How to Survive as a Painter in a Dark Fantasy

There’s a saying that sincerity matters more than price when it comes to gifts.

Today, I plan to give a gift to someone who doesn’t know my sincerity.

I open Paint, grip the mouse, zoom in on the canvas, bite my lip, and pour my heart into every mouse movement…

“Phew…”

Done.

I gazed at the white drawing on the black canvas, a satisfied smile on my face.

My masterpiece, drawn in a lengthy three minutes. To some, it might be a crude sketch, but to me, it was more than a child – that’s what sincerity means.

“Let’s see, oh! It’s up?”

A monologue echoing in the empty house. Anyone seeing it would call it creepy, but I’ve long grown used to it.

Being quiet in a house where no one is home is even scarier, you know?

A notification arrived on my internet browser: the novel I enjoyed, Chronicles of Outer Gods, had been uploaded.

It was a minor novel with no announcements, erratic upload times, and not even a cover, but for the past year, Chronicles of Outer Gods had long since become life itself to me.

“Alright, I’ll enjoy this.”

The content was nothing special.

The story of an adventurer surviving in a dark fantasy world overrun by all sorts of horrific beings.

Creatures, monsters, outer gods, transcendent beings. Ordinary humans appeared too, but mostly wielding scythes or farming tools, oppressing adventurers.

The novel itself was an anthology, with jumbled timelines within the work. Not only that, the narrator would arbitrarily switch perspectives, and the writing style was uneven, as if written by different authors… but I thought that was precisely its charm.

However, Chronicles of Outer Gods, despite seeming full of advantages, had a fatal flaw.

That was the lack of illustrations!