Lord of Arcane

Chapter 2142 Brain memory in a vat
Of course, even if one could make a disguise at the magic net level, it would still be classified as the first level of illusion.

Because the second level of illusion begins to involve the mind, spells are no longer an external disguise, but become an invisible influence on the mind.

This level of illusion is actually not too difficult to guard against. It can even be said that it is easier to guard against than the first level of illusion if you are prepared. The easiest way is to use the soul talisman.

There is no doubt that Xia Duo possesses this point. Even if it is an incarnation, he has not left any kind of protective measures, and he is truly the same as the main body.

If there is any psychic spell that can affect him, then Xia Duo completely believes it, but he doesn't believe that any psychic spell can affect him without his awareness!
Since it's not mind spells, it's most likely the third level of illusion——

It's a bit like a mind spell, but it can ignore mind protection. It is a virtual world created by the caster and the subject based on similar cognition.

It's just that Xia Duo has only seen this level of illusion in some elf classics, and has never encountered it in reality, and even rarely heard of it.

It is said that this level of illusion can already achieve instant evolution, that is to say, if he really falls into this illusion, then whether he is teleported to Comanthor, Netheril, or even the astral world, the outer layer Planes and illusions will evolve one by one.

This is the scariest thing. The content of the evolution of illusion is based on the cognition of both the caster and the recipient. In other words, Xia Duo can't go beyond his own cognition at all. When he thinks about it, it is already a part of his own cognition.

It is equivalent to becoming a brain in a vat, trapped in this kind of illusion, and it is almost impossible to escape. What is even more desperate is that there is no concept of time in the illusion. Even if countless years have passed inside, the outside world is still only a moment.

This is the real glimpse of ten thousand years.

Xia Duo is not sure if he can escape from the illusion if he commits suicide, but he certainly does not want to go that far. Maybe the unknown enemy wants to annihilate his consciousness in this way.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning flashed across his mind, and he thought of those lurkers with different behavioral characteristics that Ketmil and Karinshan had found in the past few days. Did the bizarre suicide be hit by this kind of brain in a vat? Illusion, eventually leading to the annihilation of consciousness and the disintegration of the soul.

If this is the case, Xia Duo couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, is he going to follow in the footsteps of those lurkers?
"No, this is definitely not my end!"

Not to mention that Xia Duo's will is as strong as steel, at least it is comparable to a rock. If you fall into despair without even verifying it, it is simply a joke in the world.

The most important thing right now is to determine whether he is in a real-time virtual world based on the perception of friend or foe. If not, at worst, he can wait for assistance from Floating Void City or Calinshan.

If so, time is not important to him, and he will have a lot of time to find ways to get out of the predicament.

——Arcane Leap

Xia Duo chose Netheril as his target this time. After many teleportations, he also began to try to correct the teleportation effect of [Arcane Leap], and began to analyze the characteristics of the current magic net (relative to the main plane).

Afterwards, based on this mutated magic net, the spell adaptation will be carried out. At that time, his mobility will be improved to the limit, and he does not have to be conservative when performing the arcane transition because of worrying about the teleportation disorder as he is now.

……

Soon, Xia Duo arrived at Severton, or the place where this virtual world corresponds to the main plane called Severton. There are no towns or buildings he is familiar with.

Of course, there are no people, including Comanso's side, and there are no elves. Only those dead things will make adjustments when his cognition conflicts with reality (the reality of the virtual world).

Just like now, when he discovered that the city of seven towers he was familiar with was not in the Severnton area of ​​the virtual world, a seemingly subtle but abrupt change in his memory happened again before his eyes .

A complete but lifeless city appeared out of thin air, just like Comanthor before.

Next, Xia Duo walked through many places, which were always specious at first, and then quickly evolved into scenes he was familiar with.

So far, he has basically determined that this should be the third level of the legendary illusion—the existence called "The World of Mind Image" in the elven classics.

Of course, for further verification, Xia Duo also tried to go to the astral world, the etheric plane, and even the outer plane, and the [mind imagery world] evolved one by one.

Xia Duo doesn't think that his understanding of the nature of the world can surpass the existence of such an illusion.

Of course, it is useless even if it exceeds, this [mind world] is not created based on the cognition of the caster, but based on the cognition of both the caster and the subject.

This made Xia Duo feel that everything he did was futile, and unconsciously, he already felt a little hopeless.

This despair is invisible, deeply rooted in his heart, and will continue to grow and eat away at his limited reason over time.

Xia Duo knew that he had to do something quickly and find a reasonable reason for this, otherwise he would really be overwhelmed by this despair.

In this meaningless virtual world, he must create meaning for himself in order to maintain himself.

He firmly believes that even if he can't find a way to escape from the [Psychic World] for a while, the way will definitely emerge after a long enough time, it's just a matter of whether he can persist until that day.

And he doesn't believe that this world can really last indefinitely. Such a world is like an information base that appears to be zero on the outside, but the amount of information inside is increasing rapidly every moment.

This is obviously against common sense, and there must be an unimaginably huge price somewhere.

"Then what's the price?"

Xia Duo's own incarnation doesn't have a complete soul, it's just a little projection, only the consciousness is relatively complete, and he has now confirmed that his consciousness itself (which can also be understood as memory or ego, personality) has not been affected.

Then the price is very likely to be unilaterally paid by the caster!
"Memory overflow!"

Xia Duo once again had a flash of inspiration and thought of a more feasible way to escape. Of course, he is not sure whether the increasing amount of information in the world of mental images can make it difficult for the other party to bear the cost of maintaining such a world.

But at least you can give it a try!

And this is a reasonable, meaningful and necessary thing to do!After thinking this through, Xia Duo felt that his mood brightened a lot, and the haze of despair that he had just faintly felt was instantly swept away.

Of course, this is only valid for a limited time, if it is really an infinite time, he will still feel desperate, but now he is full of energy!

(End of this chapter)