Painty, using whatever magic she possessed, created this masterpiece from scratch. Nuri couldn’t believe his eyes!

He circled the mantis one last time, then stopped before the precious fairy.

"I don’t think there’s anything to be fixed here. You did a crazy good job!"

Painty beamed, stuttering in a tight loop around him before settling back at eye level.

"Ahh, a compliment from Nuri himself... I can die in peace..." Her wings then gradually slowed. "Goodbye, world."

"Hey, hey! You’re being so dramatic, for goodness’ sake."

She halted her fall and lifted herself back up.

"Hehe. I’m serious!" she exclaimed, then cleared her throat. "Okay, okay — focus! It’s time for the finishing touches."

"Essence and Traits."

Painty snapped her fingers.

"Correct! I’ll show you how it’s done. Super easy!"

She led him out of the canvas and toward the Reliquary, where the Essences were stored.

"Over here, we pick the desired Essence! Just hover your hand over the Reliquary and the options will appear."

Nuri nodded and hurriedly held out his hand. As soon as he did, a familiar window, patterned with roses and thorns, appeared.

───RELIQUARY (T1)───

Storage: [2/5]

[1★ Pure Essences]

[Poisonous Baby Mantis]

[Steel Wolf]

─────────────

"Alrighty! Now, just tap on the one you want to use."

Nuri followed Painty’s instructions and clicked on the Baby Mantis’s Essence.

The window dimmed and faded. In the Reliquary, one of the two clear glass receptacles brightened from within, and the pumpkin-sized knot of light floated.

"Go grab it!" Painty said, bobbing her head.

Without hesitation, he moved his hand to the ball of light, and it instantly engulfed his skin in radiance.

[Poisonous Baby Mantis (1★) has been chosen.]

"And then we move over to the Inkwell to blend the Traits in."

They reached the Inkwell in a few steps, and the options appeared, just like with the Reliquary.

──INKWELL (T1)──

Storage: [4/10]

[1★ Traits]

[Steel Hide (P)]

[Steel Flash (A)]

[Venom Gash (P)]

[Skitter Lunge (A)]

──────────

"You can also check the description if you tap and hold," Painty excitedly said.

Nuri already knew about this overpowered ability. Regular Explorers sometimes had to gamble on Essence choices if the information wasn’t available on public forums or in libraries.

The Labyrinth didn’t show stats or Traits until after you had already chosen to consume an Essence, which was why Imprint removals and intel on new Essences went for a fortune. This forced many Explorers to plan their desired build from public information first, instead of randomly choosing anything that popped out of a monster.

However, that approach grew increasingly difficult as you progressed. High-Constellation Explorers monopolized information on higher-Star Traits to keep the status quo, as they put it. Worse, many elite monsters remained undiscovered. Not to mention the Affixes!

The public info list of Essences dwindled significantly by 5-Star, and 6-Star was nearly non-existent. You either needed connections to access this information, or you had to buy it outright for an insane amount of LCs.

It was a web one had to fight through to reach the top.

For Nuri, however, every Essence was funneled through the Soul Canvas and purified, giving him unimpeded access to every Trait without going through trial and error or wasting millions of LCs to remove an undesired Imprint.

Unlimited Imprints and an omniscient library... Nuri had said it time and time again: Rosaria’s Blessing was a freaking cheat code!

He wasted no time, selecting the two Traits he would put in the mantis.

────TRAIT────

1★ [Venom Gash (P)]

Affix: [Common]

State: —

Proficiency: [Novice] (0%)

Description: [Your slashing wounds carry venom, building poison in the target.]

Effect:

[Poison Buildup +12] (8 + 0.5 per Toxin Potency)

──────────

1★ [Skitter Lunge (A)]

Affix: [Common]

State: —

Proficiency: [Novice] (0%)

Description: [A short dash to close distance or reposition, empowering the next strike.]

Effect:

[Dash 3.5m] (3m + 0.05m per Burst Agility)

[+5% Bonus Damage] (2s)

──────────

The skills looked solid, but nothing particularly noteworthy. They would stay in his arsenal for now. After all, this was the Essence he had picked during the academy ceremony. He had to prove he could use one of the two Traits.

The two glowing marbles rotated slowly in the Inkwell, then flew out toward the Essence, tinting the ball of light a pale green.

[Venom Gash (P) has been imprinted into the Essence (1/2).]

[Skitter Lunge (A) has been imprinted into the Essence (2/2).]

"Great! Okay, there are many ways to put an Essence into a Painted. Do you know the best way, Nuri?" she asked, wearing an expectant expression that looked ready to burst at any second.

Nuri shook his head.

"Nope."

Painty flailed her arms and buzzed her wings, shouting:

"Throw it at the Canvas!"

Nuri blinked.

"...Throw it."

"Yes!"

He looked down at the pale green light.

"Hell yeah! Sounds like my style!"

Nuri’s grin spread wide. He cocked his arm back and pitched the ball overhand at the canvas.

The ball arced toward the canvas, trailing a faint ribbon of green light, and met the surface with a soft plop, like ink dropped into water. The light then sank straight into the paint, and the mantis on the canvas pulsed.

[The Essence has been registered to the Painted.]

"The last part is framing it, right?" Nuri asked.

"Yes!" Painty bobbed. "Lady Rosaria has definitely taught you well!"

"Just the basics."

His eyes drifted to the shelf holding two small frames. He walked over and picked one up.

[Wooden Frame has been chosen.]

"Wooden Frames will be your reliable basic frames until you can craft or buy special ones."

Nuri pondered for a moment.

"So these won’t give bonus stats."

"I’m telling you, Nuri, I wish I could give you the Wisteria Frame right now!" Painty’s wings drooped as her hands wrung together in front of her chest. "It would bring the whole thing together, but I’m broke too..."

She let out a small sigh and sank a little.

Nuri huffed a laugh and waved it off.

"We’re all broke, Painty. But sometimes being broke gives you the most freedom!"

Painty perked up a little.

"I see... That’s one way to look at it!" She wiggled her shoulders. "Okay, just walk it to the mantis, and the rest is on the Canvas. You’ll see."

Nuri approached the painting with the wooden frame. As soon as he got close enough, it tugged forward and slipped from his hands.

The frame floated up the face of the canvas, growing in size as it rose, until it stopped at the mantis and snapped into place around her.

[Wooden Frame has been applied.]

[Congratulations! Your painting has successfully formed a Painted.]

[The Canvas will now evaluate the Painted...]