Chapter 1931: Things Remain, People Change

However, Xia Duo did not directly use his previous Original Permission; instead, he used that permission to register a "new account." This way, even if the current Council of Elders discovered it, he would have long since departed by then.

Changing his identity to enter Evereska once again, and seeing the streetscape that felt somewhat unfamiliar yet still bore traces of the past, Xia Duo truly felt as if a lifetime had passed.

It had indeed been a lifetime; he had only returned to the Main Plane and re-entered without any delay, yet over sixteen hundred years had already passed!

Times have changed and people are no longer the same. Xia Duo did not know if any of the original eleven Elders were still alive, but he imagined that even for a High Mage, it was unlikely they would linger in the mortal world forever.

Once familiar relatives and friends pass away one by one, even if they themselves could forcibly remain in the world, there would be little meaning in it.

Conversely, upon reaching the Shenguo, one could immediately reunite with family and friends, so what would there be to regret?

Although Xia Duo knew that Elven High Mages were roughly equivalent to immortal, and he had indeed seen High Mages who forcibly remained in the world, he had never seen an Elf who could live for thousands of years.

Whether in the Main Plane or the Projection Plane.

The Crown King of Cormanthor, Yilisaier, had been on the throne for a millennium, which was exaggerated even in the Elf World, and he had even gained many opponents because of it.

With the abilities of a High Mage, even if they only had one last strike left, dragging it out and refusing to die was quite unsettling to others.

……

Xia Duo did not deliberately search for information on the original Elders of Evereska, but while browsing recent newspapers and magazines at a bookstore, he still saw a piece of news related to them—

Four hundred years ago, during the Drow War, the last original Elder, Katunidede, who was recuperating in the Elven Court, passed away during a surprise attack launched by the Drow.

If Xia Duo were to head to the Elven Court now, he might even be able to see a commemorative Statue of Katunidede!

As for the other original Elders, he imagined they had all passed away one after another at least four hundred years ago.

Seeing this news, Xia Duo felt an indescribable, complex emotion in his heart; to him, it was only a short while ago that he had just spoken with Saijisi, Ougesi, and the others.

Yet in the blink of an eye, those individuals had already become history.

The world before his eyes seemed to retain traces of Xia Duo everywhere, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt somewhat out of place with this world.

……

The trip to the bookstore did not allow Xia Duo's many doubts to be answered; instead, it made them even more difficult to resolve.

He searched the entire bookstore but could not find a single mention of Arcane Energy Elves or Arcanists; as for Demon Descendants, unsurprisingly, there was no record of them either.

Even in some history books, the action of purging Demon Descendant infiltration within the Wuweilun nation sixteen hundred years ago was described as the backlash of a failed palace coup.

As for the other nation that Xia Duo suspected had been infiltrated by Demon Descendants at the time, Siluwende, it was now active in the brand-new Elven Court.

Yierlan was eventually established about a thousand years ago; in the early days of its founding, it often fought with Siluwende, but since the Drow War four hundred years ago, it had become an ally of Siluwende.

Or, in Xia Duo's words, more like a lackey than an ally.

The relationship between the two countries in this Projection Plane was reversed; in the Main Plane, Siluwende was a vassal of Yierlan, while in this plane, Yierlan had instead become the lackey of Siluwende.

Whether it was the sudden destruction of Wuweilun, the abnormal relationship between Yierlan and Siluwende, or the banning of Arcane Energy Elves and Arcanists.

Everything seemed to be related to the Drow War four hundred years ago.

And that war was something the Main Plane had also experienced; at that time, the nations of the Listar Forest and even the Elven Court had suffered heavy losses, and Crown King Akaola and Crown King Jielunsita had both died in that war.

Following that was Akaola closing its borders, and the successor, Crown King Ousensi, made a prophecy regarding the Sole True King of the Elves, thus giving birth to Cormanthor.

That Drow War seemed to be a key Node event that played a crucial role in every historical Branching, even more special than the independence of Evereska.

But regarding that war, the materials Xia Duo found in this bookstore were also few and far between, mostly being "trauma literature" reflecting on the war and cursing the Drow.

As for descriptions of the details of the war, there were almost none.

It was hard not to be suspicious, because one of the literary genres of the Elves, the epic, was actually a poeticized novel that selected a protagonist to restore one side of a historical event from their perspective.

And the selection of the protagonist generally involved choosing a character who played a key role in the development of the event, or what one might call a "hero."

It could be a commander of the war, or a soldier on the battlefield, but some action of theirs must have played a key role in the development of the event.

But the two epics Xia Duo saw selected protagonists who were ordinary soldiers without any special characteristics, and of course, there was no plot to speak of; all there was were the miserable conditions of the war and the author's own expressed sentimentality.

It was hard to say whether this was because the families of those two unknown soldiers paid the author to write a biography, or if it was a task handed down from a higher level to embellish history.

"《Elegy for an Unknown Soldier》? 《Dance of Death》? Heh!"

Xia Duo casually shoved these two epics back onto the bookshelf and quietly left the bookstore, just as quietly as he had come.

……

The Upper City District.

Originally, this was just a relocation area provided by the Council of Elders for the owners of the old Evereska permissions and the masters of the areas where the old Nodes were located. Over a thousand years later, it had developed into an Upper City District isolated from the world of Commoners.

Xia Duo was not unfamiliar with this place; his previous "Athos Manor" was right here, but when he passed by the front of the manor, he discovered that the location where the manor once stood already had a new manor and a new owner.

Well, that was to be expected; over a thousand years had passed, the Council of Elders couldn't possibly have kept the house for him and maintained it for a millennium!

Walking slowly along the neat streets arranged along the low, gentle mountain in the Upper City District, Xia Duo was not only observing the historical changes of Evereska over the centuries but also scouting for targets with whom he could communicate.

"Further ahead is the Cloudtop Tower!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but frown; although his current "temporary account" could enter the Cloudtop Tower, he would be discovered by a high-permission inspector the moment he went in.

Just then, he noticed an Elven Mage with a face full of rage walking out of the Cloudtop Tower. Xia Duo's eyes lit up, and he approached without leaving a trace.

"Hey, friend!"

"Who are you?"

Although the Elf was in a fit of anger, they still maintained a decent demeanor in front of outsiders, but Xia Duo was in a hurry to understand the secrets of history, so his behavior was naturally not going to be too gentle.

The moment they made contact, he used a hidden move—the pre-prepared 【Mind Stun】. Caught off guard, the Elven Mage could only rely on their own self-cast Protective Spell and protective accessories to resist.