Stop Hypnotizing Me, Villainous Princess!

Chapter 13: The Lie Eater and the Prisoner of Fate

An extraordinary person, by definition, is someone with supernatural abilities.

But where do these powers come from?

The answer is simple.

In this world, where steam machinery, swords, and magic coexist, these powers are gifts from the gods.

Thus, extraordinary individuals are also known as “god-given.”

Generally, to become extraordinary, one must first choose a faith and join a corresponding deity’s church. Then, they undergo an aptitude test at the cathedral.

This test distinguishes ordinary people from those with supernatural potential, and those who pass become candidates.

When the time is right, the church gathers these candidates and arranges a god-giving ceremony.

At this ceremony, the more devout are more likely to succeed.

Once you pass the god-giving ceremony, you receive a divine trial—the difficulty of which is related to your rank.

The lower the rank, the simpler the trial.

For instance, to become a First-Rank extraordinary, one might simply need to please the deity, like offering precious items.

As ranks increase, the difficulty of trials grows exponentially.

Take, for example, the Empire’s famous strongman, the “Dragon Slayer” Beo of the Saint Dragon Family. His trial to ascend to the Legendary Fifth Rank was to slay a living dragon!

Once you complete all trials, you can reach out to the deity and pray for promotion to the next rank.

Advancing in rank brings significant rewards.

You not only gain new abilities but also ignite additional divine factors, enhancing your powers.

Generally, the awakened powers of an extraordinary are closely linked to the deity’s domain.

For example, Lynn’s previous self had been a follower of the Divine Order Church.

The deity of this church was the Master of a Billion Stars, so its followers’ abilities often related to airflow, gravity, weather, and even magnetism.

Once you choose a faith, you can’t pursue another.

Therefore, the powers of extraordinary individuals in this world are often limited and singular.

It’s extremely rare for anyone to wield powers from multiple faiths.

Or rather, there’s virtually no precedent for it.

From this day forward, Lynn would become that precedent.

Although his divine factors had been stripped, and his faith lost, the system changed everything.

By increasing the plot deviation of the original story characters, he could earn system points and use them to acquire or enhance abilities.

According to the system, he could even ignite divine factors independently!

The effects were astounding.

But still…

Increasing plot deviation wasn’t easy.

He’d nearly been killed by that villainous Princess just for a 0.01% change!

Now, staring at the rapidly spinning disc in front of him, Lynn felt nervous for the first time.

What ability would he gain from the system’s first reward?

To him, it was a matter of life and death—directly affecting his survival in this experiment.

Under his gaze, the disc slowed down, gradually stopping before him.

The pointer rested on a strange symbol.

It was an abstract, complex design that looked like a crying clown, or perhaps a puppet manipulated by strings.

[Congratulations! You have acquired a First-Rank Ability—Lie Eater.]

Lie Eater?

Lynn took a sharp breath.

Well done, system, you unreliable thing.

He had hoped for something like body enhancement or an ability to blend into shadows, like Morris’s phasing ability.

Anything, really, that would help him escape.

Instead, the system handed him a conceptual ability.

With a stiff expression, Lynn opened the skill description and read.

[Name: Lie Eater]

[Rank: First Rank]

[Effect: Lies you tell will be easier for others to believe; conversely, you can effortlessly detect lies told by others.]

[Activation Condition: None]

[Points Required for Next Rank: 10]

As expected, it was a seemingly niche ability.

Perhaps it could come in handy occasionally, but it didn’t seem useful in his current predicament.

Only at higher ranks might it grow more potent.

For now, it was just a typical First-Rank ability.

Moreover, its association with any particular faith was unclear.

With no choice, Lynn decided to test the ability.

In the next moment, layered waves appeared before his eyes, and the underground lab vanished from view.

Instead, he found himself in another scene.

Where… is this?

Lynn suddenly felt as if he could move freely, standing up dazedly.

But his gaze remained fixed on the strange sight before him.

It was an endless void, yet more than just that.

Within this emptiness, threads seemed to pierce the boundaries of time and space, emerging from the void.

They wriggled like tiny worms, moving in strange patterns.

These threads appeared to have life and intelligence, each with a unified purpose, surging ceaselessly toward a single target.

Thousands of threads combined into a vast ocean, converging high above.

Lynn looked up.

Suspended in mid-air, a gaunt human-shaped shadow was bound and twisted into a cruciform shape by the threads.

Its arms were particularly entangled, its expression one of agony, with eyes tightly shut.

Yet even so, the threads rushed toward it like rivers to the sea, torturing it repeatedly, seemingly for their amusement.

“Pri...soner... of... Fate…”

Lynn found himself murmuring the name without knowing why.

The next second, another wave of disorienting layers washed over him, snapping him back to reality.

“What’s with the daydreaming?”

Milanie waved her hand in front of his face.

“Oh, nothing,” Lynn replied casually.

Nothing? Yeah, right!

Inside, his mind was in turmoil, impossible to calm.

What did that scene mean?

His mind was blank, and his mouth felt dry.

“If you’re ready, let’s begin the experiment,” Milanie said with a blink.

Uh-oh.

He’d nearly forgotten the immediate crisis.

Driven by survival instinct, Lynn suppressed his shock and confusion, refocusing on the young girl before him.

He took a deep breath.

Then, under the effect of Lie Eater, he began to speak slowly, “Miss Milanie, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Dear readers, do you know that BOTI Translator Team loves stars? Please rate us 5 stars on NovelUpdates if you liked today’s chapter. Thank you!