Chapter 2558: Observations of the Shadow Plane

However, there is no such trouble in the Shadow Plane; no matter how well one can fly or run, it is impossible to run into another plane, because the Shadow Plane exists within the planes.

Of course, while moving within the Shadow Plane, a thought occurred to Xia Duo: if the Eastern World were in the Main Plane, perhaps he could try to pass through the Shadow Plane to get there.

But this is hard to say; Nuode mentioned that the Eastern World is covered by the Heavenly Dynasty Laws, and only when dynasties alternate and order collapses do Easterners drift into the Main Plane.

Perhaps only then can one smuggle through the Shadow Plane, but the problem is, Xia Duo does not know when dynasties alternate over there in the Main Plane; perhaps this is also the reason why no one has been able to go to the Eastern World since Nuode in the Main Plane.

……

While pondering the various wonders of the Eastern World, Xia Duo quickly passed through a gray, withered plain. Due to the Seven Towers' deliberate concealment of knowledge regarding the Shadow Plane, there were almost no traces left by Netherese Mages on this side of the Shadow Plane.

Only a very small number of Mage Towers can extend their power into the Shadow Plane. As Xia Duo quickly swept across the gray sky, the Magic Aura he saw when looking down belonged to the powerful Mage Tower organizations of Netheril's Inner Land.

During the flight, he even deliberately counted them; excluding Seventon, a total of six Mage Towers extended their power into the Shadow Plane.

Of course, if one can avoid leaving traces in the Shadow Plane, one can also avoid attacks from the Shadow Plane.

But there are many Mage Towers in the Inner Land, and Xia Duo did not compare them one by one to see which ones did not leave traces in the Shadow Plane, and not leaving traces can also have different possibilities.

Besides having the corresponding knowledge and means to deliberately avoid leaving traces in the Shadow Plane, it is also possible that the Mage Tower was built recently and has not yet had a phantom appear in the Shadow Plane.

The Tower of Time originally had a phantom appearing in the Shadow Plane, but now that the Tower of Time has moved to a Floating City, there is no need to worry about this; the Floating City deliberately avoids phantoms.

From south to north, the geography of the Shadow Plane does not completely correspond to the real-time geography of the Main Plane, but is closer to scenes from history or scenes of future decay; in a sense, the Shadow Plane can also be used to predict or retrace history.

When flying in the air, Xia Duo could often see Elf Ruins that had long been completely exploited by the Netherese in the real geography of the Main Plane; of course, exploring those ruins is not a good choice.

Unless there are very few special treasures, the best result of an exploration is merely enriching a historian's collection, and it is more likely to be wiped out by shadow creatures.

At least Xia Duo has never heard of any Adventurer team from Netheril having been to the Shadow Plane. On one hand, this is due to the Seven Towers' secrecy regarding the Shadow Plane, and on the other hand, it is because the Shadow Plane is indeed dangerous.

Of course, the danger here is for ordinary people and ordinary Spellcasters; for Xia Duo, while not completely without danger, it is not much more dangerous than taking a stroll in his own Arcane Garden.

As for why the Seven Towers want to hide the Shadow Plane, Xia Duo irresponsibly guesses it is because of shadow assassins, which are rare existences that can pose a direct threat to High Mages.

Generally speaking, as long as High Mages do not court death themselves, it is very difficult for them to die, but shadow assassins hide in the shadows and, combined with Spell Breaking equipment, can easily succeed in one strike.

When Xia Duo's follower Aiwa was receiving Rogue training in the August Territory of the Inner Land, he had seen a shadow assassin with his own eyes. This time, while Aiwa was traveling in the Inner Land, besides investigating the real situation of various territories in the Inner Land, he also had the intention of searching for shadow power.

In fact, if Aiwa were a Mage, Xia Duo could completely teach him Shadow Spell; when he was in the 【Projection Plane: Underdark】, he disguised himself as a Drow to perform a mission on the Surface and was caught by an Elf High Mage.

Then that High Mage made a deal with a Drow Matriarch to have Xia Duo assassinate an Akaola Envoy, and the reward was Shadow Spell; of course, Xia Duo had learned some while disguised as a Drow in the Underdark, but he had learned less while in the Underdark.

Male expendables are not qualified to learn profound Magic, let alone in an environment like the Underdark; Shadow Spell can be said to be the core competitiveness.

Drow warriors and assassins sound like assassins on the surface, but in reality, they are also Mages, just not specializing in Spellcasting. Unless Aiwa learns Magic, if he wants to master shadow power, he can only learn from the shadow assassins on the surface.

However, Xia Duo feels that the shadow assassins on the surface mastering shadow power should also be a manifestation of Magic, just not mainstream Spellcasters, and he does not know where the Seven Towers dug up the training methods.

……

Soon, Xia Duo flew over Seventon.

The Seventon of the Shadow Plane only has the dilapidated scene of the Old City District half, but the seven high towers are particularly conspicuous, constantly emitting Magic Aura in this gray world.

There are naturally no phantoms of the Arcane Union; the Arcane Union of the Main Plane is located in the New City District, and in reality, given the personalities of the two successive presidents, it is unlikely they would openly flaunt their power like the Seven Towers.

Xia Duo is more inclined to believe that Kangjienio and Yinaole deliberately avoided leaving phantoms in the Shadow Plane.

……

From Seventon to the north, the Main Plane is the Narrow Sea, and so is the Shadow Plane, but the difference is that in the Narrow Sea of the Shadow Plane, there are constantly strange-looking shadow creatures crawling out of the sea, rushing toward the seven Mage Towers in the Old City District of Seventon.

But those shadow creatures naturally dissipated when they touched the radiance emitted by those seven Mage Towers; it is unknown what they are aiming for by throwing their lives away like this.

And the Seven Towers, even if these shadow creatures are vulnerable, is it really good to consume power like this? What if they are just short of this little bit at a critical moment?

Xia Duo vaguely feels that there are also benefits to be had on the Shadow Plane side, just like the Ether Plane, where there are Yaoyue beasts to eat meat and Twisted Phantom Core to use as Mage Tower spirit carriers.

The Shadow Plane should also have some local characteristic resources, but for the time being, only the Seven Towers know what they are and know how to develop them.

Seeing the scene of shadow creatures throwing their lives away infinitely below, Xia Duo could not help but sigh; it is a pity that the Red Heart Alliance's research on the Plane Domain is very limited, otherwise he could have gotten involved at this time.

He does not have to be like this now, watching an entire plane open its doors to him, while he does not know what to take.

"Sigh—"

……

Quickly passing through the Narrow Sea, then veering a bit to the east, and then flying rapidly to the north, by this time the ground below had become very monotonous, first with sporadic mountain ranges, and then an endless Black Ice Plain.

When flying over the middle of the polar ice sheet, Xia Duo did not stop, but continued to fly north; he wanted to see what the edge of the Shadow Plane looked like.

Soon, dark Mist that did not know where it rose from appeared before his eyes, seemingly wrapping the entire plane, which was very different from the edge of the Main Plane.

But the things Xia Duo wanted to see also revealed clues—

At the densest part of the Mist on the very edge, the Black Ice Plain suddenly broke off like a cliff, and below was a black ocean also shrouded in Mist.

Looking at this situation, the polar region of the Main Plane is likely an ocean as well, just an ocean after being frozen.