Chapter 55
Janis: What’s Your Review?
Janis was clearly surprised by Eivass’s answer.
“Is that so…”
Her emerald pupils widened slightly as she murmured.
Isabelle, standing beside her, nodded in agreement with a joyful expression. “I also really like ‘Crystal Sea’.”
In her understanding, “Crystal Sea” was Janis’s masterpiece and her favorite painting.
The fourteen-meter-long scroll was entirely created using the “Magic Painting” technique. When viewed in the dark, one could even hear the sound of the tides.
And when the candlelight was lit—even a tiny bit of light shone upon the scroll would illuminate the entire deep blue sea.
The light hitting it would freeze the ocean in the painting into beautiful crystals, and the room’s temperature would drop accordingly.
Each time the angle and brightness of the light differed, the intricate reliefs that appeared as the crystal solidified would also change. In summer, as the angle of the sun’s radiance gradually shifted, the Crystal Sea would undergo endless transformations in real-time.
These paintings were previously collected in Professor Moriarty’s art museum.
About six or seven years ago, the Queen grew old and her body became increasingly frail. She couldn’t tolerate the heat in summer, but the “Silver Frost” created by alchemy was too cold. So, Eivass’s foster father, after obtaining Master Janis’s consent, moved this painting to the Silver and Tin Hall.
Once the curtain on this painting was lifted, the cool air emanating from it could cool the entire palace to a pleasant autumnlike state. It wouldn’t be too cold to the point of being bone-chilling.
In winter, as long as the curtain was kept closed, no cold air would escape, and one could still hear the peaceful sound of the tides when walking nearby.
In summer, Isabelle would sometimes gaze at it for the entire day, never tiring of it. Isabelle, who initially wasn’t very interested in painting or sculpture, decided to pursue the “All-Rounder” profession rather than the “Chanter” after seeing this painting.
Her talent was actually concentrated in singing, followed by dancing. But after coming into contact with Janis’s artwork, she felt a beauty within it—a trace that, like “Lulu’s Magic Flute,” would be etched deeply into one’s heart and never forgotten after seeing it just once.
However…
“I remember Master has better paintings, right?”
Isabelle looked at Janis. “Master told me before. Those paintings involved the secrets of the Nine Pillar Gods, Heavenly Envoys, and Disciples, and contained Path Power.
“They were different from the ‘Gentle Miracles’ of ‘Crystal Sea,’ but more ferocious miracles.”
“…Ah, indeed, there are.”
Janis nodded. “Those were painted when I traveled the world. Some are related to the mortal wars involving the Nine Pillar Gods; some are related to alternate possibilities of history…”
Despite saying so, her face showed no trace of pride or arrogance.
Eivass knew why.
—Because the names of the three paintings he mentioned were the three special mechanics that Janis used in her Level 80 high-difficulty dungeon, “The Twin Towers of the Morning Dusk Palace.”
The tenets of The Path of Beauty were harmony and art, flow and eternity; however, once it involved the “solidification of beauty,” it easily led to the “all things must eventually perish” sentiment, hence it espoused the Twilight Path, which advocated for “preservation” and “solidification.”
Janis could not resist that impulse.
But she had already embarked on the dual Paths of Balance and Beauty, and could no longer tread a third path. Therefore, she could only control herself with reason and maintain her inner balance.
Painting was inherently an art of turning the ephemeral into the eternal. While “Magic Paintings” were indeed miraculous and could store more information, they lost that momentary eternal beauty.
Thus, after reaching the limits of the path of painting, Janis reverted to her roots and began to pursue “Immovable Paintings.”
When she battled the first Heavenly Envoy to descend long ago—the “Amber Heavenly Envoy” of the Twilight Path—she obtained the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s essence. But at that time, she did not exchange it for the Heavenly Envoy’s essence of The Path of Beauty, nor did she entrust it to Extraordinary individuals of other Paths to craft equipment.
She wanted to create a painting that surpassed her own abilities. To use external forces to guide her own path forward.
So, Janis ground it into powder using a special process and made it into pigments. Combined with expensive spiritual pigments obtained through other means, she painted a static painting called “Skull in Amber.”
The moment that painting was created, she instantly gained a massive amount of Power, directly transcending her current realm.
However, it was regrettable that it was not Power from The Path of Beauty. It wasn’t even Power from the Path of Balance.
It was recognition from the Twilight Path.
She was forcibly dragged into a non-human realm by the chaotic Path Power, lost her physical body, and turned into a Phantom Demon.
The out-of-control Janis used her heart as a brush and the world as a canvas, randomly and hastily painting on the Material Realm. That painting covered the area around her secluded dwelling, rewriting the entire world into a canvas. Anyone who approached would be captured and drawn into her painting.
It was with the help of Isabelle, who had grown to power by then, that the Player was able to evade capture by the material painting and infiltrate the vicinity of the Phantom Demon, Janis, the Lord of the Morning Dusk Palace.
Eivass had a very strong impression of this dungeon.
Because in this dungeon, Players would occasionally switch between reality and virtuality. In reality, it was a normal dungeon run. But during special events, all Players hit by her phantom brush would instantly switch art styles and enter the painting.
In “Salute to Akropolis Shrine,” Players entered the Akropolis Shrine within the painting, tasked with evading and killing the shrine knights patrolling there within a limited time; it was a top-down stealth assassination game similar to a suicide squad mission. In “Golden Dawn,” it turned into a side-scrolling action game where Players killed Nephthis’s escorts and then the final BOSS. In “Crystal Sea,” Players turned into birds, becoming a flying ring-toss game dodging various obstacles and attacks.
Three paintings, three distinctly different art styles.
In each painting, Janis’s review of the painting would be heard by the Player. Players who remained in reality could take the opportunity to deal damage to the main body. The three paintings would cycle, and if Janis was brought below half health before all three paintings were cleared, she would go berserk. If one painting took too long, to the point where Janis ran out of dialogue, she would also go berserk.
During these three cycling stages, Janis’s attack desire was not high, the mechanics were simple to dodge, and there were no normal attacks. Players inside the painting could only use the mechanic skills granted by the painting, and their profession made little difference.
Therefore, to save time, healers and tanks were usually not kept, and only one or two damage dealers remained outside, dodging while slowly outputting damage to the main body, stopping when the health was almost depleted.
Only after the shrine knights in “Salute to Akropolis Shrine” were all killed, the BOSS’s health bar in “Golden Dawn” was completely depleted, and the aerial ring toss in “Crystal Sea” was all passed, could the surviving Players enter the fourth painting, “Skull in Amber,” to face Janis’s main body, who had transformed into an quasi-Heavenly Envoy.
Players who died in already closed paintings were forever trapped within that painting, meaning they could not be revived.
This implied that at least one tank and one healer were necessary to pass the fourth stage. Eivass’s static team at that time was constantly wiping… Even two months after the dungeon was released, it was still rare to reach the fourth stage with all eight players present.
Eivass had heard Janis explain her understanding of these three paintings at least three hundred times—he didn’t remember much of the later parts, but he had memorized the beginning.
And this dungeon was a mandatory one.
Because in addition to dropping those three paintings, which could be displayed in one’s home, it also dropped very beautiful clothing and staves in the form of painting brushes.
Eivass had leveled up many cute newbies in this dungeon. Many became his friends after he helped them clear it.
The female Players in the game “Ouroboros Ring” were quite warlike, with more playing PVP than PVE. However, because of this, obtaining beautiful appearances from high-difficulty PVE dungeons required help.
Eivass didn’t play much PVP, but he had a large group of sisters on his friend list, half of whom were acquired this way.
The other half were because he spoke nicely, had a magnetic voice, was humorous, and could sing—friend requests would come after talking in the voice channel.
His habit of teasing Haina and Isabelle did not begin after he arrived in this world.
Even before he awakened his past-life memories, Eivass’s reputation was somewhat unruly.
This eloquence might have been an instinct of his soul.
Janis asked Eivass with some curiosity, “Since you like these three paintings the most… why don’t you share your understanding of them?
“I’m very interested in why you like them. And I won’t let your words be in vain. If you have something to say, I’ll give you a good thing.”
“Then allow me to be clumsy, Master Janis.”
Eivass smiled gently.
His words were humble, but his demeanor was calm and confident.
Of course, he had not seen these paintings, nor did he know how critics in this world commented on them.
He hadn’t even watched the interpretation videos made by players on forums in his previous life—because he was utterly sick of them.
—But Eivass knew Janis’s own evaluation of these paintings.
When the creator listens to their own evaluation of their work, they would hardly find it incorrect, would they?
“I recall that ‘Salute to Akropolis Shrine’ was the first Magic Painting you created shortly after embarking on The Path of Beauty.”
Eivass recited fluently and proficiently: “It was a shrine on a very tall lone peak in the Eternal Holy Kingdom, which is now inhabited by Hippocrates, a Disciple of the Lord of Scales and Feathers.
“There were no Professional Heritages at that time, and ancient Extraordinary individuals often sought Power in vain. When Hippocrates was three hundred and eighty years old, he realized he had exhausted all the medical inheritance of the Eternal Holy Kingdom. Therefore, he climbed the peak dedicated to Akropolis, another Disciple of the Lord of Scales and Feathers, on foot to seek medical knowledge from Her.
“This Akropolis is one of the most powerful Disciples of the Lord of Scales and Feathers, yet is very friendly towards mortals. If someone could climb this peak and worship Her in Her shrine, She would appear and treat all who came seeking medical help equally. Furthermore, She would often appear and walk on the most brutal and bloody battlefields, treating soldiers with a tenacious will to survive.
“Some say that the soldiers who survived mortal wounds were treated by Akropolis due to their desire to live…”
