Chapter 1812: New Magic System, Reversal of the Situation

Of course, the situation is not entirely bright.

On one hand, Xia Duo is indeed confident enough in himself and Puman to defeat this strange Elf, but on the other hand, their mission—to pin down the spellcasters within the mysterious organization's secret base.

Under these circumstances, the initiative does not lie in their hands, but depends on the thoughts of this strange Elf.

If the opponent gives up entangling with them and chooses to charge straight at Xierdalanna, then Xia Duo and Puman will be helpless against the opponent in the short term.

Moreover, Xia Duo believes that Andaluosike's heart is likely not calm at this moment either; he does not believe Andaluosike can stop this strange Elf.

Although Xia Duo does not know why this strange Elf does not go after Xierdalanna, who is clearly more threatening, he is not about to remind the opponent, and is instead happy that it is so.

Once Xierdalanna controls the Ley Line Network, with the three of them joining forces, this strange Elf will certainly be no match.

Of course, if Xia Duo and Puman could resolve this strange Elf before then, that would be even better.

……

Time passed second by second.

A layer of fine sweat had already seeped onto Puman's forehead; ever since entering this hall carved into the mountain, although he and Xia Duo had not moved much, the high-intensity spell confrontation had consumed a great deal of his energy, and even his physical strength.

"Lord Xia Duo, have you still not been able to probe the secrets of that sword?"

Mind communication is secretive and swift, but it also has a downside: for someone like Xia Duo who can parse Subconscious Information, some information can be parsed from subtle subconscious cues even if the communicator does not "say" it.

Beyond the explicit communication, Xia Duo also parsed Puman's grumbling about him being an unreliable young man, as well as the desire to change their division of labor.

Xia Duo sighed inwardly, while sending a message through the Mind Link:

"Lord Puman, hold on a little longer. Aren't we stalling the opponent right now? Once Lady Xierdalanna controls the Ley Line Network and completely cuts off the opponent's external support, their defeat will only be a matter of time."

The so-called external support refers not only to the mysterious organization's reinforcement forces but also to the Ley Line Network's assistance and enhancement of this strange Elf, who is already difficult to deal with.

At present, the opponent is not using the Ley Line Network for assistance; it is unclear whether Xierdalanna has already seized part of the Permission Level, or if this strange Elf truly does not care, being confident enough to defeat the intruders on their own.

As for Xia Duo, after a period of probing, he has gained a preliminary understanding of the Spell Breaking Principles of the opponent's Blazing Longsword.

Unlike general spell dissolution, which occurs through the Magic Net's automatic recovery or forced suppression, the Spell Breaking principle used by that Blazing Longsword involves using a strange power to instantly initialize the special structure of the Magic Net String, or in other words, to Huanyuan the Magic Net to its initial state.

After repeated probing, Xia Duo speculates that this strange power is related to Negative Energy, but it is not the pure negative energy commonly seen; rather, it is a special power that blends elements such as the mind, fire elements, Demon Power, and negative energy.

This power naturally possesses the Spell Breaking Qinen.

If the two sides were not currently in a hostile state, Xia Duo would really want to applaud the opponent; this special power appears to be just a way of shaping energy.

But in fact, it already implies a brand-new Netheril Magic System!

Like the Netheril Magic System, before becoming an Arcanist and creating Arcane Fire, it was actually not much different from Elven Magic; in Xia Duo's words, both involved directly manipulating the external Magic Net for Spellcasting.

It is just that the Elves' approach had more of a "Heaven and Man Unity" quality to it.

But after creating Arcane Fire and becoming an Arcanist, the core of Netheril Magic actually shifted to Arcane Fire; of course, before becoming a Great Arcanist, the Arcane Energy produced by that bit of Arcane Fire was not enough to fully meet a Spellcaster's daily needs.

Therefore, the external Magic Net remained a very important supplementary channel.

Yet, from this, one can also see the biggest difference between Netheril Magic and Elven Magic: it lies in Arcane Fire and Arcane Energy!

Arcane Energy is formed by the fusion of the four elements after undergoing changes in positive and negative energy states; it possesses the characteristics of all elemental energies and can even be converted at will.

Not to mention, a Great Arcanist's Arcane Fire can already completely detach from the external Magic Net, reach directly to the Elemental Origin, and can even be expanded into a Private Magic Web, or even be used by others.

It can be said that Arcane Fire is the culmination of Netheril Magic, while Arcane Energy is a byproduct of Arcane Fire.

With the experience of his own Arcane Fire and Arcane Energy, when Xia Duo saw that the strange Elf before him could manipulate a special fused energy and make various reactions through this fused energy, it was easy to draw this conclusion—

The opponent has mastered a magic system centered on this special fused energy!

Perhaps there is even an energy conversion core similar to Arcane Fire!

Although as a Spellcaster of the Arcane Fire System, Xia Duo believes that the concept of Arcane Fire is higher than the opponent's magic system—after all, in theory, the end of this path is to become a great existence like the Magic Goddess.

But concept does not equal combat power, nor does it equal the depth of research into the objective laws of the Universe.

It is even possible that in the opponent's eyes, the limit of Arcane Fire is merely a servant of the gods, and compared to the opponent's magic system, it is inferior!

But regardless, Xia Duo has developed an interest in the opponent. Setting aside that strange physical prowess—which is clearly of the same origin as the Elves yet mixed with the influence of demons—this brand-new spellcasting system alone is enough to pique Xia Duo's interest.

Just as Xia Duo was preparing to further probe the details of the opponent's spellcasting, the strange Elf suddenly stopped pursuing the two of them, instead flying high and standing above the Purple Qi Pool in the hall, laughing loudly:

"Humans, your Elf companion has already been captured by me. After playing with you for so long, it is time to let you see my true power! Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Xia Duo and Puman changed drastically, and they could not help but look toward the door of a room on the second floor that had no pipes connected to the Purple Qi Pool below.

At this moment, the Sword Singer Master Andaluosike was still guarding there; hearing the arrogant laughter of the strange Elf, his expression also changed drastically, and he hurriedly looked inside the room.

At the same time, Xia Duo could not care about so-called Elven decorum; he cast a spell to forcibly link his mind with Andaluosike's, while asking:

"What exactly is the situation inside? What happened to Xierdalanna?"

"You, you—"

At this moment, in the massive amount of information transmitted by Andaluosike through the Mind Link, besides a great deal of fear and hatred toward the strange Elf and worry about Xierdalanna being in danger, there was also immense indignation at Xia Duo for forcibly linking his mind.

If it were not for the fact that both sides had a powerful common enemy at this moment, this guy would likely have drawn his sword against Xia Duo immediately.

But beyond a large amount of meaningless emotional venting, some Perception information also came through Andaluosike's mind, which included the state of Xierdalanna in the second-floor room at this moment—