Chapter 127 - Warming Up (1/2)

Keegan looked at the kid named Kano and pondered over how he should handle the situation. The kid was currently reading a small handbook that every exhibition attendee was given, which detailed the history of the participants and explained their works. The boy slid the index finger of his right hand over the page and mumbled the word that was pointing at under his breath.

”This is the work of 3-star artist, Kenosha Nurn. It's called 'A Lone Lotus',” Goran introduced the first displayed artwork out loud. He then turned to the boy and asked, ”What do you think?”

The boy immediately started explaining the technicalities of the painting. The longer he spoke, Keegan's scrutinising gaze faltered.

'He's knowledgeable,' Keegan thought to himself. As the boy continued, he started to enter territories that were quite advanced for artists, especially this early in their career. Keegan admitted that when he was the boy's age, even he couldn't recite all those details without missing a beat. Then again, Keegan didn't have access to the same resources as the boy.

'That's right! He didn't have to struggle as I did,' Keegan said to himself to assuage his envy. For a second there, Keegan had nearly vocalised his fascination with the boy out loud.

While the boy orated, Keegan battled internally over pointing out negligible misspeaks or errors to win one over him. But then he realised that his opponent was only a child, moreover, there was an age gap of around a century between them.

”Now, try doing what I told you to do before,” Goran instructed after the boy finished. Kano nodded and stared at the painting thoughtfully. In between, the boy lowered his head and read the entry about the artist and her work in the book in his hand.

Keegan carefully observed the boy's emotions and noticed that his frown deepened with every passing second.

”I c-c-can't make a connection,” the boy admitted in defeat.

”That's okay. We'll keep going.” And with that, they walked over to the next painting. This exercise continued one after the other. The boy would first dictate his observation about the artwork, barring some insights that were outside his reach since he wasn't a mage. After that, the boy would stare at the painting with a more intense gaze while intermittently alternating between the book in his hand and the painting.

As they moved around, Keegan's internal conflict was reaching a boiling point. 'What am I even doing here, following a kid like this? What am I hoping to achieve?!'

In fact, while initially, Keegan had arrived with a metaphorical sword in hand, after observing the boy's diligence and willingness to learn, he slowly mellowed out. During the transition between paintings, Keegan even posed a few easy questions to gauge the boy's capacity and was further impressed. The kid wasn't half bad - in Keegan's opinion.

”What's the boy trying to do?” Keegan asked Goran with a low whisper. While some of the topics Kano pointed out and discussed with Goran involved artistic techniques beyond the ordinary level, they didn't offer anything new for Keegan. He was more interested in the instruction Goran relayed at the end of each viewing.

”I'm teaching Kano to exercise his artistic philosophy,” Goran answered flatly.

”So early?” An artistic philosophy is an advanced concept usually left for artists who have earned a few stars in their licenses. To introduce it to someone who was yet to step into the official path was peculiar.

Goran nodded with a proud smile and said, ”The boy is beyond his years. Artist Lang should have seen it already. You wouldn't believe it if I told you that he learned all of that in the last few weeks alone.”

Now that WAS inconceivable!

Goran noticed Keegan's disbelief and said, ”He's extremely talented, this one.”

”So what is his philosophy?” Keegan inquired immediately.

”Hmm, I believe it's best if you ask him directly,” Goran deferred. He then moved towards Kano and urged him forward.

”The next painting is Artist Lang's. It will be far, far superior to the ones we've seen before. It will also be spiritually active, thus I will be monitoring you so that you don't lose yourself in it.”

Before they could proceed, Kano jolted his head towards Goran and said, ”Wait! I think I have something. Give me a minute, please. I just need to confirm it!”

As Keegan looked into the boy's animated eyes, he was taken over by their liveliness. This was a lad who really loved to paint - Keegan could just tell by the animated excitement surging from his ebullience.