This happened during my visit to the Gluttony’s territory.
I had subtly brought up the topic of Chaos with Samuel.
And Samuel had said that it was related to ‘probability.’
However, I couldn’t understand what Samuel meant.
To be precise, I couldn’t connect it to Chaos.
What was the connection between possibility and Chaos?
As I frowned, Adel’s voice, filled with admiration, reached my ears.
“You have an incredible friend. Who knew that someone could approach the source of Chaos just by hearing a few words?”
He continued to talk about Samuel.
“I couldn’t help but be amazed. In fact, your friend Samuel wasn’t that strong. Honestly, I didn’t even know his name. He was just someone who lost to Terias, who couldn’t even fully unleash his talent during the midterm exams.”
“…Get to the point.”
“What I mean is, he’s amazing. Creator, by saving Samuel, you’ve turned the probability of achieving your ideal, which was zero, into an unknown variable. And to think he’s a child connected to ‘that’.”
That?
I furrowed my brows at Adel’s words.
What was he talking about?
As I was about to ask, Adel spoke.
“Chaos is a more powerful ability than you think, Creator. It will likely show you power beyond your expectations, no matter what you imagine.”
“…That powerful?”
“Indeed. After all, it’s an ability that annihilates existence every time it’s used. Naturally, it can also distort the rules of the world.”
The ability to distort the rules of the world.
And possibility.
My shoulders trembled once.
No way.
It couldn’t be.
No, it couldn’t be possible.
I had my suspicions.
It was only natural.
There had been countless clues about Chaos, so I had some guesses.
But I had been trying to deny those speculations.
I had no choice but to deny them.
Because I couldn’t believe that such a fraudulent ability existed in this world.
If the ability called Chaos coincided with the ability I was thinking of, then it would be…
‘An ability dangerous by its very existence. An ability so powerful I wouldn’t believe I wrote such a setting.’
It was an ability that shouldn’t exist.
If the original Adel, the one in front of me, could use Chaos, then the protagonist and his party would have already been erased from this world.
Adel, watching me tremble, opened his mouth.
“It seems you’ve figured it out to some extent. Indeed. Chaos is the power to manipulate possibilities. The power that embraces infinite possibilities is Chaos.”
“Are you serious?”
“Is there any reason for me to lie? And it seems like you already had a hunch, Creator.”
“…”
I couldn’t open my mouth.
The power to manipulate possibilities.
To put it simply, it meant this.
For example,
“Let’s test it with gravity.”
Adel said, his eyebrows curving into an arc. Then, an apple appeared in the mirror.
Crunch-.
Adel took a bite of the apple and mumbled.
“This is pretty good. Though it tastes bland.”
“…Just explain.”
“You’re impatient. Now, Creator, watch closely.”
Thud-.
Adel dropped the apple from his hand.
The apple fell to the floor and rolled.
Thump-.
Then, as Adel flicked his finger again, the apple landed in his hand.
Crunch-. Crunch-.
Adel started eating the apple that had fallen to the floor again and said.
“The law of universal gravitation. All objects have a force that attracts them. The energy possessed by gravity varies depending on its mass. Simply put, if you drop this small apple from your hand, it will fall to the floor.”
“Right. But if you use Chaos…”
“Seeing is believing.”
Adel dropped the apple from his hand again.
And the apple began to float into the air.
“This is what happens. It defies the law of gravity and goes up. This is turning the possibility, which converged to zero, to 100. Because Chaos is the power to create possibilities.”
“…That’s an incredible ability.”
It was truly an absurd ability.
I could see why the penalty was so severe.
If I used the power of Chaos, I could designate a living person and create the ‘possibility of dying in three seconds’.
However, I didn’t know how strong the penalty would be.
The price could even be my own existence, so it was an ability that shouldn’t be used.
“The more impossible the task, the greater the penalty for creating the possibility. Take the Absolute Concealment you used the other day, for example.”
“Absolute Concealment?”
I tilted my head.
Now that he mentioned it, Absolute Concealment had a lesser penalty than when I borrowed Adel’s power.
Come to think of it, it was strange.
Absolute Concealment was a powerful ability that even worked on the Sword Saint.
It was a technique that concealed my existence from the entire world.
Therefore, I should have suffered an immense penalty, but there was only a relatively small one.
Of course, depending on how you looked at it, the penalty could be considered severe, but it was just losing one sense for a few hours.
So I always wondered.
Why did Absolute Concealment have a lesser penalty compared to when I used Chaos?
And that question was answered by Adel’s explanation.
“It’s simple. Absolute Concealment is a technique for hiding something. Moreover, my body possesses an incredible talent for concealment.”
“You’re saying that yourself.”
“What else can I say when it’s true?”
Adel shrugged and continued.
“In fact, even the ordinary concealment magic you use, Creator, is unrivaled in this world. So it’s easy. Chaos was applied with the concept of ‘strengthening’ concealment magic.”
“That means…”
“That’s right. The penalty is small because it was an easier task. But using Chaos in other situations would inevitably require a greater penalty.”
“…So it’s not an entirely broken ability. Borrowing just 20% of your power was enough to make me forget my own name. If I tried to exert a stronger power, my very existence…”
“Would be extinguished.”
Adel’s confirmation.
I was overcome with complicated emotions.
I had finally figured out how to use Chaos, but I couldn’t even utilize it properly.
But it wasn’t without its gains.
‘I can recover my body.’
I didn’t know what kind of penalty would follow this time, but it wouldn’t be unbearable.
If I pushed it a little further, I might even be able to partially strengthen my body.
However, as Adel had said, restoring my body to its original state was impossible.
I didn’t know exactly what penalty would follow if I used that much Chaos.
So it was better not to gamble.
Excluding the worst-case scenario…
Wait.
As I was thinking about Chaos, I remembered something.
I wasn’t the only one who could wield Chaos.
Asen’s ancestor.
He could also wield Chaos.
In that case,
“What price did Arsene’s ancestor pay for Chaos, and what did he gain?”
“…”
But Adel didn’t answer this question.
He just scanned me with surprisingly cold eyes.
As if I had touched his ‘reverse scale’.
I shuddered.
There was something.
Adel and Arsene’s ancestor.
And there was something between them and Chaos.
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