Chapter 249: Elf Nightlife, Examining Oneself

After dinner, Xia Duo and Gelada strolled through the city, half for digestion, half for amusement. The nightlife in Sukanweisa City was quite rich; at street corners, one could often see a group of Elves watching a Bard perform.

Occasionally, these onlookers would even perform themselves.

"Asuosi, are we going to watch a Spell Duel or a Sword Art duel?" Gelada asked.

Xia Duo thought for a moment and answered almost subconsciously: "Let's watch Sword Art!"

"I knew you'd say that. Let's go quickly, or we won't find a good spot later."

Gelada pulled Xia Duo through streets and alleys, soon arriving at a place resembling a dueling platform, where people were already exchanging blows.

A circle of Elves surrounded the area, and some were even using Magic to hover in mid-air.

Like a frantic little tiger, Gelada dragged Xia Duo, pushing and shoving to the front row. When an Elf accused him, Gelada instead let out a triumphant laugh.

"Asuosi, look! It's 'Star Sword', how amazing!"

Xia Duo looked toward the dueling platform. The "Star Sword" in Gelada's words was a black-haired Elf standing on the stage, with the same skin tone as them—a copper color.

The sword in this "Star Sword's" hand was flickering with starlight; perhaps that was how the name "Star Sword" came to be.

Gelada shouted excitedly, causing the surrounding Elves to unconsciously make a gap, and Xia Duo also shifted half a step away.

Soon, an Elf below the stage leaped up onto the platform and, without a word, swung the sword in their hand. Xia Duo noticed that although this was a Sword Art duel, Magic was not entirely prohibited.

A mysterious Spell was condensed on the challenger's sword, and the people around did not voice any objections, as if it were a matter of course.

The response of "Star Sword" was also very swift; he guided his longsword and pointed from afar, and the challenger's Spell was immediately disintegrated.

At the same time, a beam of starlight spilled down from above "Star Sword's" head, followed by a series of sword clashes. "Star Sword," shrouded in starlight, looked magnificent, and even Xia Duo felt envious watching it.

Elven Sword Art is exquisite and agile; it looks graceful but hides murderous intent. Xia Duo didn't quite understand it, but judging from the reactions of the surrounding Elves, especially Gelada, the two Elves dueling on the stage must both be quite formidable.

A moment later, the challenger suddenly took a few steps back and stopped. "I'll challenge you again next time!"

After saying this, they left the dueling platform. Down below, Xia Duo noticed some Elves presenting flowers to that challenger, and the challenger accepted them one by one.

If the loser was treated this way, the winner was even more glorious. The people around cheered for him in unison and offered salutes.

Watching the sought-after "Star Sword" on the stage, Gelada jumped and shouted, appearing very fanatical. Afterward, "Star Sword" fought several more matches, winning every single one.

This pushed the atmosphere of the area to a climax. A group of Elf onlookers cheered and shouted, and some Elves used Magic to summon fine wine and spirits, drinking heartily with the Elves around them.

Even Xia Duo and Gelada were given a large cup. This wine was somewhat similar to what Xia Duo had drunk at the Tower of Time, but the taste was lighter, almost counting as a fruit juice.

After finishing the wine, Gelada dragged Xia Duo to wander around the city again, even going to the White High Tower for a tour and walking across a suspended walkway.

……

It wasn't until after midnight that Xia Duo returned to "his" home—a small manor adjacent to Gelada's house.

The two were extremely similar, but "his own home" had no guards and lacked vitality, as if it had been decaying for a long time. Relying on instinct, he returned to "his" room.

Only then did Xia Duo have time to properly think about his state. Today, he had relied on "instinct" to do things too many times. The most obvious one was that he didn't know Elvish at all before, yet he could communicate normally with Elves.

This was truly eerie!

Digging an old book out of the "home," Xia Duo compared it with the text on the book and began to identify it.

*Keluo Na's Cooking Notes*?

Is it Keluo Na from next door? Xia Duo continued to flip through it. As soon as he glanced at the text inside, the meaning surfaced in his heart. It was a record of Keluo Na's daily life, including her experiences getting along with Asuosi's family.

Of course, it was mainly focused on making delicious food, similar to a food blog with stories on Earth.

However, when Xia Duo observed carefully, he discovered that he didn't recognize a single one of these characters.

Perhaps it really was the Arcane Union's Projection Spell that allowed him to replace this Elf named "Asuosi" in some form, which allowed him to observe and experience this Projection World from the perspective of "Asuosi."

Then Xia Duo wandered around this "home" again. Every place he went, he had a sense of familiarity, sometimes even being able to blurt out—what this was, what that was, and the like.

Yet, beneath this layer of inexplicable familiarity lay Xia Duo's true feelings—strangeness, curiosity, and a hint of excitement and fear.

He took out all the books in the "home," totaling more than ten. Besides that *Keluo Na's Cooking Notes*, there were several books recording daily life.

The remaining half or so were all books related to Magic and martial arts, such as *Arcane Enlightenment*, *Sword Art Enlightenment*, *Feilisi's Art of Attack*, and the like.

One could probably tell just by looking at the titles.

Xia Duo did not read these books immediately; time was plentiful anyway. If he wanted to, he could even stay here for a lifetime.

The key was to examine himself, that is, this Elf named "Asuosi." Xia Duo took off his clothes without hesitation and touched from his ears all the way to the soles of his feet.

Every part had a full sense of familiarity, but upon careful contemplation, it also had a full sense of strangeness.

"After all, it is not my own true body!"

Moreover, Xia Duo was also worried that in this intersection of familiar and strange feelings, cognitive errors would occur, eventually leading to either schizophrenia or being completely assimilated.

Neither of these was something he could accept.

After examining his body, Xia Duo began to examine his spirit, or rather, his essence. He didn't have much experience with this and could only look at it from the perspective of contacting the Magic Net.

In the Main Plane, Xia Duo could contact the second layer of the Magic Net, but according to what he learned from Gelada by probing, Asuosi only knew a few Tricks, was inferior to Gelada, and was even at the bottom of the entire "class."

Generally speaking, a Sword Singer's magical talent is not the best, because the best ones had long ago shown their talent to become Mages. Asuosi is 42 years old this year but has only mastered a few Tricks, which is enough to explain the problem.

Although Elves are only considered officially adults at 100 years old, in reality, the growth rate of Elves is about the same as humans; it is just that in a long-lived species society, it is naturally assumed that those under 100 are not (psychologically) mature.

And looking at Gelada's appearance, underage Elves might truly be immature. A 40-year-old Elf can act like a spoiled child, but if it were a human, that scene would be simply too beautiful to behold!