Chapter 2211: Subconscious Barrier, Project Outsourcing

Xia Duo obtained first-hand intelligence regarding the abilities of Psionic Warriors and the research scope of Scholars through Mohawi's conscious information; these abilities and research, differentiated based on their respective psionic traits, further illustrated that psionics are not entirely detached from reality.

They still maintain a sufficiently close connection to reality, and all of this indicates that while Psionic Magic might possess a side that is vastly different from Arcane Magic, the gap is not so great that it is beyond the reach of Arcane Magic.

This also made Xia Duo more firm in his belief that he could acquire psionics.

……

Among all the information he had searched and obtained, what Xia Duo valued most, aside from Mohawi's research into the essence of psionics, was the Psionic Magic protection relevant to his current situation.

First, it can be confirmed that the Amulet of the Mind has very limited protection against Psionic Magic; although psionics are often linked to the mind, as long as the attack is not directed at the target's mind, the Amulet of the Mind serves no purpose.

The Mental Image World is even more special; it can bypass the Amulet of the Mind to attack the mind, and it is completely on a different level.

To Xia Duo, ordinary Psionic Techniques can basically be regarded as Arcane Magic, because since psionics cannot completely break away from reality, when they act upon reality, they must, to a certain extent, comply with the rules of reality.

He learned this several years ago when the Northland Alliance was established while visiting a psionic shop in Evereska, and not long ago in the south, he also applied this in practice.

There is more he has not had the opportunity to verify, but at least in terms of teleportation, he has sufficient confidence that he can block Psionic Teleportation Spells.

Xia Duo is not worried about ordinary spells; what he truly worries about are special spells like the Mental Image World, which are impossible to guard against, and even he currently lacks very good means to defend against them.

In Mohawi's cognition, there is only one way to defend against an attack from a Mental Image World, and that is to possess a Mental Image World oneself.

Of course, if one could keep their mental consciousness in a stagnant state, then there would be no need to worry about an attack from a Mental Image World; this is different from the Soul Solidification Xia Duo performed during his previous "Soul Surgery."

If the mental consciousness were completely stagnant, it would be equivalent to being unable to think at all, no different from a rock; in such a situation, would there even be a need for others to attack?

However, if one could predict an enemy's potential attack in advance, then enter a stagnant state at that very moment, and release it afterward, one could perfectly evade the attack.

If one cannot predict it, then this method does not have much significance; one cannot just turn oneself into a rock because of an uncertain attack!

Then one needs to consider the scenario of being dragged into a Mental Image World by an enemy; generally speaking, a Mental Image World is constructed based on the caster's cognition, and as long as one can exceed the "points of dissonance" or the flaws in its rules, one can easily escape.

If it were a Spellcaster proficient in Arcane Magic, Xia Duo might truly find it difficult to escape, but most Psionic Mages firmly believe in their own Xiling Liliang and ignore reality.

As long as the opponent does not perish together with him to construct a new world based on both parties' cognition, he has at least an eighty to ninety percent certainty of escaping.

The most extreme case is similar to what Mohawi did before, abandoning his absolute control over the Mental Image World and sharing it with Xia Duo; it appeared to be sharing, but in reality, it used Xia Duo's power to construct a more powerful thought.

Without external help, a person cannot grab their own hair to lift themselves up, nor can they exceed their own cognition.

In other words, once trapped in that kind of Mental Image World based on the cognition of both parties, unless one extracts brand-new rules based on both parties' cognition like Xia Duo did, one can only be trapped to death within it.

And to discover brand-new rules, does one have to carry an unfinished project at all times? Moreover, that project must happen to contain clues within the opponent's cognition.

These conditions are truly too harsh; even if Xia Duo were to do it again, he is not certain he could escape a second time, because his current cognition has already expanded, which is equivalent to the prison he built for himself becoming even more solid.

In this situation, even the most arrogant person would not dare to say they can definitely surpass themselves.

Fortunately, Xia Duo already has the experience of shattering a shared Mental Image World; before Tuokesente and Dasi can figure out his bottom line, no Psionic Master should be willing to risk their own life to attack him in this way.

In fact, if Mohawi had not used this method repeatedly in the past with success, he would not have used it directly on Xia Duo, leading to his own miserable end.

A single trick might work for everything, but once it fails, it could be a massive disaster.

Mohawi's lesson is also a reminder to Xia Duo, reminding him not to act recklessly relying on 【Annihilation Light】; at present, he has indeed not encountered anything that can absolutely block it, but whether there truly is nothing, that is hard to say.

At least the Artifact Barrier of Tuokesente can produce a certain blocking effect; if there is a certain effect, anything beyond that is merely a piling up of quantity, and Xia Duo would not be so naive as to think he is already invincible in the world.

At the very least, he truly has no good way to deal with the Mental Image World.

But this does not mean he should give up because of it; not only can he not give up, he must increase his efforts in research—he cannot entrust his safety to the cowardly nature of others!

If there really is someone stubborn or unafraid of death who comes up and hits him with a shared Mental Image World, he cannot just close his eyes and wait for death!

In Mohawi's conscious information, there was only protection and escape from conventional Mental Image World attacks; for this kind of shared Mental Image World attack, he himself had no solution.

It can be said that this is the crushing attack of a Psionic Master against someone without a Mental Image World.

In the short term, Xia Duo should have no way to handle this kind of attack, but being unable to handle it does not mean it cannot be defended against; so-called defense essentially still carries the meaning of prevention.

Psionic Magic can lock onto a target remotely, but similar to the Scrying spell in Arcane Magic, as long as the target takes measures for Avoidance of Detection, it is equivalent to having no target, and if there is no target, how can the attacker attack?

Additionally, as Calimshan has been in a state of war with Tuokesente for a long time, they must have corresponding defensive or counter-measures; otherwise, perhaps a single Psionic Master could have flattened all of Calimshan.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo subconsciously touched the sapphire ring on his left index finger; since the Mairide Family even sent out their family's trump card, there should be means to deal with the culprit who caused their predicament, right?

It has been quite some time since Xia Duo returned from the south, but he has been busy with various affairs, only conducting a preliminary inventory of the gifts from the Mairide Family at that time, and has not yet had time to organize the most precious Library among them.

It seems now that there should be quite a surprise within it!