Chapter 154: Chapter 154:Painting a Self-Portrait [1]

Kneeling from the ground, I slowly used the corruption to mold a pair of legs before standing up and creating the stomach.

Moving to the right and left, I formed the two arms before standing up fully to recreate the neck and head.

Slowing down the movement of my hands as I began creating the face, I tried my best to recreate my exact face, using the same nose, eye, and mouth measurements.

Recalling my occasional visits to museums during school field trips as I tried to make figures made of corruption in front of me as real as possible, I sighed.

...I really wasn't an artist... in the slightest.

I wasn't an artist; I never claimed to be an artist... but here I was, making a self-portrait.

In comparison to the sculptures of Michelangelo, I didn't even think mine had the honor of being within 100 miles of it.

Finishing the face, I moved up to the head, creating small noodles of corruption and sticking them together to resemble my hair.

Thankfully, my hair was jet-black, so I didn't have to worry about that part standing out... but unlike me, the entire sculpture was painted pitch black.

So black, in fact, that it could barely even be seen due to the darkness shrouding the cave around us.

...how was I going to pull this off?

Finishing the last few stands of hair, I took a step back and stared at the immobile pitch-black figure, made of corruption, motionless, standing in front of me.

There was just one problem...sure, it looked like me if you squinted your eyes a bit, but any sane person could easily tell that it wasn't me.

From its eyes without pupils to its... lack of clothes, one could easily tell the difference between me and it.

In front of me stood a figure made of pitch-black corruption with the exact same height, body shape, and face as me.

The motion figureless was only visible to me as the darkness around shrouded us, but turning behind me, I could see Lily staring at my moving figure with a strange expression.

To her, it just seemed like I was randomly moving around my hands with no intended goals or purpose.

Well, no one ever understands famous artists from their time.

I mean, look at Vincent Van Gogh. Sёarch* The NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

He was dirt-broke, and no one even wanted to buy his paintings, but now, people would chop off their hands to buy one of his pieces.

The same can be said about countless other artists... some people are just ahead of their times!

Now, did I see myself as Van Gogh?

I would like to think that there were some similarities between the two of us!

Both of us were misunderstood and unrepresented during our times!

..but that was the extent of our similarities.

Manifesting two daggers, I shrouded them both with a blood-red substance in my body before lifting them up and using them as a torch.

Illuminating the cave with the blood-red red aura covering the daggers, the sculpture was now visible to people beside me.

Feeling my blood pressure increase slightly as the sculpture entered Lily's vision, I added a few last-minute corrections, like fixing its hand placement.

Is it what it feels like to open your first exhibit?

Turning back to Lily, who was staring at my sculpture, which from her point of view just suddenly appeared in front of her, with her eyebrows squinted, I asked.

"...any suggestions?"

Squinting her eyes even further and raising her eyebrows to the max height, she stayed silent for a moment before muttering out.

"...is that supposed to you?"

Well... she can at least tell it's me, so that's a good sign, isn't it?

Nodding my head, I pointed at the motionless sculpture in front of us before saying.

"This is how we kill that spirit."

As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I heard a sigh almost instantly come out of Lily's mouth, prompting me to curiously ask.

"Did you really think I'd kill the elven princess?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Lily walked closer to the sculpture, examining its backside before responding.

"You never know?"

Having the stamp of approval from Lily on the initial structure of my self-portrait, it was time to move on to the next part.

Placing my head on my forehead, I put the daggers down, extinguishing the light in the cave, and asked.

"...could you wait over there and face the wall for a bit?"

Peering through the darkness, I tried to see Lily's expression; however, she was hidden behind the sculpture.

After a couple of moments of brief silence, Lily emerged from the sculpture and walked towards the wall before muttering.

"...yeah, do what you need to do."

"...?"

Hiding behind the rock from earlier, I once again confirmed that Lily was looking at the cave wall before carefully removing my sweatshirt and shirt.

Holding the two clothes in my hand, I silently made my way to the sculpture and placed my shirt and sweater on the corrupted figure, covering its pitch-black, corrupted body.

Looking down at the rest of my clothing, I sighed before taking off my shoes and carefully putting them on the sculpture.

...there was just one last step left.

Turning around, I made sure that Lily was facing the wall before raising my hand to my eyes and slowing my perception of time.

Was it a wasteful use of mana? Yes. stay updated with m,v,l,e,m p _y,r

Did I care? No.

First removing my pants, I felt a sense of coldness envelope me instantly as I began to shiver,

Having removed my socks earlier, the sense of coldness from the cave combined with the cold, hard ground against my floor almost brought me to the floor.

"...it's too damn cold."

Lifting the jeans off me fully, I stared at the corrupted figure, who was now looking a bit more realistic as it wasn't completely pitch-black anymore.

Not wasting any more time, I placed my pair of jeans on the corrupted figure, covering its lower body and, finally, its legs.