Special Mini-Theater: A Few Things About the Protagonist's Settings

Jizi: To all my dear readers in front of your computer screens—

World Admin: To all my dear readers in front of your phone screens—

All: We miss you all so much!

World Admin: This is a special episode of "Fate's Rebellious Night," a program designed for reader interaction. First, let's read a letter from a reader. The Dian Niang ID is...

Jizi: Nonsense! The title clearly states this is about me! Why is it suddenly turning into a reader interaction segment? And why are you here when you were supposed to only appear in the prologue?

World Admin: The original text said, "will basically not appear again after the prologue." Pay attention to the word "basically"! Besides, the placement of this chapter isn't exactly "after the prologue."

Jizi: ...So, what about the first question?

World Admin: Ah, that was just clickbait... no, it was incidental. We'll incidentally explain some things about you.

Jizi: My character settings as the protagonist are merely incidental? Is that really okay?

World Admin: Well, because of certain actions taken by someone at the end of the last episode, the author is currently undergoing punishment more severe than the eighteenth level of hell. So, let's just gloss over these details.

Jizi: ...Uh...

World Admin: In any case, let's get down to business! Let Cirno worry about the details.

Jizi: Alright... Regarding reader mail—which is actually comments in the review section—since the author has basically replied to most of them, we won't read them aloud or list the names. In short, thank you all very much for your suggestions and comments. Next, we'll address some questions.

World Admin: For example, about the chapter formatting. Hmm, after the author read it himself, he felt that a large block of text crammed together is indeed annoying to look at. But there's an issue: that "large block of text" is actually a distinct and complete part. Splitting it up would feel a bit strange...

Jizi: Everything the World Admin just said is the author's sophistry, everyone, please don't believe it. The real reason is that guy is a chatterbox. He's not comfortable unless he complicates simple issues, or his expression skills are so poor he can't explain things clearly and concisely.

World Admin: ... (glances at the manuscript in his hand) Uh, could you at least let me finish reading before you tear it down?

Jizi: No! It's just a bunch of nonsense and sophistry anyway. It's fine to skip it. The readers already said they don't want to see large blocks of text clumped together.

World Admin: You forgot the main purpose of our book...

Jizi: Let him court death if he wants! I want to be a proper protagonist! Since he's not here right now, I'm going to quickly erase the negative impression he left and replace it with a positive one. So, the paragraphs will be divided more in the future, at least so that no paragraph makes readers feel "Ugh, so much text, I don't even want to read it."

World Admin: Whatever you want. It doesn't really concern me anymore.

Jizi: Also, there are reader questions about my abilities as the protagonist, since they're unclear. Well, since they're unclear, let me explain them in detail. This is also a good opportunity to refine my settings as the protagonist—this damn messy work left by the incompetent author still needs me to clean it up.

World Admin: Then, first...

Jizi: When it comes to my abilities, the most important one is my Noble Phantasm [Myriad Delusions] (power-of-YY). Its principle is to use my brainpower as a shut-in to recreate content I've seen on the other side of the screen, including weapons, skills, items, and so on. The degree of accuracy is determined by two factors: my mana and my obsession with the original.

World Admin: In simpler terms, it's imitation.

Jizi: Can it be called imitation when we're talking about Chinese people?

World Admin: ... I have no counter-argument...

Jizi: However, just saying it might not be clear to many friends, so let's demonstrate with a practical example.

(Summons a Gundam)

Jizi: Everyone, look! Because my obsession with Gundam is so deep, I can perfectly recreate Gundam with 100% accuracy!

World Admin: Actually, this consumes a lot of mana, but here, I've fixed her mana to be infinite.

Jizi: But I've basically never imagined "I would pilot a Gundam"—you can think of it as being afraid of your own shadow, but my interest in piloting a Gundam to fight is far less than collecting Gundams—so I can't manifest the ability of "Gundam piloting."

World Admin: After all, she doesn't even have a driver's license for a car... she can't even ride a bicycle properly.

Jizi: Cough, cough, what did my poor athletic ability ever do to you! Anyway, that's how it is. Let's put the Gundam aside for now and move on to the next item. (Summons the Ruyi Jingu Bang) Although I absolutely loved "Journey to the West" starring Stephen Chow Sing-chi, due to the passage of time, I don't remember it very clearly, so the Ruyi Jingu Bang I manifested differs greatly from the original. Its Noble Phantasm rank is only C. Otherwise, the original Sea-Pacifying Needle would definitely be an EX-class Anti-World Noble Phantasm. And that set of staff techniques comes from a series of Jet Li films (like "Shaolin Temple," etc.). Because I don't remember these clearly either, the manifestation isn't very strong. Otherwise, judging by the skills of characters played by Jet Li, like Wong Fei-hung and Huo Yuanjia, Lancers would be no problem at all.

World Admin: This is the result of watching martial arts films just for the excitement without paying close attention to the fight choreography.

Jizi: Although the manifestation isn't the original, and even differs greatly from the original—but do you remember the two determining factors for this ability? Mana and obsession! If the obsession isn't enough, you can use mana to enhance the quality of the manifested item. For example, if I inject a large amount of mana into the Ruyi Jingu Bang like this... (flash effect) I can get a Ruyi Jingu Bang exactly like the original!

World Admin: However...

Jizi: Hahahahaha! The original Ruyi Jingu Bang! (singing) Just crossed a few mountains, and crossed a few rivers, why are the rugged and bumpy paths so many! (shouting) Eat my old grandson's staff! (singing) Go to hell with your steeper mountains and fiercer waters, I've eaten bitterness and encountered hardships, I'll fight my way to a sky-piercing great road, wide and spacious... (draws out the sound) ...ciousnessss... I FUCKING DID IT! I even played the BGM, why can't I move it at all!

World Admin: Let me share a fun fact with everyone. The Ruyi Jingu Bang, originally named the Sea-Pacifying Needle, or Sea-Pacifying Divine Needle Iron, or Nine-Revolutions Fin Iron, can change its size at will. Its weight is—13,500 jin, which is 6,750 kilograms!

Jizi: Holy crap!

World Admin: So stop playing weightlifting there and come back.

Jizi: Fine, fine. I'm sure some friends are wondering now, since mana can be used for enhancement, why don't I use it much in the main story? Let me explain.

World Admin: Now, let's remove Jizi's "infinite mana" buff. Then, to make it more intuitive, let's set her current mana to 10. (A blue number "10" appears above Jizi's head.)

Jizi: Why is it ten... Never mind, let's just go with it. But dear readers, this number is just a conceptual value and has no relation to my actual strength in the main story.

World Admin: Hurry up, to business!

Jizi: So, manifesting the Ruyi Jingu Bang directly with brainpower consumes 1 mana—this is also just a concept! Oh, and by the way, manifested weapons can be summoned at any time, just like a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm. Like this (the Ruyi Jingu Bang repeatedly disappears and reappears in her hand). It doesn't consume additional mana.

World Admin: But if it's damaged by external forces... (snaps his fingers, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang shatters into pieces)...

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

Jizi: ...I have to manifest it again. For example, this one (spends three to four minutes manifesting another staff).

World Admin: As for that bow, its construction is unstable. It breaks after one use, so it needs to be reconstructed.

Jizi: Also, items cannot be like weapons. Once made, they remain in solid form and have an expiration date. However, you can make multiple items at once, but the mana consumption is also very large. For example, if you need to recover from an injury, it consumes 3 mana. But to create a healing potion that can treat the same level of injury, it costs 5 mana, which is not cost-effective.

Admin: The advantage is that you can prepare in advance and let others use it.

Jizi: Speaking of which, if I were to infuse more magic into a C-rank Ruyi Jingu Bang, which was made with a little magic, to strengthen it to B-rank, it would cost 8 or 9 magic. To strengthen it to A-rank would cost over 50 magic, and this strengthening also has a time limit; you have to infuse that much magic again after a certain period. This is why I don't use magic to strengthen weapons.

Admin: Skills are the same, like this—here comes a "Turtle Shockwave."

Jizi: Kamehameha! (She unleashed a light wave thinner than a small flashlight beam, which couldn't even penetrate the floor.)

Admin: This attack costs 5 magic, but its power is less than a casual slash. And to restore its original power, it would cost at least 500 magic.

Jizi: So, my actual strength is quite weak...

Admin: This is where you need to cheat. Didn't I give you three Ahoges?

Jizi: That brings me to that. The so-called Ahoges are actually magic storage devices, pre-filled with a huge amount of magic.

Admin: If your total magic is 20 (besides the usable magic, there's also the magic that constitutes your body), then one Ahoge contains 998.

Jizi: ...I don't want to comment on that number.

Admin: Although it's so powerful, it also has limitations. It's a one-time use, and it can only be used to strengthen "Myriad Delusions."

Jizi: Meaning, even if I only use 200 magic at once, the consumption is the entire Ahoge—the remaining 798 magic is eaten by who knows what! And it can only be used for "strengthening"—anyway, there's no other use for it.

Admin: When to use it is up to you to consider. Although you've already used one for the C-rank.

Jizi: As for why I'm so powerful in the B-rank, and can even activate the Eightfold Path, one reason is that the Berserker class has a bonus when manifesting skills with berserk attributes, and the second reason is that I have a lot of magic in the Berserker route—in places where the author didn't write it, I absorbed all of Old Man Matou's magic. I also go hunting at night, targeting bandits, thieves, drunkards, etc. And at that time, I don't just absorb a little life force, but kill them directly. Later, I activated Eva-01 and ate the seafood summoned by Caster. In short, I'm super powerful.

Admin: Oh, right, there's one more thing that needs explaining. What happened to all the weapons you created in the prologue?

Jizi: Sigh, their quality was too poor to be used. The ones that can be used are the ones that appear in the main text.

Admin: How poor were they?

Jizi: For example, look, this is Tessaiga (she manifested Tessaiga with her left hand), and this is a "Clever Wife" brand kitchen knife bought at the supermarket (she took out a kitchen knife with her right hand), and then like this (she clashed the knives in both hands).

Jizi: You see (the kitchen knife was unharmed, while Tessaiga broke into two pieces). Its hardness is even less than plastic. As for Noble Phantasms, even the lowest rank E- is several times higher than this. The others are pretty much the same.

Admin: You're so useless.

Jizi: It's not my fault that time was tight. If I had enough time, and could rewatch all those anime I've almost forgotten ten times, the ones I created would at least reach C-rank.

Admin: Well, after saying so much, it's all just the author's scheme. This book isn't about the protagonist being invincible and crushing everything, so the abilities I gave you are just slightly stronger...

Jizi: Exactly, it's all the author's fault!

Admin: Then, finally, let me explain your mask. This setting is also quite vague.

Jizi: Well, you can think of it like the Soul Gem in Madoka Magica. The mask is the main body, and the body is like a puppet. The difference is that both the mask and the body have perception. Yes, it's roughly like that. The mask is related to the plot after the main text, so it's inconvenient to reveal too much. Please bear with it.

Admin: What an irresponsible statement...

Jizi: Well, it's a fanfiction. As long as you enjoy reading it, that's what matters. Focusing too much on details would be missing the point. Actually, my strength in the main text was intentionally blurred by the author. Since it caused confusion for the readers, I'm opening this single chapter to explain...

Admin: It feels like it's even more confusing after the explanation...

Jizi: Then let me explain again... Anyway, that's all for today.

Admin: To our readers in front of their computer screens—

Jizi: To our readers in front of their phone screens—

All: We'll see you again whenever that may be!

Author: Oh my god, I finally escaped alive... Huh? Is the show over already?

Author: Let me check the record... Why does it feel more confusing after the explanation?

Author: Let me just summarize it simply.

The protagonist's ability is imitation. She can imitate weapons, items, and skills.

However, to prevent her from getting too arrogant, she was restricted. Only a few of the things she imitated are usable in the main text.

Although the text gives a reason for this, it's actually a reason the author forcibly imposed to limit her, so don't dwell on it.

Of course, there's also a big cheat, which can only be used three times. That's all.

Author: Hmm, the menopausal old woman is catching up. I'm outta here. Goodbye.

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author. They might have just changed their name!