Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2239: Chapter 2240: Art Exhibition

Given the current pace of New City’s construction, and the usual traversal routes of wizards, the best place to hold the art exhibition would be the task coordination area near the entrance of New City.

This task coordination area, serving as the temporary command center before the New City is fully established, is not only a place to receive tasks but also a city planning center for distributing materials.

Due to the demand for materials, wizards generally come to the task coordination area when they arrive at the New City, making it the region with the highest traffic at present.

However, although there are many buildings in the task coordination area, they are all temporary structures, making it difficult to find a suitable place to hold an art exhibition.

"Or should I just hold an open-air art exhibition?" Angel thought to himself, after all, these paintings are constructed using magical illusions, impervious to wind and rain.

Angel pondered while walking towards the task coordination area.

Upon arriving at the task coordination area, Angel first wandered around a bit, observing the surrounding buildings as he did so. During his stroll, he was also silently evaluating in his mind.

As he had thought earlier, temporary buildings hadn’t considered aesthetic appeal, mostly barely functional, with the exception of the provisional city hall. They are mostly drab stone structures, rather primitive in appearance.

Even if Angel only used Illusion Technique to simulate Feng’s paintings, placing them inside such rudimentary buildings felt like an injustice to the art. Moreover, placing the paintings here might not capture the attention of other wizards for the exhibition.

Angel considered whether to construct a more elegant gallery nearby.

While Angel was contemplating this, a sudden sound came from behind him.

"I’ve been toiling nonstop, constructing the New City, while you, on the other hand, are acting like a hands-off manager."

Angel turned around to see a glamorous witch adorned in a rose-patterned court dress approaching him.

"Good afternoon, Lianna," Angel greeted with a cheerful smile, deliberately ignoring the complaints in Lianna’s words. He could tell that although her words were full of grievances, her tone wasn’t angry, and she wore a gentle smile, indicating she was in a good mood.

After all, personally building such an unprecedented tea party that might even change the tide of the era. Despite the hard work, Lianna found it remarkably sweet.

Sure enough, once Lianna approached, she didn’t mention the "hands-off manager" thing again. Instead, crossing her arms, she gazed directly at Angel: "When you first arrived here, I saw you through the window on the third floor of the city hall... I watched you wander around here for quite a while. What are you doing?"

Lianna originally thought Angel had come to find her. After all, she was currently the only wizard in the task coordination area. But after arriving, Angel didn’t even go to the city hall, instead leisurely wandering the surroundings, causing Lianna to be deeply curious and thus come over directly.

"Huh? What did you say? Art exhibition?" Lianna expressed disbelief upon hearing Angel’s response.

"Yes, I want to hold an art exhibition here."

"If you said you were going to host an alchemy works exhibit or a new product launch, I wouldn’t be surprised. But you said you’re hosting an art exhibition?" Lianna: "Since when did you start pursuing pure art?"

"I don’t intend to showcase my own paintings." Angel casually gestured, using the Authority of ’Celestial Alternation’ to create an oil painting framed with rose vines through Mirage Technique.

"Not your paintings?" Lianna looked skeptically at the illusion Angel had created.

"Your illusion cast in the Wilderness of Dreams, it’s truly astounding." Lianna praised while focusing her attention on the painting.

The painting depicted a midsummer town viewed from a mountaintop. The colors were incredibly vivid, using a palette of bright, saturated hues, merely looking at it evoked the lazy warmth of summer heat.

Even after carefully observing for a long time, Lianna... still couldn’t discern the origin of the artwork.

Ultimately, it was the signature in the bottom right corner that revealed the artist to her: "Milafeer Feng."

"Is this a painting by the Magic Painter Wizard?!" Lianna exclaimed.

Angel nodded: "Yes."

Looking at the artwork again, as someone who hasn’t even stepped into the threshold of painting arts, previously Lianna only regarded the painting as simply beautiful, but upon knowing it was by the Magic Painter Wizard, the more she looked at it, the more beautiful it seemed.

Though she couldn’t pinpoint what was appealing, it was simply more pleasing to the eye than before.

Pretending to appraise, praise, and contemplate it for a few minutes, Lianna then turned to Angel: "This painting, indeed by the Magic Painter Wizard, is imbued with a deep sense of historical weight, as if one sees time swirling and flowing within it."

Angel: "..." Where do you see the historical weight?

Observing the seemingly earnest nonsense spouted by Lianna, Angel paused in silence but decided not to expose her.

"The exhibition I’m planning, all the artworks within are paintings by the Magic Painter Wizard." Angel directed the conversation back on track.

"Such an exhibition would surely attract many wizards with an interest in art like me," Lianna paused, "But, I still don’t quite understand, why do you wish to host such an exhibition? Just to display the Magic Painter Wizard’s paintings?"

"During my recent outing, I unexpectedly discovered a batch of Feng’s paintings. At first glance, they appear to be ordinary oil paintings, but considering the artist is the Magic Painter Wizard, I suspect these artworks might hide some secrets."

Lianna did not probe into how Angel discovered Feng’s paintings, instead, she followed his thought and said, "So, you want to use the exhibition as a means to leverage other wizards’ appreciation skills to explore potential secrets within the oil paintings?"

"Exactly." Angel made no attempt to conceal, after all, he couldn’t stay in the Wilderness of Dreams indefinitely. Once the exhibition was underway, if any wizard indeed discovered a secret within the paintings, he would need Lianna’s assistance to convey it.

Lianna pondered carefully, feeling there might actually be a real possibility in Angel’s speculation.

After all, he is the renowned Magic Painter Wizard.

The Magic Painter Wizard’s artworks are filled with oddity and mystery. Even the most ordinary oil paintings might hold intricately arranged secrets by him.

"You plan to host the exhibition in the task coordination area?"

Angel nodded: "This area has the highest wizard traffic, hosting the exhibition here makes it easier for them to see. The problem is, there doesn’t appear to be any buildings suitable for an exhibition nearby, I’m considering whether to specifically construct a gallery."

Lianna: "That being said, the task coordination area is ultimately temporary and will definitely be dismantled eventually. Even if it’s currently popular, once dismantled, this place would be deserted. My advice, place the exhibition within the New City."

"It’s not required to exhibit for long, a few days should suffice."

Lianna, however, shook her head: "Such masterpieces should not be displayed just for a few days; a plan for at least a year and a half seems appropriate."

"Huh?"

Angel’s stance was just to exhibit for a few days. But Lianna didn’t see it that way; earlier she hadn’t taken it seriously, but after thoughtful consideration, realized this was quite a remarkable opportunity.

Feng’s paintings, even if they are just ordinary paintings with no hidden secrets, embody the essence of art!

As the host of an upcoming cross-century tea party, Lianna feels this is a great opportunity to showcase this essence.

Imagine, as the tea party unfolds, witches stroll through the New City, and in a nondescript alley, they inadvertently discover an inconspicuous gallery. They enter out of curiosity, intending just to take a casual look, only to find that the exhibited works are masterpieces by the Magic Painter Wizard!

What if we add a gimmick, suggesting that there might be secrets hidden within the paintings.

Lianna can already picture the astonished faces of those witches who are connoisseurs of art and collectors of Feng’s paintings.

The mere mental image satisfies Lianna greatly.

Such an art exhibition with deep artistic essence must be held! And for a long time!

At least until the tea party concludes.

Angel: "There’s no need, is there? I’ve examined these paintings myself and found no hidden secrets. The idea to hold this exhibition is just to prove I wasn’t mistaken, it doesn’t need to last that long..."

"Even without secrets, such great works of art deserve to be seen by more people to fulfill their existence." Lianna’s voice was firm and resolute.

Seeing Lianna’s sudden righteousness, Angel felt a bit uneasy: "Is that so?"

"Yes." Lianna said decisively: "Therefore, such an exhibition can’t be in the task zone; it would be such a waste to dismantle it later. Let’s go to the New City, I’ll help you find the most suitable place!"

As Lianna said this, she pulled Angel towards the direction of the New City.

Angel wanted to say that the paintings themselves were just illusion techniques, and even if they were to be exhibited for a long time, they could first be placed in the task zone. When the task zone is dismantled, they could then be moved to the New City.

But before he could say it, Lianna had already brought him to a building with a neon sign and filled with rose patterns.

Angel was somewhat dazed looking at the building because it was precisely where Rhein was before... the Rosewater Pavilion.

The building of the Rosewater Pavilion was adorned everywhere with graceful patterns, full of artistic style. Moreover, being located on the main street of the New City, with an open space ahead that was yet undeveloped, wizards and apprentices passing by on their tasks would see it.

Angel thought carefully and felt it was also a good place, worthy of an art exhibition.

However, before Angel could finalize his thoughts, he noticed that, although Lianna stopped at the Rosewater Pavilion, she did not take Angel inside but instead ran to a deep alley behind the pavilion. Following the unmanned alley to its end, they found a mansion.

"Here it is!" Lianna looked around and thought this place perfectly matched her previous mental image—hidden treasures of art that could awe the outside world, lying in an obscure alley.

Just thinking about it made her excited!

Angel looked at the mansion... although the mansion itself was exquisite, and because it was designed by Jon, it carried a bit of Earthly romance and mystery, adding more charm to displaying Feng’s paintings there.

But still! Regardless of its exquisiteness, one cannot ignore the fact that this place is remote!

It’s so out of the way; who would come here for an art exhibition?! By the time he leaves the Tidal World, it’s likely that the number of visitors here wouldn’t even reach ten, which deviates completely from his original intention.

"No, this won’t do." Angel wore his resistance plainly on his face.

Lianna hadn’t expected Angel to reject so strongly. But she really didn’t want to give up her imagined scenario.

In the end, after some discussion, a compromise was made to hold the art exhibition at the outside Rosewater Pavilion before the tea party begins.

Once the tea party starts, the exhibition would move here to add a bit of mystery to the artistic essence.

After reaching a consensus, Lianna led Angel back to the Rosewater Pavilion outside the alley, turning its second floor into an art gallery.

Lianna’s renovation of the gallery made quite a commotion, prompting even Lord Rhein from the sixth floor to appear.

Not just Lord Rhein, but also Ironclad Granny and Dumatin came down from upstairs.

They all showed astonishment when they learned that Lianna had gone to such lengths for Angel to hold an art exhibition, but it was only after Angel displayed nearly a hundred paintings that they realized what was going on.

Unlike the outsider Lianna, both Lord Rhein and Ironclad Granny have lived long enough that their art appreciation skills improved with time, and even Dumatin, being born into nobility, possesses a high ability to appreciate artwork.

Because of this, they could confirm by seeing the first painting that it was the work of the Magic Painter Wizard.

As the first viewers of the exhibition, they were very interested in the exhibition Angel was going to hold and began to look at each painting.

This aligned with Angel’s intentions, hoping that perhaps, by viewing the paintings, Lord Rhein and others might discover the hidden secrets in them.

As Rhein and the others began viewing the paintings, they initially thought it would be an exhibition of famous artists.

But after seeing the seventh and eighth paintings, realizing they were still by the Magic Painter Wizard, their expressions started to become subtle.

"Are all the paintings here by the Magic Painter Wizard?" Dumatin looked at Angel.

Angel nodded: "Yes."

"I know some places where the Magic Painter Wizard’s works are collected, but seeing so many gathered together like this is a first." Ironclad Granny remarked with a sigh.

"Many works by the Magic Painter Wizard are not secrets. I’ve seen quite a few in wizard magazines, but none of the paintings here I have seen before." Dumatin couldn’t help but look at Angel: "Where did you get so many previously undiscovered pieces?"

This question from Dumatin was a curiosity shared by everyone present, even Lianna, who had not previously been inquisitive, perked up her ears.

But Angel merely gave a mysterious smile: "If I told the origin of the paintings, it would spoil the fun. Why not take a look yourselves; you might find some clues or discover secrets within the paintings."

The crowd didn’t mind Angel’s ambiguous response.

Angel discovering Feng’s paintings was part of his own destiny; forcing him to reveal it would only strain their relationship.

Moreover, Angel made a valid point; perhaps they could deduce something from these paintings and uncover some hidden secrets.