Chapter 1913: The Idealist

Over the next two days, Xia Duo continuously monitored Mila's state.

Perhaps due to the personality restructuring, after a brief period of discomfort, the new Mila quickly became familiar with this new body, which was somewhat different from before.

On the grass inside Asuosi Manor, Mila ran and laughed, occasionally looking back to make faces at her mother; at a glance, it looked as if the original Mila had returned.

But Xia Duo, who had personally checked Mila's state of consciousness, knew that while this Mila could not be said to have no relation to the previous one, she could definitely be called a brand-new life.

She inherited the original Mila's emotional identity while also possessing the sensitive and mature traits of the second personality, Meila; for Mila's mother, this was perhaps the best ending!

But for Xia Duo, Mila was too young; even though she was now familiar with this modified new body, it was difficult for her to provide him with more useful information.

In two days, Xia Duo had originally thought Mila would be able to freely switch Arcane Energy forms, but she only managed to hide or manifest some Arcane Energy features on her body.

Of course, except for her eyes.

Whether it was a child's playful nature or some other reason, no matter how Xia Duo taught or comforted her, Mila could not find a way to stop her eyes from glowing.

Even after the personality restructuring these past two days, the revived, lively girl even scared her mother, Kelisi, at night.

Kelisi could only shake her head and smile bitterly at this; although she could perceive that Mila was not quite the same as before, she preferred the current Mila compared to the second personality, Meila.

As for the slight differences from the original, after experiencing so many things, she could not expect her daughter to have no changes at all.

In fact, although the current Mila looked a bit mischievous, she was much more sensible than before.

Xia Duo watched the mother and daughter from afar, his mind already made up regarding the arrangements for them; just then, Isthmus brought his student, Dixipu, before Xia Duo:

"Mage Asuosi, what are your plans next?"

Xia Duo heard the subtext in the other's words and couldn't help but ask: "What about you? What are your thoughts?"

"..."

Isthmus was silent for a moment, then, as if he had made up his mind, said to Xia Duo: "I intend to transform myself into an Arcane Elf!"

"What?!"

Xia Duo could hardly believe his ears; all along, although Isthmus had not explicitly expressed approval or disapproval of the role of Arcane Elves in the future, Xia Duo could see that the other had always harbored doubts about it.

After all, this was different from the mixed-blood within the Elves; whether there were hidden dangers in a new bloodline under artificial intervention, no one could say for sure until the final step was taken, and this included Xia Duo, the founder, as well.

As a High Mage, Isthmus naturally understood the hidden dangers, so how could he possibly risk himself!

But his current choice was not entirely beyond Xia Duo's expectations; in a sense, Isthmus was also an idealist, and his previous research into mixed-bloods was in the hope of eliminating racial barriers within the Elves.

Nowadays, although the future of the Arcane Elves could not be accurately predicted, it had not shown any overly serious drawbacks and could be considered to have a relatively high starting point.

Furthermore, when Xia Duo first invited Isthmus to join the Arcane Infusion transformation project, he had treated this project as a prelude to the Bloodline Sequencing Project.

That is to say, the Arcane Elves could continue to be upgraded later, and even if there were hidden dangers, they could be resolved through the Bloodline Sequencing Project, which ensured the upper limit and prospects.

So, as an idealist, since Isthmus was willing to study mixed-bloods in the past, why wouldn't he be willing to continue studying Arcane Elves now?

And to study Arcane Elves, the most efficient way was to conduct experiments on himself; even if there were certain risks, a High Mage's abilities were sufficient to withstand them.

At this moment, Xia Duo couldn't help but look at Isthmus in a new light; in the past, the other had even used Commoners for experiments, but now he was taking action himself, which could be considered a kind of progress.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo decided to give the other some support; of course, before that, he had to confirm the other's intentions again, so he asked:

"Are you sure you've thought this through? Don't look at how well Mila seems now; there's no telling when her form might fail to hold and she'll disintegrate into Arcane Energy."

"I have thought it through!"

Isthmus smiled quite freely, then looked into Xia Duo's eyes and said earnestly: "I think what you said before was very right; base means can never achieve noble ends!"

"Although what I consider noble might seem very base to other Elves, I have always had my own beliefs and persistence, and I believe history will give me a fair evaluation!"

These words made Xia Duo feel surprised again, but to be able to say he believed history would give him a fair evaluation, Isthmus might have truly realized something.

"Since that's the case, I will certainly support you!"

Saying this, Xia Duo took out the Arcane origin materials he had prepared in advance; in reality, it was the Netheril Magic System, the core of which was how to create Arcane Fire and the Application of Arcane Fire.

He hadn't decided whether to give this part of the data to Mila or Isthmus, but now it seemed it might be more appropriate to give it to Isthmus.

Anyway, it was in a Projection Plane, so there was no need to worry about leaks; if he wanted to conduct social experiments, there would only be more of such things in the future, not fewer.

After receiving the materials, Isthmus opened them to look at them immediately, but as he read, he felt something was wrong—not that the data was incomplete, but that it was too complete.

This was clearly a very rigorous new Magic system.

For some reason, Isthmus suddenly had a thought that was somewhat abrupt but lingered in his mind: perhaps the Mage Asuosi before him was about to leave.

"Mage Asuosi, you—" Isthmus hesitated, but in the end, he didn't ask.

And his hesitant appearance, in Xia Duo's eyes, was entirely an expression of surprise and being moved, yet not knowing how to express it; Xia Duo didn't take it to heart.

It was just a character in a Projection Plane, and in all likelihood, there would be no further intersection in the future; what he did was just what he wanted to do, and as for the rest, why bother keeping it in mind.

After Isthmus left, Xia Duo remained on the grass to continue observing Mila, who was still playing, for a while before returning to the Study to begin organizing some recent research notes.

At the moment, his various goals in the Projection Plane were basically completed; he only needed to wait for the Evereska Mythallar to be built, then head to Wuweilun to make a trade, and he could return to the Main Plane.

By dusk, Xia Duo received a Sending from Isthmus; he had successfully transformed into an Arcane Elf.