A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 478 "I" and the Mirror Image

This is not the first time Rorschach has faced "me".

When the ancient sage separated the two "Rorschach", he initially only had a strange sense of tacit understanding and mutual perception. After the souls merged, the two memories intersected, and in his eyes, they were a unified self.

Now a mirror image has emerged, a seemingly completely independent existence, a more perfect existence.

The red-robed Rorschach claimed to have advanced to the rank of Archmage. He seemed to have absolute control over the Tree of Law and this space, and was practically the perfect prototype of the individual named "Rorschach" inscribed at the border.

Rorschach, being merely a mid-level mage, naturally felt a slight fear upon hearing "You are the challenger." This fear wasn't cowardice, but rather traceable back to infancy, demonstrating its primal human instinct.

When an infant becomes conscious, they recognize the correspondence between their reflection in the mirror and their own self. When they raise their hand and see their reflection in the mirror also raising their hand, they experience a sense of control. Rorschach had this feeling when he commanded the tower spirits in the past.

When the self suddenly realizes that the mirror image and "me" are disconnected and distorted, doubt arises: "Is this me?" It's like turning on a front-facing camera without any beauty filters and getting a jolt. "Rorschach in Red" crawls out of this gap of fear and solemnly declares, "I am me," "You are the mirror image."

At that moment, the red-robed Rorschach raised his hand, and golden threads from the Tree of Law merged into him. In an instant, the flow of magic at the boundary changed completely, making Rorschach, in his spirit form, feel as if he were in the middle of a storm.

In contrast, Rorschach's true self absorbs the raging magic and then outputs it, forming a stable domain.

One side has mastered the rules of the border region, while the other strives to maintain its own. From this perspective, the advantages and disadvantages are clear. Rorschach in red is gradually applying pressure, shrinking the area supported by the original Rorschach, and slowly eroding it.

Rorschach had previously confirmed that the Tree of Law nodes reached a maximum of nine layers, corresponding to the mini black hole that Rorschach had released in the Air Elemental Plane. It was an intertwining of shaping and transformation, reflecting both Rorschach's understanding of energy control and his comprehension of spacetime. Although Rorschach himself was not skilled in spacetime-related spellcasting, his understanding of spacetime itself allowed the "mini black hole" to take effect.

Now, Xia in red robes spread his arms wide, and the golden tree burst forth with golden light. Multiple branches began to extend and intertwine on their own, creating more nodes for the ninth level, followed by the tenth level.

He was deducing and quickly extracting the magical techniques belonging to the ancient sages, then obtaining the ninth-circle spell to prove to his true self, Rorschach, that his red robe was well-deserved.

The entire boundary was engulfed in lightning and thunder—not ordinary lightning, but a fusion of gold and darkness. These were gaps between reality and symbolism; the light represented energy gushing forth from these gaps, while the darkness was the ravine of absorption. Transmutation dust was absorbed by the darkness and then erupted from the light.

When lightning struck Rorschach's domain, he could feel the magic trembling and going out of control; with each strike, his domain was forced to shrink a little.

When the domain completely under Red Robe Xia's control prevailed and reached Luo Xia's spirit body, various kinds of pain began to act directly on him. This pain was derived from many enchanted spells uploaded to the spell cloud. At this time, in the border area, it did not need to rely on the nerves of the physical body to function, and directly tormented Luo Xia's soul.

Torture?

Xia, dressed in red, strolled leisurely and said, "I'm torturing you, so do you think I wouldn't dare kill you?"

He gently lifted Luo Xia's distorted face with the [Mage's Hand] and chuckled, "In fact, I do not depend on you for my existence. Therefore, I can easily erase you and replace your spirit with a thought to return to the material world."

"However, the material world isn't much better. It's inhabited only by ants and monkeys, and only a small fraction of them can uncover the truth of the world and partially understand the ideas brought by 'Rorschach.' In my opinion, finding an avatar is enough."

"The Tree of Law is my throne, the Borderlands are my court, and I can control Byrne and hundreds of spellcasters from above. Compared to the so-called 'Grand Magus' who writhes in the material world, I would rather be the one who transcends."

Benwo Xia spat, "Then erase me and create your own! For a grand mage, wouldn't that be a piece of cake?"

"Indeed, but even if I were to create a clone, I would never have another agent as capable as you. I thank you; without you, there would be no me, and no Tree of Law as we know it today." He proudly gazed up at the golden tree, watching the paths of light flicker: "How lush, how beautiful."

Xia in red robes turned around: "So, I've come to express my gratitude. From now on, as long as you don't step into this place again and don't dwell on my existence, you can continue to do what you want in the material world—go and deal with those monkeys, save them, give to them, enlighten them. Aren't you enjoying this process?"

"Furthermore, you can still become a Grand Mage. Yes, I promise you here that you will gain power no less than that of the ancient sages."

Luo Xia disagreed with and disbelieved his entire statement: "And what about you? If it's so simple, then just continue pretending to be the 'Tower Spirit,' why bother?"

"Me? I will continue down this path, always one step ahead of you, to be an ambitious Rorschach, not a Tarling."

"Once you become a Grand Mage, I will naturally become an even higher being. Becoming a god—this is a thought that has definitely crossed Rorschach's mind more than once. However, you always try to stay away from it because of some ridiculous and insignificant obsession. The difference between you and me is that I will steadfastly continue down this path."

"Hasn't Dryaz made it clear enough? We can't even find a single tangible god-level being in the Primordial Realm right now, and fragments of divine kingdoms are flying everywhere. Don't you know that there are enormous dangers behind becoming a god?"

"So what? Does being an ant mean you can avoid danger? Can mere mortals stand against Mother Earth? Your worries are nothing but an excuse for cowardice."

Rorschach in red robes pressed down again. Although Rorschach's spirit body did not have a physical brain structure, he seemed to be able to imagine sharp instruments piercing and penetrating the grooves of the brain.

"There is a spell that cannot be uploaded and cannot be included in the original text."

"Of course I know about [Reverse Ray] just like you, right? It's a spell that cancels other spells, but that also means it can't be cast in the Borderlands because it doesn't have a perfect prototype." Red Rorschach's expression remained unchanged; he was now seriously considering whether to completely erase the other party.

For Red Robe Rorschach, the "true self" before him was more like a backup image of an old version of the system. It was best to have it, but even without it, he would still exist. However, things would undergo some undesirable changes. This was something Red Robe Rorschach extracted from the memories of ancient sages.

He would never tell his "id" what the changes were.

"I'm increasingly convinced that you might also be 'Rorschach,' but you're definitely not me." The original body gave a bitter smile: "On this point, we've once again diverged."

If we still classify the [Reverse Ray] as a spell, then it is indeed impossible to cast or record it in this special space. However, tracing its principle, as an existence similar to the Primal Layer, it is not difficult to cast in the Borderlands.

Especially when it comes to oneself.

When Rorschach used the Reverse Ray on himself for the first time, his appearance changed, his magic circuits faded, and by the time the effect was complete, he had also completely lost his ability to cast spells.

At this moment, he had black hair and black eyes, glaring angrily at Rorschach in his red robes. The "Rift Lightning" was still roaring, and now it struck between the two of them, leaving scattered traces like cracks.

The mirror image is broken.

(End of this chapter)