Chapter 1209: Calibrating Time, Temporary Rest

For a moment, Xia Duo truly did not know how to describe his current mood; he was not even certain if normal matter that had not undergone astral-quality transformation could exist within the Astral Plane, yet someone had casually created a Reality Plane right there in the Astral Plane.

The gap was simply too vast.

Just then, the derivative changes of the Plane finally came to a halt, and immediately following, Suo En appeared.

Seeing the way Suo En appeared, Xia Duo's mood finally improved; Suo En did not appear in a way he could not comprehend, but rather teleported over.

Inside this temporarily created Reality Plane, there was a Magic Net environment almost identical to the Main Plane; although the Magic Net here seemed to be subject to certain restrictions and Xia Duo could not utilize it, this did not hinder him from perceiving and contacting it.

Even Suo En's Teleportation Spell was cast without any consideration for encryption; Xia Duo even recorded every detail of the Magic Net's response in the target area of the teleportation.

He only needed to find some free time to reverse-engineer the complete Teleportation Spell.

However, judging from the existing information, Suo En's Teleportation Spell was not particularly brilliant, at least not more brilliant than the Teleportation Spell Xia Duo had mastered.

The only point worth noting was that Suo En's Teleportation Spell used the Astral Plane as a medium, which was relatively rare among the mainstream Teleportation Spells of Netheril that used the Ether Plane as the primary medium.

……

After Suo En appeared, Kelifu immediately went up to greet him and asked with slight anxiety: "Lord Suo En, how much longer until we reach the Dream Ruins?"

"Uncertain. The Astral Plane is constantly in a state of change; even for me, it is difficult to repeatedly locate the same position. If there is a need, I will call you. You all should rest here for a while."

Having said that, Suo En teleported away directly.

This scene left Xia Duo stunned; this exploration of the Dream Ruins had already seen many situations that exceeded his cognition.

The Eternal Holy Spirit was one thing—at least he had heard Niya mention it before—but listening to the implication of Suo En's words now, it seemed he intended to use this artificial Plane to send them to the Dream Ruins, and the time was not even certain!

This looked unreliable no matter how one viewed it, yet Kelifu did not offer any rebuttal. Could it really be like this?

Xia Duo had limited knowledge of the Astral Plane, so he could only step forward to ask Kelifu: "What is our current situation? Are we going to 'ride' this Plane to the Dream Ruins?"

Hearing the word "ride," Kelifu was clearly stunned for a moment, but then nodded and explained: "The Astral Plane environment is special. If we were to travel on our own, it would take a very long time. Although for the Main Plane, only an instant would have passed, for us, it is a real loss of lifespan. This time, it just so happened that Lord Suo En came to the Main Plane to calibrate time, so we could reach the Dream Ruins relatively smoothly."

"Then, when we were in Leisen Territory before, Lord Kelifu, you said you had already explored the Dream Ruins?"

"I did not lie to you; I have indeed been there before!"

Regarding Xia Duo's suspicion, Kelifu was not angry but patiently explained: "That time, I first went to the Astral Plane, then spent a long time searching for Lord Suo En, and after that, spent even more time finding the Dream Ruins."

"Oh."

With his little scheme exposed, Xia Duo nodded quite awkwardly and hurriedly changed the subject: "By the way, you just said Lord Suo En came to the Main Plane to calibrate time; what is that for?"

"To connect one's own time sequence with the Main Plane's time sequence. The Eternal Holy Spirit is named 'Eternal,' but in this world, there is no such thing as something that remains eternally unchanged. If one stays in the Astral Plane for too long without going to the Material Plane to calibrate time, then the next time one goes to the Material Plane, one will be scoured by a massive amount of Time Force, and the Eternal Holy Spirit will perish as a result, unless one never leaves the Astral Plane."

So that was it!

Xia Duo had previously wondered if he would encounter an existence in the Astral Plane that had entered from ancient times, but if time calibration was required, then such an existence would likely have perished long ago.

There were too many places in the Astral Plane that consumed time; even in the void where things were still, the flow of time relative to the Material Plane was extremely fast.

Of course, it was possible to stay in the Astral Plane forever to survive, in which case one would not die, but at the same time, one would not be able to enter Projection Worlds or Reality Planes like the one Xia Duo was standing on at this moment.

Because once one appeared in a place where time flowed, one would still automatically calibrate time.

It was just that it would not be calibrated with the Main Plane, but the time consumed in the Astral void would still pass away rapidly.

In other words, if a Spellcaster from the Main Plane settled in the Astral Plane and did not want to lose the opportunity to go to the Main Plane, they would need to go to the Main Plane frequently to calibrate time.

And if they did not want to lose the opportunity to go to special areas like Projection Planes where time flowed within the Astral Plane, they would also need to go to these areas periodically to calibrate time.

Unless one had the ability to ignore the passage of time, anyone would have to go through this process.

Xia Duo had once fantasized about becoming an Eternal Holy Spirit; after all, this was one of the few development paths in Netheril where one could not see the end of one's lifespan.

But now it seemed that the Eternal Holy Spirit was neither eternal nor perhaps free. Legend had it that it was very difficult for an Eternal Holy Spirit to return to the Main Plane, yet they could not completely abandon the Main Plane and still had to run back to calibrate time.

To a certain extent, the development path and prospects of the Eternal Holy Spirit might not even be as good as the Longevity Ritual Xia Duo had seen at the Seven Towers Arcane Temple!

……

On the topic of the Eternal Holy Spirit, Xia Duo and Kelifu did not chat for too long; after all, Suo En could return at any time, and if they happened to run into him, it would be too awkward.

Although Xia Duo had too much curiosity about the Eternal Holy Spirit, he knew the gravity of the situation. After chatting with Kelifu about the Dream Ruins, he found an empty space and began to rest.

The "rest" Suo En mentioned just now was not a perfunctory remark but had real significance.

Just now in the Astral Plane, Xia Duo had created a white incandescent light sphere, performed a teleportation, and smoothed out the Astral Wind triggered by Kelifu; he could clearly feel his mental state continuously deteriorating and unable to recover.

Or to be precise, time in the Astral Plane did not flow; in the Astral Plane, a Spellcaster could not count on time to recover their energy.

Sleep might not be effective either.

In fact, for sleep, one had to consider more—whether scattered thoughts would attract unknown hunters or stir up meaningless Astral Winds that would blow one to an unknown region.

However, in this Plane temporarily created by Suo En, Xia Duo could feel his mental state recovering bit by bit.

Of course, this was only a short-term recovery when the state was relatively good; if one was too exhausted, one would still need sleep to achieve a more complete recovery.

From this perspective, people who lived in the Main Plane for a long time, especially those who had lived and rested normally in a normal Material Plane since birth, were really hard-pressed to adapt to the pure Astral void.

……