Chapter 223

Chapter 223

Lin was once again being taken advantage of.

Well, not exactly. From the very beginning, when he established the light band with Old Lady Luoqiao, he had already prepared himself.

He needed more practitioners to allow the branches of his authority to grow and sprout the green leaves of spells.

These spells might be achievable for Lin through the use of his authority, but even Lin sometimes couldn't imagine using his authority in such ways.

Bai Li's mass mental shock broke through the combination of Lin's Heart and Mirror authorities, allowing him to see minds that were previously invisible, or rather, minds that could neither be reflected in the mirror nor were dreaming, thus escaping Lin's attention.

Tadansa's Web of Dreams was something Lin could have done on his own, but after integrating it into a spell, the establishment of the network became much easier.

Gaining practitioners helps the growth of a deity's authority, but unstable practitioners can drag the deity into corruption.

The first two times Lin gained practitioners were somewhat unexpected; Old Lady Luoqiao becoming a practitioner was part of one of his experiments.

In the end, there aren't many elites who can quickly stabilize themselves after becoming practitioners. The Six Pillars of God Church can cultivate from a young age, instilling doctrines and selecting believers, but Lin doesn't have that luxury.

During the rescue of Old Lady Luoqiao, he had given her a detailed expectation—

"I have decided to give you an opportunity to personally explain the truth to your client."

Old Lady Luoqiao didn't know that not long ago, on the sixth floor of the White Feather Duck Village apartment, while she was explaining to her client, the young girl, she was being watched not only by the supervising judge but also by Lin.

Unfortunately, even after Old Lady Luoqiao finished her explanation, she did not become a practitioner. Lin thought his special expectations had failed and could only withdraw his gaze.

This was already the second day since he arrived at the headquarters, the Tuesday of the first week of 992. The headquarters train had traveled from Spire City all the way to Protein City, stopping at the subway platform, temporarily stationed.

They would not leave until the Tribunal Headquarters in Protein City was re-established.

Protein City, having lost its headquarters and presiding judge, was seen as a juicy target by the followers of evil gods. Solomon had managed it temporarily, but when he chose to go and meet Lin, Protein City experienced many attacks.

Now, the headquarters that had arrived in Protein City began investigating these attacks, but Lin did not join the action team because Solomon had not kept his identity as a "Mirror Eye Ritualist" secret from the others at headquarters.

The judges at headquarters, compared to those in the city, were more aware of the ambiguous relationship between the Six Pillars and the Mirror Eye. They wouldn't treat Lin maliciously, but they wouldn't introduce themselves to him either, nor would they include him in the social circles of headquarters. If unnecessary, they wouldn't communicate with him.

Whether they could eventually become companions was still uncertain,

And this was precisely what Solomon wanted.

To be honest, he couldn't quite understand how Lin managed to live in Spire City as a Thought Body for so long without being exposed. A Thought Body would also turn people around it into practitioners, and an increase in practitioners would increase the pollution of the deity, but Lin seemed to have controlled it. No matter what, there were no anomalies around Him.

This was good, but what if?

To prevent any accidents, the less interaction between the young deity and humans, the better.

So, upon discovering that Luoqiao had not become a practitioner, Lin sat alone in the headquarters' archive room.

In the narrow carriage, he sat on a sofa, facing an Eiper.

A self-moving battlefield auxiliary terminal of the "Gift" system, but not the one at Lin's home, a newly manufactured one.

The new white square was connected to the main system of Spire City and could also link to the electronic archives of the headquarters, allowing Lin to access information.

As Lin used it to read the materials recommended by the museum curator, he felt the light band connecting to Luoqiao thicken and strengthen.

The thickened light band was sufficient for magic to pass through. Lin, puzzled by why Old Lady Luoqiao's transformation into a practitioner was delayed, tightened the light band, trying to minimize the pollution in the magic.

The seed of magic had already fallen into Old Lady Luoqiao's aging body. Lin entered the Divine Realm, calling out her name, searching for her presence.

The Divine Realm did not respond.

Lin: "?"

Luoqiao Makel was a human who had called upon the Mirror Eye. For the Divine Realm not to respond to her name, it couldn't possibly mean she was dead, right?

What a joke! The light band is still there!

Lin frowned, closed his eyes, and felt the magic flowing from him to Old Lady Luoqiao.

The magic combined with his authority and Old Lady Luoqiao, giving birth to new mystical knowledge belonging to the Mirror Eye.

Lin interpreted this knowledge, which then flowed along with the magic to Old Lady Luoqiao.

In the darkness, the old lady's eyes moved under her eyelids.

As someone skilled in observation, she could glean various pieces of information from language and the environment, but this was the first time she encountered knowledge appearing spontaneously in her mind.

It wasn't text appearing in her mind, nor was it a voice. The knowledge was intangible; she just somehow knew it.

The Third Eye—The nearest mirror will become your third eye.

Eye is also a Mirror—Your original eyes will gain the characteristics of your third eye.

Mirror is also an Eye—In mysticism, your third eye is considered a part of you, and you maintain constant contact with it in mysticism.

This... is the practitioner's talent!

But the explanation of the talent was confusing to Luoqiao.

What does it mean, "your original eyes will gain the characteristics of your third eye"?

Just as she wondered, Luoqiao's vision changed.

According to the "Shadow Stick," they had blinded her and glued her eyelids shut.

Luoqiao knew this wasn't a lie. Upon waking, she could feel the throbbing pain in the back of her head and the burning sensation on her eyeballs, the residue of the poison.

But from the moment the knowledge surfaced in her mind, the burning sensation faded.

Luo Qiao regained her sight, and the first thing she saw was a pale pink world.

It was the rearview mirror of a bus, which was parked in the darkness, but weak infrared light was being refracted by the mirror.

Luo Qiao's species could not see infrared light directly, but her eyes now possessed the characteristics of a third eye, which could reflect infrared light, allowing her to see it.

Similarly, poison had no effect on mirrors, so it also lost its effect on her eyes.

To blind her, the only way would be to corrode the mirror surface with corrosive liquid.

Luo Qiao did not doubt that "Fen Fen" lacked corrosive drugs, but the drug she used to blind Luo Qiao previously was definitely not corrosive.

In a second, Luo Qiao thought of ways to counteract the effects on her eyes. Half of her consciousness connected through the mirror linked to her third eye, observing the outside, while the other half continued to understand the knowledge surfacing in her mind.

She obtained a list of spells.

Mirror Connection — You can establish a connection with a mirror within your line of sight. Until the spell ends, you can see the reflection in this mirror, regardless of how far away it is.

Mirror Rewind — You can rewind the reflection in a mirror within your line of sight, allowing yourself and others to see the rewound image. This rewind starts from the current moment and plays backward continuously; you cannot skip any part of the rewind, but you can speed up the playback.

Mirror Resonance — You can make the reflection in one mirror appear in another mirror within your line of sight, even if the latter comes from a dream.

Mirror Inquiry — You can ask a question to a mirror within your line of sight. You might receive an answer, or you might not.

These spells would clearly reduce the difficulty of being a detective, Luo Qiao couldn't help but think.

Especially Mirror Inquiry, the description of this spell was too vague—what exactly does "or you might not" mean?

However, what caught her attention more was this spell.

Mirror Doppelganger — Luo Qiao already knew this spell, but after becoming a professional, the description of the spell changed.

Mirror Doppelganger — You can create a doppelganger using an object with a mirror surface. When the doppelganger is in contact with you or can reflect you, you can use it actively or passively. After use, the doppelganger consumes the mirror surface, and you return to the state you were in when creating the doppelganger, swapping positions with it.

The changes were significant, the biggest change being that using a mirror as a doppelganger would not turn Luo Qiao into an illusory shadow confined to the vicinity of the mirror.

If faced with continuous attacks, this change might make Luo Qiao more vulnerable, but it didn't matter because she still had this spell.

Mirror Leap — When you touch a mirror you can pass through, you can use it to enter the world behind the mirror or return to reality.

In the case of continuous attacks, Luo Qiao might as well escape directly.

The remaining spells included creating illusions through mirrors or reflecting attacks.

Very interesting, especially the Mirror Reflection spell.

It allows attacks hitting the mirror to be reflected, but as is well known, mirror reflection is not along the original path; only light perpendicular to the mirror is reflected back along the same path.

According to the spell description, if the attack is perpendicular to the mirror, the mirror will indeed reflect the attack back along the same path. For non-perpendicular attacks, another effect occurs: attacking an object in the mirror will reflect the attack onto the corresponding object in reality.

In an instant, Luo Qiao conceived many attack methods based on this spell's effect, such as using a mirror to create an illusion, making the enemy attack the illusion, which actually attacks the mirror perpendicularly, thus hitting the enemy with their own attack.

There were many other possibilities, and her thoughts were very flexible.

Unfortunately, all her spells required a mirror, and at the moment, she had none.

After carefully reviewing the spell list, Luo Qiao's consciousness returned to her talent list.

She understood the Third Eye and Eye as Mirror effects, and now only the third talent, Mirror as Eye, remained incompletely understood.

However, she had a guess.

Continuous mystical contact means that even if she cannot see or touch the mirror that serves as her third eye, she can still use it to cast spells, right?

Since that's the case—

In the darkness, "Fen Fen" was growing impatient.

She shouted, "I don't understand what you're fussing about. This old woman is the only Mirror Pupil believer exposed to us. Isn't declaring war on the Mirror Pupil for revenge the Black Sun's command to you?"

"The Master did command it," the Plague Mage replied, "but don't you want to break her defenses and get information about other believers from her?"

"I bet she doesn't know anything!" "Fen Fen" gritted her teeth, "She's just a hostage the Mirror Pupil placed in the hands of the Inquisition!"

"I think so too, but—"

"Fen Fen" didn't want to hear any more nonsense.

She ordered the vines to tighten again, but the vines suddenly screamed.

The plant language, audible only to the Shepherd of Flowers, issued a warning: the warm flesh bound by the vines had disappeared, leaving only a cold, frosted mirror on the ground!

—Mirror Doppelganger!