Chapter 1928: The Hunted Arcane Elf

But perhaps because he had already walked out of the "captivity zone," Xia Duo frequently encountered large wild beasts from then on. The most troublesome were the jungle leopards; those big guys were already strong and powerful (compared to humans), yet they preferred to hide in trees to launch sneak attacks.

Compared to his state when he set out from the Wild Boar Skin tribe, Xia Duo now looked extremely disheveled. Not only had he lost a circle of weight, but his main weapon, the spear, had broken, and he had lost one of his two short spears.

The most critical thing was a large gash torn into his right shoulder. It was thanks to some medicinal herbs he found in the forest that he hadn't "perished midway," but the scent of blood on his body also made him the brightest cub in this forest.

Almost every carnivore would want to come over and test him.

Reaching this point, Xia Duo felt that his hope of successfully arriving at Evereska was already very slim. Just as he was hesitating whether to return to the Main Plane right then, a sound of branches being hurriedly brushed aside came from above his head.

Xia Duo only froze for a moment, and the next instant he saw an Elf, with nearly half of their body missing, descend from the sky. Fresh blood instantly dyed a patch of the earth red.

Perhaps stimulated by both the sound and the scent of blood, several suppressed low growls came from the forest not far away again.

"What kind of situation is this!"

Although Xia Duo had imagined scenarios where an Elf descended from the sky to capture or kill him directly, he could never have imagined half an Elf descending from the sky, no matter how wild his imagination was.

"Sigh—"

Xia Duo leaned his back against a tree trunk and struggled to stand up, preparing to return to the Main Plane before the final moment arrived. Whether being killed by an Elf or by a wild beast, neither was something he wanted to experience.

But what he didn't expect was that the half-Elf who had just fallen from the sky, despite losing nearly half their body and crashing heavily to the ground, hadn't died, and had even discovered Xia Duo.

"Human, save me!"

After the other party shouted this sentence, Xia Duo's body flew toward that side involuntarily. If his physical condition were good at this moment, it shouldn't be difficult to break free, but the reality was that his body had also reached the verge of collapse.

Facing the Spell, he had absolutely no power to resist and could only watch helplessly as he landed in that pool of blood. When he landed, he almost stumbled and fell.

Perhaps this was a rare opportunity to come into contact with Magic.

It was also with this thought that Xia Duo did not immediately return to the Main Plane, but instead squatted down to check the state of this half-Elf. Their breathing was already very weak, and their consciousness was nearing a coma.

"Hey, if you want me to save you, you have to tell me how. Otherwise, I can only watch you die."

The other party understood the human language, so Xia Duo didn't make the redundant effort to ask in Elvish. Perhaps hearing Xia Duo's call, the Elf's consciousness immediately recovered a bit, and they managed to instruct:

"There is a square ornament at my waist; take it and bring it close to the center of my brow."

Xia Duo pushed aside the half-garment already soaked in blood and indeed found a square ornament with Arcane Crystals embedded in the four corners. It was fortunate that it was on this half of the body; if it had been on the other half, there would have been no saving them at all.

After wiping the bloodstains on the surface of the ornament slightly, Xia Duo saw some familiar patterns on it, and at the same time, he had a few more guesses about the identity of this half-Elf.

Placing the ornament against the Elf's brow, the next instant, the Arcane Crystals at the four corners of the ornament disintegrated one after another, dissipating a large amount of Arcane Energy, surrounding this half-Elf.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo became more confident in his guess. Under his gaze, this half-Elf was rapidly converted into an Arcane Energy form.

The Arcane Energy form naturally also only had half a body, but under the effect of the Arcane Energy, the missing half was rapidly recovering until it became a complete Elf.

Afterward, the Arcane radiance on the Elf's body became restrained and gradually transformed back into a flesh-and-blood form, but unlike just before, when the body was near death and consciousness was near destruction.

The Elf, having recovered through the Arcane Energy form, now had steady breathing, and their consciousness was gradually recovering.

Xia Duo stepped back two paces, walked out of the pool of blood, then picked up his only remaining weapon, turned, and shouted angrily toward the shadows of the forest not far away.

Now, as long as he could drag things out until the Elf recovered consciousness, he probably wouldn't need to return to the Main Plane empty-handed.

Time passed bit by bit. Xia Duo felt his hands were wet and sticky on the spear handle, which was uncomfortable. He didn't know if it was the blood he had just touched that hadn't been wiped clean, or sweat from his palms due to nervousness.

Since becoming a Great Arcanist, he had rarely experienced such emotions. It had to be said, the Projection Plane was truly a good place to keep one's state!

Xia Duo encouraged himself in his heart while also glaring at the direction where enemies might exist.

Before long, a series of hurried, low whimpers and the slight thud of a body falling to the ground came from afar. He immediately realized something, and sure enough, the next instant, the voice of that Elf from just before sounded in his ears again—

"Human, it's okay. With me here, nothing will be able to harm you!"

Xia Duo turned around and saw that the place where there had just been a pool of blood had now turned into a dry, flat patch of ground, and a small, round tea table had even been placed there.

And that Elf was sitting in front of the table, taking various snacks out from another space one by one.

"Looking at you, you must have encountered difficulties too. Eat something first!"

Xia Duo swallowed subconsciously. Although he wasn't very hungry, the conditions in the forest were limited after all, and he hadn't eaten any proper food in the last few days, which made him, who had always had high requirements for food, very unhappy.

Now seeing proper food, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

But he ultimately didn't make a move, instead gesturing with his hand and making another request, "Can I learn that thing you just did from you?"

Xia Duo wanted to come into contact with Magic through the other party so that he could quickly recover his strength and then go directly to Evereska to inquire about the situation.

Hearing that a human like Xia Duo actually dared to make a request to learn Magic, the Elf was obviously stunned for a few seconds, and afterward, they didn't say a word, just looking at Xia Duo with a scrutinizing gaze.

Finally, as if thinking of something, they let out a cold laugh and said to Xia Duo: "You want to learn? I can teach you, but everything has a price. Can you accept the heavy price behind all of this?"

"What price?" Xia Duo asked.

The Elf snorted coldly and spat out a sentence, "Naturally, the price of death and the annihilation of your clan!"

"You want to kill me?" Xia Duo was immediately "shocked."

"I won't kill you; on the contrary, I will help you. But the lackeys of the Elven Court will not let you go, nor will they let go of the tribe behind you—not a single person, not a single head of livestock!"

"Ah—"

Xia Duo was shocked. Learning Magic meant being exterminated? And that "Elven Court"—there was no corresponding translation in the Lanjia language context. The Elf had spoken directly in Elvish, and it wasn't a misunderstanding on Xia Duo's part.

In other words, in the current era, the Elven Court seemed to have more real power than in the era when Evereska was independent, to the point where even "lackeys exterminating clans" had appeared.

It stood to reason that the Elf before him should be being hunted by the so-called lackeys of the Elven Court.

But why?

Elves killing humans might have racial reasons, but what were they hunting an Elf for? Listening to the meaning in the Elf's words just now, it seemed to be related to learning Magic!

But Elves themselves were a magical race. If they wanted to ban the learning of Magic, the Elven Court would have been wiped out by various forces long ago. How could they have developed a lackey force capable of hunting down Elven Mages?

It stood to reason that it wasn't a ban on learning Magic, but a ban on learning a certain kind of Magic!

"Could it be that the Arcanist system I left behind earlier has been branded a taboo? What exactly did Yisite do later? Is it related to the Arcane Elves?"

For a moment, countless questions popped up in Xia Duo's mind.