Chapter 2782 Origin of Demons <TOC> Chapter 2784 Comprehensive Intelligence
Translator: SumTLMan
Kael: 「In order to avoid forgetting, I also drew out the part of the mural I remembered, and have been keeping it all this time.」
Angel had originally been about to suggest, using illusion to have Kael recreate the mural, but since he had already drawn it, that saved them the trouble.
Kael: 「Wait just a moment, I will look for it.」
Kael closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, leaving only his index and middle fingers stretched straight, and faint ripples of energy drifted out from between those two fingers.
After about half a minute, the energy reached its most concentrated level, and finally, a spatial rift, appeared before Kael.
Seeing the spatial rift appear, Kael finally let out a long breath of relief.
In the next second, Kael put on a little performance of 「tearing the rift by hand」.
The tiny slit of a crack, under Kael’s brute-force pulling, opened up into an opening about half a person in size.
Looking in from this opening, one could see that inside things were piled up like mountains. Most of them were books, and there were also some low-grade materials, these things were placed in a complete jumble, and if Kael had not opened it here on the spot, when they first saw it they might even have thought the inside was a garbage heap.
Perhaps because this was the first time he had opened his private stash space in front of outsiders, Kael’s face showed a bit of embarrassment: 「Inside it is all goods from my shop…… I, I usually keep it all sorted, this time I came out too hurriedly, and just forgot.」
「I’ll go find the painting right now.」 Kael looked utterly impatient, with half his body already plunged into the rift.
From within the rift they could hear crackling noises, and presumably, Kael was searching for that so-called 「painting」. However, in everyone else’s eyes, Kael seemed more like he wanted to find a place where others could not see his face, to quiet himself down for a bit……
On the other side, Vai peered through the gap, looking toward the interior of the space: 「This space, is a bit unlike a spatial item…… also, although there is a spatial rift, the degree of spatial stability around it has not changed at all.」
Angel also felt it was unlike a spatial item, a spatial item would not need so long to open.
He vaguely felt it looked somewhat familiar, as if, in those pieces of space knowledge that had been instilled into him, there had been mention of a similar kind of space. But, this sort of space, really should not be something within a mere apprentice’s means.
At this moment, Daus patted Vai on the shoulder: 「Stop overthinking it, this is a private space passed down to him by his mentor, Lord Aesop.」
「A private space？」 Vai was stunned for a moment.
「You can take it as, Aesop having taken a ready-built stable space, and by means of runes, handed it down to Kael…… something you can only envy.」
There was quite a bit of emotion in that last line from Daus, saying that it was something Vai could only envy was in all likelihood expressing his own true feelings.
He, back when he was an apprentice, had never had such a huge space.
Even though this kind of private space has major limitations, for example, the time it takes to open is very long, and because it is imbued with the original owner’s mental power, you cannot use your own mental power to search for objects, if you want to look for something, you have to do just as Kael is doing now and stick your whole body directly inside, rummaging through things one by one, and it can purely only be used as a big warehouse.
But even so, such a large portable warehouse, Daus still envied.
Although he had spatial items, the space inside them was far too small. If he could, he really would be willing to trade for this kind of flawed private space.
At worst, items and tools needed for emergencies could be put into single-use spatial soft pouches, and those things that were not so urgent could be piled up in the private space.
When Daus was sighing over it, Angel also showed a look of sudden realization.
So it turned out to be a private space inherited from Lord Aesop, which made things easy to understand.
Although this matter was only a small one, for Angel, it once again brought him to a realization, that even if a vast amount of space knowledge far beyond ordinary people had been poured into him, when it really came down to practice, he could still find himself stretched thin.
Knowledge is not just about memorizing it, it also needs to be thoroughly digested, and even more needs to be applied on a practical level. After all, practical-level situations, often require considering problems from multiple angles, from details, from background, from personal connections, from one’s own capabilities…… and so on, and only by making a comprehensive assessment, can you determine the ultimate truth.
After Daus finished sighing, he suddenly thought of something: 「Come to think of it, compared to this private space of his, what I actually care more about is, the painting he mentioned…… could it really be something he drew himself?」
Vai: 「What do you mean? Is his drawing skill bad?」
Daus hesitated for a moment: 「It’s not a matter of whether his drawing skills are good or bad, it’s just, very special, uh…… special.」
Although half of Kael’s body was in the spatial crack, he still heard the discussion outside: 「N-no, it was not drawn by me myself. I went to the royal capital of the Laxum Duchy to find a painter, and using a dream as the excuse, had the painter help me draw it.」
When Daus heard that it had been done by a professional painter, he let out a long sigh of relief.
If it really had been drawn by Kael, then probably, aside from Kael himself, no one else present would be able to make heads or tails of it…… Kael is outstanding in every respect, only when it comes to painting, does he have 「a few」 flaws.
Not long after, Kael wriggled out from the slit, and he already had a framed painting in his hands.
With a casual wave of his hand, the spatial slit promptly closed. Opening the private space takes a long time, but closing it is very simple.
「Found it, it’s right here.」
Kael held the framed painting against his chest, indicating for everyone to look.
However, everyone’s attention was instead drawn by a piece of parchment that fell out from within the frame.
The parchment drifted slowly down from the back of the frame, spread out evenly across the ground, and you could clearly see that on the parchment, with strokes both thick and thin, a marvelous spatial framework had been constructed.
Beside it there were also a large number of spatial analysis formulae.
「Is this the structural formula for a space cantrip?」 Vai asked curiously.
Following everyone’s gaze, Kael lowered his head, and only then did he notice the parchment spread out on the ground. Looking at the image on the parchment, his expression became slightly embarrassed.
He mumbled a few 「mm」 sounds under his breath, and then fell silent.
However, although Kael said nothing, how could Daus, the professional spoiler, possibly keep quiet.
「Didn’t I just say, his drawings are very special? This is his drawing.」 Daus: 「Earlier he asked me about the names of a batch of demon blood ore, so I told him to bring them over, or to sketch their appearance. What he gave me was this kind of spatial structure diagram, with a pile of formulae scribbled along the side, who the heck can understand that!」
After speaking, Daus looked toward Kael: 「Tell me, is this what you called your mural diagram?」
Kael’s face was full of embarrassment, but he still nodded: 「Uh, this is just a rough sketch I casually drew, the line-art version I had the painter draw.」
Kael gestured for everyone to look at the framed painting.
If you ignored the piece of parchment on the ground, the painting within the frame was indeed very normal and very realistic.
However, now everyone more or less understood the reason why Daus said Kael’s drawings could not be judged as good or bad, but were instead simply 「special」.
While Kael was still flushed with embarrassment, Angel stepped forward, and picked up the parchment from the ground.
He examined it closely for a moment, then handed it back to Kael: 「It’s drawn quite well.」
Angel’s offhand compliment, left Kael stunned. This was the first time anyone had ever said his drawing was good.
Daus, on the other hand, looked at Angel in surprise: 「You can understand it?」
Angel did not say anything at all, and merely gave a faint smile.
Understand it? As if he could really understand it!
However, although he could not understand it, Angel did not feel that the drawing on the parchment was 「ugly」. Angel’s artistic sense of appreciation, spans the aesthetics of two different universes.
Purely speaking of the drawing on the parchment, it really was not ugly. The formulae written alongside it were arranged with great regularity, and were probably equations Kael had set down in order to help himself understand.
Just as Kael likes cipher diagrams, Kael’s drawings, are in fact cipher diagrams that belong exclusively to him.
This kind of drawing, cannot be judged as good or bad, but in terms of privacy and security, it is absolutely first-rate.
Although a painting does not really need any privacy or security, being able to achieve the top in this regard at least shows that this painting also has its highlights. All the more so since the painting itself is not ugly, and Angel’s praise was also from the heart.
He had seen many inspirational stories on the holographic tablet, and those unconventional painters, in one era were reviled, but in another era, were hailed as gods.…… Although he knew these were chicken-soup stories, if you substituted Kael’s situation into them, it was at least a bowl of chicken soup one could swallow, if Kael’s drawings were that kind of 「baby doodles, stick figures」， then it would be a different story altogether.
The praise was only to give Kael a bit of confidence.
Whether he himself understood it or not, was secondary.
Under Kael’s excited gaze, Angel shifted his eyes, and settled them on the framed painting.
It had to be said, this painting was what truly deserved to be called a painting.
You could even say it might pass for a photograph, it was so realistic, from the mural’s details to the mottling of the wall, with virtually every point taken care of.
In terms of realism alone, even Angel could not compare to this painter.
However, compared to the painting technique itself, what they cared more about was still the content within the painting. What exactly had Kael seen in the mural, that would make him feel it was related to the Panic World?
The content of the mural was very simple, and it made Angel think of a fairytale Jon had once told him when he was a child.
It was a fairytale about a prince who was cursed, turned into a beast, and waited alone in his castle for 「true love」. Finally, a kind princess came, and while she was dancing gracefully with the beast, a single kiss, turned the beast back into a handsome prince.
What was on the mural, was very much like the first half of that fairytale.
If you had to give this painting a title, perhaps one could call it: 《Walking with the Beast》.
In the picture, on the shoulder of a lion-shaped ferocious beast that walked on two legs with its head held high, there sat a very slender girl who looked utterly at ease; although you could see inhuman features, we will for the moment still refer to her as a 「person」.
The girl’s head, rested casually against the beast’s ear, as if she were whispering.
Although it was only a single scene, this relaxed and ambiguous atmosphere, nevertheless conveyed itself out from within the painting.
It was as if, around the girl and the beast, floated pink bubbles in the name of love.
This was also why, after seeing this painting, the very first thing Angel thought of was the fairytale of 《Beauty and the Beast》.
At first glance, this painting really did not have any particular distinguishing features. A pair of beauty and beast is not something exclusive to Earth’s fairytales, this world also has similar stories. Human beings’ creation of love stories is just one great cycle, and no matter which world you are in, they are actually all more or less the same.
But if you examined it closely, you would discover the ways in which this painting was different.
First there was this girl, beneath her two arms there was a physiological structure like butterfly wings, and this structure was somewhat like the webbing between the toes of certain amphibians, a thin layer of membrane.
However, this membrane of hers grew along the undersides of her arms, a bit like a pair of wings. But in reality, it did not have the ability to fly.
And intelligent humanoid beings with such an appearance are exactly the typical 「Butterfly-Winged People」 of the Panic World.
And the bipedal lion-shaped beast beneath the girl, at first glance, looked like an ordinary monster, but if you ignored that thick mane, you could see a swaying stalk of golden rice on the top of its head.
Take a look at the swaying blue lantern flower above Eremy’s head, then look at that swaying golden ear of rice, and you can basically understand that this lion-shaped beast, is actually, just like Eremy, also an Awakened Demon.
It had once been just like the girl, probably a Butterfly-Winged Person, or perhaps some other race of the Panic World. But now, it had already awakened, and thus it had become what all ordinary people of the Panic World feared most, and what all demons least wished to face…… an Awakened Demon.
Or you could call it, a new generation of fiend.
Awakened Demons are even more cunning than fiends, and they are even more greedy. Because the fiends of the Panic World are willing to eat beasts, both beasts and humans are food in their bellies. But Awakened Demons do not like to eat beasts, probably because, back when they were still demonkind and constantly ate beasts, they got sick of the taste, and now they prefer to eat people.
So, the threat Awakened Demons pose to the native inhabitants of the Panic World, is even greater than that of the fiends.
You could say, Awakened Demons and the native inhabitants are natural mortal enemies.
But now, the scene depicted on this mural was completely different.
Awakened Demons actually coexisted harmoniously with the native inhabitants, and might even have…… fallen in love?
How could this be possible?
「Are you sure this mural, truly exists? It is not something you just imagined?」 Daus asked.
Kael said solemnly: 「I guarantee it is real.」
Daus stared at Kael for several seconds, and only then said quietly: 「Then could it be, that the painter of the mural, was just drawing nonsense?」
This question, Kael truly had no way to answer, he thought for a bit and then said: 「The material bearing the mural is starshine stone, although it rapidly faded because air had entered, after investigation, the mural on the starshine stone should date to around New Calendar Year 3800.」
Daus: 「The Fallen Gold Era？」
Kael nodded: 「It should be a mural of the Fallen Gold Era, and the murals of that time, if they were painted as biographies, especially as autobiographies, could possibly be falsified. But this mural, is not a biography, but rather a mural of a documentary nature.」
「So the chance of fakery should be very low, right？」
Daus: 「So what you mean is……」
Kael thought for a moment: 「I do not know whether my guess is correct, but I wonder, could it be that Awakened Demons do have a way to live normally together with the ordinary people of the Panic World?」
「It is just that the Panic World is too far from the Southern Region, which has led to us not knowing much about them, and so we have generalized from the part to the whole. In reality, the full picture of the Panic World, is even more complex?」
Chapter 2782 Origin of Demons <TOC> Chapter 2784 Comprehensive Intelligence