Arcanum: Chaos Path

Chapter 328 Interfering with Fate and Setting Rules

This kind of hallucination experience does not forcibly change a person's personality or emotions, but just as a persona amplifies certain emotions, if the person wearing the mask wavers in the hallucination, their corresponding emotions will also be amplified.

Of course, there are prerequisites for recording other people's emotions and memories: either the other person is willing and defenseless, or you can completely suppress the other person's soul and force the recording.

"To be honest, the Persona ability is actually quite sinister, but I've always used it as a healing skill, so it hasn't shown any danger. If it were a slightly more wicked Nyarlathotep, tsk!" Roland commented in his mind, quite satisfied with this new feature.

After all, sometimes words are not enough. Letting others experience the emotions firsthand is much more powerful than mere words.

Furthermore, the usage limit for both masks has been increased, with each mask now having 20 usage slots. Rolin doesn't need to worry about running out of masks in the short term.

"I could even send one to every Sequence 0 I've befriended, since aside from my special case, the maximum number of Sequence 0s is only 22," Rolin quipped to himself, quite satisfied with the number.

After all, there weren't many people for whom he could distribute masks, and not every one of Rowling's friends needed a mask.

Of course, if Little K, Medici, and the others suddenly want to use this mask to solidify humanity as an anchor, Rowling wouldn't mind giving one to each of them.

Anyway, it's a waste not to use an empty mask.

In addition to the enhanced abilities of the two masks, the ability to manipulate emotions has gained another branch skill – "Puppet Show". This ability is very simple. In short, once Rowling successfully manipulates the emotions of others, he can activate the "Puppet Show" skill and give them suggestive commands.

Unlike the complete control of Persona, the person given commands by the "Puppet Show" skill remains conscious, but will involuntarily carry out the orders given by Rowling. The disadvantage is that only one command can be given at a time, and it cannot be one that seriously violates the will of the person being commanded. The advantage is that the skill can be used on hundreds of people at the same time.

While the upper limit of the ability to create an avatar has not increased, the difficulty has been reduced. Now, it is easier and less demanding for Roland to create an avatar.

At the same time, because the auxiliary material was Lilith's blood, Rolin also gained a power related to the Farmer's Path, which was the healing skill he had always coveted.

Of course, in addition to these enhanced abilities and the abilities brought by the supplementary materials, Rowling also gained the core skill of a scriptwriter—"The Book of Stories".

This skill is simple to describe; its core is interfering with fate. The "Storybook" ability can be divided into two parts: one is to expand or reduce the likelihood of a certain outcome in fate.

For example, if someone takes a potion to advance in rank, and the ritual is complete, the chance of success is originally 50%. In that case, Rowling can write "So-and-so failed to advance" or "So-and-so succeeded in advancing" in the "Storybook" to change his fate.

Such changes are not without limitations. The more powerful the being, the more difficult it is to successfully interfere with its destiny. For example, if Rowling were to write in the "Storybook" that "Lilith won a great victory in her battle against Mother Goddess," the probability of success would be infinitely close to zero.

Moreover, the biggest limitation of this ability is that it can only work on things that are happening or about to happen, and cannot be some possibility that has been created out of thin air.

It can be described as a powerful skill, but also one with many limitations. In addition, another ability of the "Storybook" is very interesting, which Rowling calls "Rule Tales".

Rowling can write down rules for certain people or places in the "Storybook" and choose to make them effective in different ways. The first way is to consume his own spirituality, just like how an extraordinary person using the Arbitrator pathway uses skills to formulate these rules. The advantage of this method is that the rules can be made effective immediately, but the disadvantage is that the strength of the rules depends on Rowling's own sequence and will continuously consume Rowling's spirituality.

The second method of use is somewhat similar to avatars. It involves leveraging the trust of others. Once a certain number of people believe in the existence of this rule, the rule will take effect in reality. The larger the scope of the rule, the more people it targets, and the stronger it becomes, the more difficult it will be to take effect.

The disadvantage of this method is that it takes effect slowly, but the advantage is that it has a very high ceiling and does not consume Rolin's spirituality.

At the same time, regardless of whether the first or second method is used to establish rules, the use of rules itself has several limitations. First, there is an upper limit to the objects that can be used, and it cannot be effective on people who are unique. Second, it cannot create a certain substance or life out of thin air. Third, it cannot change life and death, and it cannot bring the dead back to life in this way.

"It sounds a lot like the Judge's abilities, but it feels even more interesting." Rowling thought, stroking his chin, then sighed, "Unfortunately, it can't create something from nothing, nor can it reverse life and death."

The power of the "Storybook" is undoubtedly powerful. It's so powerful that it's not just Sequence 5, it's probably even qualified as the core ability of Sequence 1.

Normally, Rowling would be very happy to have gained such powerful abilities, and he was indeed happy.

But it's also true that once the "Book of Stories" has no restrictions on its use, it could be a great tool, whether for resurrecting ordinary people or for rescuing the Sun God, such as creating a rule for resurrecting others.

Unfortunately, the restrictions are there, so this path is clearly not feasible.

"But it's only a Sequence 5 ability after all, which is already quite extraordinary. We can't expect too much." Roland comforted himself inwardly, then he couldn't help but think of something else, stroking his chin and muttering to himself:

"Manipulating emotions, rewriting personality, interfering with fate, establishing rules to constrain others—tsk, the Chaos Path ability is clearly aimed at turning the world into a giant stage!"

If the "entertainer" and "actor" phases were Luo Lin's own performances, with himself as the actor on the stage.

So starting with "The Mask Maker" clearly represents a shift from actor to director.

But until now, it has clearly been limited to performances on a small scale. Until the "incarnation" stage, it seems that he has returned to his original self, from director to actor again. But this time, the performance directly involved a large number of audience members, making countless people a part of the performance.

They appear to be spectators, but they are also tools in Rowling's hands to make the "avatars" come true, like puppets who think they are free, but are actually tightly bound by threads behind their backs.

The "scriptwriter" no longer acts; instead, he grants Rowling the ability to interfere with the fates of others, allowing him to establish rules that forcibly constrain others and turn the entire world into a kind of theater.

(End of this chapter)