Alex presented all the paintings he had made during the past two weeks that he had been on his own. "How are they?" he asked.
Tian Honglui stood to his side, looking at the paintings with eyes full of awe. "Are you sure you have only been practicing for 2 weeks, your majesty? This is the art of someone that has at least been painting for a year or so."
"That good huh? I'm not sure if your flattering me or not, but I'll take the compliment," Alex said.
"No, no. No flattery at all. I mean what I said," he said. "Look at the paintings. You can see your talent in painting evolve throughout the paintings. You much have made practiced day and night."
"I did practice every day," Alex said.
"Amazing," Tian Honglui said again. "You don't need me to teach you must at all. You can just practice on your own and learn from now on."
"Still, I would love to hold this own training," Alex said.
"Very well," Tian Honglui said. "Let us make another painting then."
Alex nodded and brought out a canvas and his paints.
"I would like you to draw something you have never seen before," the young man said.
Alex nodded and came up with a random scenario in his head. "I have a simple picture in my mind," he said.
The young man nodded and let Alex draw. He watched the entire process of the drawing, seeing the blue sky, and the black, white, and blue background at the bottom.
The colors of the water come together to form an image of the lake with a goldfish jumping out of it. The shadow on the fish, the lighting. Everything was nearly impeccable.
As Alex drew, the young man couldn't help but give a fearful look at him. 'How is this just 2 weeks?' he wondered. Was Alex that good? Or was he just that good of a teacher?
He continued watching Alex draw and once he finished, he clapped. "Amazing, your majesty," he said. "Your ability to capture an image and put it on the canvas is incredible. The anatomy of the fish in the picture, the colors you have used, and the light passing through the water. Everything is absolutely incredible."
The young man could only praise Alex.
"Any problems with the painting?" Alex asked.
"I am unable to tell," the young man said. "There are no problems on a technical level at all. You can improve your painting skills, but those aren't problems that you can't sort out with a few months of training. In a year— no, less than a year, you will reach the same rank as an artist as most of the artists in this continent."
Alex smiled quite a lot at this time. He was happy to be praised like that. He had talent, talent to learn anything he wanted. But that didn't mean that he could do anything he wanted to.
He had to train and learn to be able to do that thing. Sure he had to train for less time than others, but that still didn't mean that he didn't have to give it his all.
He stepped back and looked at his painting again. It truly was quite good, wasn't it?
"When is the evaluation?" Alex asked.
"In an hour from now, I think," the young man said. "I'm quite nervous."
"Why be nervous? Even if you don't make it to the Hall of fame, you have managed to create an amazing painting. That level of skill is something I can only strive to reach in the future."
"Haha, I'm certain you will surpass me, your majesty," the young man said. "As long as you train, you will become the greatest painter in the entire world I assume."
Alex smiled. "I'm fine with just being the greatest Alchemist. You can keep the title of the greatest painter," he said.
The young man chuckled. "Thank you, your majesty," he said.
Alex nodded. "If you don't mind me asking. Have you always wanted to be a painter? How did you get started?" he asked.
"My mother was a painter," the young man said. "She was a painter and I admired her a lot. She used to teach me how to paint as a child and I liked that. When she passed in an accident during my childhood, I found out that painting was the only way I could find to connect with her."
"My father didn't like that," the young man said. "Coming from the Tian clan, he wanted me to follow him to be a leader, and there I was painting. He said that I could never become anything as a painter, like my mother. It got to a point where he destroyed all of the paintings in the house to discourage me, including the paintings my mother made."
"In my anger, I left my house to prove to my father that I would become something. I learned what I could in this city from the senior and then left for the capital where I learned even more."
"Once I spent centuries there, I finally managed to become a painter of fame and worth to my name," the young man said. "At that point, however, I had already lost the feeling of proving it to my father that I could become something."
"Still, the hatred I felt was still there for he had destroyed all that I cherished in that house. I haven't returned there once, and don't intend to return there anytime soon."
"So, now I'm just a painter that drifts through the continent, searching for the next thing to paint."
"I see," Alex said. "I'm sorry you had to go through something like that."
"It's alright. My emotions are not there anymore."
Alex nodded. "Anyway, let us get back to—"
Someone knocked on the door of the room.
"Senior Tian, are you in there?" someone asked.
"Yes," the young man answered.
"The elders have gathered in the judging hall," the person said. "They request your presence."
"Already?" Tian Honglui was a little surprised. He turned toward Alex and said, "Let us go, your Majesty."
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