Chapter 1022: Senior Arcanist, Elven Advantage

After the upgrade was complete, Xia Duo did not leave the Spell Laboratory, but instead continued to test the specific energy consumption of 8th Ring Spells.

When casting spells with the help of the Magic Net, the energy consumption is entirely paid by the Magic Net, and the spellcaster does not need to consider much; however, if casting with a Micro Magic Net expanded by one's own Arcane Fire, or casting purely with Arcane Energy, then one needs to consider it.

Xia Duo had already conducted relevant tests before, reaching only up to the 7th Ring at most; as for the 8th Ring and even higher, he had made speculations, but there was no support from actual data.

This time, he did it while he was at it.

Slightly sensing his own Arcane Fire, Xia Duo discovered that, just like the previous few upgrade processes, after sensing the deeper layers of the Magic Net, the Arcane Fire automatically derived more complex structures.

Upon expanding it, the Arcane Fire, which could originally only expand to 7 layers of the Magic Net at most, was now able to expand to the eighth layer.

It was as if the Arcane Fire, combined with his own will, automatically replicated the newly contacted layer after his will came into contact with the Deep Weave in the surrounding environment.

At the same time, the coverage area of the Micro Magic Net also increased sharply compared to before the upgrade; if not for this leap-style growth during the upgrade, the coverage area of the Micro Magic Net under normal circumstances could only be increased slowly over time.

Next, Xia Duo used this expanded Micro Magic Net as a tool and the Arcane Energy stored in his Arcane Fire as energy to begin casting spells; from the 0 Ring to the 8th Ring, the energy consumption increased incrementally.

Let us not talk about the 0 Ring for now; it can only slightly touch the surface of the Magic Net, and the energy consumption is almost negligible when low, while when high, it is very close to a 1st Circle Spell.

But starting from the 1st Circle, almost every time the ring level increases, there is a clear step-like growth trend in energy consumption.

This conforms well to the simple intuitive understanding of ordinary people, and through multiple tests, Xia Duo has even figured out the approximate energy consumption range for spells of each ring level.

If one says that the real energy consumption of a 1st Circle Spell is 1 point of Arcane Energy, then—

The 2nd Ring is 2;

The 3rd Ring is 3;

The 4th Ring is 5;

The 5th Ring is 10;

The 6th Ring is 20;

The 7th Ring consumes about 50~80 Arcane Energy;

Although mastering 8th Ring Spells means becoming a Senior Arcanist or an Archmage, in reality, the real energy consumption of an 8th Ring Spell is between 100~200, which does not have an absolute difference from a 7th Ring Spell.

Xia Duo tested multiple versions of the 8th Ring 【Mage Armor】; if simplified to the extreme, only maintaining the 8th Ring level, then the consumption of Arcane Energy is at least 100 or more.

And even if it is extremely complex, it is difficult to exceed 200.

This is very consistent with his previous speculations, and if one follows such speculations, the real energy consumption of a 9th Circle Spell is between 200~500.

As for the higher 10th Ring, which is the power level mastered by Great Arcanists, Xia Duo speculates that there will still be a large increase, at least double that of the 9th Circle.

As for exactly how high it is, he cannot speculate for the time being.

However, Xia Duo had just returned from the 【Projection Plane · Cormanthor Birth】, and in that Projection Plane, he had obtained a large amount of Elven Magic data.

Because of this, he knows that the 10th Ring is a relatively special level, which can almost be considered the end of magic.

And in Netheril, there is a similar saying, and the consumption of such magic, which can be called ultimate magic, is also difficult to infer by common sense.

Perhaps, just like 0 Ring Spells, there exists a base consumption and an infinite consumption, only that the consumption of 0 Ring Spells can be infinitely small, while 10th Ring Spells might be infinitely large on a certain foundation.

As for above the 10th Ring, the Elves collectively refer to it as High Magic, which is the power that only High Mages can master, up to the 12th Ring at most.

And here in Netheril, Xia Duo only knows that the level of the Tower of Time has reached the 11th Ring; as for the specific upper limits of other Great Arcanists, there is no record at all.

From this perspective, it seems that the Elves are more brilliant, but the difficulty of achievement for Great Arcanists and Elven High Mages is completely different.

As long as an Arcanist lives long enough, even by muddling through, they can eventually become a Great Arcanist, but an Elven High Mage needs to sense the Magic Net day and night while also studying the Principles of magic.

Of course, because Elven Magic is largely a passive spellcasting method where the Magic Net responds automatically, Elven Mages may not be as good as human Arcanists in terms of the Principles of magic.

When Xia Duo was communicating with his High Mage follower Aierfeiqi in the Projection Plane, Aierfeiqi had mentioned more than once that there are almost no Elven High Mages under 300 years old.

If this were a human, their bones would have turned to dust by 300 years old!

And this might also be the real reason why Netheril eventually abandoned Elven Magic; the Elves blocking magic Knowledge might only be one aspect, but the slow upgrade speed is the key.

If human Mages kept learning Elven Magic without any additional means of Longevity, then it would be almost impossible for High Mages to appear, and the human race would be kept under the feet of the Elves for generations, unable to rise.

This is like a life-and-death battle between a strong person and a sickly person; under normal circumstances, the strong person will always achieve an overwhelming victory.

Unless one does not consider innate factors such as physique and purely compares Wisdom, only then can the innately weak person possibly win.

The Netheril Magic System is such an existence; it almost excludes any innate factors. As long as one studies hard, one can obtain power; Knowledge and Wisdom are the ultimate winning trump cards.

And Knowledge and Wisdom are fair to any race; any individual who wants to obtain Knowledge and Wisdom needs to accumulate them with time, and the time required for this accumulation happens to be within the tolerance range of humans.

Of course, Elves can also learn Netheril Magic, but tens of thousands of years of tradition are not so easily broken!

However, when Elves abandon tradition and start learning like humans, the Elves at that time will undoubtedly be incomparably terrifying.

Although Xia Duo considers the Elves as future opponents in his heart, he does not hope to encounter such Elves; for no other reason, their racial advantage is simply too great!

Although it is said that Elves are only considered officially adult at 100 years old, in reality, Elves reach sexual maturity at around 25, and their thinking can also mature quickly if they are willing to train.

It is just that in such a long-lived society of Elves, they are treated as children before 100, and Elves who grow up like that are naturally immature.

Even humans have similar phenomena; a society with a life expectancy of 80 years and a society with a life expectancy of 40 years are two completely different things.

In the latter, one might need to breed the next generation and shoulder the burdens of life at 14 or 15, while in the former, one might still be a child who hasn't grown up at 20-something.

Once Elves fully learn from humans, they can fully reproduce at 25, and then reproduce again every 25 years; as for education, it can also be done entirely according to human standards.

Such Elves are almost long-lived versions of humans, and the further they go, the greater their potential and the faster their development; how could short-lived species be their opponents?

Therefore, Xia Duo sincerely thanks the power of Elven tradition; precisely because of this, the Main Plane has not been completely occupied by the Elves, and there are humans, and there is room for him to perform.