Chapter 246: Astral Projection

"Not yet?" Xia Duo whispered. Aiboke frowned, "What's going on?"

"Uncle Aiboke, let me explain. Although Xia Duo is a Pioneer and has obtained reading Permission Level for the 【Nether Scroll】, he is not yet a member of the Arcane Union and cannot call upon the Tower Spirit to transfer the Permission Level."

After hearing Niya's explanation, Aiboke's frown deepened. He knew what being a member of the Arcane Union meant—at the very least, one had to be an Intermediate Mage. While Xia Duo seemed close, who knew how long it would take! Past Pioneers were at least Archmages, and these people had long since been members of the Arcane Union.

Besides, the most recent Pioneer was the Great Arcanist Saville. Back then, the 【Nether Scroll】 wasn't kept under wraps like it is now; basically, anyone could see it, though one still had to queue if there were too many people.

The Arcane Union even announced that as long as an ordinary person could reach the Arcane Union Headquarters, they could see the 【Nether Scroll】.

It was only after a set of 【Nether Scrolls】 was stolen by an Elf seventy years ago that the remaining set had all these restrictions placed upon it.

Seeing that Aiboke and Niya had both stopped talking, Xia Duo couldn't help but ask, "Mentor, Lord Aiboke, should I apply to join the Arcane Union now?"

"To apply to join the Arcane Union, one must have a recommendation from a High Mage, and the applicant must be an Intermediate Mage. Uncle Aiboke can provide the recommendation, but you—"

Niya didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was already very clear: Xia Duo was not yet an Intermediate Mage and could not become a member of the Arcane Union.

Xia Duo was worried about variables in his Pioneer Territory, and he also wanted to go see the Projection Plane, so he said, "Pioneers should have some special status, right?"

"Eh?" Niya's eyes lit up. "Uncle Aiboke, let's go try!"

"That's fine, it's fine to go try."

Aiboke also realized that Xia Duo wasn't the only one who had received the Pioneer title this time; it was a whole group, with varying levels of strength and different backgrounds.

Although the 【Nether Scroll】 was good, it wasn't necessarily an urgent necessity for every Pioneer. It wasn't impossible for trades to occur, so for the sake of facilitating trades, the Arcane Union might provide certain conveniences.

Sure enough, as Xia Duo had expected, Pioneers did indeed possess a certain special status. Upon joining the Arcane Union, one immediately became a Level 2 Member. Aiboke had previously only been a Level 3 Member.

However, Aiboke had updated his information this time—having advanced to become an Arcanist, he had become a Level 4 Member of the Arcane Union.

Moreover, once one reached Level 4, there was no need to pay membership fees. Below Level 4, the higher the level, the higher the fee. The fee for Level 3 was 100 Gold Coins per month, and for Level 2, it was 50 Gold Coins per month.

Niya, as a Level 1 Member, needed to pay 10 Gold Coins per month.

This time, Niya paid a year's worth of membership fees for Xia Duo in one go and also pre-deposited 400 Gold Coins. These 400 Gold Coins could be used to renew the membership after one year, or to pay for some of the Arcane Union's services.

Such as reading in the Library, purchasing Magic Items, posting missions, and so on.

"A rich woman!" Xia Duo shouted in his heart.

If it were him, he would absolutely not pay a year's fee at once; he would only renew when he had a need.

It could be said that for Niya, who stayed in a remote area year-round and had her own Mage Tower, she wouldn't even come to the Arcane Union a few times a year.

Paying by the year was simply a waste! As for having the Arcane Union open a branch in the Savile Territory, the Savile Territory didn't have the strength for that yet.

Only the territories of some Great Arcanists had branches of the Arcane Union. Places like the Savile Territory only had a Mage Guild, which not only didn't charge membership fees but even provided a salary.

But were the two even comparable?

"Tower Spirit, transfer my reading Permission Level for the 【Nether Scroll】 to Level 1 Member Niya."

"Area error. Please operate in the designated area."

"..." Xia Duo sighed. This matter really was full of twists and turns!

"Mentor, it seems we need to take a trip to the Library. Coincidentally, the 【Nether Scroll】 is also in the Library."

Thus, the three of them arrived at the Library again. Xia Duo and Niya entered the office from before to transfer the Permission Level. During this time, the old Mage opened his eyes for a moment before squinting them shut again.

After transferring the Permission Level, the three of them arrived at the Secret Chamber of the Library.

At the entrance, Aiboke reminded them, "Niya, only look at the first group, understand?"

"Mm, I remember."

After saying this, Niya walked straight toward the door. Her body sank into the door bit by bit until she completely disappeared.

It wasn't that the door opened, but that she walked inside the door. This was truly too abnormal! "This—" Xia Duo was quite astonished. He looked at Aiboke, "Lord Aiboke, what is going on?"

"The Secret Chamber is in a hidden Semi-plane." Aiboke only explained this much before preparing to leave. "Alright, Niya needs to stay inside for a whole day. You come with me to the Plane Exploration Department."

"Oh, okay."

Although Xia Duo didn't know why one had to use this method to enter a Semi-plane, it was clear that plane travel interested him more.

After leaving the Library, Xia Duo followed Aiboke through a short-range Portal and arrived in a spacious hall. There weren't many people, and a bright ball of light hovered in the center of the hall.

Several beams of light fell from the light ball from time to time. Each time one enveloped a person, it would retract after a few seconds, and the person illuminated by the beam would always have their expression change drastically.

This was plane travel? Xia Duo looked around curiously. He had thought there would be some high-end equipment that one would sit inside! He hadn't expected it to just be a light ball, a beam of light shining down, and it would be over in a few seconds!

"Since you are already a member of the Arcane Union, apply yourself." Aiboke suddenly handed over a faint blue crystal and said, "Just bring the Arcane Crystal close to your Arcane Association Badge and apply for Projection Plane exploration."

Xia Duo took the Arcane Crystal. It was very light, almost weightless, but he could very clearly feel that it contained an incredibly vast amount of pure energy.

Arcane Energy? Xia Duo was thoughtful. He took out the Arcane Association Badge he had obtained earlier, brought the Arcane Crystal close to the badge, tucked it into his robes, and walked under the light ball.

"Tower Spirit, apply for Projection Plane exploration."

"Recorded. Permission Level confirmed. Level 2 Member Xia Duo, Astral Projection is about to begin. Please maintain a focused state. 3, 2, 1, start—"

Xia Duo could no longer hear the voice that followed; he felt his consciousness being sucked into the light ball above his head in an instant.

First, there was a pause, and then a high-speed leap, very much like the Yaoyue flight in science fiction movies, except in the movies, it was a spaceship that performed the Yaoyue, while at this moment, what Xia Duo was performing the Yaoyue with was his consciousness! On Earth, consciousness is usually described as the reflection of the objective material world in the human mind, the sum of various psychological processes such as sensation and thinking.

In other words, consciousness is just a metaphysical concept, not something concrete.

But in the world of Magic, for the first time, Xia Duo felt the Reality of consciousness and the Reality of the mind.

At this moment, his consciousness was like a stretched noodle, constantly being elongated during the process of the Yaoyue, until a silver void appeared before his eyes.

Grand and vast.

But immediately after, the silver void disappeared. In a trance, Xia Duo suddenly felt someone pushing him:

"Asuosi, wake up! Asuosi, the instructor is here!"

"Instructor?"

Somehow, Xia Duo gave a start. The scene before his eyes gradually became clear, his various senses gradually recovered, and then he saw the instructor standing in front of him with a dark face!

(End of chapter)