Chapter 656 Flaw <TOC> Chapter 658 Mysterious Mountain
Translator: SumTLMan
“There’s one more thing.” Sanders continued his evaluation: “You built this illusionary area of Witch Town here, and with such a strong sense of the Nightmare Realm, you actually wanted people to feel terror and develop a sense of awe towards fear. Am I right?”
Angel nodded his head vigorously.
To be precise, when constructing the illusion, he envisioned a theme for each area, and the theme for Witch Town was indeed “awe towards fear.”
“The idea is good,” Sanders first affirmed, but then changed his tone to a cold criticism:
“But by your standards, only ordinary people and a very small number of apprentices with weak wills can develop this ‘awe towards fear.’ For wizards, it fails to meet the standard, and at most, it makes people feel a little novelty, but otherwise, it is useless.”
“Even a slightly more mature apprentice, who could not have discovered the deception if not for your deliberate manipulation of emotions, ended up seeing through this illusion. That’s where you failed.”
The point Sanders made hit precisely on the blind spot of Angel.
Gloria had also experienced the Witch Town illusion and understood what Angel wanted to convey. However, she and Sanders both reached this conclusion with a condescending view, rather than a genuine experience of great horror and the spontaneous conclusion that followed.
Although the conclusions were the same, the different ways of reaching them made the effects of the illusion vary.
If one could gain insight after the experience, then the illusion would have served its true purpose.
Once Angel understood this, he also knew why Sanders was disappointed.
Considering Witch Town illusion alone, although the effect seemed good, it did not perfectly achieve the “theme.”
“There are two solutions: either enhance your emotional control ability, so that your emotional tolerance surpasses everyone else, or strengthen your illusion construction ability, so that even if others find out it’s an illusion, they cannot break it.”
Sanders coldly stated the solutions and then strode towards the lonely cabin.
Knowing Angel well and after touring Witch Town, he roughly guessed Angel’s taste. Indeed, in the cabin’s oil painting, he found the platform to leave.
The two went directly through the painting and entered the platform in the painting.
During this process, Angel lowered his head, reflecting on his mistakes, without noticing the slight curve of Sanders’ lips.
Although Sanders’ words were harsh, he was actually quite satisfied deep inside.
Although he directly pointed out the flaws in Angel’s illusion, upon reflection, Angel’s creation of the illusion itself was not malicious but simply aimed at satisfying Gloria’s request. Therefore, even if there are some flaws, as long as it meets Gloria’s requirements, it is not a big problem.
His initial intention was to assess Angel’s understanding of illusions. In this regard, Angel had already given him a satisfactory answer. Not only was the logic of the illusion sound, but Angel’s boundless imagination could also be seen in the series of illusion constructions, including using “painting” as a channel and the settings of entering platforms.
Without imagination, illusion spells would be like birds without wings or fish without fins.
Thus, from every perspective, Angel did well. However, Sanders, who never liked to praise, would definitely nitpick and search for flaws with a magnifying glass.
On the subsequent journey, Sanders also noticed another layer of Angel’s illusion.
He encountered some characters wandering in the illusion. These characters appeared to be living individuals, but they were merely key clues in different areas. These clues sometimes manifested as thought-provoking stories or themes of the areas.
This kind of illusion, which progresses layer by layer through clues, does not seem to have any noteworthy advantages. But Angel’s construction skills were extremely high, extracting the most exciting stories from other people’s lives and placing them in the illusion, allowing viewers to gain insights while watching.
This feeling was somewhat similar to Sanders reading an interesting novel, reflecting on the plot’s lessons and revelations after finishing the book.
Angel presented the most exquisite parts of the novel through the illusion, allowing people to actively experience other people’s lives, gradually unraveling the mysteries, and discovering the stories behind the characters.
Sanders neither criticized nor praised Angel’s ideas and construction, but he inwardly approved of them.
In leisure time or busy intervals, experiencing stories as both participants and observers to gain enlightenment is an enjoyable pastime.
In Sanders’ eyes, this was a very creative idea and a sophisticated way to pass the time. As a former nobleman and now a true knowledge wizard, he would occasionally enjoy a glass of fine wine while reading a novel in the warm afternoon sun.
Whether it was a novel written by a mortal or a wizard, it was a form of entertainment to pass the time.
And the illusions Angel created were an interesting and high-class form of entertainment. Sanders now had a rough idea of why Gloria asked Angel to craft illusions.
In the following time, Sanders, like Gloria initially, briefly explored other areas.
The more Sanders saw, the more amazed he was in his heart. Unknowingly, Angel’s achievements in the illusion realm had gradually reached such heights. Angel’s strength, due to being able to absorb the Nightmare Plane’s aura for rapid cultivation, seemed somewhat diluted. However, his level of illusion spells and concepts were genuinely self-cultivated. Achieving this level in just a few years was the reason for Sanders’ astonishment.
In these various illusion areas, Sanders stayed the longest in Monument Valley. From the foundation of the illusion concept, there was no logic to be seen in Monument Valley. Strange blocks, strange geometric shapes, and peculiar color schemes were all present.
At first, Sanders shook his head frequently, but when he truly entered Monument Valley, he found it to be an extremely interesting place. In front of him, a shadow appeared between reality and illusion. This shadow corresponded to all the bizarre structures in the valley.
As Sanders entered the valley, a character named Ida also entered the valley. Sanders now had to use the illusionary shadow in front of him to help Ida leave this peculiar valley.
“Am I to control Ida’s fate and movements?” Sanders raised an eyebrow and continued playing with a strange feeling. Each of his actions caused the valley’s structures to undergo significant changes, either sinking, standing tall, or undergoing a 180-degree flip.
The strange girl named Ida followed the changes in the valley and began a journey across mountains and ridges. At first, Sanders didn’t understand the operations. In his view, the shadows showed two completely disconnected paths, with tens of meters between them and no other routes for Ida to cross.
Sanders even thought about simply flying up and taking Ida to the next path, but this was clearly not the answer to the puzzle. Indeed, Sanders considered this a puzzle, and his job was to decode it.
He glanced back at Angel and found him holding back laughter, seemingly excited that he could stump Sanders. However, Angel had forgotten that when he played Monument Valley on the holographic tablet, he was stuck for a very long time as well…
In fact, Monument Valley was a decryption game on the holographic tablet. Angel found it interesting and included it as a small easter egg in the illusion realm.
Sanders quickly discovered the answer to the puzzle: visual dislocation. By slightly shifting the angle of the illusionary shadow, the broken bridge would become a pathway in another perspective. This was probably a type of mindset, and this kind of decryption was a way to break it.
“Interesting,” Sanders muttered to himself.
After cracking the first riddle, understanding the mechanism made the rest much simpler.
From beginning to end, Sanders stood in front of the valley without moving, only manipulating the illusion in front of him, allowing Ida to run out of the valley before his eyes. However, after Ida left the valley, a huge change occurred in front of them, and a pink castle rose from the ground. Ida walked out of the castle’s main gate.
The illusion in front of Sanders also turned into a castle. Obviously, this was a new decryption.
Sanders didn’t continue but left Monument Valley with Angel. His departure didn’t mean that he didn’t like Monument Valley; he just felt it was time to stop and visit the Mysterious Mountain.
Sanders was quite surprised by the peculiar decryption illusion of Monument Valley and had no idea how many wonderful ideas were in Angel’s head.
Moreover, he still had some doubts about Monument Valley, such as a monument he saw when he entered Monument Valley.
It said: “This is a journey to seek forgiveness.”
So, was Ida’s adventure actually hiding an unknown story?
Until sitting on the Cat Bus, Angel was still giggling, but Sanders said expressionlessly: “The illusion of Monument Valley has too many flaws, from color, architecture to unnatural logic… and so on, all problematic.”
For the next few minutes, Sanders criticized this illusion.
When Angel began to doubt life due to the criticism, Sanders suddenly changed the subject, seemingly naturally saying: “When you return, craft another illusion about Monument Valley for me. I will conduct a more in-depth analysis so that you can improve.”
Angel: “…”