5 Byproducts and Skyproducts

Live-streaming was the premier way that people made money off of doing nothing. Whether it was playing games, doing art, or bouncing their breasts their viewers would eat it up. This is why it was perfect for Wind. With a non-existent fame, he could build a small viewer base with his live-streams and maybe just maybe he could scrounge up enough money.

Wind started to work on setting up his camera, especially with painting camera quality was important. He set up his easel in view of the camera, he wanted to make sure that the viewers could at least see the painting.

And with that he was done with the setup, all he had to do was make an account and start recording. His channel was named Painting with the Wind, he chuckled when he typed it in. He was finally ready to hit record.

He had never live-streamed before but he was pretty sure of the gist of it. He pressed play, waved to the camera and started to paint.

*Hovering right outside of the Graybar*

"My khan we've just received a transmission coming through our communication blockers." A hulking muscular man said hovering over a computer.

The person he was talking to was almost three meters tall, with bright red facial hair and a giant metallic bow slung on his back. He sat on a throne that was even taller then him with a giant beasts skull on the top of it.

They were in the central command of a large bloodred spaceship.

"I thought most people had left this dump, what does it say?" The three-meter tall man said rubbing his beard.

The muscular man looked back at the screen, then looked again, and third time for good measure.

"It's a video?" He said. He had never seen anything like this.

"Of what?" The giant said.

The muscular man stuttered, a couple droplets of spit fell out and rolled on the screen.

"It's someone painting."

*Back in Wind's house*

<+10 Painting XP>

<+3 Knowledge Points>

A brush fell on the painting, a hand moved it, and a Khan watched. Wind was totally absorbed inside the painting, he had noticed that these days he had gotten more and more absorbed into things. A generous departure from the hazy days he first spent at the colony.

After he was done with the painting he turned to look back at the live-stream. Nobody was there. Wind expected it but it still hurt a little.

How many people were live-streaming painting, apparently a large amount? He doubted it but still. Maybe people just didn't like painting. He got up and made himself some breakfast with a little leftover grain. He poured the goop of grain and water into his mouth and used a napkin to finish himself off.

Painting really made him hungry. The water was calm today, the skies were grey, it was a normal day in this god-forsaken grey planet. He began to paint again and again and again. Until the skies had turned a midnight oozy black.

As the day grew darker his painting became darker and darker.

<Painting XP +25>

The familiar words fell down in his vision as he finished another painting. It was simply a dirt level painting but still, it gave him a substantial amount of XP, even more than the previous fire level one.

The night seemed to entrap him inside the house, maybe even trap him in his mind a little. And it hit him, his next painting he had the idea. It would be a man, in a house surrounded by the spirits of the night.

With a stroke of paint, he painted the dirt underneath the house. Followed by the trees looking at the house. And then he started to paint the house. His painting level wasn't high enough for a lot of detail but he still got the feeling down that he wanted.

Then he painted each spirit, one for each of his family members. With the final one, a small girl in a pale blue dress being his sister baring her teeth.

The night was still, a foreign creature howled, he painted the last face. It was finally complete.

<+10 Painting XP>

<Painting leveled up to level 2(Journeyman)>

<+10 Knowledge Points>

<Family>

Rank: Fire

Color: D

Composition: C

Creativity: A

Brush: D+

Description: The painting an artist used to rank-up to the Journeyman stage. The pinnacle of an artists sorrow.

He sat back down in his chair. He had finally done it, after working for the past week his work was finished. His paintings went from "Tree" to the realistic "Family". He loved the feeling of getting stronger. He could feel his paintings getting more beautiful.

From the sky came a noise. Wind had never heard this noise before. It sounded like something he had heard before. The rumbling of engines but who could be flying to this planet, maybe it was the freighter returning?!

He got out of his chair and got outside. Up in the sky he saw a ship he didn't recognize descending down right towards his front lawn. As Wind looked up he saw a distinctive symbol, the symbol of the Khanate.

They had come. But for him?