A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 479 "I" and the Other

Rorschach in red did not disappear, but he became angry.

Now the connection between the id and him has been severed, and they no longer form a mirror image relationship. In other words, the change that Rorschach had been trying to avoid has occurred irreversibly.

"Why do you do this? Why give up your spellcasting ability?" Xia in red robes asked, his face turning ashen.

Rorschach could no longer feel any pain and said easily, "Here, what difference does it make to you, a mid-level spellcaster like Rorschach or an ordinary person without any ability, if you're fighting on your home turf and call yourself an archmage? In your words, we're all just ants and monkeys."

"The reason I did this is to confirm one thing: no matter what I look like, what my body is like, or whether I have magical abilities, I am still me. And you are not me."

Dangerous lightning gathered in Xia's palm as he donned the red robe. To Luo Xia, an ordinary person at this moment, he was nothing more than a fragile, wandering soul, powerless to resist.

As long as Xia Xiang in red robes wanted to, he could easily erase him, and he was indeed planning to do so at this moment: "Unfortunately, I am still alive and well. See, I didn't lie to you. You are not some kind of original body, and I don't need to depend on you to exist."

Faced with the murderous intent rising in the red-robed Rorschach, the real body calmly stated: "While confirming the first thing, I was betting on the second thing—the Tree of Law chose me, as referred to by 'Rorschach,' just as only 'I' can enter the original text layer, just as I have so many special abilities, I have a panel."

"I don't need to prove to anyone that I am who I am, but from the very beginning, you have been constantly emphasizing and begging for my approval in my eyes."

"How pitiful!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tentacles of the Tree of Law connected with the "Grand Mage" appeared and detached from the red-robed spirit. Then, the light gathered on the black-haired body, even though he was not in his otherworldly form and did not have the ability to cast spells.

This was something the red-robed spirit had not anticipated. He identified himself with Rorschach and had never considered the current situation, nor had he thought that he would lose the recognition of the Tree of Law.

"As expected, the Tree of Law has always been bound to me, and the reason it could be controlled by you was only because you were once my mirror image and always at the boundary. But that's not the case now. From the beginning, you didn't belong to the 'self'; you were more like a thief who borrowed my identity to gain authority."

The offense and defense switched in an instant. Rorschach acted with his past life's appearance and his present life's spellcasting abilities. The links of the Tree of Law were completely connected to him, while the red-robed Rorschach seemed to have become an empty shell with only a facade.

"And if you were really me, you should always remember—villains die from talking too much!"

Rorschach did not kill the guy who had tormented him for so long. He drove the Tree of Law to break through and expand continuously. The branches and leaves of the Tree of Law, which had been analyzed by the ancient sages, developed again. Now its underground root system continued to expand, encompassing the entire space of the boundary area and spreading outward.

If Feuerbach were present, he would be utterly astonished. Rorschach's mastery of this space and the Tree of Law had reached its peak, making him virtually the ruler of a realm. Unlike Granor, a "discoverer of a secondary plane," Rorschach did not need investiture or recognition; the borderlands were undeniably and completely under his control.

The "virtual coordinates" at the boundary began to shift, moving towards the original layer of the entire world, and constantly approaching each other.

One represents Rorschach's system, whose roots have been mixed with the order of another world; the other is a field that embodies the magical order of the entire world. Rorschach doesn't know what will happen if they come into contact, but he is certain that a catastrophic event will occur, and the Supreme Being will not stand idly by; he will receive a response.

In the endless, highest heavens, eyes outlined by countless stars began to twinkle, then closed. As these eyes closed, the red-robed Rorschach lost the foundation of his existence and began to dissipate.

"How did you know?" These were its last words.

Finally, the pure artificial soul was dismembered by the tentacles of the Tree of Law and incorporated into Rorschach's spirit body, actually restoring the power that should have belonged to him. Rorschach gradually regained his appearance in this world and a soul strength commensurate with, or even far exceeding, that of an archmage.

There was also a piece of memory and knowledge belonging to the ancient sages. He hesitated, not accepting it. In any case, thanks to the efforts of Red Robe Rorschach, the ancient sages' spells had already been inscribed into the Tree of Law, generating nodes and links.

The metamorphic dust coalesced and took shape, combining with the knowledge and memories of ancient sages to manifest a smiling old man: "Aren't you afraid that another tower spirit will appear that will turn against its master?"

"No. Because you depend on me to exist. You are a product of my gaze and imagination, not a part of me, but you exist because I think of you." Just as Red Rorschach depends on the gaze of those starry eyes upon him to exist.

This ancient sage truly has no soul. If Rorschach were to cease his imagination, it would revert to the memories stored within the Tree of Law. Rorschach merely brought these memories to life, presenting them in the form of a human being.

The "Ancient Sage" nodded: "Indeed, so you've grasped the true nature of that 'Rorschach' from earlier. Anyone else would never have considered the generation mechanism of the 'Mirror Image'."

"I guessed." Rorschach shook his head. "I can only be certain that it is related to the great being of the High Heaven, and you were part of my experiment, successfully verifying my conjecture."

When Rorschach first ascended to the outer reaches of the heavens, reaching a level beyond the material world, he met the gaze of a pair of eyes composed of endless starlight. And ever since, upon re-entering the Primordial Realm and the High Heavens, he was certain that those eyes were always watching him, whether they were looking at him directly or not.

The existence of Rorschach the Red is that pair of eyes, created by the Great Will of the High Heaven. The essence of Rorschach the Red is "Rorschach in the eyes of the Great Being," becoming a real being through the stripped-away artificial soul. The ancient sages knew that the High God possessed such power—what is seen is reality, and reality is what is seen. Rorschach the Red, analyzing the sages' knowledge, also realized this.

If the original body is erased, the Great Will will not disappear, and therefore he will not disappear either. However, he will always have to rely on the Supreme God to maintain himself. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, he is unwilling to break the mirror relationship with the original body, but instead tries to reverse it—he wants to go to the "outside of the mirror," that is, to take the dominant position and become "Rorschach's id."

Rorschach was unaware of these details. His schemes were all based on the assumption that his uniqueness and gifts came from a higher being, and that He would ultimately choose him, rather than the mirror image produced from the gaze of the Other.

He didn't even understand the nature of the mirror image; Rorschach simply believed that the soul was intact during the separation, and that the situation claimed by Red Robe Xia did not occur.

His assumption was correct.

Rorschach first used the Reverse Ray on himself to restore his original, magic-free form, destroying the mirror structure and denying that the thing was "me".

Red-robed Rorschach hadn't disappeared, even though the two sides were no longer mirror images of each other. So Rorschach used the entire Tree of Law and the border region as a "battering ram" to charge towards the Primal Layer—this was the only way he could currently think of to attract the attention of the Great Will. Rorschach thought he couldn't threaten the other side; he was merely saying: "Hey, I've noticed you're behind this!"

Only He can bring about the complete demise of Rorschach, just as He is the prime suspect in creating this scoundrel.

It's like malware; after uninstalling it, it deletes a whole bunch of registry entries and files.

"What if the Great Will did not choose you?" The pseudo-ancient sage was still a little puzzled. His memories kept coming back, and after summarizing, he concluded that people as bold and adventurous as Rorschach were definitely a minority, especially among spellcasters.

"Then I'm doomed, and I'd be long gone." Rorschach shrugged. "Though I'm reluctant to admit it, just as Red Rorschach is unwilling to sever his connection with me and completely depend on the existence of the Other. Without the panel, without the choice of the Tree of Law, I wouldn't be where I am today. Although it's still uncertain whether the Giver and the Gaze are both the Great Will of the High Heaven."

"So I have no choice but to go all in. If I win, I'll solve this problem; if I lose, I'm destined to be wiped out no matter what."

I'll accept all the benefits, but I won't allow them to create an imposter to replace me. Being handpicked is certainly unpleasant, but Rorschach can't even see the full picture of that great being yet, so he can only endure the unpleasantness for now.

The ancient sage paused for a moment, not struck by Rorschach's words, but as his computational core frantically searched through his memories, merging them with this image to form words. After a while, the old man spoke: "In my experience, this was a test. Congratulations on passing, Archmage Rorschach."

(End of this chapter)