I Became an All-round Artist

Two hours later, Xue Liang returned to the composition department, looking dazed. His colleagues immediately gathered around him, their faces filled with curiosity.

“What did Representative Lin call you for?” “You were gone for so long!” “This is the first time Representative Lin has ever called anyone from our composition department!” “Come on, he’s not an emperor. Why use the word ‘summon’?” “I actually think ‘summon’ fits. It suits Representative Lin’s status.” “Well, you’re not wrong.” “…”

After some back-and-forth chatter, they all turned to Xue Liang. “Ah Liang, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I…”

Xue Liang looked at them, opened his mouth, and finally spoke after a long pause: “I’m learning composition from my teacher now.”

Everyone was shocked. “Teacher?”

Xue Liang, still a bit lost, replied, “Representative Lin is my teacher. He said he’ll guide me in composition from now on…”

“Seriously?” “No wonder you were gone so long.” “Did Representative Lin teach you for two hours?”

No one expected this, but what Xue Liang found even more astonishing was how, thinking back to the lesson, he felt utterly overwhelmed. “Representative Lin is just…”

“What?”

Everyone stared at Xue Liang.

After a long moment of searching for the right word, and just as people were about to lose interest and walk away, Xue Liang suddenly said, “I feel like no one in the world understands composition better than Representative Lin!”

Everyone: “…”

Then came a burst of laughter.

The head of the music department patted Xue Liang on the shoulder. “You’re a bit of an exception among us, since you haven’t formally studied composition. So, it makes sense that your expertise is lacking. Representative Lin is a top-tier composer, no doubt he knows more than all of us. But to say no one in the world knows composition better than him is a bit much. No one but the true masters would dare claim that.”

Xue Liang fell silent.

He wanted to tell them he had been relentlessly studying composition every day, and had almost finished self-learning his university-level composition courses.

He wanted to say:
Representative Lin is one of those masters!

But he knew no one would believe him. Only Xue Liang himself knew just how much he had gained from just two hours of studying with Lin.

“Looks like Representative Lin has tricked Ah Liang into a stupor,” one of the composers laughed.

Xue Liang suddenly felt anger well up. He looked at the person and said, “That’s because you don’t understand Representative Lin!”

“Told you so,” the colleague laughed even harder.

Xue Liang clenched his fists, then unexpectedly calmed down, looking at the person with a cool expression. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“What, really?”

The colleague, now somewhat displeased, felt uneasy under Xue Liang’s gaze and couldn’t help but retort, “You think learning from Representative Lin for a few days is going to turn you into some kind of genius? What, are you going to land a 3-million-dollar contract with Thunder Entertainment too? Sure, you’ve got the company’s best success rate for deals, but your biggest project to date, if I’m not mistaken, was only worth a down payment of 200,000, right?”

“Jokes are one thing, but that’s crossing the line.”

The supervisor frowned and shot a warning glance at the colleague before turning to Xue Liang. “Keep studying hard. This is a rare opportunity. Representative Lin chose you because he sees the most potential in you.”

“Yeah.”
Xue Liang nodded firmly.

The colleague who had been picking on him pursed his lips but didn’t say anything more. At the end of the day, his frustration stemmed from the fact that Representative Lin had chosen Xue Liang and not him.

…

Lin Yuan found teaching composition to be quite interesting, especially because when he activated the Yang Zhongming character card, his consciousness remained fully intact.

So while he was teaching Xue Liang, he could also feel himself learning.

That’s the magic of these character cards.

Even though he was teaching someone else, it felt like he was teaching himself as well.

Unfortunately, while teaching, he couldn’t enjoy the “Teacher’s Aura” benefits—Xue Liang got them all.

“Has my Teacher’s Aura leveled up?” Lin Yuan asked the system.

The system responded, “The effects of the host’s Teacher’s Aura have been gradually increasing, but recently, they’ve stagnated because the host hasn’t been teaching for quite some time.”

Lin Yuan understood.
The system was referring to the time when he had been teaching painting at Qinyi. Back then, his Teacher’s Aura improved quickly.

“The problem is…”

Lin Yuan frowned and said, “I’m only teaching one student right now. At most, this mission will have me teach three people. In this case, it’ll be hard to improve my Teacher’s Aura.”

“The host misunderstands,” the system replied. “The Teacher’s Aura not only improves with a broader scope of teaching but also with the quality of teaching. In other words, even if you teach just one person, as long as you elevate their skills to a certain level, the Teacher’s Aura will increase and may even level up!”

Lin Yuan valued the Teacher’s Aura because teaching could be a way to earn money.

Xue Liang should’ve paid for these lessons too.
But this was a system-assigned task, and technically, Xue Liang was still his subordinate, so Lin Yuan felt awkward bringing up payment.

Still, he hadn’t realized that teaching just one person could also enhance his Teacher’s Aura.

He asked internally, “So, using Xue Liang as an example, are you saying that if I can make him an exceptional composer, it could be just as effective as teaching a whole group of students?”

“Yes.”

So that’s what “elite training” meant!
Had he known earlier, he would’ve focused all his efforts on a student with great potential and gained even more experience.

Like back at Qinyi’s art club.
He could’ve spent more time teaching Zhong Yu and turning him into a true painting master!

It’s like leveling up in an online game.
Fighting a bunch of small monsters gives you 100 experience points, but defeating an elite monster could give you the same!

“I get it now.”
Lin Yuan was a bit annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

The system hesitated. “Because the host has never really enjoyed the learning process I provide. The host only seems to care about money and has been too focused on chasing profits.”

Was the system talking back?

Lin Yuan became even more annoyed.
Who said he only cared about money?
He also liked pudding, jelly, ice cream, egg yolks…

And tea.

The system seemed to realize it had crossed a line by mocking its host, so it offered compensation. “The system has a new feature the host has yet to discover. I had hoped you’d figure it out on your own, but seeing how you only think of me when it involves money, I’ll offer a hint.”

“What hint?”

“One reason the system encourages the host to take on students is that once a disciple reaches a certain standard and begins releasing their own works, the reputation they generate will also be credited to the host. Perhaps one day, your influence will spread far and wide, with countless students under your name.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Lin Yuan was exasperated. “You should’ve said that earlier… You should’ve… You should’ve told me long ago… How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me…”

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