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The first person to break the silence did so with an elongated, "Wow!"

This opened up the floodgates, as others joined in appreciating the two paintings displayed before them. The first thing every artist and critique in the crowd noticed was that both the paintings had achieved the third level. This was incredible because the artists did so just within an hour and only used black ink. One must remember that a third level painting qualifies as such because when it is observed, the viewer perceives the painting in actual three dimensions. That is, they would feel as though it would be possible to touch the objects within the painting if they reached forward.

However, the reaction of the crowd was evidently more exaggerated. This was because while Artist Norris was a licensed 3-star Artist, Jo Way was not. This meant that he was capable of producing level three paintings, however, this guarantee wasn't present with Jo Way, who was unlicensed. This dichotomy already offered Jo Way a marked edge in this competition as the judges and the audience had a low expectation from him.

After judging the paintings at a superficial level, the judges moved closer to examine them based on the technique, composition and realism.

Artist Norris had painted a building, more specifically, the facade of the 'Palace of the Sun' - the abode of the monarch of the Solar Empire. It was an extremely intricate drawing which should be incredibly hard given the generally 'runny' medium. However, Artist Norris displayed excellent control of the paintbrush and an understanding of how the liquid ink behaved on paper. The palace was a sprawling structure that was almost as large as Radiant City. It was not only home to the Emperor's family and clan, it also housed most of the public employees that worked there and the many servants. One interesting detail of the palace was that it was primarily lined with beautiful, mosaic glass designs depicting various scenes from the nation's history, from its founding till the present century.

Due to the expansive architecture of the palace, it would be difficult to capture its entire facade in a single sheet, hence Artist Norris focused on the signature anterior face of the building. It did not make his life any easier, though, since the anterior section was the one loaded with the most elaborate glass artworks, as they were the first to be designed after the founding of the nation. So it was laudable how well Artist Norris managed to capture the majestic and historic aura of the particular view! Through his expert use of ink with varying gradations, he managed to recreate the exact display in black-and-white, with unerring precision. One must know just how difficult it is to emulate the transparency of glass while also ensuring that the design painted on it does not appear flat or two-dimensional. Yet, Artist Norris achieved it all within the short span of an hour.

On the other side, Jo Way opted for a more aggressive approach and painted a portrait. This was an arrogant move on his part since portraits were infinitely more challenging than landscapes to achieve the third level as the painter had to keep the aura and presence of the subject in mind when painting it. The person Jo Way painted was someone he was familiar with in this world, his student Gaige Bori. Jo Way had perfectly captured Gaige's facade; to anyone familiar with the boy, they would readily recognise the person in the portrait at first glance. The use of black and white to highlight skin folds and amplify the vigorous youth in the boy's eyes brought dynamism to the image projected in two dimensions. It was this feature that differentiated portraits from images captured by recording artefacts. The latter could just as easily capture the likeness of a person, but a good portrait transcended that and brought forward the person's essence.

To top this off, Jo Way had used the Ink Puppet Painting Technique! In using this technique, the artist needs to have the final intention firmly planted in their minds throughout the painting process. Doing this with portraits without the subject present in front of them meant that they needed a true to life facsimile of their subject in their minds at all times - their temperament, character, and aura included. This automatically tipped the scales in favour of Jo Way.

One advantage of using Gaige as the subject was that his bloodline and overall aura was complemented by the black shade the ink offered. A pervasive blanket of void surrounded the portrait of Gaige. Jo Way had masterfully used the Ink Puppet Painting Technique to create seamless gradations of black to create three-dimensional layers to this blanketing darkness that could be perceived upon closer examination. The painting itself employed heavy use of black ink, relying on the whiteness from the paper to accentuate Gaige's features. It was truly a display of exemplary skill that Jo Way managed to achieve level three with this painting, where others would have very easily drowned the paper in opaque darkness beyond recognition.

Each of the judges moved closer and observed the paintings with utmost precision. A duel between artists was rare, and because of that, there was no room for error in judgement. However, it was already evident that their opinions had been swayed in favour of Jo Way's painting.

"*Tsk* Artist Norris made a huge mistake with this duel."

"No kidding! There goes his reputation. Who knew that Radiant City held such crouching tigers and hidden dragons, huh?"

The crowd chimed in with their opinions as the judges spoke their piece.

"Just on the basis of technique, I believe Teacher Way's painting - specifically his use of such an advanced painting technique - has exceeded expectations," one of the judges commended.

"I concur. Although Artist Norris has produced an excellent painting when compared to Teacher Way's, it falls a tad short," the second added.

"A tad?!" The third who showed visible enmity with Artist Norris spat out. "It doesn't even hold a candle to Teacher Way's painting!"

The judges did not muffle their discussion, and the audience was in agreement with the judgement they were arriving towards. With each critique offered, Artist Norris' face dropped by another margin. Finally, right as it was time to announce the victor, one of the judges turned towards Keegan and gazed at him expectantly. As a sign of respect, they were hoping to receive a word from the expert among them.

Keegan recognised the cue, yet he refused to offer any criticism. He had made his point clear that this was beneath him. However, a thought popped into his head. Keegan looked towards Kano, who was perched safely on Goran's shoulders and asked, "What do you think, Kano?"

"Huh? Me?" Kano pointed at himself incredulously.

"Are there any other Kanos here?" Keegan retorted in a sarcastic tone.

Kano bit his tongue apologetically. Goran lifted the boy and placed him on the ground, allowing him to approach the two paintings. As he did so, the still audience broke into a heated conversation.

"Who's that kid? Is he Artist Lang's student?"

"Unlikely. Artist Lang is notoriously quick-tempered. I don't think he's the kind of person to take on a student."

"Then what is Artist Lang thinking?"

There was a common saying that it was impossible to decipher the cryptic actions of experts and geniuses. The crowd was facing the very same dilemma.

The focus of the crowd, the boy named Kano, was oblivious to the inquisitive gazes of those around him. He was solely focused on the two paintings hanging in front of him. He ruminated on them for a little over 10 minutes, all the while raising the suspense of the audience and the two competitors. Jo Way was currently irritated over what was taking so long.

'Who is this kid anyway?' He thought to himself.

Artist Norris on the other hand was prepared to accept his fate.

Right then, Kano raised his hand, pointed at Jo Way's painting and said, "This one is definitely superior. The artist has stretched the work to its limits given the set conditions."

The audience released their tension with a long sigh of relief, albeit tinted with some disappointment. Needless to say, they were faintly hoping to see some conflict or drama, maybe a twist?

Keegan did not miss the distressed expression plastered over Kano's face after he finished his judgement. He immediately interrupted the erupting discussion and asked, "But?"

Kano jolted his head and shrunk into his neck sheepishly, "I-I don't think I should continue..."

"Speak your mind, boy!"

Kano looked towards Goran but was immediately blocked by Keegan, "Don't worry about offending anyone. If anyone dares to come at you because of your words today, I shall personally take care of them. Now continue."

Kano inhaled loudly to calm himself and continued, "This painting is superior and wins the contest-" He then rotated and pointed at Artist Norris' work before finishing, "-but I like this one more."

The audience gasped and shrieked in shock. What a plot twist!

Keegan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why is that?"

"This painting speaks to me- no it resonates with me," Kano answered.

"What is this kid talking about?"

"Shh! Don't interrupt!" One of the audience members reprimanded as they pulled out some snacks from inside their jacket pocket.

Jo Way wore a deep frown upon hearing the kid's opinion, a reaction opposite of Artist Norris' whose dead eyes gained a fresh colour of hope.

"Elaborate," Keegan demanded.

"Well... T-T-The painting by Teacher Way is perfect. I do not see any flaws, errors, ticks, or trademarks in the work - given my limited knowledge. In my opinion, it is an excellent work of art at its level. But b-b-because of this, the artwork is bland. It does not have any character."

Jo Way couldn't take it any more and interjected, "Do you even hear yourself, boy? Just because it is too perfect, it is bad? You should think before talking-"

"Don't interrupt!" Keegan immediately reprimanded, pulsing an ounce of his Core Condensation realm pressure on the mage two realms below him. Jo Way grit his teeth and tried to resist, only to face a much larger force. He threw up a mouthful of blood as a third wave of greater pressure collapsed on him.

"Now, continue," Keegan said to Kano, paying no attention to the wallowing Jo Way.

"I'm sorry that I offended you, Teacher Way," Kano apologised profusely. The audience noticed the sincerity in his tone and lowered their disdain for what they initially thought was just another arrogant and upstart child.

"I did not mean to disparage your work. As I said, given my limited knowledge it is excellent. By definition of the contest, it should be the victor. However-" Kano turned to Keegan and Goran and said, "The perfect painting lacks a key ingredient that gives it a unique character."

"It lacks an artist's signature," Kano concluded.