Chapter 25: Inala’s Portraits

‘Thankfully, my stall isn’t nearby others.’ Inala thought in relief the moment he arrived at his spot.

The walls were built four metres high. Extending out of the walls were barricades that formed small compartments, creating spaces for people to set up a stall inside.

Inala took out a fist-sized lump of mud and softened it using the Mud Viper toxin. He flattened it until it was rectangular in shape and then proceeded to round the edges. The slab of mud was only palm sized.

Following that, he poked a hole at the top, enough for a thick enough string to be slid through. With the base ready, he whipped out four Spirit Weapons in the shape of carving tools.

With that, he swiftly began to carve a simple outline of his face. He only used his hands to hold the mud slab in place while his Prana moved the Spirit Weapons to carve on it. As he had practiced countless times, he was done in a minute.

Portrait!

It was just a neck-up image of himself, with faint indentations to give some three-dimensional feeling to the image. There was hardly any detail though, and most of the carving strokes were just there to emphasise the facial features.

For the eyelashes, an actual person had around a hundred strands on each eyelid. But in the drawing, he only drew about a dozen. Lips were just two curves, that’s all. Despite cutting corners in the carving process, the end result still looked like him.

Upon seeing it, he propped up a small mirror and verified if the result was good enough by staring at his reflection, ‘That looks good enough.’

Inala then made a second rectangular slab, repeating the same process. But this time, he paid attention to detail, making the result look as realistic as possible. It took around thirty minutes as Inala stared at it, satisfied.

It was a perfect replica of his face. Inala carved the number ’20’ behind the realistic portrait and the number ‘1’ behind the simplistic portrait. That was their price in Parute.

Right as he finished up the two portraits meant for display, the area had become crowded. More than ten thousand students had congregated on the hilltop’s outer ring.

And among them, around five people had walked past his stall and saw his work. They became interested in it and approached him.

One of them asked, “Hello, may I know what your stall is about?”

“I’ll sculpt portraits of you,” Inala said and pointed at the two portraits of himself that he had just finished, “There are two versions available now. The simple one costs one Parute while the detailed one costs 20 Parute.”

“Why’s this one so expensive?” The student pointed at the detailed sculpture and asked, “All you did was spend more time on it. So, why is it twenty times more expensive?”

“Touch it and see,” Inala smiled professionally and made the student feel the two portraits.

“This feels…smooth.” The student muttered after touching the detailed portrait. He then felt the simplistic one and frowned, “Why does this feel so coarse?”

“That’s due to the materials involved.” Inala answered, “Producing the material to give that smooth texture is expensive. And only on such an expensive material can I inscribe such a level of detail. That’s why it’s expensive.”

“Give me a simple one then.” The student said. He was only given ten Parute by his academy to spend on the Fair. He didn’t have any pocket money and hence couldn’t afford the detailed one. Besides, he didn’t wish to spend so much money on a portrait.

‘Well, despite his questions, he still gave me business.’ Inala flashed a professional smile and began the task. At the sight of four Spirit Weapons working in conjunction to carve on the mud slab, the onlookers stared in praise. Controlling four wasn’t easy, not to mention performing detailed craft work at that.

If it wasn’t because he was an artist already and had dedicated himself to mastering the focus necessary in his past life, it wouldn’t have been possible. Inala couldn’t display such a level of focus and precision in non-art activities, such as fighting. He lacked the experience to do that.

“Please see your appearance in the mirror and confirm if this portrait is to your liking.” Inala pointed at the mirror. 𝒪𝗏𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

“Wow, it looks just like me. It’s worth the money.” The student said in praise, paid a Parute, and grabbed his portrait.

“If you ever wish to have a life-sized portrait, please commission me. I’m Inala from the 44th settlement.” Inala said some parting words before beginning to work on his next task.

Many were interested in having a portrait of themselves. As students, they didn’t have any accessories. At least, this was something they could show off to others. Besides, it cost one Parute. That was dirt cheap.

There weren’t that many stalls in the outer ring in the first place, as the academies only informed them at the last minute. Therefore, more and more students gathered around Inala’s stall. After all, he wasn’t just selling a product, but experience too.

It was entertaining to watch him use four Spirit Weapons to craft. The students even gained some inspiration to control their Spirit Weapons from seeing his actions.

To gain as much attention as possible, Inala’s voice was loud and chirpy, often cracking jokes. He had been preparing for the occasion for a month after all. So, he had enough material to entertain the crowd.

‘It’s going well,’ He thought, observing the dwindling amount of mud and clay.

Standing among the crowd towards the back was Resha, calmly observing Inala, ‘Inala is talented in craft. He’s making portraits to earn Parute. His actions reveal his character. His innate quality is towards creation and isn’t murderous.’

Thinking of how Inala traded the Toxin Refinement Skill from him, ‘His choice makes sense now. That’s how he wishes to gain resources, huh?’

Resha was observing to get a better understanding of Inala. Until now, he knew next to nothing about the reincarnates. That was primarily the reason behind the major loss he suffered recently.

He stared at Inala as his eyes turned cold, ‘Mud, huh? I see, so what I broke wasn’t his bones but the armour of mud covering his body. It seems he predicted my attack and hence came prepared to fool me.’

As Inala was emitting Prana while making the portraits, it was easy for the onlookers to determine that he had only 12 Prana.

Upon hearing the discussion about it from nearby, Resha understood, ‘To save himself, he decisively blew eight Spirit Containers?’

‘Who is this guy, actually? Where’s he coming from to be this decisive?’ Resha frowned in thought, ‘What’s his true identity?’