Chapter 1969: The Clash of Contradictions

The activation of the Mythallar device was much as Xia Duo had judged; although it stirred up heavy ripples in the Magic Net, it did not cause the Magic Net to collapse.

Even after Xia Duo waited for a short while, this mixed Magic Net environment was surprisingly calm—though any movement would still trigger tremors.

The Magic Net was temporarily fine, and the Mythallar device was ready; next was linking the War Magic Artifacts. There were three war spells, each corresponding to a set of specialized War Magic Artifacts.

The first one Xia Duo linked was the War Magic Artifact for the Wide-Area Detection spell. This set of War Magic Artifacts consisted of 25 high-quality Magic Items in total, four of which needed to be directly connected to the Mythallar and were called Main Linkers.

The remaining 21 were all connected to the Main Linkers; there were no strict requirements for their positions, only that they be within a certain range of the Main Linkers and remain stationary after linking.

Of course, all War Magic Artifact components needed to be connected to the Magic Net. Although they did not need to obtain energy from the Magic Net, the Magic Net, as a natural and excellent energy-conducting material, could still be used as some key energy circulation nodes.

This was to trade for a longer usage time and ultimate lifespan for the War Magic Artifacts.

If a war spell were entirely entrusted to the Magic Net, it would be similar to the existence of a Mythallar. Although the threshold for maintenance was relatively high, the maintenance cost was far lower than that of physical War Magic Artifacts.

By the same token, if a war spell were made into a Mythallar-like existence, it might be easier for an Elf Mage to crack than the physical version.

At present, Xia Duo had not yet considered the upgrading of war spells. Although this was something that must be focused on in the future, for now, he had to be proficient in using them before talking about anything else.

……

Crimson Plane, Nameless Mound.

Xia Duo quickly followed the operating steps in Iolum's notes and finished linking all the components of the War Magic Artifacts involved in the Wide-Area Detection war spell.

After observing for a while and confirming that the Magic Net environment could still hold up, he decisively activated Wide-Area Detection. The next moment, he felt a bit of regret.

It wasn't that any problems were revealed during the test, but rather that the Crimson Plane was simply too small to demonstrate the power of this spell.

The moment the spell was completed, Xia Duo's consciousness immediately connected to a semi-open Perception Field.

This Perception Field was so vast that covering the entire Crimson Plane was not enough; there was even a faint tendency to break through the Plane.

Xia Duo recalled that Iolum's notes did indeed mention that Wide-Area Detection could probe the situation of Other Planes, so his heart stirred, and he executed the steps mentioned in the notes.

In just an instant, he gained a second perspective: it was the shadow of the Crimson Plane, as well as the Ether Plane itself, which was "above" the Ether Interlayer.

The Crimson Plane was limited, but the Ether Plane was infinite. Xia Duo felt his direct perception being projected to an extremely distant place. As he continued to operate, a small cluster of Ether Creatures soon appeared in his field of vision.

This was the only place of vitality "near" the Crimson Plane. Although it was in the Ether Plane, it further proved the power of Wide-Area Detection.

As for the Crimson Plane itself, it was almost completely visible under Wide-Area Detection, which was indeed consistent with his previous inspection results: there was no life.

At the same time, the crack in the sky also seemed to reveal a glimpse of its true form under Wide-Area Detection, only this true form was not something Xia Duo could quite understand.

The crack was as natural as high mountains and flowing water, or the sun and moon in their courses. In layman's terms, that crack had already become one of the characteristics of the Crimson Plane itself.

In other words, although Xia Duo was even more confused about the origin of this crack, this discovery further confirmed his previous judgment—

The Plane Root of this plane had already begun to disintegrate, and it had reached a quite serious stage!

Of course, for humans, wanting to see this plane completely die would still be an incomparably long period of time.

Next, Xia Duo controlled Wide-Area Detection to check the Mythallar device and himself. The final result made him very satisfied.

After many attempts, he also provided a minimum number of people to control Wide-Area Detection—at least four High Mages, monitoring the battlefield from different dimensions and different perspectives.

A few dozen would be fine, but with only four people, there would be a large number of blind spots in the monitoring.

……

After Wide-Area Detection, it was Wide-Area Prohibition. It was basically no different from the description in Iolum's notes, but after many attempts, Xia Duo also figured out the minimum number of people for Wide-Area Prohibition—

Just like Wide-Area Detection, it also required at least four High Mages.

Of course, this was considering actual war situations. If it were dealing with one or two Spellcasters alone, then having one person would be enough.

Finally, it was the highlight of this field test: Annihilation Light. Xia Duo designated a target area about ten New Li away from the Nameless Mound; the range was small, only about one hundred square meters.

But Xia Duo placed various items in that area to test the power of Annihilation Light, such as normal materials like Adamantine and Mithril, as well as various Magic Items, ranging from common grade to high-quality grade.

The most special among them was a high-quality Amulet capable of triggering an anti-magic field. Xia Duo really wanted to know if an anti-magic field could block Annihilation Light.

Generally speaking, an anti-magic field counters the "present continuous" of magic, as well as everything directly related to magic.

From this perspective, an anti-magic field could block Annihilation Light, but Annihilation Light went extremely deep into the material domain; in a sense, it could almost be said to be outside the scope of magic.

The strongest spear and the strongest shield—who was truly strong? Xia Duo was looking forward to it.

……

On the Nameless Mound, Xia Duo controlled Annihilation Light with slight unfamiliarity.

Because there was only one person, it was not very convenient to operate, and since it was in the Crimson Plane, a doomsday plane on the verge of collapse, Xia Duo simply chose the minimum power, and the mode was set to Positioning-Instant.

The target was the target area he had circled in advance.

In the instant before triggering Annihilation Light, a trace of excitement inexplicably surged in Xia Duo's heart. As the spell was triggered, a visible strong light erupted instantly in the target area.

The brightness of that light was almost like the midday sun. The moment it appeared, the originally crimson world seemed to be illuminated, dyed with a layer of gold.

Even from ten New Li away, Xia Duo still felt deeply shocked by that unconventional energy explosion. Subsequently, the strong light suddenly dimmed, but it seemed to still retain a trace of a final struggle.

Xia Duo looked over from afar; the target area was still brighter than other places, and even wisps of Element Turbulence were drifting in the sky.