Chapter 2148: Brains in a Vat, Memory

Almost instantly, Xia Duo extracted a pre-stored Teleportation Spell from the Magic Net without hesitation; under these circumstances, although the Magic Net was unreliable, it had become the fastest responding option.

But unfortunately, the attacker seemed to have anticipated this long ago, and the surrounding Magic Net had become distorted; after discovering this situation, it was clearly impossible for Xia Duo to continue teleporting.

Without time to think, he immediately cast 【Arcane Leap】, an Arcanist-exclusive spell he had obtained from 【Projection Plane: Evereska Independent One Thousand Years Later】.

This was thanks to him having created Arcane Fire for this Saint Form Avatar early on; otherwise, he truly could not have thought of any way to escape without exposing the essence of the avatar.

Arcane Leap has a completely different set of Principles from common Teleportation Spells; in essence, it involves transforming into an arcane form to perform elemental leaping within a Plane, without involving intermediate Other Planes like the Ether or the Astral Plane.

This Teleportation Spell, which had never appeared in the Main Plane, immediately turned the situation around the moment it appeared. Because he was inside Kalimu Cheng, Xia Duo did not attempt to teleport to the unreachable Floating City, but instead performed a short-range teleport; as long as he could get outside, the Calimshan side would certainly not sit idly by.

As for whether this sudden, unknown attack was orchestrated by Calimshan, a trace of hesitation flashed through Xia Duo's mind, but it was quickly dismissed.

If Calimshan truly wanted to do something to him, they could have acted while he was at the Yungong, without needing to wait for him to return to this temporary residence.

When it truly comes to tearing off the mask of civility, who would care about a little face? On the contrary, at the Yungong, they could have utilized the Yungong's own defensive mechanisms to gain a massive home-field advantage.

Thinking from another perspective, if he were Syl Pasha of Calimshan and wanted to silence a nominal guest, to ensure nothing went wrong, he would absolutely never let the person leave.

In his hometown, there were too many vivid examples, such as the most famous Hongmen Banquet; the Great Mentor even wrote a poem to warn future generations: "One should pursue the fleeing enemy with courage, and not seek a reputation by imitating the Hegemon!"

Since it was unlikely to be Calimshan, he naturally had to transform this advantageous terrain into his own home field; he had also roughly guessed that the attacker was likely inseparable from the assassination of Prince Xisi.

If that were truly the case, as long as he could leave this seaside palace, he could not only seek aid from the Calimshani but also from the Kaitemier Elves, who had long been seething with rage.

In fact, compared to the Calimshani, the Elves, who had one of their princes killed, might be more reliable allies. However, Calimshan did have the home-field advantage after all, so Xia Duo could not be certain whose support would be more substantial.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning; everything happened in the blink of an eye. Although it was a choice made in desperation, the Arcane Leap, an Arcanist-exclusive spell that had been brewing for a thousand years, did not disappoint him.

After the light and shadows distorted, Xia Duo found that he had left the seaside palace and was now in a street within Kalimu Cheng, but an unexpected situation also existed: the teleportation location was at least a street away from what he had expected.

At the same time, the Calimshan defense system he had anticipated seemed to not exist at all; although it was already approaching the early hours of the morning, the street outside should not have been this quiet.

At least the omnipresent background wind should not have disappeared.

This discovery made Xia Duo's heart sink to the bottom; an ominous premonition shrouded his mind, containing both worry that Calimshan might be involved and fear of the unknown attack.

But Xia Duo had not been without experience in despair; previously in 【Projection Plane: Underdark】, he had even endured the torture of the Drow. Now that he had not yet reached a dead end, he naturally could not just sit and wait for capture.

Even if he truly reached a dead end, he would find a way to splash the enemy with blood.

——【Arcane Leap】!

Xia Duo did not hesitate for a second and immediately teleported away. This time, he did not choose a short-range teleport, but instead targeted a medium-to-long distance; this was a decision made after considering the interference of unknown factors on teleportation.

Otherwise, given his temperament, he would have at least teleported outside the borders of Calimshan.

But basically, after multiple consecutive medium-to-long distance teleports, Xia Duo had completely left the area where Calimshan was located. At this moment, what he worried about most was Niya; although she had the Floating City and Saville, the enemy was completely unknown, so how could he not be worried!

Finally, Xia Duo stopped in a grove. The further the teleportation, the greater the deviation. After a simple identification, he discovered that he might have arrived within the borders of Cormanthor, but the Unified Mythallar that should have been present in Cormanthor was nowhere to be seen.

He had teleported in so brazenly, even if he had arrived via 【Arcane Leap】, which was quite unfamiliar to the Main Plane, the Mythallar itself had the function of monitoring energy; this was the only flaw of 【Arcane Leap】.

Given Cormanthor's past attitude toward Netheril, arcane fluctuations were likely the type of energy they paid the most attention to!

At this moment, Cormanthor, which should have reacted, showed no reaction at all; it was as silent as a pool of stagnant water. A guess could not help but arise in Xia Duo's heart—

Perhaps he had not truly left that seaside palace at this moment, but had merely fallen into an extremely sophisticated illusion.

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Next, he did not continue to attempt teleportation, but instead used his Saint Form's superior control over the Magic Net to cast a Scrying spell, which had also become distorted due to the changes in the Magic Net.

In an instant, a large area of the surroundings was reflected in his mind, appearing consistent with the Cormanthor in his memory, but the unknown attacker seemed unaware that he also possessed the Bloodline Ability to Trace Memory.

After Xia Duo traced his past memories, he indeed discovered a large number of differences in the details. However, once he discovered this, something even more terrifying happened: the feedback from the Scrying spell he was still maintaining immediately changed.

It became exactly the same as the scene in his memory; some places even had many details added based on his memory. For example, many of his memories of Cormanthor were from looking down from the Floating City, or from seeing everything clearly with the help of Scrying spells; they were indeed lacking in many details, and the perspective was very fixed.

Such a change made his heart grow cold; he was unclear whether the unknown enemy was manipulating his memories or if the illusion was truly this sophisticated.

By comparison, Xia Duo was more willing to believe the latter. After all, manipulating memories was equivalent to erasing a person's existence, and since he could still maintain a continuous and stable Personality, it indicated that his memory had not been manipulated—at least not in the form he perceived.

As for illusions, Xia Duo knew that illusions were generally divided into three levels—

The first level was the most superficial sensory illusion, which could only deceive a creature's senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, and so on; it might deceive several senses simultaneously, or perhaps only one.

This level of illusion was very easy to see through, especially for a Spellcaster; without making disguises at the Magic Net level, it was almost as if there were no disguise at all.