"Is that so."
YANIS's erald-green eyes were slightly widened as she muttered to herself, obviously taken aback by AIVARS's response.
ISABEL nodded with satisfaction next to her.
"I really enjoy Crystal Sea too."
To her, Crystal Sea was YANIS's magnum opus—and also hers, personally.
A fourteen-ter-long scroll, the painting was painted entirely with the thods of magical painting.
When viewed in darkness, one could even hear the sound of waves crashing upon the shore.
But when a candle was lit—just the faintest light cast upon the canvas would illuminate an entire deep-blue ocean.
The light would crystallize the painted sea with a satisfying crackle, transforming it into shimring ice.
The temperature in the room would subtly drop with it.
And as sunlight changed angle and strength in the sumr months, so the crystalline sea would shift in real ti—its empty, relief-like forms continually changing.
The artwork had originally been stored in Professor MORIARTY's art gallery.
But so six or seven years ago, when the queen aged and her health weakened, she was unable to endure the heat of the sumr anymore.
Alchemical "Silver Frost" was too chilly for her to tolerate, so by YANIS's leave, the painting was moved to the Palace of Silver and Tin.
The instant its curtain was raised, a soft chill would spill over the palace like an autumn wind—cooling the corridors, but never enough to cause discomfort.
During winter, the curtain would just be drawn to shut out the cold, and one could still listen to the peaceful sounds of the sea while passing by.
When those sumr days ca by, ISABEL would sotis sit in front of it for hours without becoming weary.
She had not been that interested in painting and sculpture at the beginning, but this piece of art transford her.
It was having watched Crystal Sea that she took the way of the "Polymath" rather than the "Chanter."
It ca naturally to her to sing—followed by dancing.
But upon discovering YANIS's works, sothing more resonated with her.
Like Lulu's Magic Flute—sothing so lovely it burned itself into her very being, indelible after one glance.
But—
"I rember, Sensei had better paintings than that, didn't she?"
ISABEL addressed YANIS.
"You said so once.".
That so of your paintings deal with the secrets of the Nine Pillar Gods, Celestials, and Apostles.
That they are imbued with the power of Paths themselves.
"They're not like Crystal Sea, those 'gentle miracles'. they're way more intense."
"Ah. yes, I did paint those."
YANIS nodded.
"I painted them during my journeys around the world.
So are linked to wars between mortals and the Nine Pillar Gods.
Others. show what history could have been."
Although she said so, there was no pride or self-satisfaction on her face.
AIVARS knew why.
—The titles of the three works he had just nad were the central chanics employed in YANIS's upper-level level 80 dungeon, "Twin Spires of the Dusk Palace."
The ideals of the Path of Beauty are harmony and art, flow and eternity.
But once beauty becos too "still," it succumbs to the belief that "all things must decay," and loses itself in the Path of Dusk, which worships preservation and stagnation.
Even YANIS couldn't help herself.
She had already trod both the Path of Beauty and the Path of Balance.
She couldn't take a third.
So she compelled herself to remain logical—to keep the balance of her soul intact.
Painting, after all, is an art that transforms a fleeting mont into eternity.
Though magical paintings could store more information, they lost the beauty of that one, unrepeatable instant.
So when YANIS reached the pinnacle of her artistic journey, she returned to the roots of her craft—seeking the stillness in static paintings.
Long ago, in her fight against the initial wave of falling Celestials, she had killed the Dusk-path Celestial SPIRIT-AMBER.
She did not exchange its essence for another Celestial's essence of the Path of Beauty, nor did she order it into equipnt for others.
Instead, she wished to create a piece of art that was beyond her very limits—a piece of art that would lead her further forward with borrowed power.
So she powdered the Celestial essence in a special way and made it into paint.
Blending it with other rare and very spiritual colors, she created a static painting entitled Skull in Amber.
As soon as it was done, she was filled with trendous power—way more than where she was now.
But unfortunately, it wasn't power from the Path of Beauty.
Neither was it the Path of Balance.
It was from the Path of Dusk.
The out-of-control force dragged her into a non-human realm, transforming her into a Phantom Demon.
She painted with her mind as the brush and the world as her canvas, scribbling across the material realm itself.
The resulting painting engulfed her secluded ho, rewriting the very world into painted illusion.
Anyone who approached was captured, drawn directly into her canvas.
It was not until ISABEL—who had already beco a skilled player—ca to their aid that players could avoid the en capture of this living painting and enter into the Phantom Demon YANIS's lair.
AIVARS recalled this dungeon well.
Because players would keep switching between "reality" and "painting."
In real life, the boss fight went normally.
But in so of these triggers, players hit by her ghost brush would get sucked into the paintings—each featuring its own style of gaplay.
In Pilgrimage to the Temple of Akporis, players went into a top-down stealthy assassination mini-ga like Commandos, escaping from temple knights.
In Golden Dawn, it beca a sidescrolling action ga—kill NEPHTHYS's guards, then kill the end boss.
And in Crystal Sea, players turned into birds flying between rings and avoiding dangers—a flying obstacle course.
Three paintings.
Three entirely different genres.
In each painting, YANIS's voice would ring out, comnting on the piece.
Players still in real life could take advantage of the mont to harm her actual body.
The paintings would loop in sequence.
If players knocked her HP down below 50% prior to all three being completed, she would rage.
If the painting took too long and she depleted her narration, she would also infuriate.
In this phase, she did not attack a lot.
Just stay away from the patterns and live.
In the paintings, your class didn't matter—you had to use only the given chanics.
To conserve ti, groups would typically leave just one or two DPS outside of the painting—no healers or tanks—and grind her down slowly.
After Pilgrimage to the Temple of Akporis cleared, Golden Dawn boss defeated, and all the rings in Crystal Sea flown through—then and only then could the fourth painting, Skull in Amber, be accessed and YANIS's actual form, the pseudo-Celestial, fought.
Anyone who perished within a painting once it was closed would be forever lost.
No bring back.
So you had at least one healer and one tank still alive to clear Phase 4.
AIVARS's static team cleaned again and again on this battle.
Even two months since the raid dropped, no team entered Phase 4 with eight mbers still alive.
He must've listened to YANIS describe those three paintings three hundred tis.
Didn't rember most of the endings—but the openings? He could do it in his sleep.
This dungeon was also a must-farm.
Not only did it drop those three paintings to hang in your ho instance—it also had gorgeous costus and a wand shaped like a paintbrush.
AIVARS carried a lot of newbie cuties through this dungeon.
Many of them beca his friends afterward.
In Ouroboros Online, female players were generally more into PvP than PvE.
But precisely because of that, many would seek out people like AIVARS to farm pretty PvE costics.
He wasn't a PvPer, but his friend list was full of girls.
Half of them were from dungeon runs such as this.
The other half?
They simply enjoyed hearing him speak.
It was smooth, captivating.
He was sarcastic, could sing, and had the right thing to say at all tis.
They'd talk in voice, and before long—*ding*, a friend request would pop through.
His teasing HAINA and ISABEL was sothing that began before he made the jump into this world.
Even before awakening his previous mories, AIVARS already had a sowhat charming and carefree reputation.
That silver tongue could be a part of his soul.
Now, YANIS gazed at AIVARS with interest.
"You say those three are your favorites.
Why not explain how you read them?
"I'm interested in why you like them.
And I will not let your work be wasted.
If your words have aning—I'll reward you with sothing pleasant."
"Then let try my humble best, Master YANIS."
AIVARS smiled kindly.
His tone was humble, yet he was also calm and full of confidence.
Of course he didn't see these paintings.
And he didn't know how critics in this world received them.
He hadn't even seen the fan-made interpretation videos in his previous life.
—He'd just completed that dungeon too many tis.
But AIVARS recalled perfectly well how YANIS herself had explained those paintings.
And certainly, nobody would dispute the artist's own vision of her own work.
"I rember that Pilgrimage to the Temple of Akporis was the very first magical painting you ever did after embarking upon the Path of Beauty."
AIVARS started well.
"It showed a temple on a single peak in the Eternal Theocracy.".
That temple sheltered the Apostle HIPPOCRATES, a servant of the Feathered Lord.
"There were no structured classes in those tis.
Ancient supernaturals went searching for power on their own.
"When HIPPOCRATES reached the age of 380, he found that he had mastered all dical knowledge of the Eternal Theocracy.
So he walked up that hallowed peak in search of the Apostle AKPORIS.
"AKPORIS was among the most powerful Apostles of the Feathered Lord.
But he was benevolent toward mortals.".
"Anyone who could ascend that summit and pray in his temple would be healed.
He freely road bloody battlefields, treating soldiers with indomitable will to live.
"So claim that those miraculously saved from deadly wounds were healed by AKPORIS, attracted by their intense passion to live."
(End of Chapter)
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