Chapter 100: Humanity, Anchors, and Changing Fate

The welcome banquet of the Balam Empire was nothing noteworthy. It was just a group of people eating, drinking, and dancing—a typical medieval Western court banquet, which greatly disappointed Lynn, who had hoped to see something more unique.

"I originally thought I'd see something like a Balamece coffin dancing performance, but this? This is so dull." Standing at the edge of the dance floor, Lynn sipped a glass of juice, watching the men and women dance gracefully to the music, and he shook his head in disappointment.

Lynn's gaze then fell on a familiar figure in the dance floor—none other than the notorious troublemaker, Amon. At this moment, Amon had temporarily abandoned his usual wizard robes and donned a suit just like everyone else, dancing gracefully like an elegant nobleman, completely hiding his usual mischievous nature.

Well, it would be perfect if his dance partner wasn't wearing a monocle.

"Dancing with oneself, what's the point? Do all you Marauders have this quirk?" Lynn mused. He couldn't understand this behavior—playing games with alternate identities might be excusable, but pulling them into a dance was beyond him. Although he did occasionally use his alternate identities to practice dialogues, he never danced with them.

Of course, this might be related to Lynn's general disinterest in dancing.

"Prince Libert, aren't you going to dance? Or is it that you haven't found a suitable partner?"

A slightly cold voice interrupted Lynn's thoughts. He turned his head slightly to find Azik Eggers, the Death Consul. The latter had also swapped his ornate robes for more fitting dance attire.

"I'm just not interested in dancing. I prefer painting," Lynn shrugged. He then looked at the seemingly stern Azik with great interest and asked, "What about you? Why aren't you dancing?"

"I'm similarly uninterested in these activities," Azik replied, shaking his head slightly as he looked toward the dance floor. "I'd rather spend my time on more meaningful things."

"Like handling official duties?" Lynn speculated, touching his chin.

Azik paused for half a second, clearly not following Lynn's train of thought, but then said, "Indeed, handling the empire's affairs is more meaningful than dancing."

"Sounds like an old office worker," Lynn quipped. He took another sip of his juice, looking at Azik's cold eyes, and remembered his previous plan.

If he wanted to transform Azik from a Death Consul to the gentle Azik father figure, there were two approaches. One was to use various means to enhance Azik's humanity. After all, Azik's humanity was only suppressed, not nonexistent. Even mythological creatures develop humanity when they have anchors. Therefore, with enough effort, humanity could be drawn out.

The other approach was to isolate Azik from the influence of the God of Death through Mysticism.

Lynn found this a fascinating and meaningful research topic. The pathways of deities in the mysterious world seem inseparable from the influence of higher beings. The higher the sequence, the closer one gets to sequence 0, the more influenced they become by Sequence 0, sometimes changing the entire pathway.

For example, the Witches' pathway would be more suitable for women to follow if not for the Primordial Demoness's twisted psychology. The role-playing might not necessarily require bad deeds; there could be some unconventional methods of role-playing. However, due to the Primordial Demoness, the higher the sequence a female Beyonder reached on this pathway, the more likely she would be to lose control.

Even Sequence 0 Beyonders are influenced by higher entities like the Great Old Ones. This influence might be because all Beyonder characteristics originated from the Original Creator, but it still resembles Lynn's situation. The more he drew power from his unknown true body, the closer he became to it, and the more he risked assimilation.

Lynn didn't even dare to say which of his hobbies or behaviors were purely his own will and which were influenced by the unknown true body.

Additionally, if we disregard appearances, the relationship between Lynn and his unknown true body is quite similar to the relationship between the Original Creator, the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth, and the God Almighty. Lynn's instincts drive him to approach the unknown true body, influenced and potentially assimilated by it, similar to how higher deities influence lower sequences and how the Celestial Worthy and God Almighty were driven to merge.

This was one of the reasons Lynn wanted to study how to isolate the God of Death's influence on Azik. While meeting Azik early was a whimsical desire, the primary goal was to find a method to isolate the influence of the unknown true body on himself.

Of course, this wouldn't be easy, but Lynn had plenty of time for research.

Lynn also considered that since anchors could stabilize his humanity, having enough significant anchors might be key to achieving independence. The natural tendency to create alternate identities in different eras might not be a coincidence.

"Is this a method to gain anchors? Would people like Medici or Sasrir, whose fates I alter significantly and who interact with my alternate identities, become crucial anchors for me?"

"Did I come to this world by accident or by design?"

As Lynn pondered, he smiled at Azik and suddenly asked, "Azik, you're not young anymore. Have you thought about getting married?"

——So let me test this, Death Consul. Let me see if I can find a way to isolate the influence of Sequence 0 on lower sequences through you. If I significantly change your fate and become an important friend, can you become an anchor for me?

Even if all else fails, the plan to repair your soul still holds significance for me.

And it's not a bad thing for you either, is it?

Lynn's smile grew even more radiant as he thought this.

(End of Chapter)