When evil gods hold a meeting in my head

Richard muttered his question aloud, then waited quietly for the answer from the voice within him.

Since he confronted the voice, communication between the two seemed much easier, and the bad things he had imagined did not happen.

There are two possibilities.

"Speak." Richard fell silent as soon as he heard the voice.

[One possibility is that the sewing machine captured the characteristics of the magic within you, and was influenced by those magical properties, thus weaving this mirror. If this is the case... then your inner world might be more complex than we imagine.]

Richard frowned: "What do you mean by 'complex'?"

In short... the magic within you isn't pure enough, which may be a result of that curse. In any case, there are things about you that are unclear.

Richard always felt that his life wasn't very good, unlike other time travelers.

Shouldn't it have been a stroke of luck that I ran into a few white-bearded old men who taught me how to survive?

He silently complained for a moment, then continued listening to the audio explanation.

The second possibility is that the side effects of the potion you drank were absorbed by the sewing machine and transformed into this mirror.

[If it's absorbed, it means you won't be affected by side effects anymore, which is actually beneficial to you...]

"Can side effects really be absorbed?"

Logically speaking, it shouldn't be possible... but your sewing machine doesn't play by the rules.

It can weave rings from newspaper, hats from silk, and now it can weave mirrors with your magic... Perhaps it possesses some kind of "transformative" property.

Richard looked down at the mirror in his hand. The mirror had returned to normal, calmly reflecting his face, which looked very rugged, a completely different style from his original body!

He placed the mirror by the bed and rubbed his temples.

"Forget it, let's not think about things we can't figure out for now. At least this mirror is useful, and there's no real threat."

He looked at the sewing machine... and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind:

What would happen if you extracted the special properties from a shotgun and fused them with items you already owned?

But the shotgun is in the original body in the gallery. If only I could just transfer the gun there, I wouldn't have to worry about losing things every time I switch bodies.

He muttered casually, "If only I could pass the hunting rifle to that clone."

The words had barely left my mouth when a snap of fingers echoed in my mind—

Snapped.

Richard suddenly felt a weight in his hand.

He looked down and saw the flintlock shotgun lying in his palm, the cool barrel pressed against his skin, and the dark red patterns on the grip shimmering in the dim light.

"this……"

"You wanted it? Here you go!"

Richard paused, taken aback. He had only said it casually, never expecting it to come true. The gallery was halfway across Metz to West Street; how did this thing get here?

"You...can teleport things?"

【cannot. 】

However, the only way to pull something you "want" from this body is if that thing is already nearby.

In other words, both your original body and your current body are considered your own body!

Is this cheating...? Anyway, the ability they used to transfer the gun wasn't teleportation, but a different method with more stringent conditions... pulling the "possessions" of another body into this body.

"What if it's far away?"

Then it won't be able to be pulled up.

We don't have that kind of ability.

Richard nodded and placed the gun on the table beside the bed.

If we can bring them over, that's fine.

It will be much easier to transfer things between the two bodies in the future. You won't have to run around every time, and you won't have to worry about losing things somewhere.

He wiggled his fingers and suddenly remembered something else.

Ring.

Want a ring too?

"Yes, this ring is useful."

The ring woven from Anna's newspaper is still on the finger of his original body, not on the hand of this body.

Snap! Then... another snap of fingers, and the voice in his head understood his intention again.

Richard opened his eyes and saw a ring on the middle finger of his right hand.

He twirled the ring, feeling a familiar touch. This ring had been with him through so much—the illusion of the café, the crisis in the gallery, the struggle in the abyss. Now, back on his hand, it brought a sense of peace.

Anna had said that the ring was woven from newspaper and imbued with her hallucinatory properties. Later, he incorporated the remaining newspaper into it, which enhanced the ring's power, allowing it to materialize objects.

But now that he's a puppeteer and has his own magic, will the ring change too?

He tried to activate the ring.

Purple mist emanated from the ring, thicker than before, swirling around the edge of his palm. With a thought, the mist quickly solidified, forming a chair in front of him—exactly the same old wooden chair in his room.

same as before.

That means the useless ability that can't harm living beings remains unchanged...

I feel like something's missing from the ring.

Do you want to modify it?

Richard said, "There is a reason, because its capabilities are not very good..."

He paused halfway through his sentence. He didn't know how to describe the ring's power; it wasn't too weak... it was just... not suitable for him!

Do you want it to better suit your needs?

You understand me!

Richard whispered, "That's exactly what I mean!"

So how would you like to change it?

Actually, Richard recalled the process of the sewing machine weaving that mirror—without any materials, only his magic, the woven object could see the person he wanted to see.

What if this "characteristic" could be incorporated into a ring?

He turned to look at the mirror beside the bed.

With its silver-white frame and smooth mirror surface, it leaned quietly against the wall. He reached out and picked it up; his face was reflected in the mirror—a face he knew well.

You want to incorporate the mirror into it?

"Is that not allowed?"

【It's not impossible... but you need to think it through. The reason for the mirror's formation is uncertain. If it's incorporated into the ring, nobody knows what the ring will become in the future.】

Richard placed the ring next to the shotgun, took a deep breath, and reached out to press both things down at the same time.

He closed his eyes and began to imagine what they would look like when combined—a ring that could transform into a gun, capable of firing bullets and causing real damage. Just like that hunting rifle, but smaller, more convenient, and more concealed.

The sewing machine started to turn.

The hand crank slowly turned, the needle moving up and down, its tip carrying an invisible thread, shuttling between the two objects. Purple mist emanated from the ring, enveloping the shotgun, and the dark red patterns on the shotgun began to glow, as if echoing each other.

After an unknown amount of time, the sewing machine stopped turning.

Richard opened his eyes.

The shotgun was gone! The ring lay quietly beneath the needle, its purple light more intense than before, with a faint hint of dark red showing through the edges.

He picked up the ring and put it on his right hand.

In an instant, a flood of information rushed into his mind—just like when he first put on the ring, but this time clearer and more specific. He knew that the ring could now transform into a gun, a gun exactly like the hunting rifle. He could use it to fire bullets and cause real damage.

Moreover, he also knew that the bullets for this "gun" could be anything he could imagine—as long as his magic power was sufficient.

Richard raised his right hand and snapped his fingers towards the corner of the wall.

Purple mist surged from the ring, condensing, stretching, and taking shape at his fingertips. In just two seconds, a jet-black flintlock shotgun appeared in his hand, its barrel, grip, and trigger exactly the same as the original.

He gripped the gun tightly and pulled the trigger, aiming at the corner of the wall.

No sound.