Chapter 255: Intermediate Mage

During the more than one year in the Projection Plane, Xia Duo had already organized the Netheril Magic System he currently understood and pushed it to the level of a quasi-3rd Circle Spell.

The reason it is called quasi-3rd Circle is because the Projection Plane cannot reach the deeper layers of the Magic Net, and experiments at the 3rd Circle level simply could not be conducted.

Yet even though he had returned to the Main Plane, the knowledge and experience gained during that year-plus were real and true; of course, the year-plus of lifespan he had consumed was also real and true.

Now he only needed to cast an Ascension Spell once, and Xia Duo would be able to touch the third layer of the Magic Net, thereby becoming an Intermediate Mage.

In Xia Duo's time, over the past month, he had already attempted this spell countless times; now, casting it in the Main Plane was a familiar routine.

Choosing 【Magic Missile】 as the Ascension Spell was also a long-held idea of Xia Duo's; such a classic spell, barring any accidents, could be used by him for a long time.

South of Savile Town, by the Wolfburg River, Xia Duo focused his mind, his fingers guiding the void, and the Magic Net quickly entangled and twisted at his fingertips, a formless conical Force Field slowly taking shape.

Although he had tried many times in the Projection Plane, he still could not cast this spell instantly, and it was foreseeable that the higher the level of the spell, the harder it might be to cast instantly.

About 6 or 7 seconds later, the conical Force Field at Xia Duo's fingertips was completely formed, and with a movement of his will, this missile flew out instantly.

Having flown less than 1 meter from his fingertips, it expanded to the thickness of an infant's arm and half an arm's length; of course, it still maintained the shape of a cone, flying forward at high speed.

Whoosh—

Bang—, bang—, bang—

With several loud noises in succession, the only conical Force Field provided by this 【Magic Missile】 spell, carrying immense impact, broke through several large trees in a row before finally vanishing into nothingness.

Wood chips flew and broken branches scattered, but once any debris approached Xia Duo, it was blocked by a soft yet very tough invisible barrier.

This was not because Xia Duo had cast 【Mage Armor】, but merely the Protective Field that came with this dark red Mage Robe that Niya had not yet taken back.

After the devastation of the spell, the line along the riverbank where the 【Magic Missile】 had flown was a mess; Xia Duo walked a few steps closer and kicked the tree that was left with only half a trunk.

"This power is comparable to a cannonball!"

A single spell had broken three trees in a row; the largest was as thick as Xia Duo's waist, and the smallest was as thick as a bowl. Compared to a 2nd Circle 【Magic Missile】, it was simply a qualitative leap!

For the 2nd Circle 【Magic Missile】, what Xia Duo initially researched was just increasing the number of missiles; later, he accidentally created the 【Imprisonment Sphere】, but in the end, he still researched in the direction of increasing speed.

After all, only with high speed is the power great!

Yet the speed-enhanced 2nd Circle 【Magic Missile】 couldn't even break a single tree; this might be related to the Force Field shaping, but it was a fact that the power was poor.

It fell far short of Xia Duo's expectations.

It wasn't until now that the power of the 3rd Circle Spell finally underwent a qualitative change; it could be said that having mastered this spell, he had no rivals in the forest!

Like the Troll he encountered before, Xia Duo made it suffocate to death; it seemed to show the power of Wisdom, but he also wanted to blast it away with satisfaction!

With the current power of the 3rd Circle 【Magic Missile】, a single shot would be enough to blast it into two pieces, and then just setting a little fire would solve it.

Or perhaps researching a 3rd Circle fire spell might be able to kill it in one hit.

In short, touching the third layer of the Magic Net brought Xia Duo a brand-new experience of the Mage profession.

Recalling the magnificent and vast mysterious world he glimpsed after triggering 【Magic Missile】, infinite passion for Magic surged in Xia Duo's heart.

Just as he was preparing to return to the Tower of Time, Xia Duo noticed that the position where he had just cast the spell still had some residual Magic Aura, and he didn't know how long it would last.

The Projection Plane and the Main Plane were, after all, somewhat different.

According to Xia Duo's past experience, in the Main Plane, for a Ring Spell, the residual aura disappeared almost instantly; the higher the level, the stronger the residual aura, and the longer it lasted.

Perhaps an experienced Mage would know at a glance that someone had cast 【Magic Missile】 here.

Xia Duo frowned, took the 【Blade of Veto】 from his Personal Space, and directly triggered the 【Dispel Magic】 effect on that area.

This was the spell Xia Duo had always been thinking about that could directly suppress Magic Net fluctuations.

Using it here might be a waste, but it didn't matter; Xia Duo's heart had already flown to the Mage Tower.

Clatter, clatter, clatter—

Xia Duo urged the summoned magic mount to pass through the stone bridge west of town quickly, only slowing down when he reached the entrance, though he did not dismount.

The Mage Robe he was wearing now was the best pass; Xia Duo sat on the horse, gently stroking this soft, form-fitting robe, and felt reluctant at the thought of having to return it to Niya later.

"When will I be able to truly own a Mage Robe of my own!"

After wearing this 【Crimson Shelter Robe】, going back to wearing his ordinary Mage Robe that only had a cleaning function was simply a form of torture.

"It is easy to go from frugal to luxurious, but hard to go from luxurious to frugal; the ancients did not deceive me!"

The most critical thing was that he could not yet make public the fact that he had become an Intermediate Mage; once made public, his mentor-Apprentice relationship with Niya would have to end, and many invisible conveniences would no longer be enjoyed.

And there was another point: to outsiders, he had joined the Mage Tower for less than a year; if he became an Intermediate Mage now, it might attract unnecessary trouble.

And Xia Duo hated trouble the most; the next stage should be the one where his strength grew the fastest, and whether upgrading existing spells or researching new ones, he needed a stable environment.

He was quite satisfied with the current status quo and was not prepared to add variables.

Having slept for almost a whole day before, Xia Duo was in high spirits at this moment; as soon as he returned to the Mage Tower, he dived into the Library, heading straight for the Elvish books.

Having stayed in the Projection Plane for more than a year, Xia Duo was already quite familiar with Elvish; although he couldn't speak it very well yet, he was clear on the basic vocabulary and grammar.

This time, what he wanted to find was information about Sukanweisa City in the Projection Plane; he wanted to understand whether Sukanweisa City really existed in reality, or whether "Asuosi" really existed.

The result was obvious: the Library did not have such detailed Elvish history books; most were poems and travelogues, and Xia Duo lost interest after flipping through a few.

It was just that he kept this matter in his heart and would still confirm it if there was an opportunity in the future.

In the next few days, Xia Duo didn't go anywhere; he was either researching spells or making Scrolls.

Of course, he was also very interested in the two pieces of equipment Niya lent him—the Mage Robe and the headband—only he couldn't research anything out of them.

Such relaxed and comfortable days, Xia Duo knew he couldn't enjoy for many more, so he didn't want to waste a single moment, until Niya sent him a Sending:

"Xia Duo, come to me!"