Jack Of Arts

Prologue : Negotiations Between Husband and Wife

Woo, as usual was playing his lute in a grand lobby. He was a respected musician, almost of a noble standing, due to his skills with the lute and other stringed instruments adding to his musical masterpieces that could be counted in the hundreds.

He never had a rival in his life ever. Wherever he went to play, they showered him in jade and gold for every song he performed. Never in his life would he have thought to have become a glorified private bard.

Every day, he played for at least four hours in this same lobby for fifty years now. However, he is very satisfied with current circ.u.mstances.

He always thought he would go to hell due to his excessive fornication. Most of the women, be it commoners or nobles, who wanted and bedded him, aside from the pleasures of the flesh they offered, offered him nothing else.

Rarely does he makes love with a woman he wanted to know more intimately. That disinterest caused some of those women to be resentful enough to attempt to cause harm to him of varying degrees and forms.

But what made him felt most accountable is the harm and death brought upon to his friends and kin by the jealous husbands and lovers by many of the a.d.u.l.terous women whose carnal desires he reciprocated. After his mortal life ended, he was just glad end up where he is now.

He at first, assumed to become bored from the position he was divinely forced into. He was proven wrong soon though because of the privilege given to him by those same beings that acquired him; to learn even more knowledge in the art of music from those beings' limitless compendium of insights in art.

As Woo was playing his newly composed piece, a product of his recent masteries, he was interrupted by a woman's thunderous voice from above that shook the whole palace. "HOW DARE YOU!"

He was so startled he accidentally broke his strings. His Masters rock their abode once every few years with laughter or songs, but this is the first time he heard his Mistress shout in anger.

The Mistress, as addressed by Woo, the feminine epitome of art, usually known for her mysteriously ethereal looks, most divine beauty even amongst gods and deities, looked like she transformed into the personification of death.

Her usually elegant robes and dazzling black hair that flows smoother than the purest of waters, were billowing vigorously. Her anger directed towards a man across the room.

The Master, the masculine personification of art; known for his elegantly featured handsome face, a jawline that can cut to any woman's heart, a manly physique even the gods of war envy, then appeared to be a wounded gazelle looking for somewhere to as if being hunted by a lioness in the savanna.

"Love, please hear me out. It's not that consequential a loss on your part anyway." The Master pleaded.

"NOT THAT CONSEQUENTIAL?! They are MY artists! THEY are to CHANGE THEIR REALM!" the Mistress replied, not having any of her husband's requests.

The Master also knows that he "borrowing" his wife's mortal artists from their realm would cause those artists' deaths and would stump the artistic progress of their realm of origin for many years. More importantly, even if those artists he borrowed will be reincarnated to his realm or realms of his choosing, they can never go back to their original realm.

Once he takes away those artists from her realm, they're gone in that realm for good, never to contribute their arts ever again. The reason why he considered his request inconsequential in his wife's part is that just like him; his wife has influence over millions of realms when it comes to art. What are a few artists to take among the trillions?

"Come on, wife. I've also helped with that realm. I gave epiphanies to Rodin, Michelangelo, and those fellows from Tang and Ming. I gave inspirations to Da Vinci and Van Gogh. I provided momentary enhancements of brilliance to Mozart and Robert Johnson. Just this once, my love, and I will not touch any of your realms ever again."

"I never asked you to! You offered your 'help' as gifts in the first place, remember? And you dare called it 'Help'? Your 'HELP' is the one that should you should call INCONSEQUENTIAL! Those people were already brilliant enough on their own!

"All your 'Help' had done was to hasten their contributions. They would have become great eventually even without your help! By the way, remember what happened with Van Gogh and Johnson! Had you not interfered, the other gods would not have killed them untimely with their stupid sense of righteousness! You also know that human civilizations are rare across all realms, so losing those two IS CONSEQUENTIAL!"

The Master's case was getting weaker and weaker by the moment. It did not help that he indeed caused the death of two era changing artists that could have contributed substantially more than what they did, rare humans at that.

Still, he was not willing to give up. The realm he wanted to transplant his wife's artists with is a realm containing billions of those rare humans, dominated by that arrogant c*nt for a god of athletics.

It was petty, but he has no choice but to be since that realm's humans has no era changing art prodigies currently. The chance of one being born is falling by each generation.

"Well. How about we exchange? There are twelve of my realms containing humans civilizations,; pick out twenty four prodigies that are under 12 years old from each realm, in exchange for thirty-six of your living artists in their peaks. It's a great deal, right? Please love, I really need this!"

"Hah! That's one of my favorite realms! It's already generous of me for you to touch it! I would not, ever again, let you even set your eyes on it! Also, I've talked with Fate. According to her, I have waaaay more prodigies already in that realm, and more to be born, than the 288 you're offering." The Mistress countered again with a scoff.

Another point shot down.

He did not know she had that many in that realm alone. He was jealous but he can't do anything about it. She worked hard and cleverly to spread the arts in her realms, resulting in the propagation of arts resulting further into the extensive study of arts by those realms' dwellers.

Every god knows that the more extensive studies mortals do in a law, the higher the chance of prodigies and geniuses being born out of the people who are interested in the knowledge.

The master is actually a better artist, across many forms of art, than his wife could ever hope to be. It's just that compared to her as a god, he is not as competent in spreading his knowledge in his own realms of influence without upsetting the karma with his fellow gods. He could only cheat and ride with other gods' laws, to those gods' ire.

Suddenly, an idea popped inside his head. This made him mull over for a moment. The sudden silence and serious and thoughtful expression confused her.

"Very well, I'm sorry for bringing this idea up to you. How about this? I can promise to never ask this of you ever again. I have only one request. Grant me permission to have me send a mortal incarnation to your realm for fifty years with luxurious accommodation and resources. After that, I will owe you a favor."

The Mistress was taken aback at the unusual request. No matter how she thinks about it, there are only two outcomes she can figure from her husband's request: a fruitless one, or her husband causing trouble for her.

She can refuse the request, but if she granted it, his husband will not only drop this matter forever, she will also gain a favor.

So, she decided to grant him his wish and to eliminate the second outcome, she said "Swear in the name of the supreme, that during your time in that realm, you will not do anything that would remotely affect it either positively or negatively."

The Master, hearing this was secretly rejoicing on the inside. The reason why he made this final request regarding the matter is that, he found a way, albeit an uncertain and risky one, to boost his realm's arts without violating the fundamental law established by the Supreme that concerns spreading a god's influence: That is for a god to never offer a mortal, of any level of evolution, their own wisdom and knowledge of any law they mastered or governed.

In this case, Master with his mastery in the law of Arts, should not share his own wisdom to any mortal. A god is also not allowed to directly interact or even make his presence known to any mortal. Giving inspirations and epiphanies, boosting brilliance, however, is still allowed as long as the god granting them will not overdo it. A treasure is allowed to be granted as long as it within the reasonable limits.

"I swear, in the name of the Supreme, that I will not, in any form or intention and in any degree, disrupt the flow of laws in the realm my wife granted me access to, during the stay of my mortal incarnation." The Master confidently swore.

He was immediately, but momentarily washed over by a mysterious white light which signified the acknowledgement and acceptance of his oath by the Supreme.

"Thank you, my love. I owe you one." Master said as a figure, formed of his appearance, suddenly warped into existence beside him and sent it to his wife's realm. After his mortal incarnation sank into the realm, the Mistress suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Not long after that, her husband informs her that he is going to visit a friend, and then disappeared. She didn't know exactly why, but she is feeling cheated. She looked at her husband but he was not exhibiting any signs of deceit, but relief instead.

She of course do not doubt that his husband will follow the conditions he stated in his oath, which made her feel confused as to why she somehow felt deceived. Curious of what her husband is up to, she sent her will to watch what her husband's incarnation is currently doing in her realm. What she saw was both confusing and mundane.

Her husband's incarnation, not long after its appearance in her realm, for what looks to have been days, looks like it hasn't slept for days but still energetically browsing the internet.

She observed for a few years more but all she saw was the same daily routine of eating, exercising, bathing, browsing the internet, and sleeping.

Aside from those are the occasional walks in the park, attending sporting events, attending concerts, going to libraries, and trimming trees and bushes. Its activities were as random as the life of a human mortal from that realm, except for having a job.

Her husband hadn't returned yet from his visit to his friend, so she cannot question him. She felt like she has already seen everything about her husband's incarnation, so she resumed her attention to her other realms, continuing her godly duties.

Meanwhile, the Master did not lie and indeed visited one of his friends, one who is at the same level as he is, a god of two laws: numbers and craftsmanship. "To what do I owe Mr. Art and Ideas his visit?" the numbers god, albeit glad with the Master's visit, was surprised with the sudden uninvited arrival.

"It's been a long time, Mr. Logic. I have a project that I want to ask your help with. Are you free?" The Master, comfortable with his relationship with the numbers god, stated his intentions immediately.

The numbers god, who often worked to materialize his friend's ideas, was excited to hear this. However, he did not show his excitement, and instead wanted to get something out of this. After all, his services are not free. "Well, it's always a pleasure to work on your ideas. But just as before, every project has a price, yes?"

"Of course, I would not exploit you my friend. I want a treasure, just a small one, of course, that I can store some of my knowledge of the laws I mastered. I also want the treasure to be transplantable to one's soul." The Master, hiding all signs of deceit, stated his request.

The master knows that his idea, when used to what he intends to do is a very risky one. So to prevent his friend's suspicion, he asked for something so absurd, no one can figure out the real intention behind the idea.

"I can do that, but, from what I understand, that's a treasure intended to be given or traded to someone. You can just exchange insights the old fashioned way with other gods, so why the roundabout way? Unless of course… You're not intending to give it to another god." The numbers god said seriously.

This made the Master's insides churn. "I-I… My friend, you-"

"So, who is the lucky servant? I'm sure you, doing such a blatant way of granting knowledge mean you finally saw a deity among your subjects with good enough potential to pass your wisdom on." The numbers god, who can only come up with such conclusion, asked further. The Master was relieved by his friend's misunderstanding.

"My friend, you really never fail to see through me! As for the deity's identity, that will be a surprise of course. Also, I want the treasure to be flexible so that I can divide it into different independent treasures according to the level of the knowledge I want to them to contain. I don't want to grant my knowledge all at once." The master laughed to hide his relief.

His friend did a good job misinterpreting the real intention of the treasure, so he capitalized further on it.

"Sure I can do that, but what do you offer me for my services?" the numbers god started his negotiation. But because he also likes the master, he wants the master to offer what he is willing to give instead of him asking for the price.

The master, thankful for his consideration, decided to be generous as well. "I can give you Woo. That lute player by my palace's lobby. He's the youngest but has one of the best potentials among the deities in my palace to become a god. He can liven up your abode." The master offered.

"He's far from enough." The numbers god said after weighing Woo's worth.

"Woo is Human. You know it's rare for such a level of an artist to come out of our origin, my friend." This surprised the numbers god.

"A-a real human?! I thought you just made him appear to be one!" The numbers god knew of the Master's preference of changing his non-human subjects' outer appearance to humans. He both liked and looked down this habit of the Master because despite already becoming a god, he still held strong affection for his race of origin. Affection the numbers god has lost despite being a former human mortal himself.