Chapter 252: Void

In the eyes of Keluo Na and her husband, the changes in Xia Duo meant that "Asuosi" had grown up and become sensible; for this reason, the couple even specially opened their home's Magic Books to Xia Duo to support his studies.

The only one unhappy about this was perhaps Gelada; Xia Duo's changes meant he had one less playmate, yet he was unwilling to work as hard as Xia Duo.

However, Xia Duo would occasionally accompany him outside the city to see the unicorn babies to relax, and during one such outing, Xia Duo finally caught a glimpse of a part of the Reality of the Projection Plane—

Somewhere in the Visa Forest, a dividing line suddenly appeared; to the south of this line was a Void, with nothing at all!

Neither black nor white, neither bright nor dark; it was a concept that reached deep into the soul—nothingness, just nothing, absolutely nothing!

Xia Duo stared ahead in shock, unable to speak, while Gelada was still calling him from in front, "Asuosi, come on! Today I'm going to teach the babies how to talk!"

"No!"

Xia Duo hurriedly stopped Gelada from moving forward, but one of the other's legs had already stepped into the Void, the other leg soon followed, and then his entire body vanished.

A drop of cold sweat quietly appeared on Xia Duo's forehead; Gelada had actually disappeared! Xia Duo's mind was almost blank at this moment, and countless thoughts surged into his heart—

How was he supposed to explain this when he went back?

Would Keluo Na and her husband angrily kill him?

The plan wasn't finished yet; what should he do?

Should he return to the Main Plane now?

……

Wait.

Just as he was feeling somewhat lost and at a loss for what to do, Gelada's voice strangely appeared again, "Asuosi, what are you dazing for! Come on!"

The source of the sound was exactly in front, but in front was a Void!

Xia Duo tried shouting, "Gelada, I twisted my ankle! Come help me take a look!"

"What's wrong? Let me see!" Following an anxious cry, a slender, powerful leg appeared abruptly at the border between the Void and the Visa Forest.

Immediately after, it was Gelada's upper body, and then the other leg appeared; he trotted all the way to Xia Duo's side and asked with concern, "Asuosi, let me see! I've studied first aid!"

Xia Duo calmly sized up Gelada while extending his right leg; his right leg was indeed twisted, though not just now, but yesterday while testing the specific performance of the Elf body, which resulted from resisting the instincts of "Asuosi".

Gelada pinched Xia Duo's lower leg joint and let out a long sigh of relief, "It's okay, let me rub it for you."

As he was about to start, Xia Duo wouldn't let a male rub his leg; even for an underage Elf, it was a bit awkward, "Gelada, let's go back first; we'll come see Lari's babies next time."

In fact, Xia Duo had already made up his mind not to come here again; the Void seemed not to exist for people in the Projection Plane, but it gave Xia Duo a very bad feeling, as if walking into it would force him to return to the Main Plane.

And his plan had not yet been completed.

……

Over the next few days, Xia Duo shook off Gelada and went outside the city alone several times; he discovered that the Void was slowly closing in on Sukanweisa City.

It was like this in the south, and perhaps it was the same in other directions; perhaps this Projection Plane he had entered only consisted of Sukanweisa City.

It looked like even if he really intended to stay here for a lifetime, it wouldn't be possible.

But thinking about it, a Projection Plane was ultimately just a projection; it couldn't possibly display everything from the Main Plane, and entering the Void might lead to other Projection Planes.

Of course, the greater possibility was an immediate return to the Main Plane.

In the days that followed, Xia Duo kept even more to himself; apart from borrowing books and eating at Gelada's house, he almost went nowhere, and even his rest was pushed to the limit.

Only when he truly couldn't hold on anymore would Xia Duo enter a state of deep meditation for a while, and during this process, Xia Duo even learned to maintain normal thinking while meditating.

Some thoughts that didn't require practical operation were carried out during meditation.

At other times, what Xia Duo did most was read the Magic Books borrowed from Gelada's house; although he didn't intend to specialize in Elf Magic, the Principles were the same.

He had already formed a basic magical worldview at the Tower of Time, and through comparison with Elf Magic theory, Xia Duo was growing rapidly.

During this period, he created a Netherese version extremely similar to the 1st Circle Elf Spell 【Blooming Flowers】, also called 【Blooming Flowers】, but this was a 2nd Circle Spell.

Until the Void outside the city had swallowed four high towers of Sukanweisa City, Xia Duo was still conducting spell experiments. Elves didn't need a Spell Laboratory because their magic focused particularly on communication and coordination with the Magic Net.

Backlash from failed Spellcasting was rare, and a Spell Laboratory hadn't been invented yet.

In short, Xia Duo was always extra careful when conducting experiments; he had to thoroughly grasp the theory before experimenting, and this also led to a delay in feedback from practice to theory.

……

This day, Xia Duo returned from borrowing books at Gelada's house and looked up to see the Void filling the sky, shrouding the surroundings and almost approaching the area where he lived.

The invisible pressure brought by this existence of nothingness made Xia Duo's heart tighten once again.

Hurriedly returning home, Xia Duo forcibly suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart and began the 【Magic Missile】 Ascending Ring experiment that had been ongoing for nearly two months.

Similar to ascending a 1st Circle 【Magic Missile】 to the 2nd Circle, ascending a 2nd Circle 【Magic Missile】 to the 3rd Circle would likewise allow him to touch the third layer of the Magic Net.

And this meant he would become an Intermediate Mage, even though he couldn't cast 【Flight】 yet.

If he used the time in the Projection Plane to become an Intermediate Mage, although it would consume that much time for himself, in the eyes of others, only a few seconds would have passed.

For his situation in the Main Plane, this was a huge change.

It was just that the experiment for ascending from the 2nd to the 3rd Circle was not as smooth as he had imagined; over these two months, he had tried almost every feasible method, and his experiment should have succeeded starting last month.

Yet the third layer of the Magic Net seemed as if it didn't exist at all!

Even though he had already realized a 3rd Circle 【Magic Missile】 through the elements of the highest second layer of the Magic Net, he had never been able to touch the third layer of the Magic Net!

The equivalence principle failed here, and once it failed, it stayed that way for nearly a month; this wasn't magic!

Clearly, Gelada's father was able to cast 【Teleportation】!

And today, Xia Duo repeated the experiment again, yet he still couldn't touch the third layer of the Magic Net; he was very certain of the correctness of the experiment, but—

He recalled the inference he made last month when the experiment succeeded for the first time but failed to touch the third layer of the Magic Net: the Magic Net of the Projection Plane was also a projection, and it was related to the level one could touch in the Main Plane.

In other words, the layer of the Magic Net one could touch in the Main Plane was the only layer one could touch in the Projection Plane, no more, no less.

This seemed to confirm why "Asuosi," a little Elf who only knew a few Tricks, could cast 2nd Circle Spells after being replaced by Xia Duo.

Sigh—

"Time to go back!"