Chapter 8: Rasis’ Breath

If someone who didn’t know better saw it, they might have dismissed it as just a monster of that shape and moved on, but they couldn’t fool Paul’s eyes.

Upon closer inspection, there was a seam.

That was proof that this was a type of mask, and it meant there was something hidden inside.

The moment Paul first saw the mask, he thought of an owl.

It could have been either an eagle or a owl, or perhaps both, or something else entirely.

The reason for this question was probably the ivory-colored horns with purple patterns on both sides of its forehead.

But the shaggy mane seemed to be made of the feathers of a giant bird, and the eye part of the mask reminded him of the owl family.

The mask was harmoniously adorned with ornaments and tassels that seemed to be made of amethyst, and the way they dangled below the neck and collarbone gave it a splendidly decorated appearance that was very beautiful.

The ancient-style clothing he was wearing also contributed to this.

Looking at the mysterious mask that mixed black, purple, and ivory appropriately, and the accessories worn here and there, one could guess that the boss monster in front of him was by no means an ordinary figure.

He reminded one of the dark night.

It gave the illusion of looking at him with amethyst-like eyes in a darkness so pitch-black and distant that one couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Paul felt a little creeped out.

He shivered involuntarily, and on the one hand, he was slightly curious about the face hidden behind this mask.

But it was already perfect with just the mask, so he could only lick his lips.

That’s right, what’s the point of hiding it now?

Paul was a person who was crazy about masks.

His inventory, bank, and housing warehouse were filled with all kinds of masks that could be obtained in <Arcana Chronicles>, sorted by type.

One of the reasons he traveled in <Arcana Chronicles> was not just the satisfaction and fun that came from traveling, but also the desire to collect masks that could be obtained in each region.

Occasionally, when a monster appeared wearing a mask like this, one could obtain the mask with a certain probability by defeating that monster.

But Paul wouldn’t be able to kill the boss monster in front of him.

First of all, the level difference was too great, but even setting that aside, he couldn’t display the head of ‘my love’, which he had finally found, in his house, could he?

So he could only capture it with his eyes like this, leave it in photos, leave it in videos, and leave it in pictures…

It was when Paul was leisurely thinking such thoughts.

The unfocused purple eyes rolled around and then stared straight at Paul.

“Ah.”

He was caught.

The moment he realized his own face was reflected in those purple eyes like a mirror, Paul belatedly realized that he was dead.

[System: You have died.]

Without even feeling the pain, his vision was colored in monochrome, and his body, having lost its will, collapsed helplessly.

Thump.

[…]

There was no emotion in the gaze that looked down indifferently at Paul, who had died so simply and futilely in front of him.

The boss monster just sat there, still leaning against the throne indifferently.

Paul looked at the scene from a third-person perspective and wondered, ‘How on earth did it kill me?’, but that question was quickly resolved.

Clang—. Clang—.

Two jet-black swords were floating in the air, moving freely as if surrounding the boss monster.

‘Amazing, are those its weapons? What kind of monster uses a soul weapon? No, wait, it’s a boss monster, so maybe it’s possible?’

As Paul, who was dead and couldn’t even scream, was continuously taking pictures, a system message popped up in front of his eyes.

<Please select a resurrection method!>

-Resurrect at the nearest town
-Resurrect at a designated location
-Rasis’s Breath (30)

Paul used [Rasis’s Breath] without delay.

At the same time, his vision turned completely black.

Soon, the screen flashed with a white light, and his monochrome vision regained its color.

Paul, with a much lighter body than before, looked at the firmly closed door in front of him.

“It’s another one-shot again.”

He muttered briefly and rubbed his chin.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then checked his bag.

Thanks to having organized his bag once before entering the dungeon to make things easier to find, he was able to find the item he was looking for right away.

It was an item with [Rasis’s Breath (29)] written on it.

It had the shape of a jewel resembling a sun, emitting a brilliant light and the size of an adult’s fist.

One of the things Paul had prepared for today was this [Rasis’s Breath].

[Rasis’s Breath]

Category: Jewel, Consumable

Grade: L

Durability: ∞

Description: It takes the form of a translucent jewel that holds the sun. The warm light within it is a piece of light breathed into it by Rasis. When used at the moment of death, it grants a new life to the target in the form of their healthiest self.

(Cannot be sold or traded)

There were various gods in <Arcana Chronicles>.

There were probably about 13 of them.

And among them, the most respected god was [Rasis], the god who symbolized ‘life and light’.

This small jewel, named after him, was a consumable resurrection item that allowed for full recovery of HP, MP, and satiety, as well as immediate resurrection, when used right after death.

Well, the resurrection location was adjusted slightly depending on the environment, but the advantage of having no resurrection penalty was so great that no one cared about that level of inconvenience.

In <Arcana Chronicles>, resurrection items were not very common.

So how did Paul have not just 1, but 30 of them?

To explain this, we have to go back about a month.

Around the time Paul was kicked out of this place and was enthusiastically leveling up with the determination to come back, <Arcana Chronicles>, being an old game, was holding an event to attract new players.

Among the various benefits, what also applied to Paul, an existing player, was the ‘beginner’s benefit’.

What was given once a day for the comfortable adventure of beginners was this [Rasis’s Breath].

This bound item, which was given only once a day for a set period and couldn’t even be traded, couldn’t be collected in multiples in a personal inventory.

If you didn’t use it, it would remain, but it wouldn’t be added in duplicates, so it was truly an item that you could only possess one of during that event period.

But Paul had collected 30 of them.

How was this possible?

It started with a very small coincidence.

At that time, Paul had run out of money and had briefly stopped by the bank.

While he was there, he decided to organize his bag and store some items, so he opened the window without much thought, and… what do you know, [Rasis’s Breath] was inside.

‘Why is this in here?’

Paul was very flustered at that time.

Until then, [Rasis’s Breath] was a bit of a white elephant to him.

It was nice to have, but it wasn’t very useful with just one.

So when he was organizing his bag, he had completely forgotten about it, thinking, ‘Even if I put it in there, it will disappear on its own by tomorrow’.

But what was this?

Paul’s personal bag (inventory) already had today’s [Rasis’s Breath] in it.

The one in the bank window was from a few days ago.

The fact that the item, which should have disappeared long ago, was still there for some reason made Paul’s mind race.

He decided to experiment for one more day.

So he put the [Rasis’s Breath] from his personal bag into the bank vault and opened it again the next day, and there were still 2 [Rasis’s Breath] there.

Including his personal inventory, it was 3!

Just one was a white elephant, but if he could collect them, the story would be different.

After that, Paul collected [Rasis’s Breath] one by one.

When he had collected exactly 30, for some reason, the developers seemed to have found out about this fact, and this loophole was blocked, so he couldn’t collect any more.

It was quite a shame.

Anyway, for that reason, Paul was now okay with dying 29 more times!

Paul put the item he was holding back into his bag and opened the boss room.

***

After that, Paul died 29 more times in various ways.

After dying the first time, Paul, who cautiously re-entered the boss room, was surprised to find that the boss monster was not sitting on the throne.

He was standing tall in the middle of the room.

It seemed his behavior had changed, recognizing Paul.

Even though not a single footstep should have been heard due to his skill, Paul swallowed nervously when the boss monster’s gaze shot towards the doorway.

Although the door of the boss room was wide open, the visitor’s appearance was not visible, so the boss monster did not take any particular action.

So Paul approached to a distance of about five steps and circled around the boss monster, taking pictures.

How many pictures had he taken frantically with the sound of the shutter that only he could hear as a background?

He forgot to check his rapidly decreasing MP, and as soon as his skill was dispelled, he was instantly grabbed by the neck by the boss monster and died.

The next time, the boss monster, who had sensed something was wrong from the previous two actions, threw its sword as soon as the door opened, so he died at the door as soon as he took a step into the room.