Cultivation is Creation
Chapter 277: Painting Is Programming

The morning of the fourth lesson arrived with unexpected news.

I was on my way to my lesson when Novice Kon intercepted me in the corridor.

"Most Honored Saint," he said, bowing quickly. "Have you heard the news?"

"What news?" I asked, immediately alert.

"Headmaster Monroe is missing," Kon said, lowering his voice although we were alone in the hallway. "He was expected to return last night, but there's been no sign of him. The elders have been unable to establish contact through the usual methods."

This was unexpected. "Is there a search party being organized?"

"The Council of Elders met at dawn," Kon explained. "They've dispatched several senior Lightweavers to his last known location, but..." He hesitated, glancing around nervously. "Some are saying that something is seriously wrong.”

I considered this information carefully. Headmaster Monroe's absence during the battle between the Red and Blue Sun Academies in the previous loop suddenly took on new significance. I had assumed he'd been elsewhere during the conflict, but what if his absence had been deliberately arranged?

"Thank you for letting me know," I said. "I should go to my lesson now."

Kon bowed again. "Of course, Most Honored Saint. Elder Kal awaits you."

As I continued toward Kal's chambers, I couldn't help but wonder if his words yesterday, that today would be "interesting", had referred not to our lesson but to this disappearance. I had little doubt that Kal had something to do with it. The timing was just too convenient.

When I arrived, Kal was waiting in his usual spot, but today the table had been cleared of scrolls. Instead, a small collection of fist-sized stones rested in the center, each one smoothly polished and faintly luminescent.

"Good morning, Tomas," he greeted me. "I thought we'd try something different today. These are Resonance Stones, they absorb and reflect blue sun energy in ways that can help with your paintings.”

I approached the table curiously, watching Kal carefully for any sign that he was preoccupied with the headmaster's disappearance. But his manner was as calm and focused as ever, betraying nothing unusual.

"How do they work?" I asked, deciding to follow his lead for now.

"Each stone has been calibrated to contain specific energy patterns," Kal explained, selecting one with a bluish-purple hue. "They help you understand the correct energy flows needed for more complex creations. Once you've mastered the pattern through the stone, you'll apply it to your actual painting."

He demonstrated by holding the stone between his palms and channeling a small amount of energy into it. The stone began to glow, then emitted a pattern of blue light that danced between his fingers, not a creation itself, but a template showing the energy arrangement.

"Watch carefully," Kal said, setting down the stone and picking up a brush. With swift, precise strokes, he painted a small rabbit on a scroll. Then, channeling the same energy pattern he'd just demonstrated with the stone, he brought the painted rabbit to life. It hopped around the table for a minute before dissolving.

I selected a stone, feeling its cool weight in my palm.

As I channeled a small amount of energy into it, I could sense the intricate pattern contained within, layers of purpose, form, and movement interwoven into a cohesive whole.

When I tried to paint what I felt, however, I only produced a formless cloud of blue light that quickly dissipated.

"You're sensing the pattern correctly, but your brushwork isn't capturing it yet," Kal observed. "Think of it like trying to transcribe a complex melody after hearing it only once. The stones let you 'hear' the melody clearly, now you need to practice reproducing it."

For the next hour, I practiced with different stones, gradually learning to feel and recognize various energy patterns. Once I could reliably reproduce a pattern from a stone, Kal would have me immediately try to apply it to a simple painting, channeling the energy in the same configuration.

"The key insight here," Kal explained as I finally managed to paint and animate a small turtle using a pattern I'd learned from one of the stones, "is that when bringing a creation to life, you need to give it not just form but purpose through your energy pattern. Lower-level creations aren't truly intelligent, they operate based on the intentions you infuse them with during creation."

"So, if I create a butterfly with the purpose of pollinating flowers..." I began.

"It will seek out flowers and attempt to pollinate them until its energy dissipates," Kal confirmed. "But it won't, for instance, decide midway to explore a different activity or respond to commands not aligned with its original purpose."

"That's why my butterfly yesterday couldn't change its flight pattern when I tried to redirect it," I realized.

"Exactly," Kal nodded approvingly. "Until you reach Rank 4, your creations will only carry out the purpose you imbue them with at formation. They lack the true consciousness necessary for adaptation or learning."

He selected a larger stone from the collection, this one with swirling white patterns against a deep blue background. "Let's try something more challenging. This stone contains the pattern for imbuing purpose alongside form. Study it, then paint a small rabbit. Instead of just giving it form, I want you to imbue it with a specific task, say, to retrieve that brush from the side table."

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I took the stone, feeling its energy pattern, more complex than the previous ones, with layered resonances that seemed to shift subtly under my fingers. I studied it carefully, channeling a little energy to make the pattern visible, memorizing the intricate flow and structure.

Then I set the stone aside, picked up my brush, and painted a small rabbit.

Concentrating deeply, I channeled my energy into the painting, following the complex pattern I'd just learned while visualizing not just a rabbit but a rabbit with the specific task of fetching the brush.

The painting glowed brilliantly, then the rabbit lifted from the page, becoming fully three-dimensional. The creation was remarkably detailed, I could see individual fur strands, the slight twitch of its nose, the purposeful gleam in its eyes.

Without hesitation, it hopped across the table, grasped the brush in its mouth, and began dragging it back toward me.

"Excellent!" Kal praised. "Now, try to command it to drop the brush and return without it."

"Drop the brush," I instructed the rabbit, but the creation continued its task, ignoring my command completely.

"As you can see," Kal explained, "it lacks the consciousness to adapt. Its entire existence is defined by the purpose you gave it at creation: to retrieve the brush. That single directive is all it knows or can know."

I watched as the rabbit completed its mission, depositing the brush at my hand before dissolving into blue light after about twenty seconds.

So, these creations were more like... programs.

It seemed between Rank 1 and Rank 3 they had predetermined patterns of behavior, it was only at Rank 4 they would develop true autonomy and the ability to learn beyond their initial purpose.

***

We spent the rest of the morning practicing with increasingly complex patterns and purposes.

By midday, I could reliably paint small animals that would perform simple tasks, retrieving objects, navigating obstacles, even performing basic sequences of actions like hopping in a specific pattern, all by applying the energy patterns I'd learned from the stones directly to my paintings.

As we prepared to conclude the lesson, Kal presented me with one final challenge, a stone with an unusually complex pattern that seemed to shift and change even as I held it.

"This one is special," he explained. "It contains a pattern for conditional behavior. Study it, then paint a rabbit that will attack that cushion over there, but only when it glows blue."

I studied the stone carefully, feeling the intricate layers of its resonance pattern. This was substantially more complex than anything we'd attempted so far, not just a fixed purpose but a conditional one requiring the creation to assess its environment before acting.

After carefully examining the pattern, I set the stone aside and painted a rabbit with particular attention to its eyes and posture. Channeling my energy with as much precision as I could muster, I followed the complex pattern while visualizing exactly what I wanted: a rabbit that would remain passive until the trigger condition was met, then attack the designated target.

The painting glowed with brilliant blue light, and a larger rabbit than before materialized. This one looked different from the previous creations, sharper somehow, with alert eyes that scanned the room immediately upon formation. It remained motionless, ears twitching occasionally as if listening for a signal.

Kal nodded approvingly, then made a subtle gesture with his hand. The cushion across the room began to glow with a soft blue light.

Instantly, the rabbit's demeanor changed. Its eyes locked onto the glowing cushion, and it launched itself across the room with surprising speed. It attacked the cushion with genuine ferocity, biting and clawing at the fabric with single-minded determination.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Kal commented, watching the scene with a smile. "The intensity of purpose directly correlates to the energy pattern you infused. You created not just an attacker but a predator, note the changes in its physical form compared to the retrieval rabbit. Sharper claws, more powerful hind legs for pouncing."

After about twenty seconds of systematic destruction, the rabbit finally dissolved into motes of blue light, leaving behind a thoroughly shredded cushion.

"Well done," Kal smiled. "Most students require multiple attempts to achieve that level of complex conditional behavior. You have an intuitive grasp of energy patterning that's rare even among those with strong resonance."

"It was more violent than I intended," I admitted, somewhat disturbed by the creation's single-minded destruction. The cushion looked like it had been attacked by a real predator, not a constructed manifestation.

"Another important lesson," Kal nodded. "Our emotional state during creation influences the manifestation in subtle ways. Your intensity of focus translated to intensity of purpose in the creation." He glanced at the ruined cushion and smiled slightly. "Don't worry about the damage. Creating and destroying are two sides of the same coin in Lightweaving. Both are necessary parts of mastering the craft."

Kal handed me one of the resonance stones, "take this back with you for practice, but remember, resonance stones are just training wheels. They show you the patterns, but true mastery comes when you can reproduce these energy configurations in your painting without relying on them. The stones can limit your creativity if you become dependent on them."

With a nod, I placed the stone in my pocket.

He then moved to the window, observing the position of the blue sun. "We should conclude today's lesson. The ceremony will begin in two hours, and we both need to prepare."

I blinked in surprise. "You're attending the ceremony too?"

Kal turned, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Of course. It's a momentous occasion, how could I miss it?"

"I just thought..." I hesitated. "Well, I thought you might be too busy to bother with something like this?"

"Typically, perhaps. But your selection as Saint is hardly typical, is it?" Kal's eyes held that gleam again. "Besides, as your master, my presence is both expected and required."

I just smiled back, but inwardly I couldn't help but note the inconsistency. From what I'd gathered through conversations with Novice Kon and snippets from other academy staff, Kal was notorious for his absence from ceremonial functions. He had missed not only the Saint Selection but even his own anointment as elder.

The only logical conclusion was that he was attending specifically to keep watch over me, the anomaly in his carefully mapped loops, the variable he couldn't account for.

Before I left, I decided this was the moment to bring up what was on my mind. "Speaking of expectations... I heard some troubling news this morning. About Headmaster Monroe."

A flicker of something, so brief that I nearly missed it, passed across Kal's face before his expression settled into a neutral concern.

"Ah, yes. His absence has caused quite a stir," Kal acknowledged with a small sigh. "The Council is taking appropriate measures, of course."

"Should we be worried?" I asked, watching his reaction carefully.

Kal shook his head dismissively. "I wouldn't concern yourself with it, Tomas. If a Rank 8 Lightweaver doesn't want to be found, no one will find him. The Headmaster has his own affairs to attend to: diplomatic missions, research expeditions. He's been known to disappear for weeks or even months when something captures his interest."

"I see," I said, maintaining a neutral expression. "I suppose I was just surprised, given the importance of today's ceremony."

"The academy functions perfectly well in his absence," Kal assured me. "There’s established systems in place that allow for smooth operation even when he's away. I'm sure he'll return when his current task is complete."

I nodded, but inwardly I had little doubt: Headmaster Monroe was likely never going to be seen again. At least not in this loop. Whatever Kal's plans required, the Headmaster's presence was clearly not part of them.

"I should return to the Apex to prepare then," I said, bowing slightly. "Thank you for today's lesson."

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