Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 473 - 472: The Flaw in the Illusion

Chapter 473: Chapter 472: The Flaw in the Illusion

At that moment, the old man spoke up as if passing judgment on a sinner and addressed Richard, "Boy, you’ve felt it now, haven’t you? This is the fate you deserve for your arrogance, egotism, disdain for others, and cleverness! Your curiosity is too strong, attempting to approach things you should not know, so the only outcome is— a painful death!

I tell you, mortals should not possess such strong curiosity; curiosity will only harm you!"

Having said that, the old man’s tone suddenly shifted, "Of course, out of kindness, I can offer you a chance to reform. As long as you promise never to be curious about things you shouldn’t be and abstain from exploring matters you shouldn’t, living a proper life. Then I can use some means to rid your body of its poisoned state, and I could even give you back a whole leg. How about that?"

After listening to the old man’s words, Richard’s eyes flickered as he looked at the old man, remaining silent for a long time.

"What do you want to say?" the old man couldn’t help but ask.

Richard still didn’t speak, turning his head to look around, at his own body rotting away, at the leg he had chopped off himself on the ground, and finally, he looked back at the old man.

"This is all an illusion, isn’t it?" Richard asked with a rather serious expression, "Although I’ve been suspecting it, now I’m almost certain. All of this is some kind of special Illusion, right?"

The old man was furious and shouted, "Nonsense! What illusion? This is reality! What, boy, do you think you cannot accept reality anymore? Can’t accept that despite all your efforts, you’ve met with an utterly tragic end? But this is reality, the reality brought on by your curiosity!

You think this is an illusion? Then tell me, what part of it is false? Look at everything around you, feel your body—do you really think there is anything unreal about it?"

"But I still remain skeptical." Richard said with a slight smile.

The old man scoffed, "But no matter how much you doubt, this is the real world!"

"Then—" Richard spoke, looking at the old man, and pointing to the side, said, "Could you stand over there and talk to me?"

"Hm?" The old man frowned, "Why?"

"Because I’ve noticed that since you appeared, you seemed to have not moved at all, which is a bit strange..."

Before Richard could finish, the old man walked to the spot Richard was pointing at, standing in front of the library’s far end wall, and said to Richard with disdain, "What, you think that because I haven’t moved, it’s an illusion, and you suspect I am some sort of unreal projection?

Ah, pitiful child, accept it all. Your body is mutilated, toxins are spreading throughout your body, and you have little life left. If you do not beg for my forgiveness now, there’s only death."

"What you say seems to make sense." Richard nodded as if deeply convinced, then looking at the old man, he said, "The problem is, this is indeed an illusion. Although it is very special, and I could not tell when I was tricked, nor did I feel any fluctuation of Mana, and although it imitates every detail flawlessly, and one cannot discern any errors with the naked eye, but... the fake is fake."

"Impossible!" the old man shouted, seemingly a bit out of control, "This world, this real world, is there anything wrong with it? If your eyes can’t find anything wrong, on what basis do you say it’s false? Is it just your imagination?!"

"Of course not." Richard slowly shook his head, "I have to admit, your methods are superb, making it very difficult for my eyes to find a flaw. But the problem is... I have not only eyes but other sensors, like ears.

You’ve indeed mimicked the current illusion very realistically, but you could not mimic, or were not aware of physical rules. So in my perception, this world, this library, is lacking something that should be there."

"What?" the old man couldn’t help asking.

"Echo!" Richard gave the answer.

"Echo?" the old man was stupefied, puzzled.

"That’s right, echo." Richard explained calmly, "When sound waves are projected onto a large obstacle a certain distance from the sound source, some of it is absorbed, and some of it is reflected. If a person hears both the sound directly from the source and the sound reflected back, with a significant interval between them, he can distinguish the two sounds, thus perceiving an echo.

Generally speaking, the minimum time for humans to differentiate an echo is 0.1 seconds, and the speed of sound, in 15 degrees Celsius air, is 340 m/s.

Now it is November, or as it’s known, Cold Moon, so the night temperature is quite low, but the temperature in this library is decent, about 15 degrees Celsius. The width of the library is approximately 12.5 meters, and the length about 22 meters. The position you are standing in now is more than 17 meters from the farthest wall, approximately 20 meters.

The sound from your mouth to my ears takes virtually no time, but to reach the farthest wall and then return there is a 40-meter path, which requires about 0.12 seconds, sufficient for me to hear an echo.

However, I haven’t heard an echo at all. Whether you change positions or I provoke you to speak loudly, there is no echo whatsoever.

It’s obvious, then, this is an Illusion, a very special but indeed a fictional Illusion. Everything here, the insects, it’s all your making, and so is the sound, hence no echo."

As the old man listened to Richard’s words, his expression changed bit by bit, and although he did not fully understand Richard’s words, he was sure Richard had seen through his ruse, his eyes shifting uncertainly.

Richard then said to the old man, "Since it’s an illusion, that makes things much easier. Although I don’t know the specific principle of this Illusion, it must be bewildering my brain, creating false signals. And my brain is not really that easy to control, especially since I’ve realized this world is fake."

"Then—" Richard spoke and slowly reached out to grab the rotting skin on his body, his fingers digging deep into it. Then with a violent pull—

"Rip!"

The skin was torn off like an overcoat, to reveal, not a flesh-and-blood body beneath, but a brand-new set of clothes.

Then, Richard bent down, picked up the severed leg, and aligned it to the cut. "Snap!" With a click, the two parts came together like magnetically attracted, restoring to their original state.

Richard nodded in satisfaction, stood up straight, and stared at the old man.

The old man’s expression completely changed, looking at Richard, fully restored, he felt a sense of losing control, a hint of terror flashed in his eyes, and his lips pursed as he instinctively retreated.