The young man led Alex into the city, walking amongst the severely crowded streets as they went toward a golden building with a giant set of words on the top.
Goldheart Painting Guild.
"Oh, a guild," Alex said softly. He knew about the guilds that existed throughout the continent, all of which belonged to the Imperial family.
He had seen almost all 10 different guilds with various levels of availability.
Painting Guild was one of the least available guilds in the entire continent because of how utterly useless it was for most people.
Tian Honglui entered proudly and was greeted by the ones that saw him. He greeted back and made his way inside.
Alex followed with him a step behind and the ones that saw him were simply speechless to even say anything. They couldn't trust their eyes and thus couldn't believe if the person they were seeing was truly the King of the Southern Continent or not.
It was made very clear nearly a month ago that Alex had arrived in the Gold Kingdom. That news had spread wide and nearly everyone knew about it.
So, everyone that saw Alex recognized him easily.
All, except Tian Honglui who had remained in the mountain and thus had no idea who he was.
The young man arrived in front of a room and knocked on the door. He waited for a moment before someone responded from inside, asking who it was.
"Senior, it's me, Honglui," the young man answered.
There was a few seconds of silence followed by a sudden opening of the door. An old man with long white hair walked out. "Honglui! You're back," he said quickly. "Did you do it?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure if I did it properly or not," he said. "Can you gather up some other painters so you can jud— senior? Where are you looking?"
He followed the old man's gaze and turned to see him looking at Alex who was standing at the side.
"Is that…"
"Oh, that's the person who helped me with the painting. He helped me understand Metal aura so I could make my painting," the young man said. "Let me introduce you to him. This is…"
Tian Honglui searched through his mind but no name came up. "Wait, I never asked you your name, did I?" he asked.
"No, you did not," Alex said.
"Ah! My apologies. I got distracted because of the painting I had to make," he said. "If it is not too much, would you mind introducing yourself?"
"You are King Alex, aren't you?" the old man asked.
Alex smiled. "I am," he said
"Your majesty," the old man immediately bowed toward Alex. "It is this one's pleasure to meet you. I never thought I would ever get to see you."
"Please straighten your back. I am not your king. You do not need to show me such respect," Alex said.
"No, I must," he said. "You are the messenger of her majesty the Phoenix. I cannot show any disrespect in your presence."
Alex found the old man quite intense but found it hard to tell him as such. "Please get back up."
Tian Honglui was still quite confused by all of what was happening. "You're… a King, brother?" he asked.
"I am," Alex said.
"You didn't—"
The old man slapped him in the back. "Don't call him brother. Call him 'your majesty'. He is a king," he said.
"Oh, you're right," the young man quickly said. "Your majesty is a king?"
"If I wasn't one, would you be calling me that?" Alex asked.
"Oh… so you are one?" he asked.
"Yes, I am," Alex said. "I am the king of the Southern Continent."
"Oh! That king. I remember now," the young man said. "No wonder. You didn't look like the other 6 Kings that I've met on some occasions."
"You have met the other kings, huh?" Alex asked.
"On occasions, yes," the young man said. "I can't believe I met a King from another Continent and didn't know about it."
"You need to start paying attention to news," the older man said.
"I will try," Tian Honglui said before turning to Alex. "Anyway, this is senior Ran. He… is the closest thing I will ever have to a teacher when it comes to painting."
"Oh," Alex said and turned to the old man. "You have taught him quite nicely, senior Ran."
"Of course not. It is all him doing it, I barely taught him anything," the old man said.
"Anyway, senior. I made the painting. Can you gather up the rest of the painters please? So they can judge my painting?" the young man asked.
"Sure, but it won't happen in a single day," the senior said. "It will take at least a week. Show me the painting first so we don't waste their time."
"Ah, right," The young man said and quiclky brought out the painting that he made. He placed it in front of the old man and instantly, the corridor was filled with an intense aura of metal that permeated out of the young man's Intent that he had carved into every stroke of the brush.
The strong aura made the old man falter a bit.
"This…" he couldn't help but say. "This is the best painting I have seen anyone make since your Lightning God's Anger."
The young man smiled. "Is it that good?" he asked. "Is it better?"
"It's…" the old man frowned a bit. "It is good, very good in fact. But… I'm not sure if I can say it is better or not. I can't een tell if it is good enough or not."
"If it was me, I would put it in the Hall of fame," the old man said. "But… since we need the other people's approval, we will have to wait."
"Oh, I see," the young man said. "Then I will wait."
He took away the painting. "It will take a week, correct?" he asked.
"Maybe more, not less," the young man said.
"Alright," the young man turned to Alex. "Your majesty wanted to learn about painting, correct? Come with me. I can help you get started."
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