Chapter 735: The Inevitable Curse of the Misfortune Coin
“Cooperate in the experiment?”
Hearing Sister Trix’s words, I was a bit surprised. Until now, I had always been the one asking others for help with my experiments, but this time it was someone else looking for my assistance.
However… the experimental item was this coin, and I was actually not opposed to it.
After all, I was quite curious about the effects of this extraordinary item.
“Yes, it won’t take too much time,” Trix said.
“Of course, but how do you want me to cooperate? Should I try to channel this coin’s fortune into myself?” I asked curiously.
“Not really. I’m not interested in effects that can only be activated by the creator. But if you’re very interested, I wouldn’t mind helping you experiment, though I think you could conduct such an experiment yourself,” Trix said with a smile.
After all, she didn’t believe that the other party lacked the expertise to test extraordinary items; their talent might even surpass hers.
“That’s not necessary. Actually, I’ve tested it a few times since it came into my hands. However, the conversion of matter and fortune requires deeper research, and I don’t want to spend too much time on this for now,” I said hastily.
Although I didn’t plan on spending too much time on research right now, I still had some speculations in my mind, such as that the coin was not material from the beginning but had material properties conferred through the power of fortune.
Essentially, it was still the concept of fortune; it didn’t actually become material or extraordinary materials, nor did it follow the mode of extraordinary materials crystallizing into crystal matter. This seemed to involve certain extraordinary phenomena from the birth ceremony of extraordinary items.
“Alright~ Since you don’t want to know, that coincides nicely with my intentions,” Trix said as she played with the coin. “In that case, let’s begin the experiment.”
“Mm.”
“Before that, I hope you understand one concept: since this extraordinary item stems from the prototype of the lucky coin, do you know what effect this alchemical item of fortune has?”
“Well… I know a bit,” I recalled the information I obtained from identifying the lucky coin. It stated its effect was not merely to bring good luck, but to help make the right choice. “When faced with a dilemma, tossing this coin will yield the most suitable answer, and there’s also a chance it may land upright. Moreover, after it lands upright, the same matter should preferably not be tossed a second time.”
Also, one should not engage in any underhanded actions when tossing the coin; after all, for extraordinary beings, observation and calculation are straightforward. Keen individuals can determine the result in an instant, even influencing whether the coin shows heads or tails, which would also prevent the lucky coin from producing a good effect.
“Right, it seems you understand quite a lot. Then let’s use this as a reference template to test this coin, shall we?”
“Sure,” I nodded in cooperation.
“Now, please count a number in your mind. This number can only be 0 or 1. Once you’ve chosen, remember it silently and don’t tell me yet. When you do tell me, don’t lie either,” Trix explained some of the experimental procedures and arrangements.
“Okay.” I nodded. After what she said, I understood roughly how she wanted to proceed.
In my mind, I chose “0”, then looked at Trix, “I’m ready.”
“Then… it’s my turn.” With a smile, she placed the coin on her thumb and gently flicked it into the air, where it flipped before landing steadily back in her hand.
When she opened her fingers, the side with my silhouette was facing up.
“Alright, my answer is… 1, right?”
“Wrong,” I shook my head, regretfully saying.
“Wrong? Interesting. This wouldn’t be the misfortune coin, would it?” Trix said with a laugh. “But I’m just joking. It’s only a test, so we can’t conclude anything yet.”
“If every time it’s wrong, it seems there’s no difference between that and being right, right?” I spoke up.
“That makes a lot of sense~ Shall we continue?” Trix also smiled, raising the coin to signal me.
“So, has Sister Trix felt any side effects from using it?” I asked.
“Side effects… I’m sorry, but I don’t seem to perceive any side effects,” Trix paused, then felt again before shaking her head. “Maybe the side effect is a decrease in luck, which is a rather ephemeral concept?”
“Perhaps. Then this really does become a misfortune coin.”
“Let’s continue.”
After accompanying Sister Trix to try several dozen times, we finally confirmed its extraordinary nature.
That is, every choice made would lead to failure.
This kind of failure belongs to predetermined failure.
For example, if I thought “0”, and Trix, while tossing the coin, thought that heads is 0 and tails is 1, the final result would be tails. Once Trix accepted this result and said “1”, she would have failed.
There was another scenario where Trix didn’t believe in the original rules and swapped 0 and 1 with heads and tails; this noncompliance with her established rules would also lead to the wrong final result.
This meant that from Trix’s perspective, as long as she didn’t know my predetermined result, any conclusion drawn based on this coin would ultimately be wrong.
This indicates that the result of heads or tails is not important; what matters is that the conclusion Trix derives from the coin’s result must be wrong.
We also tested some control groups, where not deriving a result from the coin would prevent any influence.
This influence came from… whether one participated and was aware of the result as the basis. To be more specific, doing such high-scale experiments in a café was somewhat inappropriate.
Thus, based on this coin, one could deduce a very conceptual conclusion: that the result would definitely be wrong!
At least up to now, there hadn’t been a correct situation…
“This… must belong to the level of causality manipulation! How could there possibly be such an unsolvable ability in the world?” I said incredulously.
“Causality? No, it’s not at that level, or rather, in the realm of the extraordinary, even causality has its applicable scope but is not absolutely unsolvable. This is a performance that is necessarily influenced by fortune, something I’ve researched about the lucky coin; that is its characteristic, and even extraordinary beings can have a certain influence,” Trix explained.
“Alright…” I didn’t know much about this aspect, so I chose to believe Sister Trix.
However, the abilities of this coin seemed to be unable to bug; even knowing the final result was wrong could only be confirmed once it actualized.
Even if one were to change their mind at the last moment, the result afterward would still be wrong.
So, in principle, it cannot be used as a lucky coin; the person holding it would inevitably be a loser, while others could benefit.
Furthermore, knowing the answer from the start meant that the result of this toss was meaningless, indicating that the extraordinary item didn’t work.
“This really is a fascinating coin,” even Trix couldn’t help but exclaim at that moment.
“Then… did Sister Trix feel any side effects from using it?” I curiously asked again.
“I’m sorry, I still don’t seem to feel that I’ve paid any price. Perhaps… this is just a feature of the holder’s use, but hasn’t touched upon the cost of use.” Trix, being well-versed in alchemy and extraordinary items, quickly provided a possibility.
“Holding feature? So that means we haven’t found the correct way to use it yet?” I asked with a frown.
“Very likely, since getting a right answer without any cost can be done with alchemical fortune items, and this one merely yields wrong answers, which isn’t surprising. Remember its prototype is the alchemical embryo of the lucky coin?”
“Now that you mention it… it does seem to make sense…” I nodded, accepting this explanation.
“There are many extraordinary items that, even when held, may bear side effects. Perhaps the fact that every choice is wrong is part of the side effects,” Trix continued to speculate.
“Is that so? Indeed, Sister Trix knows much more about extraordinary items than I do. If I were exploring this alone, I wouldn’t even know how to start.”
“Look at the way you flatter me,” Trix said with a smile, shaking her head, then picked up the coin again. “Let’s test one last time. If there are no other thoughts, then the experiment ends here, and I will take the rest back to the laboratory for testing.”
“Sure.” I nodded, silently counting a “0” in my mind.
In previous experiments, I had tried counting “0” ten times in a row, but for reasons unknown, Sister Trix guessed “1” every time.
I must say that was indeed quite magical.
“Have you made your decision?” Trix asked.
“Mm.”
With my nod, Trix flicked the coin again, and as it flipped, it eventually landed in her hand.
This time when Trix opened her fingers, it showed tails, the flower side, which somewhat resembled an iris, though that didn’t seem important.
“Does Xiao Han have any thoughts?”
“Um… I was thinking that after guessing the answer, if I flipped the coin over, wouldn’t the final result just be as I said?”
“Flip it over? Reverse the coin?” Trix indeed hadn’t tried doing this. She attempted to flip the coin over, then spoke, “This time it must be 1, right?”
“…”
This time, I responded to Sister Trix with silence. “Then… can you flip the coin back and guess again?”
“Is 1 wrong again? Sigh…” Trix followed my suggestion and flipped the coin back. “Is the answer 0?”
“Yes, the answer is…” I nodded just as I was about to say she guessed right this time, but at that moment, the ceiling above our booth suddenly loosened.
Crash—!
The ceiling light suddenly fell onto our table, shattering the lampshade and scattering fragments everywhere.
In that instant, I activated my sense of time, and a protection spell blocked my front, allowing me to escape disaster.
However, Trix didn’t dodge; after all, she was the extraordinary witch, already immune to the damage caused by such unexpected events.
Nevertheless, her untouched and still-full latte was knocked over by the falling chandelier, the coffee mixed with milk flowed out down from the tray, staining her skirt with a light brown hue.
“Interesting…”
Even after such an incident, Trix remained calm, as if everything had nothing to do with her.
But her skirt was indeed stained.
“It seems we have found the correct way to use it and understood its side effects.”
Trix cast a cleaning spell to remove the coffee from her skirt, then looked at me with a smile.
At that moment, the waitstaff hurried over, and the café manager nearly cried!
Their café’s décor experienced an accident and even struck a teacher!
“We’re so sorry! This is all our fault…”
“It has nothing to do with you,” Trix turned to the rush of staff and the tearful manager, smiling as she interrupted their apologies.
“This is our fault. Regarding the compensation for this unfortunate experience…”
“It’s fine, it should be our fault. We were conducting a minor experiment here, which has brought some trouble to your reputation,” Trix shook her head again, then waved her hand, casting a restoration spell to return everything to normal.
I also had this spell in my collection; it consumes a significant amount of mana, reaching three digits, and the things restored can’t be too complex, preferably not involving extraordinary items, or more mental power must be exerted to repair it.
This spell essentially reassembles the materials in a more convenient way.
This is different from Sister Bai’s complete sense of time; one is about reassembling and repairing, while the other is about reproducing and restoring.
After some apologies, the manager still couldn’t accept that this was our doing.
In the end, compensation was still issued; although neither Trix nor I cared for this compensation, we still symbolically accepted some.
“Xiao Han, your previous suggestion… was it an attempt based on that earlier earth vein reflection? Making a choice of your own upon a predetermined result… that might express the meaning that extraordinary items hope to convey, as well as the guiding core of their birth ceremony.”
“Uh… perhaps,” I nodded, I had indeed thought about this possibility at the time, but I hadn’t expected the outcome to actually be like that…
“I really have to thank you, Xiao Han. If not for your idea, I could have tried many times and never discovered this effect of altering a predetermined result… it’s indeed an interesting idea,” Trix smiled, feeling she gained too much from this encounter!
It was worth it!
“Actually… it’s nothing much…”
“You really are very humble, just as the rumors about other witches say.”
Trix walked beside me. Since that incident in the café, we had arrived at the answer everyone sought, so we might as well leave accordingly.
“Well… this meeting ends here. I will keep this coin safe for you. Once my testing is complete, I will return it to you.”
“Mm, I believe Sister Trix will keep it safe for me,” I smiled as well, but I didn’t want to part just yet; after all, I still had one more thing to do. “But can Sister Trix wait a moment?”
“Is there anything else, Xiao Han?”
“I met a kind student from the Wizard Academy a few days ago, and he gave me a fortune witch weapon.” As I spoke, I took out the palm-sized fortune witch weapon crystal ball. “I was wondering if this weapon could exchange for knowledge related to the fortune alchemist profession?”
