Four Split Personalities

"In some ways, it was achieved..."

A Sang fell into silence for a while before he said, in a grave tone, "Although I had my suspicions before, it wasn’t until just now that I became completely certain that I indeed have some degree of influence over the future, though there are significant limitations to this."

Motan nodded slightly and asked softly, "If I’m not mistaken, after we first opened this book, you must have done something to the first page, right?"

Ji Xiaoge glanced at Motan, then looked around the strictly defined environment which, in actuality, lacked a third person, but she did not interrupt. She just hugged the back of her chair with interest, continuing to listen to the two talk, quiet and well-behaved... and pretty.

"Bro, you’ve got it nailed," A Sang smacked his lips, his words tinged with undeniable surprise, and confirmed, "You’re right, it’s not just that first time you opened the book, but even the line Hakuna Matata that I just added to the title page, I tore it off again in the ’past’ after you opened it for the first time."

Motan frowned slightly, pondering, "That means, before we first opened the book, that line on the title page didn’t exist. But after that, even though you tore it off in the ’past,’ that page did not disappear from the ’present’..."

"Exactly."

A Sang’s tone also became serious as he said, "However, after I tore that page off, you both saw the Pikachu I had newly drawn behind it. Do you know what that means?"

Motan nodded gently, then looked at the young girl beside him, who didn’t seem confused in the least.

"I’m keeping up with the thought process here~"

Ji Xiaoge gave a playful smile, then summarizing while caressing her smooth cheek, "First of all, we can be sure that A Sang can indeed change the ’future’ to some extent, at least the future of the Holy Calendar in the nineties. Otherwise, whether it’s the proverb on the title page or the Pikachu behind it, we wouldn’t be able to see them. Because just ten minutes ago, the contents of this book were different in various ways from now."

She didn’t continue, just gave Motan a look that roughly meant ’It’s your turn to talk after this’.

"Furthermore, such changes have many restrictions, and success can only be achieved under certain conditions."

Motan immediately grasped the implication and continued to analyze, "From what we now know, it seems that facts that have been clearly observed in the ’future’ definitely cannot be changed. Just like the title page earlier, after Night Song and I have already seen that sentence, even if you, A Sang, tear off the page again in the past, it won’t disappear again. Although it’s in a game, I still feel this is a kind of adjustment to avoid a time paradox... or rather, a correction."

Being in the past, A Sang nodded, trying to suppress his excitement as he quickly followed up, "Your speculation is remarkably accurate. According to my research, the core of changing the future lies in ’cognition.’ For example, living organisms in the normal timeline are like people outside of a box, while the poor cat that Schrödinger and I had stays inside the box. Suppose you come to know through any means that the cat in the box is still alive at this moment. Then, even if I cast a forbidden spell to blast it to ashes in the past, the process and outcome would be forcibly corrected by some force, to keep the cat alive. But..."

A Sang took a deep breath to calm his excited heart and trembling hands, then ’left a message’ for the future pair, "If no one outside the box observes the life status of that cat, then whether I kill it, keep it alive, or turn it into a cow, as long as the result does not interact with any other ’established fact,’ like if the cow I turned from the cat kills a person who was supposed to live for two hundred years, twenty years in advance, then it may be possible to change the future and reveal that the contents of the box are controlled by me."

"Wow, that sounds pretty powerful!"

Ji Xiaoge, full of enthusiasm, hugged the back of the chair, rocking her body gently and exclaimed, "Holding history books and changing the future, A Sang, you could do whatever you want!"

Motan on the other hand, shook his head and pondered, "Not quite. In my view, the restrictions that A Sang just mentioned are extremely severe. Not to mention the rule about not contravening ’established facts,’ even if he wanted to make any change, it’s very likely that it would be lost in the rivers of time. In the end, the concept of ’time’ is not something mortals can control."

"You’re right, Mor."

A Sang chuckled bitterly, helplessly saying, "Just like you, Night Song, mentioned with the history book, in reality, the contents recorded in this ’Continental General History’ that I have are essentially a list of things that are almost impossible for me to influence. This I had confirmed before."

Motan was slightly taken aback and asked with confusion, "You’ve confirmed it? Does that mean you already knew you could have an impact on the future? Then the experiment just now was..."

"The experiment just now was so that I could learn whether the reality I was affecting was indeed ’reality,’ which is of great significance."

A Sang tapped the armrest, laughing as he poured pure Magic Power into the Mana Pool, "You are correct, I already knew I could influence the future by my actions in the past, yes, it was a serendipitous discovery. Nearly two months ago, I found myself in the Southwest Continent, staying for a few days at a small farm and helped the farmer chase away some beasts. It so happened that the farmer’s wife was giving birth at the time, and the couple was very grateful to me, so they asked me to name the child. It wouldn’t have been polite to refuse, so I blurted out ’Gandalf’..."