Chapter 47: Teaching Her the Dao of Acting

Magna found her serene state quite impressive. It would be an incredibly powerful ability if she could use it whenever she wanted.

He also remembered the time they had been attacked by two lizards. It was Faye, or more specifically her serene state, that had actually saved them both.

Titus had still been nearby, ready to step in and save them if things turned dangerous. But in the end, that was how it played out.

"How do you usually turn it on?" Magna asked, setting his book aside.

The idea of a bloodline trait especially caught his interest, since he had always admired powers like that in the novels he used to read.

Faye, now completely stopped crying and forgetting her sorrow, started to think it over. "I usually need to focus and meditate. I have to clear my mind for a while, and if I can focus hard enough, it activates."

She added something else too. "Oh, and sometimes it kicks in on its own when I’m in serious danger, or under a lot of stress. But not always."

Magna thought about it after hearing the details, feeling fairly convinced. ’This is actually pretty similar to a split personality, isn’t it?’

As far as he knew, people with dissociative identity disorder formed alter identities after certain kinds of trauma.

Someone who suffered abuse at home might develop an adult identity to cope, or the opposite could happen too, where an adult who found the world too frightening might develop a child identity instead.

Most of the time, these identities appeared in the moment, as a way for the person to protect themselves from stress.

But of course, Faye’s case was different. Even when she entered her serene state, she stayed herself and never forgot what happened during it, unlike a real dissociative identity disorder.

While all these details spun through his mind, an idea suddenly struck Magna. "I think I might be able to help you with that."

Faye’s eyes lit up with hope the moment she heard it, but the spark faded just as fast. "No way. My mother and grandmother both said it’s something I can only master naturally."

Magna wasn’t discouraged by that at all. He just shrugged. "We won’t know until we try."

He genuinely wanted to test his idea, if nothing else, it sounded fun.

It took a little convincing, but Faye finally agreed. "Okay, fine."

Magna smiled as he was satisfied. "Now we need to install a switch in your mind."

He started explaining, while Faye watched him with obvious confusion.

"You said you can enter that state under heavy stress, which means there’s already a switch that can trigger it instantly. Knowing that, we’re going to build a second switch, one you can use freely whenever you want. I’ll teach you a technique of mine, and that’s going to become your switch."

Faye kept staring at his face with the same blank, confused look.

"Okay, never mind. Let’s just start. You’ll understand better once you actually try it yourself."

What Magna wanted to teach her was actually simple. Acting.

Whenever Magna played a role in a game, that was where he truly shined.

He could fully become the character, whether it was a god or a lowly farmer, as long as it was a game. His mindset was naturally suited for that kind of thing, letting him slip into a role almost perfectly.

So for Faye, he decided to teach her to act like a certain anime character, one known for being cold, emotionless, and ruthless.

He figured that if Faye could commit to the role, it might trigger her serene state automatically as a side effect.

He started giving her a quick rundown of the character, how they behaved, how they spoke, even how they moved.

He even acted it out himself, using it as an example for Faye to follow.

"I am strong. Stronger than all of you. Extremely strong. I can kill all the titans out there. Even if I am alone." His face was completely blank, his eyes staring off into empty space, one hand raised as if gripping an invisible sword.

Since he wasn’t in an actual game, his acting came out a little rough. Still, he figured he had given the girl enough of an idea, considering how much time he had spent on it.

"That was so cool. I want to try too." Faye seemed genuinely impressed by his one man performance. After a moment, she decided to join in on her own, giving the acting a try herself.

The two of them then started playing the acting game together.

After a while, Magna even started adding more characters, blending them together however he saw fit, creating a completely new character out of the mix and teaching it to Faye.

He never imagined he would come to regret teaching her that at all.

—

After hours of practice, the pale blue moonlight slowly gave way to the bright light of the sun.

Morning sunlight poured in through the window, lighting up the study. It caught the small figure standing on the sofa, her pale yellow hair glowing like a reflection of the sun itself.

Faye stood there, her face completely empty of emotion, looking down at Magna, who was kneeling on the floor below her.

Magna had no idea how long he had been kneeling like that. His legs were starting to cramp, so he slowly lifted his head, hoping to check if Faye had gone back to her normal self.

But the moment his head rose even a little, a cold voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Who gave you permission to lift your head, worm?"

’Oh god, what have I done? I’ve created a monster,’ Magna thought, lowering his head again, drowning in regret.

He wasn’t even sure anymore whether she was just really good at acting, or if something in her head actually broken.

Up until a certain point, everything had been fine. It really had felt like just a game between the two of them.

But after a while, when Magna decided to add more detail to her character, he had genuinely broken something in her.

She even started giving off a strange, cold air around her, making the room’s temperature drop rapidly.

"Hey, Faye, isn’t that enough? It’s already morning. Want to go get breakfast?" He tried to coax her back to normal.

But she was still too deep in her serene... demon state. "Breakfast? I know you were unsatisfied with the life you had, but with me, you’ll have everything...."

Before she could finish her line, Magna cut in, going with the one method he believed could actually snap a kid back to their senses. "If we don’t go eat breakfast right now, I won’t play with you anymore."

And it actually worked.

Faye froze in place for a second, her cold, emotionless face suddenly breaking into panic as she hopped down from the sofa. "No way."

Magna finally let out a sigh of relief. It looked like he had found the switch to bring her back to normal.

He forced his aching body up to his feet, stretching slowly, his joints popping with each movement.

"If you want to play with me again next time, you have to listen to what I say." He made sure to scold her a little too, figuring it was the best way to keep control over the switch he had just created.

"Yes, yes, I will." Faye nodded frantically, agreeing without hesitation.

She grabbed his hand right away, not even letting him finish stretching, and pulled him toward the door. "Let’s go eat breakfast, then we can go back to playing."

Before he was pulled out the door by force, Magna could only glance back with disappointed eyes at the closed book still sitting on the sofa.

It looked like his plan to read would have to be delayed.