Volume 1 Chapter 24 Side Story: The Failed Artist

“A Blessed Child part 5.2

-The Child was walking through the forest, the Five-eyed Monkey and the Yellow Ginseng Bear dispute had led to the death of the two beasts.

-The blessed child didn’t forget about the Azure Crystal Roots the Yellow Ginseng Bear had planted.

-The Child uprooted the plants and carefully put them in his jackpack.

-The Blessed arrived near a bonfire, a tall man was standing looking at it.

- The man said that the fire felt recomforting yet wild at the same time.

- The blessed child asked him if it mattered in the end.

-The man answered no, his vision was blinded by his humanity.

-The Child looked at the tall man more carefully this time.

-The man was tall, quite imposing, he wore a straw hat and a large jetblack coat to block the little sunlight that passed through the leafy shield above their head. The man could have been very intimidating had it not been for his blind eyes.

-The man said he wanted to be an artist but his hands were too close to humans' to be able to draw anything worthwhile.

-When the Child looked at the man’s hands he could see they were trembling, obviously the man’s hands were barely usable now.

-The Artist looked at the fire and said how the Child was blessed, he was blessed as he was not weak like him.

-The Child looked at the Artist, the man was shaking like a freezing dog in the cold.

-The blessed child had a bright idea, he proposed to the Artist to eat a good and hot soup to warm up his body.

-The Artist agreed and the Child immediately went to work, he took out of his jackpack a stockpot and put some of the river’s water in it.

-As the Child worked the Artist started a painting of the Child, a hard working boy with a cooking pot.

-Once the water started boiling, the Child added the Azure Crystal Roots as they were well known to give strength, something the Artist clearly lacked.

-Soon enough the water had turned a bright blue just like the sky.

-The Child looked through his ingredients and his choice went to the Metallic Snake’s scales and blood that the astute spirit Ur had given him.

-The scales had the worthy reputation of killing illnesses better than other well known cures and the blood was known as the best revitalizing liquid under the sky.

-The broth’s odor attracted a Ghastly Rabbit, the kid wanted to put the animal in the soup as it was known to heal the soul, something the Artist seemed to need.

-But when the blessed child jumped toward the rabbit, palms ready to capture the small animal, all he got was air.

-The Artist stopped drawing and explained that Ghastly Rabbit could turn nebulous when they sensed danger.

-If the blessed child wanted to get the rabbit, he would need to either find a way to hunt the rabbit without making it feel danger or he could find the counter to the rabbit’s ability.

-Legends said the only thing that could kill the formless was a weapon made of Aopia wood, pretty hard to find.

-As the Child didn’t have Aopia wood on him he chose the hunting option.

-Some said that surprise was the greatest weapon one could have.

-They are wrong, the best weapon to have is undefeatable strength, the second best weapon is to have an unstoppable sword, the third was to have unbeatable allies.

-Only after those, could other things be considered as good weapons to have.

-But as of now the Child didn’t have any of the best weapons in the world.

-So his little brain thought hard, he pondered from morning to dawn.

-The Artist also kept himself awake, his drawing was slowly coming to fruition.

-Finally, it struck the Blessed, he didn’t have to find a way to somehow capture the Ghastly Rabbit as he had a pretty good ally who could come in handy.

- So the kid put on his Crown and asked the Shrewd Spirit Ur for help.

-When Ur showed itself the kid asked how to capture the Ghastly Rabbit, the smart spirit pointed to a bee nest not far from them.

-The kid approached the bee nest and found them to be all dead. It was sad, the bees had died of a disease that spread through touch.

-Fortunately, the disease only affected bees.

- The blessed child scooped up a handful of honey and softly brought it in front of the rabbit.

-The Ghastly Rabbit didn’t feel safe at first but the temptation of honey was too big. Slowly, the rabbit gave in and licked the honey off the Blessed’s hand.

-The kid brought more and more of the delicious honey until the rabbit felt safe enough to jump in the Blessed’s cradle hold.

-The good lad then threw the Ghastly Rabbit in the boiling broth.

-The meat of the Ghastly Rabbit made the soup almost complete, only a good spicing was needed for the meal to be complete.

-The Artist was hungry but he continued his drawing, he had almost finished, the only thing he needed was a shade of yellow to perfect his painting.

-The kid searched the surroundings for a spice to add, but he was unsuccessful. Not even a little pinch of salt could be found in the surroundings.

-The duo was quite lucky as the yellow painting that the Artist used was saffron mixed with colorless ink.

-The moment the Artist finished drawing, the hardworking kid took his orange/yellow paint and put it in the soup.

-After a good stirring of the soup, it was finally ready.

-Little problem, the time that the kid took to make the soup was so long the Artist died of hunger a few moments earlier.

-Too bad for him, the blessed kid was disappointed he could show his cooking talent to someone else but that also meant that there was more soup for him.

-As the Blessed drank the soup and ate the meat, he could feel his body getting stronger, his body was purging the impurities within itself.

-The Blessed’s soul was expanding and strengthening by the seconds.

-After filling his stomach full of soup, the boy kept on eating, he knew that if he didn’t eat everything now the soup would lose all its heat and lose its flavor.

-Only when there was nothing left in the stockpot did the Blessed have to stop.

-He looked at the Artist’s painting, it depicted the Blessed, his long dark gray hair flowing in the wind, on his head a yellow crown radiating rays of light and a cooking pot letting out an azure smoke in the background.

-The only thing the Artist did wrong was the Blessed’s silhouette, indeed on the painting the kid was depicted with small arms and a chest that felt weak but in a good way.

-The depiction was of a cute little boy, that was not what the Blessed looked like.

-The Blessed had a body full of muscles as strong as mountains, he could shatter rock boulders with his bare hands.

-His organs were as healthy as an ox and his soul as big and strong that he could beat a dragon in terms of size.”