Chapter 1807: Ether Advance

The Lier Chamber of Commerce is merely a small merchant guild, completely incapable of sustaining large-scale caravan operations; at this supply outpost in the Ansai Mountains, a caravan passes through only about once a month.

Xia Duo and his party did not arrive at a fortunate time; a Lier Chamber of Commerce caravan had just passed through here not long ago, so trying to sneak in by way of a Lier Chamber of Commerce caravan was not realistic.

According to Xierdalanna, the mysterious organization has been operating this secret base for at least a hundred years, and the associated monitoring and alarm measures are implemented very strictly.

In addition to having real-time monitoring of the valley where the base is located, they also conduct passive monitoring of the wide-area space within a radius of at least a hundred miles by constructing a Ley Line Network.

Among these, the most sensitive is teleportation; furthermore, there are some specific Spell Elements that even Xierdalanna, despite her intentions, has not been able to fully investigate.

After all, investigation essentially requires triggering, and if there are too many abnormal triggers, it is easy to be detected by the mysterious organization.

However, since Xierdalanna was able to discover the opponent's base, it at least indicates that she has been inside once before and was not discovered by them, so she must have some experience that can be used for reference.

"I came here last time by tracking the Spellcaster who was transporting the Inspiration Light Potion; the process involved many coincidences, but there is one thing I am certain of: at least before entering the base, we can pass through from the Ether Plane."

"Will the process of transforming into a spirit body not be monitored by the opponent?" Xia Duo asked.

"It is difficult."

Xierdalanna shook her head and explained: "The Ansai Mountains themselves often have Ether Creature activity, so the appearance of Yaoyue fluctuations is a normal phenomenon; as long as we do not repeatedly trigger them in the opponent's sensitive areas, it will be fine. Additionally, we can cast spells to conceal ourselves, but after this operation, the mysterious organization's other bases will likely be on guard."

"What about after getting close? Didn't you say the opponent's base is in an underground cavern at the Lier Chamber of Commerce supply outpost? Is there a corresponding passage in the Main Plane? Or is it that entering means being discovered for sure?" Xia Duo asked again.

Regarding Xierdalanna's statement that the mysterious organization would be on guard in the future, he actually did not care much; now that the mysterious organization has a trend toward becoming public, from the moment they chose to assassinate the Elder of Evereska, they were destined to stand on the opposite side of the Northland nations.

From this perspective, Xia Duo's previous speculation that the mysterious organization might be a Siluwende restoration organization might be incorrect.

Wanting to restore a country certainly cannot involve offending too many people; assassinating a national leader is still too much of a challenge to the bottom line of the Northland nations—perhaps it could work for Yierlan, but it certainly would not work for other countries.

It is just that in this way, the true background of the mysterious organization is shrouded in another layer of mist.

Thinking this, Xia Duo glanced at Xierdalanna thoughtfully; he felt that she definitely knew some information he did not, related to the true background of the mysterious organization.

Regarding Xia Duo's probing gaze, Xierdalanna did not care at all and continued to explain: "That underground cavern has a secret passage connecting to the Lier Chamber of Commerce outpost on the Surface; normally, one could enter directly, but we cannot."

"Entering directly might trigger the alert mechanism; the last time I went, I did not enter with my true body, but rather observed secretly by hiding a Magic Mark on the Spellcaster of that mysterious organization."

"That underground cavern has stricter defenses than the Surface, and the most critical point is that it also overlaps with the Shadow Plane, making it extremely sensitive to light and shadow changes within it."

"Of course, this is not a big problem for us, but once the opponent believes they cannot eliminate the attackers, they may perform a Plane separation to escape through the Shadow Plane."

"Therefore, we still need to go to the Shadow Plane first to set up blocking spells before we can launch a surprise attack from the Main Plane."

Having reached the final moment before the operation, Xierdalanna explained the details of the operation very thoroughly and answered the questions of Xia Duo and Puman as much as possible.

From Xia Duo's personal perspective, at least he did not find any obvious flaws or traps; everything seemed to make sense.

Then the operation began.

Inside the temporary outpost controlled by Xierdalanna, Xia Duo and his party first transformed into spirit bodies and entered the Ether Plane; then, led by Xierdalanna, they passed through the Ether Mist and headed in a direction with an unknown path ahead.

Unlike the Material Plane and the Shadow Plane, which at least have a relatively close correspondence in geographical environment—although this correspondence might correspond to history or some possibility of the future—at least there are traces to follow.

The relationship between the Ether Plane and the Material Plane is very complex; at least in terms of geographical environment, there is no very obvious correspondence.

If it were an ordinary person, the probability of getting lost after entering the Ether Plane is far greater than entering the Shadow Plane, not to mention that the Shadow Plane and the Material Plane have many natural passages.

Even if one is severely lost, as long as one does not die and is willing to walk, one can always return to the Material Plane where one was.

But if it is the Ether Plane, once lost, even if one breaks free, it is very likely that one will enter another Material Plane.

The risks of the two cannot be mentioned in the same breath, but as Spellcasters, Xia Duo and his party can still cast spells to retain the perspective of the Material Plane; in layman's terms—

While seeing the scenery of the Ether Plane, they can still see the Material Plane.

When they moved forward, they used the road from the temporary outpost controlled by Xierdalanna to the Lier Chamber of Commerce outpost in the Material Plane as a reference, while in the Ether Plane, their trajectory had almost no regularity to speak of.

Moving forward for a while, then backward for a while; if they did not have the perspective of the Material Plane and walked solely by feeling or so-called experience, they would likely be lost in the Ether Plane before finding the target.

They had been walking for about half an hour; if it were in the Main Plane, this distance would probably not even be one-third of the way to the target!

But in the Ether Plane, Xia Duo could already see a dark gray Jieti emitting a faint glow ahead; obviously, the mysterious organization also guarded against anyone launching a surprise attack from the Ether Plane.

It is just that they only guarded against surprise attacks and did not seem to guard against enemies approaching from the Ether Plane; at least when Xia Duo and his party arrived in front of this almost tangible dark gray Jieti, the opponent did not seem to notice.

"Inside here is the base of the mysterious organization," Xierdalanna said, pointing to the Jieti in front.

According to the plan, the next step should be to enter the Shadow Plane, but before starting to cast spells, Xia Duo asked Xierdalanna another question:

"Does the opponent not have spells for Scrying and monitoring in the Ether Plane?"

"I don't know if there are similar spells in Netheril Magic, but in Elven Magic, there are almost none; most of the spells I know for monitoring the Ether Plane involve setting up wide-area Jieti for passive monitoring; I have never seen an active one!"