17 : Renaissance Man 18: Part No.
17 : Renaissance Man Part No.
17
Renaissance Man
“Congratulations!
Your first livestream went really well.” When Gabriel emerged from the room after his stream, he found his younger sister sat waiting for him outside.
Gloria smiled widely as she approached him, taking his hands and shaking them to congratulate him.
Though she hadn’t been on the stream with her older brother, the young woman had following how her older brother’s first livestream was going.
In the beginning, she admitted, she felt a bit angry because those Babysitters kept disturbing him.
She had feared they would cause her big brother so much trouble that the livestream wouldn’t end well.
But to her relief, she saw them all silenced by her older brother’s talent, not daring to even send another obnoxious message by the time the stream concluded.
“I was so nervous.
It’s a relief to hear you say it went well.” Gabriel smiled in relief either.
“I saw so many people sending gifts to you.
The total must be in the hundreds of thousands already.”
Gloria teased her older brother, who had managed to capture the hearts of generous supporters since his first stream.
How did she know?
Well, she had appointed herself as the manager of the G Clef channel.
“Gifts?
Oh… those things?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, recalling the moment when he instructed Alan to conclude the livestream.
He found that in the end, it summarized the total number of viewers, messages, and gifts, most of which were gems sent enthusiastically by viewers at the end when he played Canon Rock and Winter.
Gabriel hadn’t expected people to dare showering him with this many gifts, given that he was a new streamer without experience or that many fans like other streamers.
“You’ve never played Winter for me before.
I used to hear Spring when I was little.
So there must be Summer and Autumn following them, right?” Gloria asked in surprise.
“That’s right, but that’ll be for the next stream.
I haven’t prepared the piano backing track yet.
Originally, I was planning to have you play it, but I didn’t think I’d end up using it in a stream like this.
If you want to hear the remaining songs, you must wait for the next stream.” Gabriel chuckled softly, smiling with a hint that everything was still a secret.
“By the way, do you know that the song you play is becoming a hot topic right now?
I saw people talking about how your new song has become a challenge among the violin streamers.” Upon seeing her older brother behave like he didn’t want to say it out loud, Gloria didn’t want to press further.
She shifted the conversation to a different topic.
When he heard his younger sister say that, Gabriel was nervous.
“Vivaldi’s Winter?
But that song’s not that hard.”
If they wanted a truly difficult piece, he could play one of Paganini’s songs in his next stream.
That is a real challenge for violinists.
“You’re exaggerating.
It’s really not easy for them, really.
And besides, it’s a piece from Earth.
Right now, everyone in the galaxy is obsessed with old culture.”
Gloria laughed when she saw Gabriel’s bewildered expression.
How could an innocent someone, who was only interested in music, like her older brother know about it?
Currently, everyone was treating G Clef like a walking relic of ancient civilization.
“Speaking of Earth… come to think about it… what’s it like now?”
Gabriel suddenly blurted out, as if he had just remembered something important.
Since the day he woke up to his new life, there hadn’t been a single day when he didn’t think about his memories of Earth—a planet filled with the beauty of nature, something that this current planet he lived in did not have much.
However, stories about Earth had become rare and mysterious in the present, leaving Gabriel feeling sad.
“Earth?
It should be a conservation planet by now.”
In truth, Gloria didn’t know much about it either.
In her previous life, she had almost no memories of this planet, as if it had faded away from people’s memory.
Since his younger sister didn’t know the answer either, then, the final solution would be his problematic AI.
“Alan, what’s the current state of Earth?” Gabriel passed the question on to Alan.
“Based on the research, Earth is the birthplace of the Homo sapiens species, also known as the home of humanity.
Presently, Earth has suffered damage due to global warming, and an urgent restoration is needed.
Currently, the human population on Earth is under one hundred million and is under the care of the Space Military Organization.”
Alan quickly processed the answer within a minute.
“One hundred million?”
Gabriel was so shocked at the information he got.
He had never imagined an Earth with so few humans remained.
When he was still alive his past life, there had been over seven billion.
This decreased by dozens of times!
“Yes, Master.
Having a large human population would hinder Earth’s restoration, as their lifestyle choices would not be good to nature.
The government, therefore, issued a regulation to relocate most of the human population off Earth.”
“Does that mean we can’t go there?” The young man pressed his lips tightly together, feeling a sense of emptiness in his heart.
“You can, Master.”
“We can’t, right…
Wait!
We can?!” He felt as if hope was handed to him.
“According to the Space Military Organization’s data, Earth is designated as a conservation planet that allows tourism.
However, the cost is very high, and the funds from tourism are used to further restore Earth.”
“It costs money?
How much?” Gabriel quickly asked further.
“The minimum cost is seven hundred million star coins per person, Master.”
“…” Gabriel’s dream was crushed instantly.
His swollen heart deflated like a popped balloon.
Seven hundred million star coins!
He had earned just a little over a hundred thousand coins from today’s stream.
How many years would he need to stream to gather that amount?
And he wanted to take Gloria with him too, which meant he would have to spend one billion four hundred million star coins?
And that was just the minimum… At this moment, Gabriel felt like the world was about to come to its end.
“But don’t worry, Master.
Every year, the streamer of a certain channel holds an event where they give away a ticket for a tour of Earth to a lucky winner.
And that event is coming up soon.”
“A streamer?” Gabriel’s ears perked up.
It seemed like his dream had a chance after all.
“Yes, the number one streamer in the art category, named Da Vinci.”
“Da Vinci?
Are they a fan of Leonardo da Vinci?” Gabriel joked, though what he said turned out to be true.
“You know that legendary figure too?
You’re absolutely correct, Master.
The owner of the Da Vinci channel mentioned that she was inspired to choose this name by Leonardo da Vinci, the influential genius from the Renaissance era.”
“Wow… People of this era really love ancient civilizations.”
Gabriel couldn’t help but feel deeply moved after hearing that.
Humanity, despite all its advancements—developing powerful psychic abilities strong enough to defeat monstrous creatures like the Zerg, finding ways to live in space, and pushing technological boundaries to their peak—could never escape the beauty of art and music that etched on their souls.
It could be said that humans in this time were so strong and powerful.
However, their pure spirits always sought the eternal beauty of art and music.
“What are you two talking about?
Something about art, the Renaissance, and Da Vinci?
Isn’t that the name of a streamer?”
Gloria, who had been listening since the beginning, couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
There were many things she didn’t understand.
“Are you interested in these things?
I can teach you.”
Gabriel sharply turned.
He was dying to revive this knowledge, and it would be great if he had someone to teach—this mischievous little sister seemed like an interesting choice.
But hearing that, Gloria made a face like she was being forced to swallow bitter medicine.
“No thanks.
I’ve already told you, I’m just going to play the piano.
I don’t want to learn about such complicated stuff.”
“Is that so…” Gabriel sighed in resignation.
Seeing her older brother’s dejected expression, Gloria could only say sorry to him in her mind.
She still held a dream of becoming a strong individual like in her previous life.
Even though she had met her older brother in this life, learned to play the piano, and discovered new, beautiful music, it didn’t help her forget the past.
She kept all those memories locked away in a deep corner of her mind, waiting for the right time in the future.
Therefore, aside from piano lessons with her older brother, Gloria spent her time training her powers and combat skills in the house’s basement.
Surely, apart from their parents, no one else knew about this—not even Gabriel, the older brother she was closest to.
She felt quite guilty for keeping this secret from him.
“It’s okay.
I won’t force you if you don’t like it.”
Gabriel said as he shook his younger sister’s head back and forth.
He understood that learning through forcing method never yielded good results, neither for the learner nor the teacher.
“About what you were talking to Alan… You want to visit Earth?”
Gloria secretly sweated as she asked, since that was a trip ranked as the most expensive trip in the galaxy—more costly than even taking a ship around the entire galaxy.
“It’s way too expensive.
I don’t have that much money…” Gabriel sighed as he told her that.
“But it seems there’s a streamer organizing an event to give away free tickets, so I was thinking of trying to join.”
“The streamer from the Da Vinci?” The young woman could now piece together why she heard that streamer’s name.
“That’s right,” the older brother nodded.
His younger sister was the smartest.
“But the channel’s activity is always a drawing competition.
Can you draw, Big Brother?”
Even though she wasn’t too immersed in the streamer world, she often heard stories about the generous art streamer who loved giving away prizes to fans skilled in drawing.
The giveaway ranged from money and art supplies to expensive gadgets like the latest model of ID Watch.
However, she never imagined that this streamer would be giving away tickets to visit Earth as well.
“Drawing, huh?” Gabriel was surprised; he hadn’t expected luck to be on his side like this.
“That’s right.
I’ve never seen you draw before, so how do you plan to compete with others?
And besides, this Da Vinci is known to be unpredictable, with no fixed rules.
They choose artwork based on their own whims, so, up to this day, no one can ever guess Da Vinci’s taste.”
Gloria told his big brother out of care.
She didn’t want to see her older brother be heartbroken over the dream that seemed almost impossible.
“Don’t worry.
I’ll show you something.”
Gabriel did as he said.
He ordered Alan to project a holographic screen, mimicking a sheet of paper.
Using his fingers as if they were pencils, he began to draw many strange lines.
At first, Gloria watched it and didn’t understand what her older brother was intending to do.
But as time passed, those black lines started forming into something—a beautifully, lively flower, even in black and white drawing.
“This is…?” Gloria’s expression showed her embarrassment.
“Is there anything you can’t do, Big Brother?”
“Haha, that’s a secret.” Gabriel couldn’t help laughing at his younger sister’s changing expressions.
In his previous life, aside from the title of the King of Musicians, Gabriel had another nickname which the people in the circle secretly gave him—the Renaissance Man.
His skills weren’t confined to just one field, but extended into many related areas like music, drawing, singing, history, and philosophy.
Everything he was interested in, he excelled at.
But because Gabriel’s musical talent was at a high level, he decided to treat drawing as just a hobby, even though he loved drawing and studying art pieces to the point of being capable of matching professional artists.
So, when he heard it was a drawing competition, Gabriel felt like heaven was helping him.
If he dusted off his drawing skills and practiced for a month or two, it probably wouldn’t be too hard for him to compete with others.
“And… you’re really going to do this?” Gloria was still in shock over her older brother’s intimidating talents.
“I’m not sure yet.
I don’t know when the event will start.
Alan, do you have any information?”
Gabriel didn’t dare to decide without enough details.
If there wasn’t enough time to prepare, his clear sky would be overcast.
“There’s no clear information yet.
But based on recorded data, the event is always held at the beginning of the year.
Alan estimates that the Da Vinci streamer will surely host the activity within the next four months.”
“Four months?” Gabriel’s eyes lit up.
“This is an approximate timeline based on Alan’s analysis of database.”
“Don’t forget, Big Brother, that you’re a streamer too.”
Gloria cautioned her older brother immediately.
They had been together for long, she knew his thoughts even before he opened his mouth to speak.
How could she not know what her older brother’s sparkling eyes mean?
She knew how much her big brother absorbed in what he was interested in, and if she let him focus solely on drawing, he wouldn’t come out for her to see his face for months.
“Hehe, I’m just excited.
If I get to go, I’ll take you with me.
Don’t worry.” Upon seeing his little sister’s knowing look, the older brother couldn’t help feeling nervous about his wrongdoing.
“I’m not worried about that!
I’m afraid you’ll just focus on drawing and neglect streaming.”
Gloria rested her hands on her hip, scowling and complaining.
Didn’t her older brother realize how hard she had worked to build up their viewer count and followers?
She’d put in so much effort practicing the piano, and if everything fell apart because of something like this, her innocent young girl soul would definitely be shattered by resentment.
“Well then, I’ll leave it to this little manager to plan my schedule.”
Gabriel gave her a pleading look, blinking his eyes.
It caused Gloria to pause.
No one knew better than her how much devastating power was in that pleading gaze which came with her big brother’s cute, doll-like face!
“Fine…” In the end, Gloria had to agree in resignation.
“But you have to promise me that you’ll stream at least ten hours a week.
If you break your promise… I won’t accept it!”
Gloria laid down her ultimatum, clenching her fist in a serious warning.
She clearly expressed that someone would be hurt if they didn’t keep their word.
“I promise!” Upon hearing that, Gabriel grinned widely.
He did not mind his little sister’s fierce demeanor at all.
See?
His Gloria was the kindest!