Does a Mage Need to Draw?

According to the housewife, Mr. Li really did "get things done," asking around in the community's residents' group and asking the property management staff for a long time before finally finding a resident who was taking pictures of the sunrise from their balcony.

Although the homeowner didn't live in their building, his apartment was also near the outer edge of the complex. From the photos taken by the camera he set up on his balcony, which was set to take automatic pictures, they found several photos that captured the "monster".

Once he got the photos, Mr. Li immediately posted them triumphantly in the community's residents' group, as well as on his Weibo and WeChat Moments, claiming that he had found "evidence."

Of course, this is just Mr. Li's own evidence, his belief that the photo captured a "monster." In the eyes of others, the so-called monster that Mr. Li marked in the photo is just a small, irregular shadow in the lower left corner of the photo, accounting for less than one-twentieth of the entire photo. After all, the owner of the camera did not intend to photograph that area; he just happened to capture it.

Even when Mr. Li zoomed in, he could only vaguely see a dark shadow appearing on the street outside the community in the early morning. It seemed to be the shadow cast by the streetlights and trees next to it.

In fact, if Mr. Li hadn't come to their door and zoomed in to highlight the photos while looking through them, the person who had set the camera to take automatic pictures would never have noticed that they had captured anything strange in their photos.

Even after seeing the photo, most people in the neighborhood remained skeptical, as the so-called monster in the photo was far too blurry.

Moreover, when the camera automatically took pictures, it didn't capture where it went afterward; it simply disappeared completely after a certain photo.

"Mr. Li is a livestreamer, you know, right? He always has to come up with topics. My daughter watched his recent livestreams, and he's doing something about urban legends, you know, all that 'whoosh whoosh' stuff, you know? Lately, his topics have all been about investigating the monster he saw a while ago, all weird and rambling." The housewife lowered her voice as she spoke, "So, we all suspect that he might have fabricated this himself, and for the past two weeks, he's teamed up with that sunrise photographer to put on a show."

Another housewife said with some concern, "Yes, yes, he's thinking of making money through live streaming, gaining attention, and creating hype, but if our neighborhood becomes infamous because of this, and people really think there's something strange going on, then our property prices and rents will drop."

"Yes, we can't let him do whatever he wants; we have to stop him from creating this mess." The housewife, who was explaining the situation to Shiling's Mother, nodded and said.

At this point, the elevator arrived at the floor where Liu Shiling and her daughter lived, so they got off the elevator first.

Walking down the corridor, Shiling's Mother looked at the photos that Mr. Li had sent to the owners' group on WeChat, which were supposedly evidence of the existence of the "monster."

Looking at the specially highlighted and enlarged shadow, Shiling's Mother, who had been somewhat uneasy and scared, immediately relaxed. That small lump didn't really look like anything scary. However, seeing the postures of the dogs on the road outside the community in the photo, she felt that the lump might actually exist and wasn't completely photoshopped.

"Mom, let me see," Liu Shiling said, craning her neck to look at her mother's phone.

Since she didn't think it was anything scary, Shiling's Mother didn't refuse and handed the phone to her daughter.

When Liu Shiling saw the photo, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. That night, she had unintentionally used the two Coin knights, "Chocolate" and "Ice Cream," to create a pile of tiny crumbs and build an eight-armed pet of the bald uncle to scare away stray dogs. However, she was seen by someone upstairs, so the next day she secretly found time to video chat with the bald uncle on QQ to report it.

After asking about the situation, the bald uncle told her not to worry. Since she hadn't shown herself, no one knew she was responsible, so it was fine. However, she should keep a low profile for a while and not let anyone associate her with the granular "eight-armed pet" made of Coin.

Looking at this photo now, it's so far away and blurry that the outlines are barely visible, let alone the two Coin underneath those tiny particles. And if the Coin aren't visible, even if this photo proves that a monster really did appear that night, it can't be connected to her.

"It's good that we weren't exposed..." The Little Chubby Girl breathed a sigh of relief.

"Doesn't it look like a black crab standing upright?" Shiling's Mother said with a smile, leaning close to her daughter's head.

"It's not a crab!" Liu Shiling said instinctively and decisively.

Shiling's Mother asked curiously, "It just looks like it, otherwise what do you think it looks like?"

"It's... it's..." Liu Shiling mumbled twice, thought for a while, and then said, "Anyway, it's not a crab. Crabs lie down, not stand up."

Shiling's Mother didn't think much of it, assuming her daughter simply disliked crabs because they were troublesome to eat... or because she didn't like this kind of seafood.

Back home, after dinner, Liu Shiling took the painting "Da Lu" had given her and went back to her room with "Egg Pie," who had also finished eating cat food.

Sitting down at the table, Liu Shiling took out the portrait of the bald uncle's "eight-armed pet" that she had drawn a few days ago.

This isn't the first version of the drawing. Two weeks ago, she first saw the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster in her dream. After learning that it was Bald Uncle's pet, she drew the first version based on her dream memories. In the past few days, she has redrawn several versions, made many revisions, and further refined the drawing, enriching the details and making the overall design more exquisite.

Although Liu Shiling's paintings aren't particularly good, they're still quite decent for a child her age. She's even been praised by her teachers at kindergarten, and at least most people can recognize what her paintings are.

She initially thought her painting was alright, but when she placed the painting "Da Lu" had given her next to it and compared them, the difference became too obvious.

In the past, Liu Shiling wouldn't have felt that she had to draw as well as others. She was Great Mage, and it was enough that she knew magic. In the future, she would be fighting monsters with the bald uncle and the Roast Chicken Wing Sister. It didn't matter if her drawings weren't good enough.

But thinking about how her mother had just said the eight-armed pet she built with "Chocolate" and "Ice Cream" looked like a crab, and how two aunties in the elevator had said it looked like a tree's shadow and a bit like an octopus, she felt a little depressed. In her mind, the eight-armed pet she built should have looked incredibly majestic, not like a tree, an octopus, and a crab!

Looking at the "eight-armed pet" drawn on the paper, she felt that the problem must lie in the "design draft." It was because her drawing skills were not good enough that the final "eight-armed pet" lacked imposing presence and was not majestic at all.

Liu Shiling took out a new sheet of paper and buried herself in drawing again, this time with greater understanding and detail.

"Egg Pie" climbed onto the desk, lay down next to Liu Shiling, tucked its two front paws in, and dozed off while keeping its little owner company as she drew.

This time, Liu Shiling drew very carefully. First, she used a pencil to outline the shape, and then she used watercolors to color it, little by little, to outline the majestic eight-armed pet in her imagination.

After finishing the drawing, Liu Shiling looked at it herself, frowned slightly, and then held it up in front of "Egg Pie" and asked, "Egg Pie, does this drawing look like it?"

Egg Pie shrank its neck, slightly opened its mouth, looked at the painting, then at Liu Shiling, its eyes wide.

"By the way, you've never seen Uncle Baldy's pet." Liu Shiling sighed, put down the painting, took out a few tissues, and began to tear them into very small pieces.

Egg Pie came over, sniffed the pile of "paper scraps," and then sneezed, sending the scraps flying.

Looking at the paper scraps flying everywhere, Liu Shiling glared helplessly at Egg Pie. This wasn't the first time the little guy had sneezed because of paper scraps, but every time she prepared paper scraps, it would still come over to join in the fun, incorrigible, just like a naughty child.

Liu Shiling controlled the two Coin to make them spin rapidly around the room, and then quickly gathered the scattered scraps of paper together and began to form a shape.

Yes, Liu Shiling is going to use these tiny scraps of paper to replace the metal shavings on the outside to build the "eight-armed pet".

These past few days, adhering to her bald uncle's principles of "keeping a low profile, not revealing herself, and not being discovered," she dared not build the "eight-armed pet" out in Coin anymore, instead secretly playing with it at home—how could she possibly resist playing with such a "monster" that she could freely build to be the demon king and simulate battles?

Her original plan was to secretly bring back some sand from outside in batches using two magic Coin, put it in her pocket, and bring it back quietly without anyone noticing, then play with it in her room.

But after a lot of effort and several days of sneaking around, she managed to bring the sand back. Before she even had a chance to play with it, the next day after her extracurricular class, she found that all the sand she had painstakingly smuggled back was gone. It turned out that her mother had discovered it and cleaned it up.

Shiling's Mother was particularly attentive to cleaning Liu Shiling's room, especially after the Egg Pie was made, which troubled Liu Shiling quite a bit. After thinking about it for a while, she came up with the idea of using scraps of paper towels as a substitute.

The paper scraps, influenced by the Coin, are used to form the shape of an "eight-armed pet," which is actually much more difficult. The basic construction method is quite different, and it's flimsy, seemingly about to fall apart at any moment, but it's still playable.

Most importantly, the scraps of paper are easy to clean up. Once cleaned up, you can easily clean them up again next time you want to play, instead of having to painstakingly smuggle them in from outside, which could easily be discovered by your mom.

Of course, the "eight-armed pet" made at home, whether from scraps of paper or metal shavings, is not as large as the one made outside the first time; it has shrunk to only about thirty centimeters tall.

Looking at her newly created "eight-armed pet," Liu Shiling squatted in front of it, propped her chin up, and frowned as she observed it. She had no mood to play anymore because it really looked... a bit like a crab standing upright.

The design draft is not good!

It's poorly constructed!

"Great Mage" Liu Shiling blew a sigh of annoyance, scattering the "eight-armed pet" in front of her. Egg Pie, who was half-lying on the ground and slowly approaching the "eight-armed pet" in a hunting posture, was startled by the sudden burst of paper scraps and meowed, then darted under the table.

However, although the scraps of paper were blown away, they did not scatter everywhere. Instead, under the control of Liu Shiling's two Coin, they gathered together again, shrunk into a ball, and returned to the table.

Liu Shiling threw the scraps of paper into the trash can, then went to the living room and said to her mother, who was frowning and looking at something on her phone, "Mom, Mom, I want to learn to draw."

Hearing her daughter's voice, Shiling's Mother paused, looked up at Liu Shiling, and asked in confusion, "Haven't you been drawing all this time?" Then, remembering something, she suddenly realized, "You saw the paintings Zhou Lutong sent you, so you wanted to learn to draw too? But... aren't you in a literacy class right now?"

Liu Shiling said, "I also want to attend literacy classes, and I can attend art classes in the afternoon." Literacy is very important; she still has so much to learn. According to her bald uncle, the Great Mage needs a great deal of knowledge.

However, upon hearing this, a hint of hesitation flashed across Shiling's Mother's face. After considering it for a moment, as if she had made a decision, she was about to agree when she heard her daughter say, "Mom, I'd rather not go to the art class for now. Teach me to draw instead, teach me to draw Egg Pie!"

Shiling's Mother was a little surprised, and laughed, "But Mommy's drawing isn't very good."

Liu Shiling said confidently, "Mom's Egg Pie drawing last time was really beautiful! I'll learn how to draw from Mom first, then I'll go learn from Uncle Baldy, then from Xiao Mei, then from Da Lu, and after kindergarten starts, I can learn from my teachers! I want to learn everyone's martial arts... no, um, I mean, their drawing skills..."

Watching Liu Shiling's retreating figure as she returned to her room, and Egg Pie following her around like a little shadow, Shiling's Mother breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Originally, because she had sold that house and had saved up, she was financially well-off and could easily support Liu Shiling through university on her own. However, recent events have made her start to be more careful with her spending, trying to cut unnecessary expenses as much as possible.

Enrolling Liu Shiling in extracurricular classes is quite expensive. She's already enrolled in a literacy class, and enrolling her in a drawing class as well makes her hesitate, especially since she's worried that Liu Shiling might only have a five-minute attention span and lose interest after a short time, which would be a huge waste.

However, after some consideration, she decided to agree to Liu Shiling's request to enroll her in an art class. The painting that Zhou Lutong sent was truly excellent; she had been genuinely impressed when she saw it before. If her daughter could reach that level, it would be a special skill for her future schooling, and she might even win an award, making it easier for her to get into a good school. She didn't want to stifle any of her daughter's interests.

Unexpectedly, Liu Shiling changed her mind again and wanted her to teach instead. She probably didn't want to keep going to extracurricular classes. This girl seems to be a bit of a homebody these days, always preferring to stay in her room playing house and using her iPad.

But Shiling's Mother was a little unsure about teaching painting herself, as she had never studied painting herself. She had previously drawn a "Cat with Egg Pie" style picture, which she thought was actually quite mediocre.

Seeing that Liu Shiling's room door was closed again, Shiling's Mother opened her mobile browser and began searching for keywords such as "teaching her daughter to draw" and "quick drawing lessons for children".

Liu Shiling, holding an iPad in the room, went on QQ, searched for the bald uncle's profile picture, and prepared to ask him how to learn to draw.

She had sensed her mother's difficulty and hesitation, so she changed her mind at the last minute and said she didn't want to go to the art class.

If it were the old Liu Shiling, she wouldn't have noticed this. Back then, all she could think about was wanting to eat this, wanting to play that, wanting to play with XXX, wanting to watch XXX cartoon, that looks fun, that looks delicious, those kids are having so much fun playing together, I want to play with them too, the cartoon is so good, I want to watch it again...

Her attention was limited to these things; her little head couldn't hold any other thoughts, and she didn't yet understand how to comprehend other people's feelings.

But ever since she obtained the "magic Coin" and became a "Great Mage," feeling the responsibility on her shoulders, she began to pay more attention to the people around her, and the person she paid the most attention to was her mother, with whom she spent every day.

Besides wanting to work with Uncle Baldy and Roast Chicken Wing Sister to eliminate monsters, the most important reason she strives to become stronger is to protect and take care of her mother.

Yeah, and protect the world while we're at it.

She noticed that recently, when they went out together, her mother would sometimes hesitate and look troubled when she wanted to eat something. Whenever this happened, she would change her request, either saying she wasn't hungry, or saying she didn't want to eat that, or saying she wanted to go home and look at Egg Pie instead of eating out.

Liu Shiling doesn't understand the issue of money yet, nor does she know why her mother is hesitant and troubled. She simply doesn't want her mother to feel that way.

So when she saw her mother's expression and hesitation, she immediately knew that her mother was in a dilemma, and immediately changed her request.

But my plans and ideas for learning to draw have not changed.

She added a new requirement for the "Great Mage" today: He must be good at drawing!