Chapter 56
“Golden Dawn”
—The Mean.
After hearing the critique of the first painting, Janis immediately understood Eivass’s aesthetic tendencies. The mean was not a pejorative term. It was the Path of Beauty she herself followed. The Path of Beauty would influence her on a material level, gradually making her appearance and temperament align with her ideal of “ultimate beauty.” Janis was not very tall for a human, nor too short for an elf; her figure blurred the characteristics of both males and females, and her face and temperament could be described as neither mature nor immature. This was because “a balanced aesthetic” had the broadest appeal. This was Janis’s personal interpretation of “The Path of Beauty,” and the reason she walked the Path of Balance.
Unlike the sharp-tongued, discerning professional critics of the Iris Flower—who could always find points Janis herself hadn’t considered, details she hadn’t even noticed, and would indulge in the void talking to themselves. The creator would inevitably lose something when transforming inspiration into a work of art. Viewers could never truly enter the world of the painting, nor could they truly feel the creator’s thoughts and emotions during the artistic process from a first-person perspective. They could only appreciate it with their own knowledge and understanding. True “beauty” was universal, capable of moving people of different races, genders, origins, ages, and cultures. However, when it came to “the reason for feeling beauty,” everyone’s answer would differ. It was less that they felt beauty from the artwork and more that they saw their own reflections in it. Their own lives, their own fantasies, their own fears, their own dreams. Therefore, the answers given by viewers would, more or less, carry a bias.
Janis loved to ask others for their reviews of her paintings. As a creator herself, she knew what the “standard” answer should be. By asking, she could discern whether they truly had skill and how much talent they possessed. She could also reverse-engineer their personality, experiences, and even their Path tendencies from the evaluations they painstakingly crafted. It was as if she could see the distilled results of countless lives from these comments. It was a form of psychological testing, and she found it endlessly fascinating.
—But Eivass’s answer surprised her. His critique was not overly colored by his personal sentiments. It was objective and just, yet it didn’t lack emotional depth. He was straightforward about the flaws caused by her still-developing techniques, while also appropriately praising the parts she had meticulously crafted but which went unnoticed by others. It was as if she were looking at another self—a more mature self from the future, providing a concluding assessment. Undoubtedly, Eivass was her “soulmate.”
“…Are you interested in walking the Path of Beauty?” Janis couldn’t help but ask. ” I think you might be the human who goes the furthest on the Path of Beauty.”
“Eh?” Princess Isabel, standing beside her, was startled and looked at her teacher in surprise. She had never heard her teacher praise someone so highly! Her teacher’s usual self-assessment was even lower!
Janis’s original words to Eivass had been: “With your talent, you could reach the limit of any branch of the Path of Beauty, even the ‘Bard.’ Your choice of ‘All-rounder’ was a wise one. If you pursued the peak of vocal technique, you would have gone mad before reaching it.” But for some reason, seeing her teacher so approving of Eivass, Isabel felt no envy. Only happiness and a subtle sense of pride. It was like finding a good friend and bringing them home, only to have your parents give them high praise.
—And I raised this child! Isabel thought to herself. She dared not say it aloud, for fear of being scolded—she knew Eivass had been raised by Professor Moriarty, and she knew she had only played the role of Eivass’s mother in a dream. But she still couldn’t “break character” completely and couldn’t forget the memories from that dream. So, this was merely something she said to herself. Rather than self-deception, it was a way to avoid forgetting.
Meanwhile, Janis’s mood was also complex. She had taken Isabel as her disciple partly because she sensed “beauty” in her and found her sufficiently charming, and partly because she was a close friend of Queen Sophia. They first met sixty years ago, when Queen Sophia had just ascended the throne. Janis was then a lively girl in her teens, even younger than Isabel was now. But her personality was completely different, even opposite to Isabel’s—Sophia, in her youth, was full of vitality, extremely outgoing, and approachable. She would often sneak out of the Royal Palace after dressing up and applying makeup to watch plays at the theater, or wear a student’s uniform to school and ask other students about their opinions on various policies as a junior.
It was Janis’s first time holding an art exhibition in Avalon. At her own exhibition, she met the young Queen Sophia and was amazed by the beauty and vitality of the charming girl, offering to paint her portrait on the spot. As they painted and chatted, the Queen’s personal guards rushed in midway through Janis’s painting. It was then that Janis realized this girl, who looked younger than herself, was the newly enthroned Queen of the country. Sophia was exceptionally cheerful and unburdened by tradition. She disdained many rules and enacted numerous reforms, resolutely abolishing many outdated traditions—such as torture methods more severe than capital punishment, the convention that women could not be knights, and the old law that Knight families could only be imprisoned, not executed… and also the partial teaching and study of “forbidden arts” for the prosperity and development of the Kingdom. The development of Alchemy, art, Preservation Techniques, medicine, and professions like Translation and Detective work on the Path of Wisdom in Avalon all began with Queen Sophia. Janis had spent twenty years with this enlightened and young Queen before leaving her to continue her travels around the world. Now that she had returned to Avalon and taken Isabel as her student, it was because she saw a shadow of her past close friend in Isabel. However, she didn’t believe Isabel could inherit her mantle. Art required a vast amount of time for accumulation. The five-fold difference in lifespan between humans and elves was an insurmountable chasm in the field of art.
But Eivass was different. Janis keenly sensed a beauty akin to her own in him. He was handsome and composed, undoubtedly possessing masculine beauty, yet at the same time, he had a feminine sensitivity and delicacy. His demeanor was mature, and his actions were steady, but he also possessed the vitality of youth. He walked the Path of Devotion as a Priest, yet Janis keenly detected an invisible, condescending arrogance towards this World in him. This sense of contradiction and balance made Janis feel as if she were looking at another version of herself—similar yet different.Hearing this, Eivass couldn’t help but be speechless. What a coincidence. Guess what? Sherlock told me yesterday that I was more suited to the Path of Wisdom. And now you’re telling me I’m suited to the Path of Beauty… Want to fight? Forget it, I’m afraid Sherlock would get beaten to death. After Eivass politely declined, Janis recommended the Path of Beauty again. When Eivass refused a second time, she didn’t insist. After all, walking a Path required not only corresponding talent but also a certain obsession. If one didn’t want it, they couldn’t be forced. Forcing oneself to walk a Path one didn’t approve of or like would eventually lead to deviation. All would be in vain. Janis simply felt regretful. Eivass clearly had the talent for the Path of Beauty but lacked the desire for it. Had he pursued the Path of Beauty, his future would undoubtedly have been brighter than that of the Path of Devotion. He would likely have reached the Fifth Tier like her, approaching the limits of mortals. Considering the short lifespan of humans, his talent might even be better than hers. With this thought, she made a decision.
“Since you like my paintings so much,” Janis said lightly, “I’ll give you ‘Golden Dawn’.”
Hearing this, Eivass’s eyes widened abruptly, and he felt a prickling sensation on his scalp. Even Princess Isabel gasped involuntarily, not daring to say a word. Eivass knew how much Janis cherished that painting—among the three paintings, “Paying Homage to the Akropolis Shrine” was Janis’s first Magic Painting, a testament to her determination to walk the path of the extraordinary, and it also harbored her youthful ambition to “compare herself to the Apostle Hippocrates.” “Crystal Sea” depicted the view at the end of the world, a gift to her close friend Sophia, who could not leave Glass Island and would never have the chance to see how beautiful it was… It was a summary of her world travels and a crystallization of her friendship. “Golden Dawn,” however, was the pinnacle of her pure artistry. It was a painting inspired by the awe she felt witnessing the sunrise spectacle when people worshipped the sun in the Horus Empire. It was the best painting she could create without involving “Path Power.” After this painting, her works began to possess mysterious power and the ability to alter reality. This was the last painting that could flow with emotion and be appreciated by all mortals, and it was the most highly acclaimed of all Janis’s works. An undoubtedly timeless masterpiece, its value was immeasurable.
—Who gives away something like this on their first meeting with someone?!
“Of course, it can’t be entirely free…” When Janis’s next sentence came out, Eivass finally breathed a sigh of relief. That’s good. Having a condition was better. He feared having no conditions—debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay, especially when their worth was so difficult to quantify. But when he heard Janis’s request, Eivass’s expression became even more complicated.
“You are a genius, Eivass. I believe you will develop very well on the Path of Devotion… even though you have only just stepped into the extraordinary, your advancement speed will undoubtedly be fast. As you can see, my student, Princess Isabel, is a rather delicate girl. I am not entirely at ease with her Advancement Ritual. When you undergo your second or third Advancement Ritual, if you have already caught up with Isabel… could you wait for her and advance together? Of course, the Full Moon Ritual would suffice…”
This request was practically no request at all. In the world of the extraordinary, it was practically customary to bring a friend along during a Full Moon Ritual or to intercept an enemy during a New Moon Ritual. This could be considered a simple favor. Friends with the same progress on other Paths had a significant advantage on their extraordinary journey… Although Janis only asked for help with Isabel once, as long as Isabel’s advancement speed wasn’t too far behind Eivass’s, this was essentially a parent personally arranging a fixed party. After all, matching together in instances had a higher success rate than solo queueing, and having someone you could absolutely trust provided a great advantage. Therefore, Eivass had no reason to refuse.
However, when it came to Eivass, there was a slight, not insignificant issue. “…Do I need to find an opportunity to come clean with the Princess?” he thought to himself. “If, when we enter the instance, she finds out I’m her ‘Mr. Fox’… wouldn’t that have a negative psychological impact on the young lady?” Eivass fell into contemplation.
