Tian Honglui brought Alex over to an empty room at the end of the hallway, one that was designed for the people of the painters to have someplace to focus.

The room itself wasn’t very wide but there were many formations on the floor. Someone to block the sound from outside. Some to block out the vision.

There were even some that placed a painter in an illusory formation that made them think that they were in another place when they were not.

  All of these formations were up to the painter to use, and Tian Honglui used none at all.

He pulled out a canvas and placed it in front of Alex before letting him sit at the center. “Have you ever painted before, your majesty?” the young man asked. “Do you have any experience?”

“The only experience I have with painting is the 3 times that I was forced to paint something in a secret realm and ended up failing each of those times. Aside from that, I have no experience,” Alex said.

“Oh… so I can assume that you are a beginner,” Tian Honglui said.

“If there is a level below that, you can assume that I am that,” Alex said with a bit of a chuckle in his self-deprecating humor.

“Uhh… I will start from the beginning then,” the young man said. “Before we even delve into the Intent stuff, which I doubt I will have to teach you, we will have to start with actual painting knowledge.”

“There are methods and techniques to draw art, but I don’t think those are the right way to go,” the young man said. “Here, hold this.”

He handed Alex a simple brush and then a palette. He brought out a few colors and poured them on the palette.

“To teach you how to draw,” the young man said. “I think it is important that you draw something in the first place.”

Alex frowned a bit. Was that truly the right approach? He wanted to object, but he let the young man do what he wanted to.

“Imagine a scene in your mind a very simple one,” he said.

Alex closed his eyes, trying to find a simple scene in his head. Most of what he had in his head was so intense that barely anything felt like a simple scene to him.

After a few seconds, he landed on one. “I’m ready,” he said. “Do you want to know what I’m thinking of?” 

“No, don’t tell me,” the young man said. “I want it to be a surprise to me as well. Now, your majesty. Close your eyes again and look at the colors in that scene you see.”

“Color…” Alex thought for a bit. “Black, blue, gold, yellow, and white.”

Tian Honglui was a little surprised. “That’s… that is not that many colors. Are you sure that is what you are seeing?”

“Yes, I’m certain. There is no other color here aside from this.”

“Alright, then we can start,” the young man said. “The first thing you need to see is what is in the background of your scene. What is the one thing that is the most prevalent?”

“The sky?” Alex asked

“Uhh… works,” Tian Honglui said. “But are there no trees or lands? Those count as background too.”

“Oh, I see,” Alex said. “I do have something else then.”

“Great! Let’s draw just the outside of it,” the young man said. “Just the outline. Think of what color that would be, try to make it with the colors in your palette, and draw it.”

Alex didn’t have to think at all. He simply dipped his brush into the black paint and drew a single stroke that went from the left of the canvas to the right, cutting the canvas in half.

“You used a bit too much paint there, your majesty,” Tian Honglui said. “Whatever, you will learn about the amount once you’re used to it. All that matters is that you make your first image.”

“Now, look at that image and paint over everything that should be in the background.  The sky, the ground, everything.

Alex nodded and thought for a bit before he started painting with the black paint, slowly making his way toward the bottom of the painting.

He stopped halfway through and started panting it blue from there. The black in the brush darkened the blue that was used at the start, but that worked to his advantage. 

He finished painting the blue toward the bottom of the area which was still quite dark for being blue.

He left a small chunk at the bottom and looked at the top half. “How do I clean this?” he asked.

“You can use your Qi to pull away the paint or use the formation on the brush to do that if you don’t think you can do it properly yourself,” the young man said.

Alex nodded and used the formation that was in the brush. He hadn’t realized that it was an artifact as well. 

Once the paint was all gone, he looked at the upper half and then at the young man. “For sky blue, do I just mix blue and white? Or is there a better way to get it?” he asked.

“You can make a more authentic color of the sky by mixing various colors in different proportions, but that is color theory and it is quite complicated which you will have to learn on your own time.”

“For now, since you are just trying to learn the basics of painting, you can do with blue and white,” the young man said.

Alex mixed the two colors and created a sky blue color that wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but what he had to work with right now.

He painted the sky to the best of his ability while trying to not make every part the same color. He made the further parts of the sky slightly whiter, to show not just the distance, but also the haze that was present in his memories.

Once the sky was done, he moved on to the only last part of the background that he remembered, the land. 

All Alex remembered about the land was its charred black color, which shined in yellow light. 

He took the black paint and filled the remaining bottom half while adding some white here and there to give it the texture of being charred and crusty.

Once he was done, he looked at it and thought for a bit. He knew where the yellow light was supposed to be, but he assumed that it was better to add the source before he added its light.

“I’m done with the background,” Alex said.

Tian Honglui got close and looked at the painting, ignoring the obvious mistakes and only looking at what had been drawn.

“I can somewhat see what you are trying to make, but I’m not sure what this black part has to do with it,” he said.

“It’s not something anyone can understand,” Alex said. “You had to be there to see it.”

“I see,” the young man said. “Then, your majesty, let us move on to the foreground element.”

Alex nodded and cleaned the brush. Then, he dipped the brush in gold.

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