: THE MANHUA ARTIST AND HIS ASSISTANT
【 THE MANHUA ARTIST AND HIS ASSISTANT 】
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March, the season in which everything cos back to life in full bloom.
After a short Spring Festival holiday, the bustling capital of China was once again swept up in the wave of people returning to work, plunging the city into a whirlwind of hustle and bustle.
Cáo Língxuān was one of them.
As a migrant worker in Beijing three years after graduating from college, she resud her journey of pursuing her dreams following a short vacation in her hotown.
There was no other option. With a major in fine arts and a passion for drawing manhua, her dream was to beco a Manhua Artist. However, her small hotown in the province, which had limited internet access and few opportunities, was not an ideal place to pursue her ambitions.
Thus, she knew she had to leave to follow her dreams, and only a large tropolis like the capital could provide her with the opportunities she needed.
Whilst thinking about her future, Cáo Língxuān sighed softly as she walked down the bustling streets.
In particular, she had mixed feelings about the rapidly evolving digital landscape, which had greatly impacted her industry, especially with the developnt of the virtual network in recent years.
On one hand, the developnt of the internet had granted greater freedom to many freelancers like her in the entertainnt industry, and the art industry had seen a significant boost in productivity thanks to the improvent of various drawing software.
As it stood, the current market was no longer the sa as in the early 2000s, when artists had to sit for hours just to create a single piece.
However, not all aspects of this developnt were positive. While the expansion of the digital entertainnt sector brought about many new opportunities and advancents, its rapid growth had also begun to overshadow traditional forms of entertainnt. As more people flocked to digital platforms for their entertainnt needs, the demand for physical or traditional dia, such as manhuas and novels, steadily declined.
Nowadays, it was practically difficult to make a living just from drawing manhua alone unless you were a true art master.
Therefore, to capture the attention of readers amidst the overwhelming variety of entertainnt options, even top-tier manhua artists had to put in their best effort to create outstanding works.
While such developnts eased their workload, the ntal strain that artists like her had to endure in today’s industry only increased.
In fact, oftentis the ti she spent rely brainstorming far outweighed the actual ti she allocated for producing her work.
No wonder industry professionals often complained that, while things were more convenient now than ever, the stress and pressure had only intensified.
Collecting materials, conceiving ideas, and then moving on to the actual creation of the work itself…
At first glance, ti seed abundant for such tasks, allowing her to leisurely imrse herself in each phase. But in reality, no matter how much ti she set aside, it always felt like there was never enough to truly complete everything to her satisfaction.
Cáo Língxuān shook her head as she entered an old-style apartnt and went straight to apartnt 307 on the third floor. After knocking politely on the door and waiting for a few minutes, she strangely received no response.
Frowning, she pressed her ear against the door and heard loud music coming from inside. It wasn’t exactly noise, though—it was just that the volu was turned up too high.
Honestly, it sounded rather nice now that she paid more attention to it.
It wasn’t the usual mainstream electronic music trending online, but a unique style of instruntal music. It had a hint of classical charm, mixed with an exotic feel, which easily drew one in.
Now that Cáo Língxuān thought about it, she realized she may have heard similar music before. It had started gaining popularity in smaller circles last year and was now slowly becoming mainstream. If she rembered correctly, the song was from a niche genre known as “elven style” music.
She didn’t know which genius had created this “elven style” music, but after an acquaintance recomnded it, she saved a couple of tracks on her phone. Whenever she was about to tuck in for the night, she would put on her headphones and drift off to the sound of such music.
Surprisingly, it worked quite well to improve the quality of her sleep. Listening to it made her feel better…that is—as long as she didn’t read the comnts section of these songs online.
Because for so reason, listening to this music seed to elicit so strange emotional responses, especially amongst “depressed” individuals who would post sob stories in the comnt section.
So, she always made sure to avoid going down to the comnts whenever she listened to it.
After fixing her appearance, Cáo Língxuān skillfully retrieved a key from under a nearby flower bed and unlocked the door.
As soon as the door opened, a strong odor of alcohol mixed with a faint sourness hit Cáo Língxuān’s senses, making her scrunch up her nose in disgust.
The room beyond was dimly lit, the heavy curtains still drawn, blocking out the daylight and casting everything in shadow. The air felt thick and stale, as though it hadn’t been aired out in days. Piles of trash bags were stacked haphazardly near the door, their contents spilling over in places, adding to the clutter that overtook the small space.
It was a total ss.
Cáo Língxuān’s expression darkened.
“Ugh, why is it always like this…”
She sighed helplessly as she entered the room. Pulling open the curtains and turning off the music, she gave a solid kick to a figure snuggled up with a pod-shaped sleeping device, shouting:
“Black Cat-Laoshi! ¹ Stop sleeping! Get up!”
The figure imdiately sprang up in surprise, and a slightly hoarse male voice shouted:
“Huh—wait, is today the deadline for the manuscript? I’m so close to finishing! Just one more day, please! I just need one more day!”
The man appeared to be in his thirties. Although he wasn’t particularly bad-looking, the scruffy beard, unkempt appearance, and deep dark circles under his eyes gave off the impression of soone who didn’t get much rest or care for hygiene.
He looked around with blurry eyes.
That is, until his eyes t with Cáo Língxuān.
Black Cat: “…”
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
The man cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Oh, it’s you, Little Cáo… I thought it was the editor.”
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
Penna: Black Cat, real na: Mao Mo, male, 33 years old, single.
He was a well-known manhua artist in china’s art industry, having made his debut with a manhua set in isekai fantasy genre. Although the the was sowhat clichéd, his imaginative ideas often brought captivating, tension-filled sceneries, earning him a loyal and passionate fanbase.
Cáo Língxuān, on the other hand, was his assistant. While she helped him with his manuscript, she also learned various drawing techniques from him.
However, despite being called an assistant, Cáo Língxuān often felt more like his caretaker.
After surveying the pitiful state of the room once again, Cáo Língxuān sighed.
“Laoshi, you really should find yourself a girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend? Nah, who need those…Virtual gas are way more fun. It’s great being alone, so free and easy.”
Mao Mo chuckled awkwardly.
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
“Co on, hurry and freshen up! From the sound of it, the manuscript isn’t finished yet? You promised the editor you’d submit it before March, and half of the month is already gone. The website’s deadline must be approaching, right?”
“W-Well, you see, the ga I’ve been really interested just had its public beta open again recently! Hey, research is important too, you know! Besides, without you here, it’s hard to manage everything on my own.”
“Always with the excuses. Seriously, how old are you again? Why are you still hooked on gas?”
The girl rolled her eyes before starting to clean up the ss.
The virtual world, after all, was still just that—a virtual world. Fake, fleeting, and often far removed from the realities of everyday life.
In Cáo Língxuān’s eyes, those addicted to such things were rely losers who lacked self-control and were trying to escape reality.
However, as a big shot in the art industry, her teacher Black Cat was entitled to a bit of leniency, so Cáo Língxuān didn’t push the issue.
After hearing the girl’s words, Mao Mo scratched his head and shuffled toward the bathroom in his oversized slippers.
Half an hour later…
Mao Mo, now refreshed, sat at the dining table, enjoying his takeout, while the entire room had been cleaned and tidied up thanks to Cáo Língxuān’s hard work.
However, she raised an eyebrow when she saw the second brand new pod-shaped “virtual capsule” sitting in the room.
“Laoshi, didn’t you already buy a virtual capsule just two years ago? Why did you get another one?”
Upon hearing the question, Mao Mo’s spirit seed to perk up imdiately. He quickly wiped the oil off his mouth with a napkin and said enthusiastically:
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you Little Cáo! This capsule is for you! From now on, we’ll relocate our entire office inside the ga—cough, cough, I an, the virtual network. Plus, we can also use it to pla—uh…g-gather so research material!”
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
“You were about to say ‘gas,’ weren’t you?! You definitely ant ‘play gas,’ right?! Laoshi, If you spent as much ti on your manuscript as you do playing gas, your works wouldn’t be so hard to finish!”
“B-But gathering material is important too, you know? As a creator, you can’t just sit still in this industry.”
Mao Mo scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile.
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
Listening to his excuses, the girl’s expression darkened.
But in a way, she understood.
Indeed, research was important for any creator as inspiration often ca about from life experiences or from the collision of ideas with other works. It could co from a ga, a novel, a movie, and so on…
However…for this well-known manhua artist, it seed that the ti he spent playing gas was just too excessive.
Cáo Língxuān still rembered when she first t him two years ago. He spent almost two-thirds of his day imrsed in virtual gas.
However, starting last year, surprisingly he had toned it down his addiction significantly. It was as if, overnight, his teacher had lost interest in most online gas, and instead spent most of his ti watching gaming videos instead.
He kept going on and on about so “masterpiece of a ga” and how other gas were garbage compared to it, while constantly wondering when he would get an invitation slot…
But now…was he back to his old habits?
“So Laoshi… what exactly happened?” she asked while pouring him a glass of water.
Hearing her question, Mao Mo perked up.
“Hey, Liitle Cao, guess what? I finnaly got into Elven Kingdom!”
“Elven Kingdom…?”
The na sounded familiar, but Cáo Língxuān couldn’t imdiately place it.
But soon enough, the mory clicked into place.
“Oh…. isn’t that the ga that made headlines last year? The one where millions applied, but only a few thousand got in?”
She wasn’t particularly interested in virtual gas, but she rembered the news about it from last year since it’s rare for a ga to reach mainstream virality like that.
Hmm…
Oh, right. Now that she thought about it, the videos her teacher had been obsessed with for the past year were also about this Elven Kingdom.
In fact, even the works he had been working on lately had introduced a silver-haired, purple-eyed elven girl nad Everia, who worshiped the Goddess of Life…
With such similarities, she wondered if he was sohow influenced by that ga.
Cáo Língxuān vaguely rembered that, at first, she had thought he was watching a movie, but when she realized it was actually ga footage, she was left surprised by how realistic modern gas had beco.
“Ha ha, so you still rember!”
Mao Mo slapped his thigh.
“Yes, that’s the ga! This ti, the devs opened up 200,000 slots and I finally got one for myself! Once I finish eating, let’s go play… uh, I an, let’s go gather so research material together inside the ga!”
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
“Well, congratulations…I guess? If I’m not mistaken, the number of applicants for this ga is absolutely ridiculous…Plus, how could I play it, I don’t have a slot, and the deadline is also almost coming soon. Are you sure you have enough ti to finish the manuscript?”
Hearing her words, Mao Mo chuckled before speaking mysteriously:
“The manuscript? No rush…we’ll have plenty of ti! Once we log into the ga, you’ll understand why! And don’t worry about not having a slot either, since I’ve also bought one for you!”
“…You bought one for ?”
Cáo Língxuān was taken aback.
“Yep! Out of the 200,000 slots, 10,000 were pre-allocated and are available for purchase. Thankfully I got lucky and managed to secure two for ourselves.”
“You have no idea how crazy it was to get these! I spent several nights refreshing the page again and again. It was only after so many attempts that I finally managed to secure these two slots. So many people couldn’t even get through! I don’t know why the devs made their ga so great but left the official website such a ss…”
Mao Mo complained.
He looked quite proud, not like a man in his thirties, but more like a child who had just gotten his favorite toy.
Cáo Língxuān: “…”
She now had a pretty good idea of why he looked so sleep deprived. So it turned out, he had been staying up all night refreshing that website for days?
She shook her head.
This guy is a lost cause…
However, she didn’t dare ask about the price of those slots…
After all, concert tickets for popular singers can be scalped for outrageous prices, so a virtual ga with millions of applicants and only a few thousand slots must have had even more ridiculous prices for those pre-purchased slots.
Nonetheless, seeing how much effort he had put into this, she now felt a little reluctant to refuse…
Cáo Língxuān sighed inwardly.
Well fine…she’d just go along with it and help him with his supposed research or whatever, since he was both her teacher and her boss.
“Alright, Laoshi, I’ll join you, but you have to promise it’s just for research and you won’t get addicted! And most importantly…you have to rember to finish the manuscript! I’m going to let you play for a bit but be sure to get back to work! Otherwise, I’ll call the editor and have soone else take over, okay?”
Mao Mo’s expression shifted slightly:
“Don’t…don’t call the editor! Okay, okay, let’s just play for a bit and gather so research materials. As for the details… let’s talk about it once we’re inside the ga!”
Satisfied with his promise, Cáo Língxuān nodded.
Once Mao Mo finished his al, and after so prodding from him, Cáo Língxuān reluctantly laid down in the brand new virtual pod.
The ga had already been installed by Mao Mo, and following his instructions, Cáo Língxuān softly whispered:
“Launch the ga — Elven Kingdom.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a pleasant female voice echoed in her ears:
【
】
【Ga connection successful…】
【Loading ga…】
【Loading complete.】
Accompanied by the soft chi of the system, a familiar lody began to play. As the soothing, beautiful music filled her ears, Cáo Língxuān froze in surprise.
“…Erald Forest?”
The ga’s BGM was definitely the sa song listed on the top track on the Elven-style genre music download chart. It was called Erald Forest and coincidentally, also the song from her phone’s playlist which she often listened to as she drifted off to sleep.
Its light, graceful lody made one feel as if they were running through a beautiful forest or drifting through a magical fairyland…
However Cáo Língxuān never imagined that she’d hear this familiar tune the mont she logged into this ga!
In fact, considering the na of this ga…
In an instant, a lightbulb went off inside her mind.
“Elven Kingdom, elves, elven-style music…”
“W-Wait… Could it be? The music I’ve been listening to… is it actually from this ga? The elven-style songs I’ve been listening ca from Elven Kingdom? So you’re telling , the developers of this ga actually created a whole new genre of music?! No way, are they a ga company or a music company?”
At this mont, Cáo Língxuān was truly surprised.
No, it was more than just surprise. As soone who had studied music, she truly understood how difficult it is to create a whole new, popular genre of music!
Even now, she still couldn’t figure out what instrunts were used to play elven-style music and had only assud that it was probably synthesized electronically…
And frankly, she had always believed that elven-style music could easily leave its mark in the music history!
The next second, her vision brightened, and she entered the ga’s character creation interface.
“Hmm? A character customization system?”
¹ Laoshi – Chinese equivalent of ‘Teacher/Sensei’
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