Rick decides to climb up a wall in chapter 21. But he soon comes to realization that after climbing up, the hill had changed him making him feel a certain kind of way that he never felt before. Even though Inspector Bryant was unavailable at the time, Rick talks to Miss Marsten about the feeling that he felt during his trip up/down the hill by stating that he felt “permanently fused with him.”
“But if I’m Mercer, he thought, I can never die, not in ten thousand years. Mercer is immortal.” (Chapter 21)
In chapter 21, you can see Rick go through a transformation after he returns from climbing up the hill. My question is, how did that particular experience on the hill change him?
Rick is changed by his experience on the mountain with Mercer. It is revealed that nobody actually fuses with Mercer, they’re just experiencing a simulation when they use the empathy box. This is a huge blow to everyone because Mercer was seen as an immortal figure but when it’s revealed that he’s just an actor, people lose hope.
After Rick tried to climb the hill he begins to realize that he may be immortal like Mercer. If Rick would not have noticed Mercer is his shadow he may not have felt this way. This empathy box is only simulation and Rick understands that which causes him to feel bad for himself.