7 The Shape-shifting Brush

There were only a few people in the room at the time, and all of them were shocked at this display. The brilliant golden light that shone from Lin Ke's hand was blinding, and it gave off a ferocious aura. The intangible, but still extremely menacing aura encircled Lin Ke, as if wanting to swallow him whole.

There was only one person in the room who wasn't shocked. Well, one person and one cat. Master Sal looked on with an expression of interest, but didn't seem all too surprised at the event that was occurring in front of his eyes. The cat, Lily, was also not very surprised. However, if one were to pay close attention to her, you would be able to find the nervousness in her eyes and her movement. 'Shit shit shit… What have I done? Oh nooo. He's gonna kill me when he finds out…' Lily thought to herself.

Lin Ke himself was receiving a large dose of pain. The pain made his eyes go black with spots. Just as he was about to faint from the pain, he felt a soothing aura descend upon him. It fought back the ferocious power that was clawing at him. Just like that, the blinding light began to recede, and Lin Ke collapsed on the floor, panting heavily.

Lin Ke took a moment to calm down from that unpleasant experience, and when he had gotten his breathing back in check, he turned to Lily, who was still in Lia's hands. 'Would you like to explain?' In Lin Ke's mind, he had blamed the entire incident on Lily, who had not spoken a word of this happening. Lily, however, seemed lost in her own thought, and even stopped squirming.

Then Lin Ke looked down at his right hand, to see it tightly gripping a sleek golden brush. Aside from a very exquisite design and seeming very high quality, it was a very traditional chinese calligraphy paint brush. However, Lin Ke was slightly disappointed. He was sort of hoping that the brush would be special in some way. He thought that it was only fair, you know? Given the pain he had to go through to summon the paintbrush.

"What… What was that?" The secretary asked. "What was that golden light? Are you alright?"

Lin Ke wipes off the sweat on his forehead, and stands up. "Nothing, don't worry about it, let me begin with my exam." He sits down on the stool.

The secretary looks at Master Sal as if looking for a clue as for what to do. When she meets Master Sal's eyes, he shakes his head, as if telling her not to do anything. The secretary, of course, accepts that answer and steps back to watch Lin Ke, who was beginning to open the canisters of paint and readying his palette. 'Hm..' Lin Ke thought. 'How am I supposed to use a Chinese paint brush to paint using paint? That's a little… Difficult… It would be way better if I had a full set…'

Just as Lin Ke was thinking this, the brush, as if heeding his thought, changed its tip to a flat brush, then changed into a fan brush. It was quite cool to see, but also shocking to the people who were spectating. They had never seen such an artifact, and it even more shocking was that it was in the hands of some random country bum.

With all his problems solved, he began to think about what to draw. Many different ideas pass through his mind. In his past life, he had been a renowned web artist, but he had also had his experiences with the different types of art. His art attracted many people, and his physical masterpieces, although few, were all auctioned off for a sky-high price, with buyers from across the globe. He had quite a large following, and many would praise his artistic ability to the limits. In fact, there were some who would go so far as to say he was the modern era Van Gogh. There were many different options he could choose to draw, however, seeing as he only had black and white paint, he had to limit his options to only black and white. After thinking long and hard he finally began to draw.

As Lin Ke drew, many spectators watched as he swept his brush across the canvas, sometimes in bold moves, sometimes in more refined, slow gestures. His brush was almost constantly changing in shape and each time it changed, the previous paint would completely disappear, allowing him to mix new colors… New shades of black and white… As those were the only colors he had. Nonetheless, he didn't let that stop him.

The spectators weren't able to see exactly what he was drawing, as Lin Ke was sitting facing the people watching. The only one who saw his every brush was able to see his drawing unfold was the female secretary.

However, even with all the watchful eyes focused on his, Lin Ke did not get distracted. In fact, whenever he created a work of art, he would always lose sight of everything around him. Nothing else mattered to him, there was only him and his brush. He had a fervent look on his face, deeply focused and engrossed in his painting. Of course, Master Sal takes note of this. As time ticked on, some of the spectators left, as many of them were only here to take an exam and had other things to do during the day, but some others stayed, as they wanted to see the result of this exam, and maybe to even suck up to Master Sal in hopes of something good happening.

After approximately half an hour of drawing, Lin Ke finally stopped drawing. "I'm done with my painting."