{Chapter 35} Preparation

Kaelis felt that she was now about ready to prepare a “weapon.”

Hasn't it always been this way throughout history? Once a person gained sufficient ability, they'd go find a suitable weapon, so that when real trouble arose, they wouldn't have to desperately scramble around looking for combat gear.

Another application of Kaelis's ability.

Simply summoning things directly still felt somewhat awkward, so Kaelis wanted to prepare a sketchbook to conveniently draw summoning targets in advance.

But...

“It's like... thick, one you can draw on... Do you have something like that?”

Kaelis had come to the marketplace and made her request to the shopkeeper before her.

In response, the shopkeeper looked utterly bewildered.

“A book... for painting?”

After pondering for a moment, he still couldn't connect these two words.

Paper wasn't especially rare in this era, though still somewhat expensive, it wasn't beyond ordinary people's reach.

But clearly, these papers didn't meet painting requirements.

In his fixed understanding, wasn't painting supposed to be done on specialized canvases?

“We don't have that.”

Chewing on a blade of grass, the shopkeeper shook his head.

He gave Kaelis an up-and-down glance, and after deciding she wasn't just messing with him, continued speaking.

“If you're looking for a thicker notebook, I do have those. But paper specifically for painting... I really don't have any.”

“Alright then.”

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, Kaelis nodded with resignation, though clearly disappointed, as if she'd expected this.

Letting out a sigh, she walked out of the shop, facing the bustling marketplace.

Right now, she was shopping for supplies here...

After a brief conversation with Old Struth, Kaelis had learned what had happened during the time she'd fainted after dealing with the Inquisitor. She then realized that if she wanted to advance her mission progress during the next simulation, she'd need to find ways to rapidly enhance her combat strength.

Preparing a 'weapon' was one aspect. Another was Kaelis's desire to become a formal Warrior, she didn't necessarily need to truly reach that level, but she needed to at least get close.

After all, Old Struth had mentioned that the place she'd been imprisoned was one from which even ordinary third-stage Ascender couldn't escape. This meant she'd need to become a Warrior to reasonably ensure her safety.

Given Kaelis's current meditation speed, becoming a Warrior will take at least over a month at the absolute fastest. Old Struth considered this pace to be inhumanly genius, but each of Kaelis's simulations only allowed a one-week interval.

If she proceeds methodically, Kaelis will need to 'die' at least four more times.

Dying wasn't a pleasant experience. If possible, Kaelis didn't want to go through it again.

But her meditation speed was stuck here. This thing wouldn't improve according to her will, and forcing it was useless.

In other words, under these circumstances, the only thing she could attempt was what Old Struth mentioned: gaining improvements through sacrifice items rich in spirituality.

And items rich in spirituality... actually did circulate on the market.

But their prices were far beyond what Kaelis could currently afford.

After inquiring at several shops and finding none priced below three digits, Kaelis felt helpless, even briefly considering giving up.

But after a while, she suddenly realized something...

“After all, nothing ever said that highly spiritual items had to be natural, right? Seren also mentioned it, artificial artifacts imbued with abundant spirituality that gained special abilities could also be man-made... So in other words, if I drew a sufficiently excellent painting, maybe it could substitute as a sacrificial offering?”

Having figured this out, Kaelis began preparing materials.

“Since it's meant for the gods... it can't be too shabby. At minimum, it should be something approaching a masterpiece, right?”

With only one week of preparation time, Kaelis couldn't possibly produce world-class masterpieces like Starry Night. After much trouble, she fixed her target on another artist, not obscure, yet distinctive in style and easy to replicate...

Mucha.

Kaelis had first learned this name during a design class in university.

Truthfully, Mucha's life story, on the surface, was hard to compare with those legendary painters, just an ordinary tale of failing exams, attending art night school, then catching a break through a benefactor and seizing opportunities in life to gradually rise to fame.

But his works truly possess a unique charm.

Soft color combinations, beautiful forms, intentional compositional design, and slightly abstract flat designs with floral elements gave his paintings exceptional decorative qualities. Without requiring deep aesthetic appreciation, viewers could still sense a unique beauty from his artworks.

Most importantly, because of the distinctive design aesthetics of his works, Kaelis could avoid many complications when replicating them.

But there was still a problem with replicating his works: pigments.

“Mucha's paintings have very clean colors with natural transitions, this placed high demands on the pigments themselves. Mucha could achieve this because his active period was from the late 19th to early 20th century, when chemical pigments already existed, making it easy to obtain clean colors. But here...”

Looking at this world clearly just entering its first industrial revolution, Kaelis felt helpless.

Pigments weren't as simple as outsiders imagined.

You couldn't just mix some mud and stones, add this or that, and have it done.

Concentration, viscosity, whether colors changed or turned gray after drying, whether the brush caused bleeding...

All had extremely high requirements. Each stable color was the result of millions of artists testing various materials and summarizing their findings.

A stable color was extremely rare before the advent of chemical products.

Especially clean colors.

Unlike future standardization and industrialization, most things in this era were still handmade, meaning quality was difficult to guarantee consistency.

Kaelis wasn't accusing craftsmen of this era of cutting corners. Rather, as someone with decent talent, she was very sensitive to colors.

Minor differences that others couldn't discern stood out severely to her.

In just today's shop-hopping, Kaelis had seen clearly different shades of white being sold under the same name.

Even when Kaelis personally selected them, she couldn't find two tubes with identical hues.

“But I remember seeing a shop advertising standardized pigments before... Unfortunately, I didn't think to remember the brand at the time.”

Sighing, Kaelis continued searching for suitable pigments.

And just as she was focused, a force suddenly struck her shoulder.

“Hmm?”

Instinctively stepping back, Kaelis grabbed her shoulder bag, her eyes instantly alert.

Before she stood a man with a menacing expression.

He looked under twenty, yet already had the air of an old hand. Seeing Kaelis alone, he snorted coldly, appearing exceptionally domineering.

After colliding with Kaelis, he neither apologized nor left, but simply stood his ground and suddenly assumed a confrontational stance.

“Looking for trouble?”

Kaelis blinked, her brows slightly raised.