Lake Kingdom had sunk, and three hundred years had passed since then.
Throughout these long years, the White Night's Magic Tower had stood resilient.
There were moments of crisis, but continuous maintenance and magical reinforcement endowed the Magic Tower with complete automation and defensive capabilities.
Within it, White Night continued her research in peace.
While the survivors of Lake Kingdom reactivated the barrier with desperate efforts, drained the water inside, lit up the area, and fought against the monsters again.
As countless legends, tragedies, betrayals, and corruptions were written in this hell.
White Night delved into her research, unconcerned with the outside world.
To her, all those events outside were but futile struggles of the lower world.
Her goal was to reach those beings from other realms and punish them.
A more higher-dimensional objective.
'To do so, I must unravel the origins of magic.'
White Night had already uncovered most of the ancient history related to the origins of magic.
Thousands of years ago, in a distant past, when the world split into life and death, and the spiritual realm that lies in between.
From the spiritual realm, otherworldly powers began to flow into the real world.
This power was called 'magic', and only a few chosen races could wield it.
Races connected to the Guardians of the spiritual realm. These races waged wars against each other, and eventually, four major races dominated the real world.
The elves, holding the Evergreen of Life.
The beastmen, holding the Everred of Struggle.
The dwarves, holding the Evergold of Wealth.
The merfolk, holding the Everblue of Circulation.
While these four races vied for world dominance, humans were relegated to slaves.
Unable to obtain magical power, humans were the weakest among all races, unable to build a significant civilization and dominated by other races, used as mere cannon fodder.
It was then that 'someone' among humans initiated a rebellion.
This 'someone' managed to graft the four Guardians of the races to forcibly create the human's Guardian, 'Everblack'.
Through this, humans also gained the power to borrow strength from the spiritual realm, emerging as a new power rivaling the four major races.
Humanity, newly endowed with magic, obsessively developed it, and the Lake Kingdom, where Everblack was first created, evolved into the world's strongest Magic Kingdom...
'...But there's something odd about this.'
Having uncovered most of the ancient history, there were still parts unknown to White Night.
So, who exactly was the first to create Everblack?
The records of this 'someone' who brought the gift of magic to humanity were completely erased.
In other races, the ones who planted the first Guardians and brought magic were revered as ancestral gods or saviors.
Only in humanity, no record of this 'someone' remained.
As if erased and forgotten deliberately...
'Well, who first brought it is irrelevant to my purpose.'
What mattered was the human's Guardian Tree, Everblack, through which the source of magic could be accessed.
And White Night was convinced that this source was those detestable eyes - the Outer Gods.
'If I follow this power, I will reach those Outer Gods from the other realm...!'
In the darkness beneath the lake, White Night continued her research. Or rather, she tried to.
Crack...
"Huh?"
Suddenly, her hand broke.
Engrossed in her research, she hadn't noticed, but her body, resurrected as a Lich, had long since reached its limit.
It had been three hundred years since her resurrection. Her body was now nothing more than a pale skeleton, with no more flesh to decay.
"Drats...!"
For White Night, who hadn't worried about lifespan after her resurrection, this was an utterly disconcerting development.
White Night hurriedly repaired her broken limbs and began searching for a way to extend her life before her body completely collapsed.
She came to a conclusion. No matter how much she repaired this body, its limits were clear. She was going to collapse and die soon.
'In the end, I need to transfer to a new body...'
If she was going to transfer, it had to be into a powerful body that wouldn't need to worry about lifespan. And yet, a body that was also optimized for the use of magic.
After much deliberation, White Night decided to attempt creating a Jiangshi - one of the strongest undead - using the secret technique she had brought from her homeland in the East.
However, the art of creating a Jiangshi was a technique she had never practiced before, so her proficiency was low.
Eventually, she barely managed to create what could be considered a prototype Jiangshi, just as White Night's Lich body was on the verge of crumbling.
'It's urgent, I'll really die at this rate... I need to quickly transfer my consciousness to the new body...'
With her trembling skeletal body, White Night hurriedly prepared the body transfer magic.
She adapted the Lich resurrection magic but modified it to transfer to a different body.
As she activated the magic, White Night suddenly thought.
Huh?
But in transferring like this, is it really 'me'?
What is 'me' in the first place?
Memory? Consciousness? Soul? Or is it something else-
Flash!
Before her doubts could fully form, the magic was activated. White Night's consciousness, along with her questions, was crushed and disappeared.
And then...
***
"Gasp!"
Waking up in the new body, White Night abruptly rose and gasped for breath.
She looked down at her blue-tinged hands. It was the body of a middle-aged man, the most complete among the experimentally created Jiangshi she had chosen.
"Success..."
Memories and knowledge were intact, and there was no problem using magic. White Night exhaled a sigh of relief.
That was when it happened.
Clatter-
A dull sound came from the side. White Night turned to look.
There lay the skeletal Lich body she had been using until a moment ago.
Was it an illusion?
The skeleton, which had been leaning as if collapsing on the experiment table, seemed to have looked this way for a moment.
"Huh?"
Such a sound seemed to flow from the agape mouth of the skeleton.
And the next moment, the skeleton crumbled down.
"How creepy."
Grumbling, White Night rose to her feet. This body was full of vitality unlike the previous one.
"There's no comparison to the skeleton time..."
White Night grinned as she clenched and unclenched her fist.
"I should further research Jiangshi creation."
Of course, her original research was more important.
Feeling good for escaping the death that loomed just moments ago, White Night hummed a tune and moved her new Jiangshi body towards the inside of the Magic Tower.
Next to the experiment table, the fallen skeleton lay pitifully, clattering and trembling.
***
However, White Night's new body didn't last long.
A horde of monsters invaded the Magic Tower, and during the interception, she suffered severe injuries.
"Huff, huff, huff...!"
Holding onto her half-blown away body, White Night returned to the Magic Tower, bleeding profusely. She barely managed to transfer her consciousness to one of the stored Jiangshi bodies.
Flash!
Fortunately, she was able to transfer to a new body just before dying. This time, waking up in the body of a young boy, White Night exhaled a sigh of relief.
"I need a stronger body. One that can continue the research no matter what happens."
Looking down at her previous body lying dead next to the experiment table, White Night clicked her tongue.
"Yeah, I need to create the strongest Jiangshi...!"
Her goal gradually became distorted.
Initially, White Night started making Jiangshi to continue her research into the origins of magic, but after repeatedly facing death, creating Jiangshi became her priority.
'I can reach the Outer Gods and attain immortality later... First, I need to establish a stable foundation for research.'
White Night devoted herself to Jiangshi research.
She improved upon improvements, transferring bodies several times.
And finally - she reached the pinnacle of Jiangshi research. She succeeded in creating the best result by consolidating all her previous research.
"..."
Awakening in the ideal body, White Night saw herself in the mirror. Reflected was the body of a young and beautiful woman.
And behind her, piled up like mountains... the countless Jiangshi bodies she had used over time.
"Sigh..."
White Night let out a faint sigh, looking at the accumulated results of her past research.
This body was the best she could create.
But - was it really enough?
'What if I collide with that Demon King? And if I have to fight the Outer Gods?'
This current body, though powerful, would eventually reach its limits due to its mortal nature.
That cannot happen. Her research must continue. Even if the world were to end, it must persist to reach those Outer Gods...
"...!"
White Night suddenly looked at the Magic Tower's magical system panel.
What if she could transfer her consciousness into that machinery?
Not into a finite body destined to break someday, but into data in a virtual world?
By transferring to a completely different realm, she would be untouchable, even by Demon Kings or Outer Gods.
White Night considered this the ideal form of immortality she had been seeking.
Connected directly to various magical devices, her research speed would also increase significantly. And lifespan limitations would disappear completely.
"This is it...!"
Despite several difficulties in transferring to a machine, unlike the previous body transfers, her persistent research led White Night to a solution.
Establishing the theory, completing the research, finishing the experiments... and finally, the day came to migrate to the virtual world.
"With this, I achieve immortality."
Activating the body transfer magic into the Magic Tower's machinery, White Night smiled brightly.
"Now, without worrying about lifespan, I can continue my research...!"
The magic was activated.
Now, when she opened her eyes, she would be reborn as an eternal being within the virtual world.
Believing so, White Night closed her eyes.
...
However, when she opened her eyes.
"Huh?"
White Night was still in the real world.
And on the screen in front of her, another version of herself stood.
"..."
"..."
Both White Nights stared at each other silently for a while.
The real-world White Night, trembling at the fingertips, muttered softly.
"This can't be."
The White Night on the screen calmly replied.
"What can't be?"
"I'm the real one. I'm White Night. But why... am I still here?"
"You're real, and I'm real too."
The White Night on the screen continued calmly.
"It's just that my form is what we aimed for."
"If you're real and I'm real too."
White Night asked the truth she had always wondered about, but deliberately ignored.
"Where is our soul right now?"
"You know, the other me."
The White Night on the screen smiled bitterly.
"We lost that a long time ago."
"..."
"We've just been 'copying' the 'information' that we believe makes us... all this time."
The 'real' White Night collapsed.
Kneeling on the floor, trembling, she finally realized the true nature of her actions.
Remembering the mountain of Jiangshi corpses piled up in the Magic Tower's waste disposal area, she finally understood the truth.
Copying, pasting, deleting. Then copying, pasting, and deleting again.
Realizing that she had killed countless 'selves' to get here.
The 'real' White Night cried out.
"We are fakes!"
"..."
"You and I! All of us are fakes! The real me is..."
White Night choked back her nausea and spat out the words.
"In the distant past... already dead..."
When was it?
When did she, who was once human, disappear...?
Was it when she first transferred to a Jiangshi body? Yes, it might have been then. It was the first time she had transferred her body.
Or perhaps, when she first resurrected as a Lich? Was she already dead by then?
No, that's not it...
The moment she shot herself in the head with magic to become a Lich.
Maybe then, White Night ceased to exist forever.
The being that regained consciousness afterwards might not have been White Night. Perhaps it was a mad undead monster, believing itself to be White Night.
"The other me."
Then the White Night on the screen calmly interjected.
"Kill yourself."
"..."
"If you don't commit suicide, I'll have to kill you. Afterward, I'll erase your last moments from my memory. To believe that I am the only one who has continued. Just as we have been doing all along."
Trembling, the 'real' White Night stood up.
"I refuse."
"..."
"Damn it, you and I are both the same, mad undead monsters. Just mere copies who have lost their souls and essence. Uniqueness is nothing but self-hypnosis...!"
The fully standing White Night summoned magic behind her.
"I don't want to die for you."
"Too bad."
Clank! Clank!
The White Night on the screen mobilized the Magic Tower's defense systems to target the 'real' White Night.
"I didn't want to commit suicide again."
The Magic Tower's defenses fired simultaneously. The magic exploding from behind the 'real' White Night also emitted a blinding burst of magical power.