However, in the absence of special provisions in the contract, after he provided the electronic pictures to the Scholastic Group, he could retain the ownership of the original painting knife paintings and dispose of them at will.

Gu Weijing can sell the originals as he pleases.

Unless an illustrator reaches the status of a Marvel Godfather like Stan Lee, the creator of Mickey Mouse like Walt Disney, or wins an Andersen Award,

the original works of modern comic artists and illustrators rarely qualify for a special auction.

They usually belong to miscellaneous art and antique auction activities held occasionally by Sotheby’s or Christie’s, used as opening pieces to warm up the event.

Painters in North America prefer to bypass middlemen and list their works on eBay (a second-hand trading website). America also has flea markets and pawnshops that specifically collect such items.

Among the painting knife works created by Gu Weijing, only this book cover painting was kept separately by him.

All the other works,

after he sent the drafts to Mr. Tree Sloth and received confirmation that there were no issues, Gu Weijing directly scraped them all off with an oil painting knife.

Rare things are precious.

Because the quantity of works is casually dozens or even hundreds of times the output of gallery painters on serious art routes such as oil painting and watercolor painting.

An illustrator’s monthly production equals what serious artists paint in two years.

Thus, the original works of illustrators don’t sell for very high prices; even over ten thousand US dollars is considered top-notch.

If the original works want to sell for a good price, it is either a complete set of character drafts from a particular series,

or simply take out a few of the most exquisite ones to sell and destroy the rest to control the number of circulating works.

He didn’t intend to create a unique piece for marketing purposes.

When Gu Weijing scraped the paintings, he didn’t intend to sell them.

It was just that there was no place to dry paintings in the home gallery, so according to his past practice habits, Gu Weijing took the canvases for reuse.

Moreover, it prevented them from accidentally being found by grandpa and aunt.

This last cover painting, Gu Weijing couldn’t bear to destroy.

After all, this is the most outstanding work he has created so far in history.

Not only did it contain his own efforts, but Mr. Tree Sloth also painstakingly read books to him for such a long time, and Gu Weijing planned to keep it as a souvenir.

After drying the painting on the windowsill of his bedroom, he rolled it up and put it in the storage bin under the window, almost forgetting about it.

But after obtaining the Muse Goddess’s Blessed Small Candle, a one-time skill,

last night, while lying in bed half awake, Gu Weijing suddenly had a bold idea.

This painting is just a paper-thin step away from the deeper level of the Emotion Scale, "Sweat and Blood."

Several times during creation, he felt that the Little Prince under his pen was about to come to life, but unfortunately, in the end, there was still something lacking.

Gu Weijing previously speculated that the reason he couldn’t pierce through this thin layer during creation was because of his insufficient understanding of "The Little Prince."

The deepest part of the emotions conveyed under his pen was more of Mr. Tree Sloth’s insights transmitted through his pen, not something belonging to Gu Weijing.

"The Little Prince" was not moving enough for Gu Weijing.

He had not truly entered the heart of the characters written by Saint-Exupéry or resonated sufficiently with the words of the book.

And this point,

perhaps now Gu Weijing has a chance to make up for it.

The Muse Goddess’s Blessed Small Candle doesn’t have the capability to enhance the already legendary level painting knife painting, but perhaps upgrading another skill through a different approach might achieve a good effect.

Gu Weijing opened the skill panel, looking at his most frequently used Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill.

[Active Skill: Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill]

[Current Quality: Fine]

[Special Effect One (Calligraphy and Painting Appreciation): After activating the skill, you will be able to analyze a painting’s color, structure, and lines. The painting’s information will appear on the panel in data form. It can directly appreciate paper artworks or high-definition electronic albums, with some differences in appraisal effectiveness between the two.]

[Special Effect Two (Soul Sensing): During the appreciation of a master’s painting, there is a probability of triggering limited tasks. Note: Appreciating works with aesthetic attainments too advanced compared to one’s own may impose an additional mental burden on the host. Please use the skill with caution.]

[Special Effect Three (Skill Advancement): This skill is an upgradeable skill. After using the Identification Skill one thousand times, the skill will upgrade. (Current progress bar: (51/1000))]

[Equipment Requirements: Possessing more than twelve years of experience in art study, identification, or the field of art criticism, each skill usage consumes 50 points of free experience points, with no cooldown time.]

[Note: By absorbing another soul’s emotions to enrich oneself, one can return to the human world with more abundant feelings.]

The Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill is almost currently the most widely used divine skill among those given by the virtual panel’s system.

Even if purely from the perspective of quality, the Identification Skill is the lowest-level skill among the three skills currently owned by Gu Weijing, and using it even costs 50 points of free experience points.

But it is the skill Gu Weijing uses most frequently and actually helps him more than rare painting techniques like the legendary level painting knife painting.

Because it’s used too often,

He has become somewhat accustomed to the Identification Skill’s effects, overlooking that the Blessed Small Candle should also be effective in this auxiliary skill, not just in directly painting-related areas.

Even from the system’s initial description, it was clearly stated that it has upgrade potential.

"The Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill, theoretically speaking, with a name like this, should not only be usable for identifying painted artworks but should also be able to dissect a master’s painting down to fundamental lines, allowing one to grasp the deepest inspiration and ideas of written texts... right?"

Gu Weijing was a bit unsure.

Currently, this skill, compared to its name on the system panel, has a bit of a discrepancy.

Gu Weijing had tried to see if the skill could be used on textual literature, but there was absolutely no response.

Could it be that the skill’s quality is not enough at the moment?