Chapter 93: The Obstacle

A week later, the host body Ace and the mirror image Ace met in front of the inevitable path to the “Ancestral Land.”

“You have arrived,” the host body Ace said.

“Yes, I have arrived,” the mirror image Ace replied.

Their eyes met. The same-source souls, which had not synchronized for a long time, began to harmonize.

Their mental frequencies gradually converged. The changes caused by their different experiences over the months began to align and become identical. In a trance, the host body Ace saw the mirror image Ace’s experiences flash before his eyes.

The movements of the contractors, the reverse deduction of the simulation rune array, the summary of the laws of supernatural language, and his reflections and attachment to life.

An invisible whispering appeared, seemingly tempting Ace, encouraging him to completely erase the mirror image!

The host body Ace synchronized his own specific experiences and mental shifts during this time. He arduously resisted the whispering’s incitement.

He did not need to erase the mirror image. After synchronization, they were a single consciousness, transitioning from one to many, and from many to one. Though rudimentary, they were already on the correct path to life sublimation.

“I know your tenacity and resolve. We will ultimately merge, and we will be stronger,” he said to the mirror image.

“Yes, we will ultimately be stronger,” the mirror image replied.

“But before the projection, neither of us realized that without real-time synchronization, changes would inevitably occur. The same seed can grow into different flowers.” the host body said.

“Now that we realize it, and implement improvements, it is not too late,” the mirror image replied.

“Perhaps it is not a bad thing. Multiple experiences, different lives. When these feed back into the host body, our collective life will also become different.”

“Let us go. As the collective known as Ace, we both have meaning in our existence, though the ritual and covenant need to be improved.”

The host body Ace inwardly omitted a sentence: For the sake of my path, for the sake of exploring the unknown truth, I must strive to achieve constant synchronization of our mental frequencies. They will be gathered into this collective known as Ace.

In the host’s eyes, the mirror image was still an integral part of the self. The next research topic would be how to achieve constant mental synchronization.

Ace did not immediately step onto the inevitable path. The live-point map showed a creature of mid-level Monster equivalent or higher operating here, and it could not be bypassed.

“We must go find materials to perform a permanent enchantment blessing.”

Enchanting spells like Permanent Mental Blessing can only be performed once, unlike rituals, which can theoretically be performed countless times, though with diminishing returns, making it unnecessary.

Enchanting a permanent blessing involves directly engraving the Soul Rune structure onto the body. Unlike Lesser Rune structures, which exist directly on the skin, the Soul Rune structure exists in a special, visible-but-untouchable layer.

This enchantment, similar to the naturally existing rune structures in Wonders like the Eye of Illusion, can only be performed once.

In fact, according to Ace’s speculation, the body, as a special medium capable of holding Soul Runes, should also be able to hold other spells.

However, he lacked the necessary test subjects, and this enchantment could not be reversed at this stage.

Therefore, he planned to fully test the effects on the Grimoire contractors before enchanting any spells other than the blessing spells onto himself.

Magical materials were easy to find. Similar to the materials for the blessing ritual, after hunting enough powerful low-level Monsters, Ace began the enchanting process.

He used his mental power to trace the rune structure for the enchantment blessing in the air. Mana began to gather from nature. Mana flowed to Mana Crystals, Mana Crystals to Mana essence, Mana essence to runes, finally forming a complex and mysterious planar rune structure.

The mirror image Ace sprinkled the prepared Casting Materials onto the complex and mysterious planar rune structure. Guided by the host body Ace’s mental power, the Mana began to pulse and gather.

An invisible light shone intensely, then transformed into a tiny pattern that flew to Ace’s forehead, flashing and vanishing.

Ace used the Soul Spell Perception Retrieval and found that his mental power had reached 9.9 Mental Power Units.

He attempted to meditate using the Advanced Wizard Apprentice Meditation spell and found that the Mana he could gather and retain had become pitifully low. The increase in his mental power seemed to be stalled!

“If I want to continue on this path, I must create a new meditation spell. And the new meditation spell must be able to gather and retain a higher level of Mana. This will be the main direction of my next research.” Ace muttered to himself.

“Now, let’s go probe the Monster ahead!”

Subsequently, Ace immediately captured and charmed several Fire Lizards, powerful low-level Monsters with extremely hard scales, fast movement, and the ability to spit out a continuous, fan-shaped spray of orange fire.

They did not understand teamwork like the Gale Wolves. They were generally low in intelligence, aggressive, and easily provoked. Dealing with them was simple for Ace.

The inevitable path to the “Ancestral Land” was a canyon. The Ancestral Land was located directly beneath the canyon floor, so he had to find a way to eliminate or drive away the mid-level Monster here.

The entire canyon was filled with a special magical mist that had multiple effects, including mental shielding and suggestion. Ace’s Soul Spell Mental Perception could not penetrate it.

The host body Ace directed the charmed Fire Lizards to proceed deep into the canyon, probing the situation bit by bit.

The mirror image Ace’s lips trembled rhythmically, emitting a strange cadence. Accompanied by the Mana pulse, he took out Casting Materials—the eyes of an eagle Monster and a snake Monster—and gathered Mana into his eyes, saying: “Eagle’s Sight! Snake’s Heat Sense!”

Theoretically, Magical Trickery can achieve any Lesser Spell effect that factually exists.

The deeper one understands the underlying facts, and the more specific and effective one’s mental visualization, the greater the likelihood of success.

The mirror image Ace, who had researched and dissected many sacrificed low-level Monsters in the underground magic laboratory, knew that eagle eyes and snake eyes functioned similarly to those in his past life: eagles could see far, and snakes could use thermal imaging.

As the Casting Materials in the mirror image Ace’s hand dissolved into liquid and flowed into his eyes, his vision transformed.

In his field of vision, the mist vanished, and the entire canyon was filled with color.

Everything with temperature had a distinct color in his vision.

The scorching red figures of the Fire Lizards crawled into the canyon from various directions.

The host body Ace sensed the connection between the imprint on the Fire Lizards and the Charm Rune Structure. He noticed that as they ventured deeper, the connection was gradually weakening and dissolving.

The Fire Lizards that entered never came out. The entire canyon remained shrouded in mist, but in the mirror image Ace’s vision, it was completely different.

The Fire Lizards in his vision initially scrambled quickly in all directions, but then they seemed to freeze, stopping for a long time.

Subsequently, all the Fire Lizards crawled to a single recessed area and vanished.

The host body Ace controlled several more batches of powerful low-level Monsters and rushed them into the canyon.

He then transformed into a giant eagle, flying in the air with the mirror image Ace, scanning everything in the canyon with his thermal eyes.

As with the Fire Lizards, all the Monsters were controlled and crawled into the recessed area.

In the air, the mirror image Ace clearly observed a dormant, extremely cold, unidentified Monster.