Chapter 1541: Feint, Merging with Heaven and Earth

While retreating, Xia Duo kept an eye on the surrounding environment, looking for a suitable place for Spellcasting, while not forgetting to observe the situation on Iolum's side.

The further back he went, the more blurred Xia Duo's Perception of the battle area between Iolum and the Elf became; it started with his vision being obscured by various random Spells dominated by elemental impacts, followed immediately by his other five senses.

Although the five senses were of little significance in such a chaotic Magic Net environment—there were too many random Spell interferences, and if one encountered an illusion, one might even be misled.

Only Magic Vision was relatively real, whether at the micro or macro level.

But when even his Perception of the Magic Net became blurred, Xia Duo knew he could not retreat any further; retreating any more would make it impossible to guarantee the immediacy of the Spell.

He looked around, and finally, his gaze rested on a waist-high stone burning with a raging fire, though this stone was not his target.

After moving the stone away, he carefully checked the surrounding Magic Net environment and nodded with satisfaction; the ability to form a stable Magic phenomenon indicated that a relatively stable Magic Net Node existed here.

Xia Duo could certainly ignore the chaotic Magic Net, but if he could have a better environment, it would also be a nice boost for his subsequent Spellcasting.

After unfolding his Arcane Fire, Xia Duo confirmed his previous conjecture from the feedback of the Micro Magic Net; it was indeed much more "effort-saving" here than in other places.

Next, he transformed into a gaseous form, hiding himself in the invisible; although this calm Magic Net environment looked quite abrupt, there was still the subsequent illusion camouflage.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he could not unfold his Arcane Fire while 【Merging with Heaven and Earth】, Xia Duo would have preferred to merge with heaven and earth and completely turn into Void; that would truly count as ignoring damage.

Or, if the Magic Net environment here were a bit better and could calm down on its own without the help of Arcane Fire, then Xia Duo could also attempt to cast Spells in the state of Merging with Heaven and Earth.

With everything ready, Xia Duo first deliberately created some Spellcasting movements, and the movements became more and more frequent, almost simulating the partial actions of the subsequent Spellcasting.

He wanted to see if there were any potential enemies lurking around waiting for him; although the probability was very small, one could not be unprepared.

As the saying goes, "Caution is the parent of safety"; in a moment, when casting the Spell, he would have almost no ability to resist externally, and even his Perception would be greatly reduced (due to focusing on Spellcasting). If he were to really encounter a situation by accident, he would regret it too late.

Xia Duo had always advocated for being strict first and relaxed later, suffering first and enjoying later; naturally, he would be no exception at such a critical moment.

……

After cautiously probing, Xia Duo did not wait for the attack he had imagined; instead, the situation on Iolum's side was becoming increasingly dire, and the Elf's frequency of attempting to shape the Mythallar was getting higher and higher.

This also made Xia Duo somewhat depressed; if the frequency were relatively stable, he would have a much easier time calculating the starting moment of his Spellcasting.

But now, the increased frequency meant that the calculation had become complicated, and even carried a certain nature of gambling, which made Xia Duo instinctively feel unhappy.

However, the timing of the attack could not be chosen at will; this Spell required a high level of concentration. Once he started casting, it was basically impossible for him to pay attention to what was happening on Iolum's side; he would have only one goal in his eyes, and that was to complete the Spell.

What he had originally thought was to calculate the time well and complete the Spell exactly at the critical moment when the opponent's Mythallar shaping was about to be completed but not yet, launching an attack in unison with Iolum.

This would greatly reduce the possibility of the Elf resisting or even counterattacking.

Now, it seemed he would have to take a small gamble!

Of course, from the moment Xia Duo decided to strike, the Elf was almost certainly defeated; the difference was just between "eighty or ninety percent certainty" and "ninety-nine percent certainty."

Try to overestimate the opponent, not yourself.

Xia Duo silently recited a warning maxim in his heart, then entered a state of highly focused Spellcasting. However, he had not yet started casting at this time, but was quickly calculating the best starting time in his mind based on the battle situation between Iolum and the Elf.

"This is it! May the sages bless me!"

In a flash, Xia Duo began the shaping of an 11th Ring Spell that he had never actually cast before. Starting from the surface of the Magic Net, the Magic Net Strings, under his will, continuously combined until they reached deep into the tenth layer of the Magic Net.

This was already the end of the Magic Net in the conventional sense, and perhaps in the eyes of many, it was also the end of Magic, but in Xia Duo's eyes, this was merely a new beginning.

A cycle from 0 to 10 almost converted into an 11th Ring Element that did not actually exist. If it were below the 10th Ring, these Element Units equivalent to a higher rank would have a tendency to automatically convert towards higher rings, which made it relatively easier for the Spellcaster to maintain.

But for Xia Duo now, all the 11th Ring Elements that did not actually exist required him to maintain them himself; he could not borrow the power of the Magic Net. This point remained true even though he was now using his own Micro Magic Net to cast the Spell.

Perhaps this was the natural defect of the Magic Net itself.

If some great being could open up new levels for the Magic Net, that would be a feat no less than "creating the world" for all Spellcasters.

Xia Duo had considered this possibility, but the Magic Net was not just the Magic Net of the Main Plane; such a transformation was something that perhaps even the Magic Goddess might not be able to do.

Not to mention himself; he hadn't even thought about it, especially since transforming the Magic Net was not in his interest.

……

As the Spellcasting neared completion, it became increasingly difficult for Xia Duo to maintain such massive and complex Spell Elements in this state of high concentration, and distracting thoughts almost uncontrollably emerged.

He subconsciously thought that if it were before this recent Bloodline Awakening, and if he hadn't transformed into a gaseous form to isolate human desires, perhaps he wouldn't even have been able to persist to his current Spellcasting progress.

Or, thinking that Spellcasting was so difficult, he might as well stop and wait for the support of the Seven Towers, and so on.

But where there were distracting thoughts, there were naturally righteous thoughts. Xia Duo's daily Meditation Training was not in vain; even as distracting thoughts grew, he did not interrupt the Spellcasting process.

Instead, in the process of such a battle between distracting thoughts and righteous thoughts, his consciousness transcended to a higher level, which was something he had not anticipated before.

This feeling was a bit like 【Merging with Heaven and Earth】, "the mind condenses and the form is released, merging with the myriad transformations," "doing nothing, yet leaving nothing undone." At this moment, Xia Duo suddenly discovered that he could simultaneously attend to Spellcasting while also letting his mind wander.

Of course, in the current situation, letting his mind wander was not the right thing to do; Xia Duo just used this to govern his distracting thoughts, while also having the energy to perceive the surroundings, and even the battle situation between Iolum and the Elf.

This change made Xia Duo's original calculation of the lead time somewhat redundant, because in this state of having spare capacity while casting, he could slightly adjust the Spellcasting time to actively match the best attack time.

It was just that whether this state could appear again in the future; if he could master it proficiently, perhaps the 12th Ring Spell would no longer be a dream that could only remain in theory.