Temporal Pearls

Seth opened his eyes with clarity, he sat and looked around, the walls, the floor, and the ceiling were plastered with papers that now have haphazard illustrations on them.

He wasn't surprised or felt as if he had woken up from a dream. All he knew was that he had achieved a long-lasting milestone. Something he doesn't expect to achieve in less than 2 weeks. He has finished the long quest.

[Quest]

[A weird Painting made by Nanncy that can't be understood in a normal way]

~Copy the First Painting 100,000 times.

[Progress: 100,005/100,000]

[Reward]

~Glean the secret of the painting!

~First Painting Canvas Replica (F-)!

_______

Seth saw at the centre of the hall, an illusory long paper floating. All he had to do was grab it and it would be real.

He then walked to First Painting, it was as complicated as ever but as he stared at it, he was pulled inside and he saw a large hall that was several hundred meters long and wide. Pillars and walls were 100m long with exquisite decoration.

At one side was a middle-aged woman standing by the window looking down, she wore a sleeping gown that had many purple flower decorations, and her skin was somewhat scarred with many scars but they didn't dampen her beauty by much.

Her hair was a mixture of grey and gold, and there was a crown made of purple flowers as if made by kids. A wind blew in and her gown fluttered in the wind, carrying some dust inside. But that also made her look back to cover her face. She looked at Seth with surprise before she smiled and… Seth woke up.

He fell down, and his exertion point was zero. The castle was desolate and the woman was lonely inside it. He felt sad for her.

With the activation of his aura, his exertion point returned to normal. "The First Painting contained an entire story inside." Seth surmised in understanding.

Ding!

[Congratulations, your Talents in art moved from F+ to E+]

~Painting (E+), Calligraphy (E+), Sculpture (E+)

____

"That was one massive shift," Seth commented with a smile and he felt his desire for painting increase as he can already see his shortcomings and how to improve them.

In his delirium of obsession, he decided to find Vera's sanctuary and revive it. Without even checking the other reward he stormed out.

He went south of Living Roots, where he first met Vera and the silver-wing dragon. He made a detour and searched for the whole day but didn't find any place that would indicate a sanctuary.

But when the moon was up, he trusted in its blessing and kept looking, he even relooked at where he saw Vera and soon he found a cave that when he entered he met with vines but still did not lead him anywhere.

He felt that there was something wrong but couldn't put a finger on it. He decided to leave but as he left the area he heard silence. Strange, it was always silent right? He went back to nothing but as he left there was silence. He immediately brought his Drumming Scale and he found the anomaly.

There was a soft tone that entered his ears which clouded his vision and understanding of the place. With Vera Aspecto and Drumming Scale, he protected himself from the tone and immediately found a path that led to a place in between large mountains.

He can't believe he has been toiling around without seeing it. There was a dark forest with tall trees, vines and some dried flowers. The forest seemed dead at first but the moment Seth put his foot inside, it came to life.

A tiny string wrapped around him and he was pulled up in the tree. Many hard strings entangled him more before they squeeze to rip him apart. His armour was strong and protected him, then there was that tone produced from a strange flute by a man hiding inside the bush by himself.

Seth saw through him Aura's sight.  Then the man brought Dat shooter and loaded it before he fired. From beneath the trees, a flood of red water came and splashed everywhere while also protecting Seth from the Dat.

He freed himself and encased himself in the red spheres and then moved forward, more people came and attacked but they had no way to go against the red demon. Soon Seth reached the gate of a village that has various animal skins of animals.

He sauntered inside, coming in contact with the town leader. A woman in tribal attire and many tattoos made with black ink.

"We do nothing wrong? Why attack us, strangers!" She said in agitation, she wasn't terrified but wary. Seth's attention was already drawn to something. A sculpture of a dragon, Vera, the sound dragon.

It was larger than the original, and poorly carved from an ash-coloured stone. Seth manoeuvred around her and stood before the dragon.

"Please do not destroy it and no, we don't know where she is now!" The tribal woman shouted.

"What is she in this village?" Seth asked.

"Our benefactor and protector!" She answered as she glared at the player. Seth's obsession was intensified but he didn't want to come out of the red liquid, he still knew that they would attack him.

He brought a Drumming Scale, and Script Marker, and then activated Vera Aspecto. A pulse of sound erasing effect emitted from his body, and that put them in trance.

Seth pulled out a hammer and flat chisel and then began to work on the dragon stone sculpture.

.

.

.

.

.

Seth was barely standing, his flat chisel was bent and the hammer had cracked. It will not work anymore. But a more refined Vera stone sculpture stood before him. The people have regained their senses but now stare at the dragon in awe.

Seth stood and looked at his damaged tools with a sigh, satisfying his craving is costing him too much. He needed to finish the class quest but for an unknown reason, his desire to satisfy his obsession was clouding his judgment.

He then saw a flat stone at the side of the village, it was white with some sketches of dragons on it. He smiled with drool as he went there, his brush, pen, dust of colours and then his red liquid came out. To reduce his thirst, he decided to paint the most complicated paintings.

[Congratulations, you have created an icon in Sound Veil Village]

[Script Marker: Level 4>5]

He felt his connection with villages increased. His clarity returned as he looked around. The people now stood humbly toward him with respect.

"Prepare a small plot here!" He ordered as if he was their leader, they move and they plough the land, remove unwanted material and wait for him. He brought various seeds of fruits, cereals, and vegetables and planted them in rows, then he set his Soothing Gourd floating and raining water from time to time since they would drink much of the water. He then spread the white powder.

The reason he first planted the seed before putting the white powder was to not attract some unwanted insects or animals. That way the seeds will capture it first.

The white powder was Antler's droppings. They were grey when wet but white when dried. Even his experimental Abhorrent Beast craved to feed it. The Living Roots also showed interest. and when he was outside the forest, all kinds of abhorrent monsters flocked toward the droppings to feed.

He knew even the humans recognised its importance and wanted it but he refused to.

Seth turned around and walked away but then an idea came to him. He called a certain quest he had about the aura.

[Quest]

[Solid Aura is hard to make and very hard to maintain.]

~Condensed 9 more Solid Aura!

[Reward]

~Aura Grab

_____

This quest popped up after he obtained an aura touched, that gave him the ability to touch and even feel the content or even memories of those who have it. Aura grab might allow him to grab aura from anything like he can grab a skin, a branch or anything tangible.

He can get the aura of his dragons, right? By just making the womb extract it from him. He looked at the sculptured Vera dragon with the desire to test something. It might be more satisfying in his obsession.

The villagers were surprised to see him coming back and stared at the dragon, their benefactor with an eerie smile. His green cloak spread and covered him as he fiddled with something before he laughed at the sky.

And he then slammed the sculpture, it shook with cracks but it mend quickly. The stone sculpture became more imposing, now it has a domineering feeling as if the original dragon was still here.

With a satisfied smile, he left the village. Back to his home. He realized art is vast, now he can imbue his sculpture with his aura. "Can I infuse the aura in paintings too?" Seth wondered.

Because he was a bit sane, he prepared and went to the red canyon. This time no one stopped him. The place now has more than 200 people both players and NPCs.

"Seth, you are back!" Sapna found him first, he can also see many people wish to come to him but the pretty girl's appearance has deterred them.

"What exactly do you want from me?" Seth asked the obvious and she smiled, "Tamra's Diamond Scale. Name your price!" She said.

Seth was attracted by something, a hammer on a stall but after he checked it was low quality, he moved ahead to see the pool he suggested the first time he was there, NPCs were standing some distance away watching in wonder. Many kids were mesmerized by it.

In Gawee, a pool of water is a luxury.

"People from other sanctuaries came to see the pool for a fee!" Captain Brown suddenly said. Seth looked at him and nodded, "Good!" He lost interest and then went to the Temra Iconic Painting, now that he had gleaned the First Painting and his master moved from F+ to E+, he can see a lot of inconsistency with it.

His cloak spread and covered what he was doing, then slammed the large icon. Nothing changed but in his eyes, he can see the inconsistency has been repaired to a certain extent.

Another hidden effect was that the painting now absorbed the temperature from the sun and the canyon making the place cooled down with refresh air.

He then moved to the Antler that he sculptured, he caressed it before he spread it with white powder, but it didn't have the same effect.

He then walked to Rena, she smiled at him and showed him a stack of papers sealed in thick paper boxes.

"They are thinner than the one I last gave you. So here there are about 230,000 papers." She said, Seth's bright smile increased before he packed them and walked toward the exit, he suddenly stopped and looked at Sapna that had been following him.

"I'm sorry.." He said, her face became sad but he ended with, "I'm kinda busy but prepared for the trial!" He then stormed out.

He took a long detour and went to Vela Sanctuary, along the way he met with Gawee Monster, he then sped up and left it to duke it out with those that were following him.

The first thing he did was to infuse Vela's painting with her aura before he turned and left for the forest.

Aura infusion in his art made him more satisfied and let him be saner in his activity. With a bit of a clear head, he was fascinated that his whole walls in and out of the mansion were framed with papers. He sighed and removed them, then he stored them inside a room.

He then grabbed the illusory First Canvas Replica.

Congratulations, you have obtained a canvas replica. Discover stories at m,v l'e|m-p y r

[Unable to use. C+ Painting, Sketching, Calligraphy required]