a book. She left Lin Ke to his own devices, hoping he would be able to figure it out himself.

'Hmmm…. What should I paint… What did I experience that…' Then it hit him.

"I know! I'll draw that!"