The one who first made the Four Darknesses realize this was before their departure, when they encountered the painter Nigel at Noah Station and heard the story from Nigel himself.
The renowned painter named Nigel Elliott had also once been a clumsy youth.
People had too high expectations of him, expectations that exceeded his actual abilities, and they looked at him with disappointment when he failed to meet those false expectations.
But the suffering and pressure he endured were much heavier than his own.
While earnestly completing that artless and ordinary work, Nigel spent eight years of his spare time building an unshakably solid foundation for himself.
After that, he spent twelve more years probing in the deepest, highest reaches of the industry. He kept hitting the south wall called "Yawen" and never looked back, even unto death.
So, in the year he turned forty-two, he stood up tall and took it like a man, the expectations people had of him twenty years ago.