Ch.113113. Side Effects

After Celia took the frozen Ludion and floated him away,

Alkine experienced an intense shock.

“Ugh?!”

It was a sensation she had never felt before. Images and phrases scattered through her mind like a downpour.

The intensity was so severe that it triggered a headache. An extremely powerful one.

When such a shock hit her mind rather than any other body part, her vision momentarily blurred, but Alkine endured it.

Though the pain was beyond what she had imagined, she remained just shy of losing consciousness.

Celia would have been astonished if she had seen it. How could anyone withstand that?

In truth, the shock was milder compared to what Celia had experienced.

It made sense that the impact would differ based on the different knowledge being transferred.

If Celia’s experience was like being hit by a truck, Alkine’s was more like being hit by a large sedan.

Of course, it was still a tremendous shock… but thanks to that difference, Alkine was able to remain conscious.

Enduring was good, but…

“Ah.”

Understanding the ability that utilized the Providence stat came naturally as the knowledge was forcefully implanted in her mind.

Having gained this knowledge and understanding the current situation, Alkine sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.

To summarize the current situation:

The restriction that had been placed on Ludion’s actions had rebounded onto her.

And it came back with the added force of Ludion’s resistance.

However, Alkine was surprisingly relieved about suffering this side effect.

‘It’s fortunate that it only restricted my movement.’

Having learned about various applications and their consequences, this side effect was practically nothing to her.

‘So it’s not really an almighty ability after all.’

Looking at the ability itself, it seemed incredibly versatile, but considering the side effects, there were actually very few ways it could be used.

At best, the action restriction she had just used was somewhat practical, but even that could become dangerous if mishandled…

‘It’s quite useless.’

She would need to think more about potential applications.

Besides that…

“Hello… everyone? Is anyone out there?”

Being abandoned like this made her feel a bit sad.

Of course, they couldn’t have known this would happen. They probably said they’d contact her when it was over.

But still, to take advantage of the moment and leave with Ludion?

She couldn’t even finish her kiss properly because of this. How vexing.

“…What am I thinking?”

While she was certainly disappointed, she was somewhat surprised at how naturally her thoughts had drifted in that direction.

Her thoughts and emotions were beyond her control. Celia had occasionally expressed something similar, and now she understood what it meant.

She was beginning to understand Celia’s behavior that she had observed until now. And she was certain that she would end up the same way if things continued like this.

…But at this point, realizing that was too late. Her heart had already leaned that way.

She decided to stop wasting mental energy on such meaningless thoughts.

Instead, she tried to organize the “related knowledge” that had entered her mind.

Though she already understood it, she would need to explain it somewhat when Ludion and Celia returned.

The problem was that her understanding felt intuitive rather than explicit, making it difficult to explain.

‘Hmm…’

She spent the waiting time pondering how to explain this ability.

But in the end, time continued to pass without her finding the right words for a proper explanation.

This was to be expected.

Even with knowledge forcibly implanted in her mind, trying to organize principles and theories of supernatural phenomena into simple sentences was like trying to complete a mismatched puzzle.

Celia, who could understand all of this and articulate it in words, was the abnormal one.

How much time had passed?

Eventually, her body regained its freedom.

Though it should have been a moment to rejoice, she seemed somewhat perplexed.

“Huh? Already?”

This made sense, as her side effect should have lasted for the duration of the restriction placed on Ludion plus the degree of his resistance.

The fact that the side effect ended so early meant…

“Ah~ hehehe…”

Realizing something that pleased her, Alkine began sending a message to Celia with a bright smile.

///

Walking through the forest with Celia, we eventually arrived at the location where the Rift had formed.

Coming here made me a bit anxious that another Rift might open, but that didn’t seem to be happening.

By the way… maybe because of what happened back then, my back started aching when we got here. Is this what they call PTSD or something?

While thinking about that, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

That day, it was Celia who destroyed the Rift Stone.

And at that time, Celia definitely used a “time” ability that prevented Belle the demon from responding.

Didn’t she say something about causality before when using that?

Suddenly curious, I asked her, and Celia moved right in front of me with a smile and poked my nose.

It happened in an instant that I couldn’t even perceive.

“This. Is it okay to use this so freely?”

“I was hesitant at first because interfering with causality could create a burden. But… it’s resolved now.”

I wondered what this “burden” was that she claimed to have already resolved.

“It’s nothing special. Just as time is a concept, causality is ultimately a concept too.”

“…Is that so?”

“You know what ability I received from the favorability system, right?”

“That what-was-it… Concept Materialization?”

“Yes, that’s the key.”

So… the burden of causality resulting from time manipulation is ultimately the result of something conceptual, so it can be handled through Concept Materialization?

Hmm…

Hmm…

I have no idea.

“Your face says you don’t understand at all, Ludion. Don’t think so one-dimensionally. Phenomena should be viewed with multi-dimensional thinking.”

As if reading my thoughts, Celia began explaining something in more detail.

“The relationship between time and causality, and the burden created when they become misaligned, ultimately has some overlap with the concept of events and incidents. If you dig deeper, they’re completely different concepts, but in the end, by equating these partial similarities…”

But even with this explanation, I still couldn’t understand.

Feeling that letting her continue would only tire her out, I interrupted Celia’s explanation and declared that I couldn’t understand any of it.

So Celia’s explanation abandoned all theory and principles, coming down to a simplified analogy tailored to my level…

“Once time and causality are defined as concepts, the matter is already settled.”

“Of course, materializing time and causality is nearly impossible, but dealing with the burden created by interfering with them is surprisingly easy.”

“For example, if time and causality are like entire continents, the burden is merely like an evil organization arising in a small part of the continent, so it can be eliminated without much trouble.”

“Of course, excessive use would increase the burden… but that’s something I can manage and adjust.”

“Does this explanation make sense?”

Perhaps because I had been listening to difficult explanations before this, there were still points I couldn’t fully grasp, but this seemed to be the limit of my understanding.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, Ludion. The important point is that it can be resolved with the ability I have. It fits so perfectly, as if it was given with this situation in mind, which is a bit unsettling…”

So, the ability granted by the favorability system was actually a foundation for properly utilizing special stats?

Whether this was true or coincidental would need to be confirmed with Alkine as well, but somehow I had a feeling it was true.

What purpose do they have for distributing such abilities?

Setting aside their purpose, the fact that they could grant such abilities was frightening.

Beings who could freely distribute such powers would be impossible to oppose, wouldn’t they?

Fortunately, they don’t seem hostile based on what we’ve seen so far… but as Celia said, it is unsettling.

However…

“For now, I’m trying not to worry about it. This ability will be helpful to you too, Ludion.”

“Right. Worrying won’t solve anything anyway. Let’s just use it.”

“I knew you’d say that, Ludion.”

Both Celia and I decided not to dwell too deeply on this matter.

We’d either learn the truth when the time came, or face ruin.

Obsessing over an uncertain disaster didn’t suit our personalities.

Just as our conversation ended, Celia’s bag conveniently chimed with an alert.

There weren’t many people who would contact Celia.

Who would be contacting her now? It was obvious without saying.

“Is it over?”

“She says it is. That’s a shame. It ended earlier than expected.”

“Come on, you’re going to be together all the time anyway, so what’s the disappointment for?”

“…It’s because I think it will be harder for us to go around like this, just the two of us, from now on.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Celia seemed to have a lot she wanted to say, but since Alkine had contacted us, we decided to head back first.