Chapter 1016 - 1016 – Being Real

Gravis took another deep breath.

This topic also wasn't easy.

Gravis narrated all the things he had done to get Mortis back and how he had accomplished it.

Sure enough, the question that Gravis had anticipated came immediately after he was done recounting the events.

"If I'm the Mortis from your perceived reality, how can I be the real Mortis? I'm obviously not the one that has existed in objective reality but have been created by your perception of me instead. This means that I will think and be how you have perceived me to be," Mortis asked.

"I'm certain you aren't any different," Gravis said.

"How can you be certain?" Mortis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you were only Law fragments that I didn't understand," Gravis said. "When I look at people, I have a certain perception of them. If I had manifested a living version of you in objective reality, you would be right. In that case, you would be acting according to how I think you would act."

"However, when I severed our emotional connection, you were nothing more than Law fragments. In a sense, you were not a living being but an object at that moment. Sure, a stone might appear bigger in someone else's perspective, but they will still see it as a stone as long as they're not completely crazy."

"Our perceptions of people are often different from how they really are due to lack of information. We can't fully grasp how their minds work."

"Yet, when I'm looking at a set of objects without thinking about how they work, my perception will not be skewed. I simply look at the stone and see a stone. You must try to understand something to have a skewed perspective of it."

"In your case, It's impossible for me to comprehend how your Laws work. I simply looked at the Law fragments and fused them together again. The components haven't changed, and the makeup hasn't changed. Therefore, you are identical to the original components, not having changed in the slightest."

Mortis scratched his chin in thought and nodded after a while.

"Makes sense. Alright, so with that out of the way, what makes me the true Mortis?"

"It doesn't," Gravis said with a sigh.

"The old Mortis has existed, and he has gone through pain. Saying that the old Mortis didn't exist would be denying his pain and decision. He was the real Mortis, and I have failed to save him. Even by resurrecting you, I can't change that reality. He's dead, and that's impossible to fix."

"So, I'm a fake?" Mortis asked.

"No, you're just as real," Gravis answered.

"What makes you say that?" 

"Because of what makes things real," Gravis answered.

Mortis furrowed his brows. This conversation took an abstract and philosophical turn, and he didn't like that one bit.

"Explain," Mortis said.

"Well, we could argue that all perceived realities are real, but that would be stupid," Gravis said. "We have to find a point in the conversation where things actually still make sense. So, I simply define things as real as long as they exist in objective reality."

Mortis listened to Gravis as he scratched his chin.

"Objective reality and perceived reality have a relationship like the blueprint of a branch of a Sect and an actual branch of a Sect," Gravis continued.

"Imagine a Peak Sect. In order to get more recruits, they create several branches all over the world. All of the branches must follow the blueprint that the parent Sect has created. They all need to have one Sect Master, two Vice-Sect Masters, ten Elders, and so on."

"So, the fundamentals of every branch are identical. They are the same thing."

"However, the branches will have different people, and some of the branches might add some rules. Yet, the complete blueprint must still be followed. No rules from the blueprint are allowed to be changed or removed."

"Every single branch gets the blueprint, and every single branch has the blueprint inside of them that they are forced to follow."

"Every perceived reality has the basic and unignorable components of objective reality. After all, a rational human being won't just look at a stone and believe that stone to be a person. Their perceived reality has to rely on objective reality somewhat."

"If we define being real as existing in objective reality, we are saying that all other perceived realities have to be influenced by this real thing. If you only exist in perceived reality, you only exist in one of them. However, if you exist in objective reality, you are in all realities since you can only exist in another perceived reality when it sees you in objective reality."

"So, in short, you exist in objective reality, and that makes you real," Gravis said.

Mortis blinked twice without amusement.

"That seems too abstract and philosophical," he said.

"Because I'm trying to explain a viewpoint with logic," Gravis said. "In the end, this entire thing is not based on Laws. Laws only define what is and how it works. There isn't really a concept that decides what's real and what isn't real. I mean, there is when you use my definition, but my definition can't be found in any Laws."

"It's a matter of perspective," Gravis said with a sigh.

Mortis remained silent for a while as he scratched his chin.

He hated thinking about things that didn't have a clear, logical answer.

Laws were far simpler in that regard.

Laws had a single ruleset they followed, and it could be understood, and when one understood the Law, they could calculate all the things the Law encompassed.

In comparison, this entire viewpoint thing couldn't be clearly categorized. 

It made some sense, but the foundation was wobbly at best.

In short, something like a viewpoint didn't have a correct answer.

It was just a viewpoint.

That's why Mortis didn't like thinking about such stuff.

After all, if there was no correct answer, what was the point of searching for one?

In comparison to Mortis, Gravis had accepted that not everything that didn't have a right answer was useless. Even if it was unclear, something like this could still help one in making the right decisions.

"What you're saying makes sense, but it has a very shaky foundation," Mortis said.

"Yeah," Gravis answered.

Mortis thought some seconds more.

Then, he nodded.

"I can't be bothered with thinking about that stuff," Mortis said. "In the end, I'm alive. I can think. I can feel. I have stuff that I want."

"I don't want to die, and I don't want to be a miserable crybaby."

"I exist, and that's undeniable. So, even if someone might believe me to not be real, I'm still real in my opinion."

"Also, I'm in objective reality now."

"If someone says I'm not real, I can just punch them in the face. If I'm not real, that punch also wouldn't be real, and they shouldn't get angry."

Gravis chuckled a bit. He wasn't sure if this was an attempt at humor from Mortis, but he found it funny.

"Anyway," Mortis said. "I exist, and I have to deal with that now."

"What's our next plan?"

Gravis took a deep breath.

"Comprehending more Laws won't increase my Battle-Strength," he said. "Right now, the Major Law of Death is the most powerful force I possess. A level eight Elemental Law might increase the power of my attack more by fusing with the Major Law of Death, but we don't have access to that right now."

"Even if we comprehend all the level six Elemental Laws and combine them with the Law of Matter to create the Major Law of the Dead World, it won't really increase my power. An attack with only the Major Law of Death is more effective than fusing it with a level seven Element."

"You can simply fuse the Major Law of Death with your Divine Lightning to create similarly powerful attacks."

"The pressure of the Law of the Dead World can't even begin to compare with the enhanced power of our Law of Suppression, essentially also making it useless."

"We need the law of Life if we want to fuse the Law of Sentience with something else, and I'm certain that my talent in the Life Laws isn't nearly enough to comprehend the Law of Life without tempering."

"Sure, I could probably wait in this world for like a million years until the tribulation becomes powerful enough to push me to my limit, but honestly, I don't want to wait that long."

Gravis took a deep breath and turned to Arc.

Arc had been here the entire time, just listening with interest.

He didn't really want to interrupt Gravis and Mortis.

"Arc, are we powerful enough to fight you?" Gravis asked evenly.

Arc only smiled warmly.

Then, he nodded.