Temporal Pearls

Too many things had happed ever since Seth was left behind in the Living Roots but most of it was just hardship, but something else was happing, something hidd, and only was feeling what was it and that was the gradual waning of his emotions.

However, despite the gloom of his feelings, he kept going, he believed that only if he finished the Quest would escape.

Few things cheered him and ignited his resolve. That was the notification of the Womb evolving. By now it had evolved two times already and it was not showing any sign of stopping.

Each evolution came with an Active Aspect but it was locked. After every Evolution, it wt through stages to 5 and th evolved again to nurture the single Active Aspect the Womb gained.

Seth stood there as he watched the log he had be filing for 3 days. And in these three days, he had be wondering how he could revive the damn village.

No great idea but only a simple one came and he was going to do it. It was By making foundations and specifying where the houses were and th making sculptures of villagers.

Thankfully, with his Scribe Talt he was able to remember all the villagers he met, some he had already sketched in a book to use as referce. Hopefully, that will be ough to revive the damn thing.

So he began the tedious work. After heavy lifting and dragging of things, he will rest. While resting and waiting for the Exertion Point to fill up, he practised Aura Sight and wt a recording the features of trees using scribe skills. So far he has acquired another Womb Alphabets.

Seth has appreciated the Exertion Trait. If his activity wasn't stamina consuming and he didn't consume all his exertion points, he can continue with normal activity for the whole day.

And so, if he did something heavy, the momt the points were full he could continue the work. Using that advantage, Seth was able to do more work than he normally can.

The next day, Seth began building a foundation and setting the logs, the woods he cut were extremely light which made his action easy and fast.

The more he worked and as days passed, his emotions were dulling out. And it th began to reflect on real life. Until he became someone devoid of joy or sadness. And the hollow inside him kept increasing and for an unknown reason, he wasn't vocal about it.

It was like a cue placed in him to be silt about it. At some point, it was like that illusion a gambler has that kept him playing in hope of gaining something until he lost everything.

Seth pushed forward fast to finish the damn village and villagers as fast as he could, knowing that he will get a Cloak that will allow him to leave the Forest

Ding!

[Quest Completion (50%)]

_____

Seth sighed and looked at the makeshift houses he built. And now remained the damn villagers.

Thankfully, he had prepared all the wood he needed to sculpt them. Seth began to sculpt Abuhe Vulcan Magma standing in front of his Guards giving a speech. It was rough with only a few idtifiable features of him.

Th he sculpted the whole guards that he can remember.  After he got tired, he began to Scribe the Trees and at the d of the day, he reached another milestone that gave him another Womb Alphabet which made him have 0 Alphabets.

Sling!

Dull black eyes with thick eyebrows oped as they stared back at Joseph, and th he forced a smile that he had be practising. Pretding to be normal while he was not in actuality!

The hollowness in him became immse that it was possible to witness his parts butchered without feeling a thing but only logical reasons will force him to care and act accordingly.

He walked back to his room and prepared for the last lesson in his Workshop with Lady Manuella.

The lessons should have ded but certain things happed which made them skip days without the lessons. He arrived earlier as usual and prepared the classroom.

"Hello Mr C!" Sarah was a bully, she called him 'C' as in 'Cripple' every time but wh she was accused of it and asked to stop, she died it and said she was referring to him as 'Se' as in 'Seth.'

However, Seth didn't mind it as he was already losing his emotions, to begin with. He just took her act as someone comical. Something he doesn't care about now.

He forced a smile and greeted her back before he conctrated on the painting he did last time. It was a test and he made the best painting compared to everyone.

As of now, he didn't care about giving them a face, he didn't hold his talt back. He bashed everything to perfection to the point they began to fear him. But… there was only one hindrance to him—Lady Manuella.

In the subsequt Test after the first one, she made sure that the 9 of them would rate, commt, criticize and suggest the possible improvemt to each person's painting.

Apart from that, she sometimes invited other artists who helped in the assessmt but she always did the final review and rating.

But, of the paintings done by Seth became the first position ev after the whole studt and ev external artists rated him first.

She always said, "You are lacking something!"

However, she agreed to give him second place because his style was good and the external supervisor and other studts rated it high. Not because she felt he deserved it.

Seth complained at home before he realized his problem. Nevertheless, that single complaint made his family inquire about the reason and urged him to do better.

He still did not realize the gravity of things because his emotions wer't in the right place, however, he did try his best to no avail. Manuella still complained about the lack of something in his paintings!

Sarah ded up asking Anna to talk to Manuella due to the mistreatmt but Anna refused. They wouldn't antagonize her for something minor.

Sarah feared that Lady Manuella wanted to get rid of Seth by the d of class.

Today, there will be an examination. Those that passed, will continue otherwise they will be expelled.

Wh Manuella came inside the classroom she stared at Seth and th called him to another room.

"Being Second will not make you eligible to continue to the next class. You do know why I rate you low, right?" She said sternly.

He was pretding to be elated with smiles but th that collapsed. He doesn't care, but reason and rationality say otherwise.

"Okay!" He said and he came back to his seat.

She stood before the nine studts, her presce pressing on everyone. "There will not be any fancy activities, just your usual illustration. Use a pcil and draw anything you can imagine!"

Everyone frowned. This is the worst exam they can think of. Everyone was a master of pcil drawing to the point that they can do it with their eyes closed or ev with their toes.

What did she want them to do? Creativity, they have done it. Originality, they have done it. Maybe something crazy, they have done it. Th what?

They were racking their brains wh they heard the scribbling of a pcil. They all turned and saw Seth drawing with a deadpan face. T minutes later, he finished and th walked to the couch and started to nap.

Sally that was close to him peek at it, expecting to see something good but mate with something below average. She sighed and began the exam.

An hour later, everyone wt a rating and reviewing each other's sketches. Including Seth and he gave his honest reviews.

After that, 9 professional artists came and reviewed the sketches. Three hours later.

Points were called, the best was Sally, Second Josiah… and Seth last. Not only that he was last but the point he scored was just 4/0. The lowest possible score in that exam.

Seth's emotionless eyes stared at the last rating that was made by fellow studts and external supervisors without an ounce of regret.

Wh the External Supervisors calculated the points recorded and arrived at Cumulative points, Seth only had 49/0. The exam was where the highest points could be obtained but he scored the least.

His being second didn't mean a high point. And this exam carried the most marks.

"Take them to my car." She ordered the external artists, th looked at the 9 studts, "Anyone with less than 60 Cumulative Points is on probation. So, don't feel surprised if you are expelled!" She announced and walked out.

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