Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 220

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 220

Males protect the group and hunt.

Females give birth to young, raise them, and wait.

For the males who left the nest to return safely with food.

For my young to survive another day.

Males don’t know.

What kind of heart the females left in the nest have.

With what kind of heart they raise the young.

The small female remembers.

The screams of a mother who lost her young.

Hyaaaaa! Uaaaaa!

A mother who had grown weak and was pushed out of the food competition.

Her young, her own younger brother, who died withering away because she couldn’t eat properly and had no milk.

Everyone in the group thought he died because he was born weak.

The mother became vicious.

She was the first to rush for the food that the males caught and the males left behind after eating, and she unconditionally stuffed anything edible into her mouth.

But this time, the young died from drinking too much milk.

Why. Why on earth!

The mother ran out of the nest and was never seen again.

The female left behind began to be raised by the group.

She learned many things.

How to find water, how to run away.

What could be eaten, what couldn’t be eaten.

How to make sharp stones, how to treat animal hides.

She learned everything the females had to do when the males went out hunting and when they returned from hunting.

The small female was dissatisfied with this.

I want to go catch prey too. Take me with you.

The males laughed loudly.

The females did the same.

Young one. Small female. You can’t do that.

That night, the small female took a large male’s sharp stone and left the nest to prove that she could do it too.

And she came face to face with it at a distant waterside.

Something large and dangerous.

Eyes the size of fists that quietly watched while licking water with a large tongue.

A massive body that seemed like it could swallow her in one bite.

It quietly watched while drinking water, then turned away, and only then could the small female move her body and hurriedly returned to the nest.

Fortunately, she wasn’t caught and could be safe, and the small female eventually grew large enough to accept a male.

She conceived and gave birth to young.

Only then did the female come to understand.

Why her mother had cried like that.

Why she had been so desperate.

The female held the beast’s fangs that the male had given as a courtship gift and prayed.

That he could return safely.

That my young could grow safely today too.

That it could grow large and dangerous like that dangerous something from back then.

Scrape!

‘That day she was able to see.’

In her hazy consciousness, in her dream.

The appearance of her young grown like that thing.

‘The head was like that thing.’

Scritch!

‘The forearms were also thick like that thing.’

Scrape!

The legs and body were also thick like that thing.

Something like that thing stood on two feet and quietly looked down.

Mother, my mother. Through your earnest wish, I was able to grow like this.

Ah, my young. You’ve grown so magnificently…

Ah!

‘But she was startled.’

When she opened her eyes, the appearance of her gallant and dangerous young gradually became blurry.

‘As if fearing that her young couldn’t grow like that, she picked up a sharp stone.’

At first, she drew that appearance on the ground. So she wouldn’t forget.

But it was futilely erased by rain that happened to fall.

Next, she drew it on the wall of the nest.

Someone erased it saying this dangerous thing could come.

‘So she began to carve the fangs that the male had gifted.’

Scrape!

‘Every day she carved little by little and prayed.’

That my young could grow gallant and dangerous.

“That it could become like that thing… Huh?”

Johann, whose concentration was broken, is startled.

Professor Olivia and the new students who had approached beside him and were staring intently at the lion-man.

Their eyes were shaking.

‘What is this?’

He knows what it is.

The lion-man that anyone who sculpts couldn’t not know. A sculpture so simple that even a ten-year-old kid could carve it.

But it’s different.

The slightly bent legs resembling a lion’s thighs seem like they’ll leap out at any moment, and the loosely hanging hands resembling a lion’s arms feel like they’ll scratch if you’re not careful.

Past the thick neck, the plump mouth makes the heart flutter as if it’ll bare its fangs at any moment, and from the two eyes carved by poking like dots, a weighty spirit is felt.

It seems to be saying to step aside.

That’s why it’s shocking.

‘Emotion is contained in the sculpture!’

A realm that not just anyone can reach, even if they sculpt and have talent.

Somewhere that even they, who had sculpted for over 10 years, couldn’t reach.

‘How on earth?!’

‘I’ve never heard that Johann sculpts?’

Far from hearing about it, Johann didn’t even know about the lion-man, which is basic knowledge for anyone who sculpts.

Then there’s only one answer.

Chill!

‘It’s innate!’

Innate talent is above them, who had worked hard for over 10 years.

Feeling dejected, shocked, afraid, and thrilled.

Professor Olivia, glancing at the students whose faces bloomed with countless emotions, firmly grasps Johann’s hand.

She, who had seen what the new students couldn’t see, was extremely excited.

‘It was a father’s, no, a mother’s heart!’

The atmosphere that emanated from Johann’s entire body as he carved the piece of wood.

It was rough and earnest, the appearance of a mother endlessly wishing for her child’s success.

‘He carved the lion-man with a mother’s heart!’

The child wanted to become as great as Lionman.

It was a remarkably fresh interpretation, but this kind of interpretation and immersion was precisely the talent a sculptor needed to possess to achieve greatness.

A talent that took far too long to acquire unless one was born with it.

“Jefferson, I’ll make a serious recommendation. How about trying sculpture?”

Professor Olivia looked at him seriously with eyes devoid of any trace of laughter.

* * *

“So? What did you answer?”

“I said I’d think about it.”

In the car leaving UCLA.

Johann and Emily, having finished all their classes for the day with the liberal arts art history lecture, were having a conversation.

“There’s no need to decide right there on the spot.”

“That’s true. So how was the art history lecture?”

“What about you?”

Emily had signed up for art history, saying she wanted to take at least one class with Johann. As a liberal arts art history lecture, all current students could take it.

“It wasn’t bad for me. What about you?”

Johann had extremely broad and deep knowledge about art. Perhaps he might not have found it interesting.

And Emily’s thoughts were correct.

“So-so?”

Thanks to ‘Appraiser’ and ‘Forgery Expert’, they only taught surface-level content he already knew. If it weren’t for the rumor that they gave good grades, he wouldn’t have signed up.

“I figured… But where are we going?”

This wasn’t the way home. Normally, they should have turned left immediately after leaving UCLA, but now they were on Route 405 to the right of UCLA.

Johann pointed to the navigation.

“Here.”

Carter Sexton Art Supplies.

The oldest art supply store in LA.

The ‘woman’ who had sculpted Lionman today was expressing dissatisfaction. She said wood couldn’t express the ideals she desired.

Johann was thinking the same thing.

Ding!

“Wow.”

“Whoa.”

Opening the door to a shop with colorful neon signs like a bar, the smell of an old fancy shop washed over them.

A space much wider than it appeared from outside, with dim lighting illuminating brown wooden display cases lined with design notebooks, pens, brushes, and all kinds of art supplies.

They said it was the oldest art supply store in LA, and it really felt that way.

“Hello? Where are you students from? UCLA? Cal Arts? Center?”

A short-haired white woman in her thirties who had been leaning on the counter stood up with sparkling eyes. Her gaze was like looking at cute animals.

Johann and Emily’s mood brightened.

‘She saw us as college students!’

As college students, adults, not high school students.

“UCLA.”

“Wow. You’re my juniors! Nice to meet you, I’m Sully.”

“Oh? Really? Were you in the Art Department?”

What a coincidence this was.

“Yeah. Painting. What about you juniors?”

Johann and Emily told her their majors.

“Oh! Then you came to the right place! We have everything related to photography here too!”

They had everything needed for photography: light panels, lighting equipment, film cameras, camera film, developing chemicals, and more.

“No. For now, we want to look at brushes and drawing books.”

Johann looked at Emily.

“You’re still doing art, right?”

Emily, who had taken art tutoring following Johann when she was 11.

“You’re buying mine too?”

“It’s nice to draw together.”

When one of them sketched, the other would color.

“On the house terrace, at the fountain, or in the forest.”

“Let’s buy them quickly!”

“Hehe.”

The two headed toward the art supplies section holding hands tightly, while Sully followed with a fresh smile.

“Oh, how was that senior guy?”

“That person?”

Emily smiled wryly.

“He wouldn’t even make eye contact, would he?”

From his perspective, an upper-class freshman he couldn’t dare to look at.

“He looked pathetic.”

“Hehe. What about clubs?”

“I’m going to register with PHC.”

Panhellenic Council. A women’s social club organization with several chapters.

“Alpha Chi Omega? Alpha Phi?”

“No, the governing council.”

The governing council that managed all the women’s social clubs that were the object of admiration for UCLA women. Even if the most influential clubs were Alpha Chi Omega or Alpha Phi, they couldn’t challenge the authority of the governing council.

“Joy and I decided to join together.”

“Whew.”

As expected, his girlfriend thought differently.

“Well, joining the governing council is a hundred times better than looking at those pathetic people. Then this young lady is also my junior?”

“My goodness! You were in the governing council?”

‘Huh?’

What did that mean? Emily and Sully snorted as if it were ridiculous.

“PHC has a class system.”

“Class system?”

“Servant, commoner, noble.”

“…What?”

Newly joined freshmen without any particular background became servants.

Sophomores became commoners, and juniors became nobles.

“If your parents have good jobs like mine, you start as a noble.”

Even if you became a sophomore or junior, if you didn’t have any particular background, you remained a servant.

“What kind of ridiculous…”

“That’s what I’m saying! How great do they think they are! Right?”

“Wow. Our junior is feisty?”

‘Creating class divisions in this era…’

These people who weren’t even real nobles were doing strange things.

Johann shook his head and examined the brushes while glancing at Emily and Sully, who were chatting animatedly.

“Oh, it’s da Vinci.”

da Vinci Maestro. Germany’s premium natural brush brand.

“There’s Winsor and Raphael too?”

Britain’s Winsor & Newton, France’s Raphael. All premium brands. Befitting the oldest art supply store in LA used by countless LA artists, the lineup was impressive.

“Oh… huh?”

Johann tilted his head.

Among hundreds, thousands of watercolor brushes, there was one slightly worn brush mixed in. He slowly closed and opened his eyes at something that seemed familiar.

‘My God. This exists here?’

Johann hurriedly takes out a brush.

“Are you really selling this?”

“Oh? You know what this is?”

Of course he knows.

1841, Winsor & Newton received a medal from the British Royal Family.

Later in 1866, Queen Victoria requested that Winsor & Newton brushes should become the finest watercolor brushes, and Winsor & Newton created the Kolinsky Sable Brush Series 7 line, which remains beloved to this day.

But this is a brush that was exclusively supplied to the British Royal Family. The small crown emblem engraved on the body is proof of that.

“Why is this here…?”

‘Look at this?’

Sully laughs as if amused.

“I’ll buy this. Absolutely. No, all of these too!”

When Johann pulls out all the British Royal Family supply brushes hidden among the brushes, Sully bursts into laughter.

“Can I test them?”

“Of course.”

When Sully soon brings a cup of water and paper, Johann hands one of the brushes to Emily.

“Try using it.”

“…Okay.”

Emily grips the brush, dips it in water, and draws a line on the paper.

And…

“…?!”

“It feels different, right?”

“Completely different!”

Although she had used many top-quality natural brushes before, this one feels different. It glides smoothly like sliding on ice, but stops when you want it to stop, and curves are drawn so easily.

A comfort and stability as if her fingers had grown longer.

“H-how did you know about something like this?”

‘A Forgery Expert treasured it like a gem.’

A masterpiece among masterpieces that a Western ‘Forgery Expert’, not an Eastern one, never lent to anyone and only used when creating truly important forgeries. Since it’s supplied to the royal family, it’s a brush you can’t obtain even with money.

“I was trying to get one too.”

But I gave up because I’d have to go all the way to Britain to get it, and I never knew it would be here in LA. Hidden among thousands of brushes like this.

“W-wait a moment. I’ll get a basket!”

It would be a disaster if they dropped it and the bristles got disheveled.

Emily quickly brought a basket, and Sully shrugged her shoulders at Johann’s gaze.

‘Well, she wouldn’t easily reveal trade secrets… Wait.’

“Could it be?”

“Wh-what?”

Johann hurriedly looks at the boxes of oil paints stacked neatly nearby. Then he spots one box, a wooden box at the very bottom, and his eyes widen.

“It’s here.”

He smoothly pulls it out and brushes the dust-covered surface, revealing a crown emblem.

“Royal supply Winsor Newton… Emily, put this in too.”

“Okay!”

“If this is here… Right, there should be something like this too!”

This time Johann pulls out a box from among the watercolor paints.

A white box with wings drawn on it.

“Genus.”

Known only to those in the know, watercolor paints that the Artisan named Genus makes exactly 200 sets per year using traditional methods.

“Traditional methods?”

“It means they’re all natural pigments.”

“…Crazy.”

“Ahahaha!”

Sully couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Johann’s keen eye for picking out only treasures.

* * *

“Don’t you need anything else?”

Sully breathes heavily from laughing too much.

Everything’s been cleaned out. All the treasures that most artists wouldn’t recognize even if they were right in front of them.

“Do you happen to have mammoth, saber-tooth tiger, or narwhal ivory?”

“Ahahaha!”

How could he mention exactly the same things she deals with.

“Normally I should say no…”

Carving materials she would have mercilessly said no to if anyone other than Johann had asked.

“Wait here. I’ll bring them right away.”

“W-wait. Mammoth? You have saber-tooth tiger ivory too?!”

“I keep them stocked for real professionals like your Boyfriend.”

Mammoth and saber-tooth tigers are often discovered in Siberia or Alaska, so she keeps them in stock.

She also handles elephant ivory from naturally aged elephants in countries with developed elephant breeding like Thailand, and horns from narwhals, the unicorns of the ocean, from specimens that died caught in nets.

“…Is this a wizard’s magic shop?”

“Hohoho! Wait here.”

She opens the door to the Interior of the shop and soon comes out carrying three large ivory pieces.

“Ugh?!”

Emily covers her nose in shock at the indescribable nauseating smell she had never smelled before.

“This is what bone smells like, junior. How about you, Art Department junior?”

Tap tap!

Johann taps the ivory pieces and laughs as if incredulous.

‘They’re properly dried.’

Top-quality materials carefully selected and properly post-processed by an expert, hard to obtain even with money.

“I’ll pay for all of this too.”

“That’s 75,000 dollars total, junior.”

“Eek?! Ex-expensive!”

“Check is fine, right?”

“Of course it is! Please come again next time!”

* * *

“Phew!”

An empty Building among the Annex Building of an Independent Estate.

A large Table and chair are placed in the empty space where only sunlight enters through big windows with nothing else inside.

Emily opens all the windows wide and places carving tools on top, while Johann brings and places the ivory pieces.

“This place finally gets filled.”

“Haha.”

“What are you going to carve?”

“First, one will be a lion man.”

The appearance of the Child that the ‘woman’ desperately wished for.

“And?”

“Well…”

‘That depends on what’s trapped inside these ivory pieces.’

A sculptor once said. Sculpture is about pulling out the forms trapped inside the material.

Recalling those words, the ‘woman’ marvels that it’s really true.

‘I can see it.’

It’s clearly visible.

He sees through the form of a ‘woman’ trapped in ivory, whose orb is as large as three fists, larger even than art student Benjamin’s despite being from 40,000 years ago.

Someone who would have achieved greatness if only born in the right era fidgets restlessly, asking to be freed.

‘First, the Lion Man.’

As Johann’s gaze changes, Emily sits down in a chair.

“Can I watch?”

“Yeah.”

As much as you want.

Johann picked up the grinder. First, he had to cut this large ivory.

Whirrrrr!

* * *

Ring ring ring!

A restaurant where the melody of ‘Beethoven’s Triple Concerto: Violin, Piano Arrangement – performed by Johann Jefferson & Martha Argerich’ plays.

“Hey, sexy lady.”

Professor Olivia, who had been fiddling with something in her hand, waves and looks at the approaching white middle-aged woman.

“You came?”

“What were you looking at so intently that you didn’t notice me coming… Oh, right. You’re deaf.”

“Same goes for you, this woman.”

A sculptor’s occupational hazard. Hammering carving knives or chisels, or using grinders weakens their hearing.

“I was just looking at something made by someone who makes you wonder if God should allow this.”

“What…”

Thunk!

When the Lion Man that Johann carved – the Lion Man that Professor Olivia had readily handed over when he asked if he could borrow it – is placed down, the middle-aged woman purses her lips.

“…It’s magnificent?”

The sculpture contains emotion.

“Who made this piece? Do I know them?”

“If you know them, you’d know them? Though they’re not a sculptor.”

“…?”

“Would you believe me if I said this is the work of someone who’s almost never done sculpture before?”

“…Wow.”

Who could it be. A genius with talent beyond reason, someone who makes you wonder if God should allow this, just as Professor Olivia said.

“But what’s the sudden occasion? You’re busy with the exhibition these days.”

“Actually, that’s why I wanted to meet. I thought there might be empty spots, so I was going to exhibit your students’ works. But…”

It seems that won’t be necessary.

“This person would work. Who is it? Give me their contact information.”

At the middle-aged woman’s words, Professor Olivia bursts into a hollow laugh and points at the speaker.

“You don’t need contact information. It’s the person who performed that.”

“…?”

At her friend’s puzzled expression, Olivia’s hollow laugh grew deeper.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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