Chapter 139

Chapter 139

The sky was clear and bright, its azure canopy like a deep ocean reflected above, stretching endlessly toward the horizon. It encompassed undulating mountains beneath, forests deep as indigo, and majestic classical castles sprawling through the verdant woodlands.

Frost had not fully melted, leaving streaks of white across the land. Despite being June, the northern Roland Kingdom felt like early spring.

In terms of national strength, Roland Kingdom was merely a third-rate small country. However, in the realm of arts and culture, this nation, renowned as the Country of Arts, held a special position throughout Blue Star.

As Blue Star’s most art-and-elegance-revering nation, it gathered the world’s most prestigious music schools and various other art academies. Countless artistic powerhouses emerged from here.

The “Moonlight Temple,” symbolizing the highest hall of arts, was located in Roland Kingdom’s capital. Innumerable artistic medals originated here, including the “Silver Moon Medal” – the highest honor all Blue Star artists dreamed of.

Even beyond medals and awards, simply having the opportunity to hold a personal concert or private exhibition at the Moonlight Temple was a lifelong wish for countless artists.

–This meant they had been recognized as supreme among their peers – from then on, their fame would spread throughout the world.

Someone had once conducted a rather pointless survey that concluded: Roland Kingdom citizens, immersed in art since childhood, surpassed all other Blue Star nations in average artistic cultivation and achievement.

–This became a point of pride for Roland Kingdom – at least in this field, they had beaten countries with stronger economies, more advanced technology, and greater national power.

Since then, Roland Kingdom increasingly emphasized its strengths. From top to bottom, their focus on arts only grew, creating the strongest artistic atmosphere on Blue Star. Many parents who discovered their children’s artistic talents would, if possible, send them to study in Roland Kingdom from an early age.

Outstanding artists in various fields received treatment far exceeding other countries and enjoyed special status difficult to obtain elsewhere. For instance, ennoblement – Roland Kingdom was Blue Star’s only nation that granted honorary titles to artists and cultural workers.

Though extremely difficult to obtain – only Silver Moon Medal recipients qualified, and there were barely thirty recipients to date – and though these titles were honorary with no real power, and though noble status was declining with time’s progress, becoming a symbol of obsolescence... Nevertheless, it represented status and honor. In the feudal era centuries ago, it would have been an unreachable peak for commoners, a goal families strived for generations to achieve.

Imaginably, Roland Kingdom held tremendous appeal for Blue Star’s artistic practitioners, attracting countless talents to this small nation.

Even randomly selected pedestrians could discuss various artistic fields knowledgeably, reciting famous Blue Star painters and musicians like familiar acquaintances.

These factors combined created Roland Kingdom’s intensely artistic atmosphere. Cultural customs bore artistic hallmarks, and city streets teemed with wandering singers, painters, musical groups, sculptors... along with various events held in cities of all sizes, and numerous art-related festivals.

Of all festivals and celebrations, the grandest was the annual Year Festival, hosted by Roland Kingdom’s royal family.

The reason for holding the Year Festival in June was simple – it marked when the new Roland Kingdom held its first celebration after the world-spanning war that ended over fifty years ago, commemorating the war’s end and the nation’s rebirth.

Since then, this tradition continued. This annual celebration became known as Roland Kingdom’s Year Festival.

This small nation, once teetering on the brink of destruction during the war, not only survived but was reborn from the flames. After over fifty years of development, it became the globally recognized Country of Arts.

The Roland people took indescribable pride in this. When the Year Festival arrived, countless people would flood into the capital to participate in this nationwide celebration, releasing their joy and passion through artistic performances in a uniquely Roland way. Artists from around the world would never miss this grand gathering.

Roland Kingdom’s Year Festival was more free-spirited than most imagined. On this day, the entire capital became a stage for performances.

How to put it? The other’s basic painting skills were much stronger than his – before coloring, it was an absolutely perfect realistic line drawing. But after coloring, it quickly moved toward the impressionist school. All sorts of bold coloring he wouldn’t dare imagine created a chaotic yet enchanting, illusory yet strange feeling throughout the entire painting.

Joey didn’t specifically imbue spiritual energy while painting, relying purely on technique, so this was currently just an ordinary painting. Without mobilizing spiritual energy to drive the painting’s spirit, Joey, being colorblind, lacked normal coloring ability and colored purely by feeling.

As a result, Duzuo found it difficult to judge whether this painting was excellent or terrible. The unparalleled painting technique combined with childlike color combinations left him caught in contradiction and confusion.

“That’s too euphemistic, what do you mean ‘childlike’? This is clearly child-level scribbling,” a blunt voice suddenly rang out from behind.

Another young man pushed through the onlookers, showing disapproval. “As they say, painting is an art requiring talent. Those without talent shouldn’t waste their time!”

The suddenly appearing person had cat-like deep green eyes radiating obvious arrogance.

Ignoring Joey beside him, he seemed to have come over after hearing Duzuo’s words and immediately fired at him, his tone quite discourteous.

“Duzuo, I can’t stand your fake way of speaking. This false encouragement only misleads mediocre people, making them mistakenly think there isn’t a vast talent gap between them and true geniuses, wasting time pursuing what they can never achieve in their lifetime, wrongly chasing impossible goals! Better to let them face reality from the start and choose a path suitable for them.”

Jo-the-mediocre-person-without-talent-ey: “...?”

“Grant, you’re going too far...” Duzuo instinctively glanced at Joey, seemingly worried he’d be hurt by those words.

But he quickly realized his action was inappropriate and swiftly withdrew his gaze, staring displeasedly at the sudden arrival. “Not everyone pursues the peak of their field. Simply loving to paint and painting freely is enough.”

“Heh. And then waste time producing worthless paper that won’t sell?” Grant mocked mercilessly.

For some reason, after speaking he also glanced at Joey, explaining in a somewhat stiff tone. “I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about certain people who don’t know their limits... Well, anyway, you’re not a painter, you don’t make a living from painting, your current level is completely fine.”

Jo-expelled-from-the-ranks-of-painters-ey: “???”

“Um, are you alright, young man? Actually, Grant wasn’t targeting you, he was targeting me,” Even after the young man had left, Duzuo watched the continuously silent Joey, suspecting he’d been hurt, and hurriedly explained, “Though it’s not good to discuss others’ privacy, please don’t misunderstand him. His father was exactly the type of overambitious painter he mentioned, never sold a single painting, had to rely on his wife to support the family, and later spent his days drinking. Grant was badly influenced from childhood...”

“I heard about this from others. Because he accidentally discovered me encouraging juniors without talent to persevere and not give up, he’s always disliked me...” He vaguely said a few words, not sharing too many private details with the unfamiliar Joey.

“Ah, I’m fine,” The previously silent Joey suddenly smiled slowly, enunciating each word, “I completely, don’t, misunderstand.”

Duzuo: “...” Really? In a manga, this smile would definitely indicate turning evil, right?



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