Chapter 300: Tier 1 "Recorder" and Tier 1 "Fabricator" (2 in 1) |
[TL Note: Sorry for disappearing again, and thank you so much for your patience. Now that I've sorted out my IRL stuff, I'll focus on translating this novel.]
「—What is the epic of civilization,」
「but the past meticulously carved」
「by the "Recorder" and the "Fabricator"...」
「New paths recorded:」
「Tier 1 "Recorder"」
「Tier 1 "Fabricator"」
The system panel, which had never previously appeared in a Past Days or Future Days simulation, now materialized before Ciel’s eyes.
Ciel sensed the power surging within her body and the faint echo in her mind.
But besides the murmurs of the Old Days, the crimson glow in her mind also appeared—it was the materialization of the voices praying to her using the 【Omniscient】 runes.
It was the voices of Avena and the others praying to her. All the prayers were piled together, flooding into Ciel’s mind all at once.
Especially Little Left and Tara; the frequency of these two praying was like they were continuously sending telegrams. Even when almost all the other voices stopped, their red lights hadn’t ceased.
Ciel slowly opened her eyes, looking down at her hands.
She could vaguely sense how to use the abilities of her paths, but unlike when she had previously drunk other potions, there were no detailed memories or even tutorials... everything was quite vague.
What she saw was the continuous writing of individuals influenced by her, spanning from the Old Days to the Holy War Era.
The faces of these people were unclear, but Ciel could sense their emotions through the blurry images.
Some were calm, enjoying the feeling of writing and recording. Their records were compiled by various churches and nations, becoming part of official history...
Some were filled with hostility, carrying expressions of either anger or resentment, distorting the history they wrote, triggering disputes and conflicts, and even erasing the traces of certain people or events...
Ciel carefully sensed the abilities and these emotions, figuring out a set of usage methods for the abilities of these two paths.
Tier 1 "Recorder."
By touching cultural relics or writings, one can directly read their individual and collective memory fragments, and even directly synchronize and feel their emotions, experiencing that period of history as if physically present.
Furthermore, during the reading process, there is a certain probability of directly mastering a skill of the person whose memories are being read—such as painting skills, running skills...
The trade-off is the potential to read polluted memories.
Tier 1 "Fabricator."
One can engrave "reasonable information" on any text surface. The fabricated content will directly overwrite the original information on a cognitive level.
But the trade-off is that for every character modified using the ability, a segment of one's own memory will be randomly torn away to fill the "reality gap."
Depending on the scope and era to be influenced, the cost will vary accordingly.
If one wished to modify a piece of history known to all citizens of Ansu, modifying even a single character might cause the "Fabricator" to have all their memories stripped away, becoming an empty shell.
Both Tier 1 abilities were scarce, and it could even be said that each possessed only one ability... but both were exceptionally powerful, and correspondingly, their side effects were also immense.
Theoretically, if no side effects existed, a Tier 1 "Recorder" could even become omniscient and omnipotent simply by continuously touching the writings and relics of predecessors.
But due to the risk of reading polluted spirits, if a Tier 1 were to read a Tier 3 or Tier 4 emotional or spiritual pollution, they might go mad directly.
The ability of a Tier 1 "Fabricator" was even more simple and brutal, reaching a level where historical information could be directly modified on a cognitive level.
Yet one could also imagine how immense this side effect would be, and even the targets of these historical memories might become part of what magnified the side effect.
Even if modifying an extremely niche piece of information or history, if that history happened to reside in the mind of a Tier 4, the Tier 1 "Fabricator" using the ability might directly become a memoryless idiot to distort the Tier 4’s memory.
The best method was to avoid fabricating history on the surface, and instead modify textual information known only to a few—such as letters.
And the information had to be reasonable... if the fabrication was unreasonable, it probably wouldn't be long before someone noticed something was amiss...
The abilities of these two opposing paths were both extremely powerful, already considered unique among Tier 1. If utilized well, they could completely cause a massive impact.
Especially "Fabricator"... this ability was probably something the Society of Merriment would dream of.
But the "Subverters" likely wouldn't like this ability. What they wanted was to enjoy the pleasure of others knowing the truth, whereas what the "Fabricator" created was the truth itself; only the "Fabricator" knew what was real.
However...
Ciel felt a slight doubt regarding these two paths.
Her Uniqueness was "Echo of the Silver Time-Binder," and almost all her abilities were linked to space-time. Although "Recorder" and "Fabricator" had some relation to space-time, the connection wasn't particularly large.
Was this the complete path?
No... that's not right.
Ciel suddenly remembered.
Paths were not necessarily all paired in opposition.
For example, "Detective," "Assassin," and "Knight" could all convert between each other. Strictly speaking, they were all different manifestations of the same path.
Perhaps, "Recorder" and "Fabricator" were also merely two different manifestations of her own path... and the emergence of these two paths was also due to Ciel's influence in the Old Days and Heini's efforts.
Then her luck was actually quite good... she had experimented and brought out two different ability manifestations of the same path at once.
"Miss Ciel... just now was..." Charles looked in Ciel's direction with some uncertainty. He couldn't help but ask as he watched Ciel, who had fallen into deep thought.
Just now, Charles had clearly felt a strange fluctuation... it was a spiritual fluctuation that only appeared in those who advanced by consuming potions, and it was very weak, appearing to be Tier 1.
Simply walking around and reading books for a bit was enough to complete a Reconstitution Ritual?
What path was this again? Charles had never heard of such a Tier 1 Reconstitution Ritual.
Thinking of the Tier 1 "Knight" Ciel had produced earlier, Charles felt a slight chill in his heart...
Could this... be another new path?
"It's nothing." Ciel shook her head, while mentally pondering some issues.
The side effect of the "Fabricator's" ability was the erasure of her own memories… but if she stored them with a "Soul Walker" first, then had them copied back to her after the erasure… wouldn't she achieve virtually zero loss?
This "Soul Walker" had to be someone she trusted absolutely...
Ciel knew Avena was qualified, but she didn't know if this memory erasure would also modify and erase the backup memories on the "Soul Walker's" side.
Even if it didn't carry over and erase them, Ciel wouldn't take the risk of clearing all her memories.
An empty shell injected with her own memories... could that still be considered her original self?
Ciel wouldn't experiment with this lightly.
However, Ciel did think of the most powerful aspect of "Fabricator"...
That is, modifying spiritual notebooks.
A Tier 1 could achieve cognitive-level overwriting; was it possible for a Tier 2, Tier 3, or Tier 4 to directly "modify the past and affect reality"?
For example, if A killed B, she could modify A's spiritual notebook to a state where B wasn't killed, thereby creating a world or timeline where B survived...
If that were possible, it would be an ability even more terrifying than Past Days simulations.
But comparing it to the Tier 4s of other paths, Ciel felt this ability was unlikely to be realized. Even if it could be, it would at least require an Ascended One, or rather, an Ascender, to accomplish.
Thinking of it this way, these two abilities indeed had a significant link to Past Days simulations... both were related to the past.
Gurgle——
A soft rumbling from her stomach interrupted Ciel's thoughts.
She was hungry.
She hadn't eaten a single decent meal in the Old Days. Now, back in the Past Days simulation and stripped of that hunger-free state, Ciel felt a long-overdue wave of starvation—her appetite surging like never before.
Charles had heard her stomach growling at first, but thought he must have misheard. It was only when he saw Ciel press a hand to her belly that he knew his ears hadn't deceived him.
Fortunately... she’s still human, she has to eat...
At this thought, Charles's wariness toward Ciel softened slightly. He asked directly, "Your Excellency Ciel, neither of us has had dinner yet… If you don't mind, would you care to join me at the Roswell mansion for a simple meal?"
Charles wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to Ciel and ask more about the "Knight" path.
If the "Crown Guards" really had taken the wrong path... at least he had to find out what the original Tier 3 of "Detective" was, so that his family and daughter would no longer take detours.
"Very well." Ciel didn't refuse. She had stayed at the Roswell mansion for a few days, so returning felt no different from returning to her own home.
And now being in Ansu nine years ago, Ciel indeed had no place to stay here.
Ciel decided to eat something first before researching her new abilities.
With the convenience of being in a simulation, she could test her new abilities directly in Ansu to get a feel for them.
Ciel boarded the carriage, with Charles riding his warhorse ahead to lead the way, returning together to the Roswell mansion.
It was already 12:30 AM, nearing 1:00 AM, and many lights in the West District had been extinguished.
There didn't seem to be as many streetlights nine years ago; the streets of the West District were overall rather dark.
Ciel and Charles sat in the dining room. Charles wanted to find an opportunity to open a conversation, but Ciel said nothing, merely devouring the food before her with a complete lack of ladylike manners, as if she hadn't eaten in several years—
But in terms of physical sensation, she indeed hadn't eaten in several years.
Click——
At the door, little Avena, holding her black rabbit plush toy in one hand, tiptoed slightly, turned the doorknob, and gently pushed the door open.
"Charles... I can't sleep..." Little Avena, wearing a fluffy nightgown, stood at the door rubbing her somewhat sleepy eyes. She looked as if she could fall asleep at any moment, not appearing unable to sleep, but rather waiting for Charles on purpose.
"Avena, I am busy." Charles felt somewhat helpless. This was precisely the time to talk about serious matters; missing this opportunity would make it hard to have another.
"I am sorry, I am sorry... Lord Duke." Seraphine ran over from behind, reaching out to support Avena's shoulders, about to push her away. At the same time, she said toward the doorway, "Nia! Why did you let the Young Mistress out again?"
"The Young Mistress said she wanted to come out..." A familiar metallic hum came from the doorway.
At this point, Ciel also stopped eating, looking at little Avena at the door. Seeing her cute little face, she couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Avena was actually quite clingy when she was little.
From her childhood scenes, one could see why Avena developed the personality she did later on.
Why she grew estranged from Charles, why she disliked Seraphine, and why she trusted Nia more... the reasons for all of these could be found in her childhood.
"Seraphine, let her come over." Ciel looked at Seraphine at the door and smiled.
Seraphine intentionally avoided Ciel's gaze, looking toward Charles—Seraphine always felt the red-haired girl's gaze brought her fear and pressure, even though she had clearly never met her before.
"Lord Duke, when you have such an obedient and sweet daughter, you must cherish her," Ciel looked at Charles and said with a smile, "If the day comes when you truly grow estranged, you will regret it."
"Haha..." Charles responded to Ciel with a somewhat awkward laugh, while a slight doubt surfaced in his mind.
Why? Why did this girl named Ciel look so familiar with his family members? Charles recalled that when entering the Roswell mansion, Ciel had walked directly toward the dining room—even though this was her first time here.
"Come over, Avena." Charles looked at Avena at the door and spoke.
Avena walked obediently to Charles's side. Charles raised his hand to stroke Avena's soft hair, then said, "How about having Nia tell you a story first? I am a bit busy now... Tell you what, for tomorrow's music class, I will attend with you, how about that?"
"Mm..." Avena nodded, a faint smile appearing on her face.
But Ciel could tell at a glance that little Avena wasn't happy at all.
Was the best reward Charles could think of attending class with her?
Perhaps to Charles, squeezing out the time for a class was already his best effort, but to a child, class was not an interesting thing.
After eating her fill, Ciel spared a few minutes to copy down the "Knight" Tier 1 to 4 reconstitution rituals and potion formulas for Charles; she knew this was exactly why he had helped her so much.
Afterward, Ciel walked directly toward the East District.
She had to find a place with few Transcendents... to test her Tier 1 abilities.